Unlocked

Now that Titanfall 2 is a real, confirmed thing, we've got some ideas as to what it needs. In fact, we all agree on what that is. Meanwhile, we give a refresher course on the long-dormant Homefront: The Revolution now that it's been officially delayed to 2016. Plus: another hilarious round or marketing-spun NPD results, Rory McIlroy Highlander-kills Tiger Woods, and more. Also be sure to watch the...

A discussion about our early Ori and the Blind Forest impressions turns into an impromptu chat about our most emotional gaming (and movie) moments. Plus: we have a theory on the timing of this week's Halo: The Master Chief Collection Xbox One bundle, another theory about how Kudo Tsunoda's promotion proves last week's Phil Harrison rumors, why Quantum Break would be better off releasing in 2016 re...

What a packed show! Chris Charla, the head of Microsoft's ID@Xbox program, stops by for a chat about choosing indie games for the program, how crazy (in a good way) Cuphead is, and more. Then we talk about Phil Spencer's latest Battletoads tease, freak out because Rock Band 4 is a real thing, discuss our experience playing one of GTA Online's Heists, and much, much more. Learn more about your ad c...

On this week's IGN Xbox podcast, we discuss running out of Xbox One hard drive and what decisions go into choosing an external hard drive to buy. Plus, rumors suggest that both Rock Band and Guitar Hero may be returning for the new consoles (and why we're FREAKING OUT), Microsoft makes a genius move to partner Forza with Fast and Furious, Batman: Arkham Knight's 'M' rating, why MMOs are finally hi...

This week's episode of Podcast Unlocked is packed! We predict what Bethesda will announce at their first-ever E3 press conference in June, including Fallout 4. Plus: reacting to Phantom Dust's developer shift, lamenting Shadow Realms' cancellation and what it means for 4v1 games, making our picks from the ongoing Xbox Ultimate Game Sale, and remembering Super Mario Bros. 3 and how it changed our l...

Halo 5 dominates our show this week, as not only do we talk to 343 Industries Halo 5 Studio Head Josh Holmes and Multiplayer Designer Quinn DelHoyo about what they learned from the now-completed Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta (skip to 1:02:57 for that), we also discuss all the changes made as a result of player feedback. Plus, a release date for the Halo 5 art book suggests that Halo 5 might n...

Four editors. Three predictions each. That means we've got 12 Xbox predictions for 2015 that you can hold us to come Christmas-time. Plus, we can bet on them! Which of us is Nostradamus (probably none of us), and which of us is Nostra-dumb-us (probably all of us)? Plus: A few Sony games look like they're on their way to Xbox, Condemned 3 might happen, Grand Theft Auto V's sales numbers continue to...

The Xbox's sales are down year over year for the fourth quarter, largely due to dwindling Xbox 360 sales. So it's time to wonder: is the old console toast? Also, IGN tech editor Alaina Yee joins us to share her first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of the Windows 10/HoloLens event she attended last week at Microsoft Campus. Plus: EA makes bank, the Xbox One's controller gets a firmware update, and...

Packed show! We distill the Windows 10 event down to what it means for Xbox, including the HoloLens AR glasses that may sound familiar if you remember "Fortaleza" from the big Xbox One leak in 2012. Plus: we reflect on the Halo 5 beta, the Xbox One goes back to $349...again, and Undead Labs CEO Jeff Strain sits in for an epic 50-minute interview that covers his fascinating past working at Blizzard...

IGN's Game of the Year has been announced. We discuss how we cast our individual votes. Plus: a big MOBA hits Xbox One, Forza Motorsport 6 gets announced...in Detroit, Microsoft may be bringing back a "beloved" strategy game, Xbox One wins an Emmy(?!), and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Microsoft abandons their trademark on show favorite Blinx: The Timesweeper, we discuss what we'd do with it if we bought it (which we might). Plus: what does the Xbox One going back up to $400 mean for 2015? Will Xbox Avatars ever matter on Xbox One? Will Far Cry 5 pit you against...vampires? And what will Xbox One developers do with more power thanks to the newest XDK tools? Oh, and we give a...

We'll be up front: you might not even like this episode. It's a collection of random, out-of-context outtakes from the past year of Xbox podcasting. Strange stories. Off-topic conversations. Alex Solomita's 15 minutes of fame on ESPN. On the other hand, some of you might think it's hilarious. So give it a listen. It's only 16 minutes long. Then let us know what you think! If you find it boring and...

"I'm not even supposed to be here today!" We'd planned to be on holiday break this week, but too much Halo happened! First, 343 Industries announced that Halo 3: ODST will be brought to Halo: The Master Chief Collection in 1080p/60fps – for free! And that an Anniversary remake of "Relic" would be added to MCC for free as the seventh Halo 2 Anniversary map. On top of that, we spent all weekend play...

As the year winds to a close, Microsoft celebrates a November NPD victory. What about December? What about the future? Will they put the system's price back to $400? We discuss. Plus: the big annual year-end Xbox games sale has begun, Grand Theft Auto V finally delivers a peek at online heists, remasters get an ultimatum from us, and more. Oh, and THANK YOU for listening this year. We appreciate y...

Sony strikes back, securing Street Fighter V exclusively after Microsoft bagged Rise of the Tomb Raider. We discuss the situation, as well as what other games this could happen to. Plus: after Sony's PlayStation Experience Event, should Microsoft do something similar? Also: Adr1ft gets announced, The Witcher 3 gets delayed, and much more. Most importantly, we welcome back Jared Petty! Learn more a...

We catch up on everything we saw and played over the Thanksgiving break, including passionate (spoiler-free) discussions about Sunset Overdrive, Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Limbo, and more. Plus: Xbox One's Black Friday success and whether or not the $350 price point will revert back to $400, Xbox's neverending struggles in Japan, hackers targeting Xbox Live, and much more. Learn...

As Ryan's old friend and podcasting partner Dan Amrich sits in to discuss Rocksmith 2014 for Xbox One (which Dan now works on), the crew discusses their thoughts on Xbox One's first birthday and the big Microsoft giveaway that goes with it. Plus: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's campaign, Dumb & Dumber To, game show video games (like 1 vs. 100!), Titanfall's just-announced Deluxe Edition, and more...

What should be a celebration of one of the biggest weeks of the year for Xbox games is instead clouded by rough launches for both Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Assassin's Creed Unity, as well as online issues for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. We discuss what the root of the cause might be, as well as what recourse gamers have to combat Day One woes. Plus: Halo 5 multiplayer impressions,...

The world's #1 Xbox podcast crew discusses the significance of the Xbox One price drop, and there's a *slight* chance we get derailed into an In-N-Out vs. Shake Shack vs. Five Guys cheeseburger conversation. Also: Destiny 2 gets confirmed, and we discuss what we want out of the sequel. Also don't miss our Grand Theft Auto V new-gen chat about the new first-person view, and when we might see a slim...

If you don't know how Max Hoberman is, here's the elevator pitch version: he's not only the Halo 2 lead multiplayer designer, but he helped invent all of the amazing party and matchmaking systems that Halo 2 pioneered that we all now take for granted. And now, he has his own studio, Certain Affinity, where they build maps for many multiplayer games, including Halo 2 DLC, Halo 3 DLC, Halo 4 (shippi...

Microsoft Head of Xbox Phil Spencer makes his first Unlocked appearance in a year, dicussing a range of topics including when certain features will be added to the Xbox One via the monthly system updates, what he wants out of the next Gears of War, why there is no special-edition Halo-themed console to pair with The Master Chief Collection, what the hell Rare is up to, and much, much more.  Learn...

Find out what happens when four guys get busted for trying to use an original Xbox to smuggle cocaine. At the very least, it produces the funniest moment in the history of the show. Also, a new Halo game got announced, HBO Go will soon be usable on Xbox 360 or Xbox One without a cable/satellite TV subscription, a new Assassin's Creed Xbox One bundle provides pretty good value (and we share our fav...

On this week's episode of the world's #1 Xbox podcast, we discuss why Ubisoft messed up badly with their explanation as to why Assassin's Creed Unity will run at 900p on both Xbox One and PS4. Plus: how much of Halo 5 will Agent Locke star in? Why did Kingdom Hearts 3 switch to Unreal Engine 4? Why is Mitch worried about Geometry Wars 3? And find out which special guests will be appearing on the s...

Alleged NDA-breaking sources claim Destiny's story was VERY different earlier in development. We discuss. Plus: love for Screamride and its Crash Mode-esque feature, why you should get pumped for the release of Thomas Was Alone next month, pouring one out for Burnout, and hacking is bad, mmm-kay? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to know how you can have no artistic or programming talent and still end up becoming the head of the studio making the biggest game of the year? Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's Michael Condrey shares his fascinating career story of how he went from beach bum to co-founding Sledgehammer Games and working on the world's biggest shooter franchise. Plus: Destiny's raid, Rudy Giuliani's defense o...