Podcast Unlocked

Take-Two's CEO keeps insisting that Grand Theft Auto 6 will be released in 2025. Do we believe him? We discuss why (spoiler) we don't. Plus: a new Phil Spencer interview sees the Xbox boss being quite candid about both an Xbox handheld and the future of exclusives on Xbox hardware, and we have a LOT of thoughts. And we kick things off with a report from IGN contributor Travis Northup, who just got back from Montreal to preview Compulsion Games' new game South of Midnight. Join us! This week's show is Ryan McCaffrey, Stella Chung, Travis Northup, and is produced by Nick Maillet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 9 marks the 20th anniversary of Halo 2's release. We celebrate one of the greatest Xbox games ever by welcoming fellow veteran Xbox gamer Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio to share memories of playing it for the first time, ranking the original dozen multiplayer maps, plus a little surprise from a special guest. This week’s show is Ryan McCaffrey, Destin Legarie, Danny Peña from Gamertag Radio, and is produced by Nick Maillet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We celebrate our perfectly-timed-for-Halloween episode 666 with Rod Fergusson, the super-nice franchise head of one of gaming's most evil franchises, Diablo. Rod talks about the new Diablo 4 expansion pack, Vessel of Hatred, the new Spiritborn character class, his reaction to Gears of War: E-Day as the former studio head at The Coalition, and even what his Gears 6 would've looked like. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With STALKER 2, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle all releasing one right after another later this Fall, Xbox is set to seriously cook at the end of 2024. Destin gives his glowing hands-on impressions of his recent STALKER 2 preview session, Seth Macy joins us to gush about Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Ryan will give his hands-on impressions of Indy...soon. Plus: former Halo senior developer Joseph Staten is back on the free agent market after Netflix shut down its AAA gaming studio, Halo Infinite's rumored battle royale mode was real before getting canceled, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We went on the air live, immediately following the latest Xbox Partner Preview livestream. We gave our in-the-moment reactions to Xbox's fantastic presentation that included several reveals, including Remedy's Left 4 Dead-style session-based 3-player co-op multiplayer FPS, FBC Firebreak. We also discussed the adorable dog factor powering The Legend of Baboo along with Wuchang Fallen Feathers, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Alan Wake 2's Lakehouse expansion, Mouse: P.I. for Hire, Subnautica 2, and plenty more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our resident Xbox crew (including Miranda!) reacts to and analyzes the huge Halo news of all future projects being moved to Unreal Engine 5 as well as the studio rebranding from 343 Industries to Halo Studios. We predict what the next mainline Halo game is, what we might get before that, how it ties into a possible PlayStation debut for the franchise, and much more! Download the Opera GX: IGN Edition browser at http://Opera.com/gx/ign Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Xbox crew discusses the new STALKER 2 making-of documentary, and how it's a must-watch even if you aren't interested in the game. Plus: Ubisoft admits that Star Wars Outlaws has underperformed its sales expectations, leading us to suggest where the company should go from here in the bigger picture. We also talk about Tango Gameworks's new owner Krafton's plans for Hi-Fi Rush 2, Obsidian's possible expansion of Pillars of Eternity into a new genre, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bloomberg video game industry reporter Jason Schreier joins us to discuss his new book, Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, and Future of Blizzard Entertainment (out October 8) sharing crazy stories about the prestigious developer that Microsoft just bought as part of their $69 billion acquisition. Plus: Ubisoft delays Assassin's Creed Shadows, Splinter Cell is back...albeit on Netflix, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We open this week's Xbox podcast at IGN by giving our hands-on impressions of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Then we discuss another EA game, Battlefield. We've got new details about the next game in the venerable first-person shooter series, and we talk about what we want out of it and what we think it needs to do in order to get back on top. Plus: more Microsoft layoffs, some good news on the Skate reboot, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We open this week's Xbox podcast by marking Destiny's 10th anniversary and then discussing the present and future for both the long-running shooter and Bungie itself, as well as what's riding on Bungie's next big project in Marathon. Then we give our thoughts on the Minecraft movie teaser before moving into our main topic: the PS5 Pro's widely panned unveiling and what it means for Xbox in both the present and the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's Xbox show delves into two notable games that Xbox boss Phil Spencer discussed having the chance to sign but didn't – plus one crucial one he did. Plus: Black Myth Wukong's Xbox absence is explained, Enotria: The Last Song's developers publicly call out Team Xbox for a lack of support, Stellas impressions of Call of Duty Black Ops 6, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Star Wars Outlaws, arguably the first big game to hit Xbox this Fall season, has arrived, and we've got thoughts on what we've played so far. Plus: we discuss some of the biggest announcements to come out of Gamescom (Mafia: The Old Country, Borderlands 4, and others), which games we're most excited about playing for the remainder of this year, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan and Destin are joined by Spawn on Me's Kahlief Adams to discuss our extended new looks at two of Xbox's biggest upcoming games: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which both Ryan and Kahlief got a lengthy behind-closed-doors look at; and Avowed, which Destin and Kahlief both got to play. We are super excited for both and we want to tell you all about them. Plus: it turns out Indy is a timed exclusive, so we discuss how Xbox fans are feeling and what it signals for the future of the platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s happening, friends? It is a special gamescom edition of Podcast Unlocked. This week, we've constructed for you a very unique gamescom-specific audio episode this week. Our awesome team at gamescom have put together a number of Xbox developer interviews that we’re going to share with you back to back. Coming up, we have interviews with the developers of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Monster Hunter Wilds, Diablo IV, Marvel Rivals, Fragpunk, Civilization VII, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. Look for another regular episode of Podcast Unlocked, where we will dig into all sorts of stuff, including my behind-closed-doors demo of Indiana Jones, which I am unbelievably thrilled about. We’ll talk about all that and more, but for now, enjoy these developer interviews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We've played a bunch of the upcoming Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and we want to tell you all about why we love what we've played so far. Plus: one of our most anticipated games gets delayed to 2025 but we're happy it'll get the time it needs AND avoid the Fall games rush, Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks gets saved by PUBG publisher Krafton and we're pretty sure we know what game they'll make next, we daydream about Batman games on Xbox now that WB is open to licensing its IPs to other game developers, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Xbox crew discusses why Avowed's delay out of the Q4 holiday season and into early 2025, and why the "problem" of it getting delayed is actually a blessing in disguise for Obsidian's eagerly anticipated first-person RPG. Plus: what Xbox's near-term lineup looks like now after the Avowed and STALKER 2 delays, one of last year's best games comes to Xbox One for those who haven't upgraded to a Series X or Series S yet, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parris Lilly from Gamertag Radio joins Ryan and Destin to discuss a number of Xbox topics this week, from the cancellation of the Paramount+ Halo TV series – which leads to a discussion about how important of a franchise Halo is to Xbox these days, and what the most important franchises are to Microsoft now – to Xbox's mixed-results financials, the devastating layoffs at Bungie, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xbox just dropped the best gaming controller we've ever seen in the literal form of Deadpool's ass! We discuss how much we adore Xbox's cake-tastic new gamepad and implore Microsoft and Marvel to make more of the one-off sweepstakes prize so we can buy one. Plus: we make our Xbox Gamescom predictions for next month's big event, Xbox Game Pass's upcoming lineup has a head-scratching gap in it, and more! Presented by Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:10 - Deadpool Xbox Controller 00:10:59 - Wendy's Saucy Nuggs Featuring Unnecessary Inventions 00:12:09 - The Underwhelming Xbox 360 Blades Dashboard 00:16:40 - Coming to Game Pass 00:24:42 - gamescom Predictions 00:45:28 - EA Sports College Football 25 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We had some fun this week and talked about 10 dream Xbox games we'd love to see Microsoft's massive collection of studios make, from a Halo horror game to giving one particular underrated Activision studio a chance to crack the code on a big-budget Superman game. Plus: Xbox raises Game Pass prices and reshuffles some of its tiers in a frustrating and confusing way, and more! Presented by Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is all about the remakes we're cautiously optimistic about (Assassin's Creed...but which ones?), the remasters we're excited about (Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster), and the reboots we're left scratching our heads over (Crazy Taxi). Plus: what we expect from the just-confirmed Resident Evil 9, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices