Podcast Unlocked

By IGN

Games & Hobbies Video Games

What's Podcast Unlocked about?

Love Xbox? IGN's Podcast Unlocked is your source for everything Xbox One and Xbox 360. If you live and breathe Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and more, Podcast Unlocked has you covered. Tune in every week for the latest video game news for Xbox junkies around the globe.

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LAST EPISODE

We Need to Talk About Tom C...

07.21.2021

Reactions to Ubisoft's new Tom Clancy-universe-blending first-person shooter XDefiant have been polarizing, to say the least. We spend the bulk of the show discussing the controversial game announcement, from the challenges it faces to why it's upsetting some Clancy game ...

Podcast Unlocked episodes:

07.21.2021 We Need to Talk About Tom Clancy’s XDefiant Reactions to Ubisoft's new Tom Clancy-universe-blending first-person shooter XDefiant have been polarizing, to say the least. We spend the bulk of the show discussing the controversial game announcement, from the challenges it faces to why it's upsetting some Clancy game ...
07.15.2021 FPS Games to Level Up...in the Cloud? With word from Battlefield 2042 developer DICE that cloud computing will soon level up the capabilities of first-person shooters, we discuss what we'd like to see and what we think we'll see. Plus: what we hope the studio formerly known ...
07.06.2021 Xbox Goes '90s In this episode of Unlocked, the crew joined by Taylor Lyles discusses Microsoft's team up with All-4-One for a neat "I Swear" Xbox All Access remix, revisits the Phil Spencer interview from Unlocked 500, theorizes what could be happening with ...
06.30.2021 Phil Spencer Interview: 20 Years of Xbox We celebrate the 500th episode of IGN's long-running Xbox podcast in the best way we can think of: by hanging out with the Head of Xbox himself, Phil Spencer, who has been at Xbox since Day One. We talk to ...
06.17.2021 E3 2021 Was Xbox’s Best E3 Ever This episode was recorded live immediately after the Xbox Extended E3 Showcase, hosted by Gamertag Radio's Parris Lilly. Parris joins us for this episode to discuss Xbox's big E3 games (like Halo Infinite, Redfall, Starfield, Forza Horizon 5, and many ...
06.08.2021 12 Xbox E3 Predictions As E3 2021 looms, it's time for our annual E3 predictions episode! We make a dozen total predictions about what we think we're going to see at Xbox's E3 press conference. And then make sure to join us live for ...
06.01.2021 The Holiday 2021 Xbox Calendar Starts to Fill in As E3 2021 looms, the big games are starting to show their hand. We discuss the recent gameplay reveals for Far Cry 6 and Dying Light 2 – both of which also got firm Fall release dates. Plus: Bungie's next ...
05.25.2021 Outer Worlds' Xbox Future Just Got a Bit Clearer Microsoft takes full control over Obsidian's Outer Worlds franchise from Private Division, so we discuss what that means for the future. Plus: Starfield's release window becomes clearer, No Man's Sky gets a thematically appropriate Mass Effect Easter egg, and more!
05.19.2021 Why We Love Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is out and we spend most of the show discussing it, from whether or not it was worth the wait (hint: it was), to what we think of Mass Effect 1's quality-of-life upgrades, to how it ...
05.12.2021 Gears and Fable's Next-Gen Tech Revealed As Fable and Gears of War's next-gen tech is revealed, we discuss what their new engines mean for the future of those franchises - and the franchises around them. Plus: our impressions of Resident Evil Village, 12 Minutes, what we ...
05.05.2021 Halo Infinite's Tempting PC Features Halo Infinite details its impressive PC features and options, leading some of the Unlocked crew to ponder whether to stick with it on Xbox or move to PC. Plus: the Xbox Compatibility Team drops another batch of FPS Boost games, ...
04.27.2021 Xbox Series X Goes Big on 120fps The Xbox compatibility team delivers again by boosting a ton of fairly recent EA games -- including Battlefield V and Titanfall 2 -- up to 120fps on Xbox Series X. Plus: Respawn incubates a new game, It Takes Two gets ...
04.20.2021 xCloud's Apple Launch Is Key to Xbox's Master Plan Another big week for Xbox! We talk about why we think xCloud's long-awaited Apple/iOS rollout is key for the future of the Xbox platform, Discord turning down Microsoft's $10 billion offer, Psychonauts 2 and Xbox's underrated 2021 lineup, Resident Evil ...
04.13.2021 What if the Kojima-Xbox Rumor Is True? The gaming community is buzzing about a hot rumor that Microsoft is in talks with legendary game developer Hideo Kojima to develop his next game for Xbox. We humor the rumor and discuss what it would mean for Xbox, as ...
04.06.2021 Xbox Game Pass Is Getting Sony Exclusives Now Xbox Game Pass is on such a roll that it's landing first-party Sony games now! MLB The Show 21 is a huge get for Game Pass. We discuss MLB's smart, forward-thinking move as well as the incredibly momentum of the ...
03.30.2021 Should Call of Duty Go Back to WWII AGAIN? With Sledgehammer reportedly back in the Call of Duty business and prepping a World War II-set video game for this year's entry in the series, we discuss whether we even want another WWII-set CoD. Plus: It Takes Two is excellent, ...
03.23.2021 What Gotham Knights' Delay Might Mean for Rocksteady's Suicide Squad One of 2021's big releases, Gotham Knights, just got pushed to 2022. We discuss what it means not just for that game, but for Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League as well. Plus: Xbox Live gets rebranded, Microsoft might ...
03.17.2021 Bethesda Makes it Rain on Xbox Game Pass Bethesda held a fantastic roundtable discussion with Phil Spencer and some of the Xbox leadership team, and we discussed our impressions of the first big post-acquisition event, from Phil's comments on exclusivity to his admiration of the id Tech engine ...
03.10.2021 Microsoft OFFICIALLY Acquires Bethesda. Now What? Big Xbox news this week as European and American regulators sign off on Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax and Bethesda, making the acquisition official. What will Microsoft do next? Which games will be exclusive? We discuss that and much more on ...
03.03.2021 Anthem Died So That Mass Effect and Dragon Age Might Live Lots of BioWare news to discuss this week, from Anthem's cancellation to Henry Cavill (aka Superman aka Geralt)'s Mass Effect project to Dragon Age 4 no longer being a live-service game. Plus: Xbox's Aaron Greenberg downplays recent Elden Ring rumors, ...
02.23.2021 FPS Boost Continues Xbox's Back-Compat Mastery The Xbox backwards compatibility team flexes their muscles again with FPS Boost, an unexpected and awesome new improvement to back-catalog games. We celebrate the new feature. Plus: Diablo 2's long-rumored remaster has us super excited, we wonder what's next for ...
02.17.2021 Ex-Bungie Devs’ New (Old) FPS Is Controversial We discuss the return of Six Days in Fallujah, a resurrection of a canceled 2009 game based on real-world events, including its A-list team of ex-Bungie developers and what they've said about the controversial project so far. Plus: we're excited ...
02.10.2021 343's New Halo Project? We Want a Horror Game With a job posting suggesting that 343 Industries is spinning up a new Halo game besides Halo Infinite, we speculate on what it might be – and decide we want a Halo horror game. Plus: our impressions of Xbox exclusive ...
02.03.2021 What We Think After Seeing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition To quote a line from Halo 2 in describing Mass Effect: Legendary Edition: "There are those who said this day would never come. What are they to say now?" Yes, we're talking about the long-awaited remaster of BioWare's beloved sci-fi ...
01.27.2021 Making Sense of Microsoft's Averted Xbox Live Gold Disaster What a week! There's so much to discuss on this episode, from Microsoft shockingly doubling the price of Xbox Live Gold only to just-as-shockingly walk it back later that same day, to the insane new Star Wars: Knights of the ...
01.20.2021 Where Will Ubisoft Take Star Wars? The new Lucasfilm Games publishing umbrella once again dominates our conversation this week, as the first new non-EA Star Wars game in a decade gets announced. We discuss Ubisoft and Massive's upcoming open-world Star Wars adventure, including what it might ...
01.13.2021 Will Bethesda's Indiana Jones Game Be an Xbox Exclusive? Will the just-announced Indiana Jones game from Bethesda, Machinegames, and Todd Howard be an Xbox exclusive? We discuss this fascinating announcement. Plus: is Star Wars gearing up for life after EA? And we sort through the revelation that Microsoft tried ...
01.05.2021 Discussing 10 Xbox Exclusives for 2021 Happy New Year! On our first Unlocked episode of 2021, we look ahead to the (long) list of Xbox exclusives coming this year. Plus: Gears 5: Hivebusters rocks, Fortnite's developer moves into...a mall(?), Games With Gold for January includes an ...
12.22.2020 1-on-1 With Double Fine's Tim Schafer: Psychonauts 2, Being Acquired by Microsoft, and More! Our final episode of 2020 is a special one! Ryan welcomes Tim Schafer, the head of Double Fine (aka one of the newest Xbox Game Studios), for a 40-minute conversation about life since being acquired by Microsoft. But don't fret ...
12.16.2020 Cyberpunk 2077's Current-Gen Nightmare + Perfect Dark Reboot Is Finally Real Our penultimate show in 2020 is a big one! We spend the first half of the show discussing the nightmare scenario that is Cyberpunk 2077 on the current-gen consoles. After that, we dig into the big Xbox news from The ...
12.09.2020 Analyzing BioWare's Big Shakeup Digital Foundry's John Linneman and Gamertag Radio's Danny Peña join us to talk about all sorts of Xbox stuff this week! Topics include: the future of BioWare after their big studio leadership shakeup, next-gen sports games on Xbox Series X, ...
12.02.2020 What Will Cyberpunk 2077 Multiplayer Be Like? What will Cyberpunk 2077 multiplayer be like? Special guests Ray Apollo from Twitch and Cam Hawkins from DualShockers join Ryan and Brandin for an extra-fun episode that also discusses Microsoft's underrated next-gen efforts, more awesome stuff coming to Xbox Game ...
11.24.2020 Hitman Devs' James Bond Could Be the Best 007 Game Ever The developer of Hitman has a new James Bond game in the works. We discuss why it could be the best Bond ever. Plus: Phil Spencer says an Xbox smart TV app is closer than we think, some of us ...
11.18.2020 Analyzing the Xbox Series X\|S's Fast Start Next-gen is now officially current-gen! The Xbox Series X and S are out, and we talk about our first week of living with them. Plus: we analyze Microsoft's big first-week numbers, address shortages expected well into 2021, talk about another ...
11.11.2020 Mass Effect's Future Just Got Brighter It's the week you've been waiting for: the next-generation of Xbox has officially arrived with the Series X and Series S. We discuss the launches of Microsoft's two new consoles. Plus: EA and BioWare finally confirm Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, ...
11.06.2020 Xbox Series X Final Impressions and Audience AMA Welcome to a special two-hour episode of Unlocked that was recorded live with all of you, along with special guest panelist Parris Lilly from Gamertag Radio! We played the Series X for two hours now that the review embargo has ...
10.27.2020 The Winners and Losers of Cyberpunk 2077's New Delay Cyberpunk 2077's last-minute delay affects everyone, from developers to gamers to media outlets alike. We sort through the fallout of this major news. Plus: a surprise Gears 5 update, Phil Spencer teases a possible 1 vs. 100-like replacement on Xbox ...
10.21.2020 Xbox Series X Launch Lineup Reactions Another busy week of Xbox news to discuss, from the Xbox Series X's launch lineup (to the best Xbox launch lineup in history) to what Phil Spencer said about Bethesda game exclusivity in a recent interview to what The Initiative ...
10.13.2020 Our First Xbox Series X Game Impressions We finally got to play a couple of proper Xbox Series X games. We give our impressions of those titles on the Series X, plus discuss The Medium's release date, Microsoft's new plan to get xCloud game streaming onto iOS ...
10.06.2020 Xbox Series Should Totally Own Western RPGs As inXile announces yet another Xbox Series RPG, we run down the Xbox's exclusive RPG and discuss how Xbox Series is going to be THE home for Western RPGs. Plus: the games we've been hyped-beyond-hype for in our gaming lives ...
09.29.2020 Living With the Xbox Series X So Far The fantastic Pikachulita joins our Xbox crew this week to discuss yet another big week of Xbox news! Topics include Ryan's life with the Xbox Series X in his house so far, Phil Spencer saying that there will be future ...
09.21.2020 Xbox Buying Bethesda Is a MEGATON The Unlocked crew discusses the massive news of Microsoft buying ZeniMax Media (Bethesda Softworks, id Software, Arkane, and more!) the day before Xbox Series X and Series S consoles pre-orders go live plus the growth of Game Pass.
09.16.2020 No, Bungie and Microsoft Are NOT Getting Remarried We discuss the rumors of Microsoft trying to buy Bungie again (which Bungie quickly and sternly refuted), the leaked Xbox Series S presentation that never got to air, the backwards compatibility capabilities of the Xbox Series S, our disappointment about ...
09.09.2020 Reacting to Xbox Series X/S Price and Release Date Gamertag Radio's Parris Lilly rejoins Unlocked to talk through the long-awaited Xbox Series S reveal, price, and release date – plus the alleged price for the Series X as well. Plus: The Witcher 3 returns for Series X, September's Games ...
09.02.2020 Halo Infinite's Fixer Is from Bungie's Old Guard MC Fixer from the My Xbox and Me podcast joins us to discuss another big week of Xbox news, from longtime Bungie veteran Joseph Staten being brought in to help lead Halo Infinite's campaign to Call of Duty Black Ops ...
08.26.2020 Where Is The Batman in Gotham Knights and Rocksteady's Suicide Squad? Special guest "Lord Cognito" from the Iron Lords Podcast joins us to discuss our reactions to the DC FanDome reveals of Gotham Knights and Rocksteady's Suicide Squad. Plus: our Battletoads impressions, Black Myth: Wukong's amazing debut, 343's track record with ...
08.18.2020 Xbox's First-Party Masterpiece Is...Flight Simulator?? Microsoft's first 10/10-rated game from IGN in quite some time comes from the most unexpected place: Microsoft Flight Simulator! Reviewer Seth Macy joins us to discuss the next-gen brilliance of the first-party masterpiece. Plus: taking stock of Xbox Game Studios' ...
08.12.2020 Halo Infinite Is Delayed. Now What? Major Xbox news this week! Halo Infinite gets delayed, so what does it mean for the franchise and for the Xbox Series X launch? Plus: Apple blocks Microsoft on Project xCloud, the Xbox Series S gets confirmed via the strangest ...
08.06.2020 xCloud Might Be Xbox's Secret Weapon Project xCloud takes the next big step towards becoming a major part of the Xbox ecosystem, and we discuss how it's kind of like the "Xboy" handheld Xbox that we never got. Plus: the ramifications of Halo Infinite's multiplayer being ...
07.29.2020 More Thoughts on the Xbox Games Showcase Now that we've had time to sit with big Xbox Games Showcase, we reflect back on the big event and discuss how we thought Microsoft did and whether or not Microsoft has a "Halo problem" after how the Halo Infinite ...

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