Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

The weekly DF Direct returns once again! This time, John, Alex and Rich tackle the recent MacBook Pro reveals and what it means for Apple and gaming, there's discussion on CD Projekt RED's next-gen patches for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3, while Half-Life 2 gets upgraded for Steam Deck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Alex raves about Star Citizen, John has an emotional moment playing Forza Horizon 5 and... what on earth's going on with Metroid Dread performance on some Switch consoles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John, Rich and Alex share their thoughts on Halo Infinite's Big Team Battle mode and their overall opinions on the game's flighting process, the internals of the Switch OLED Model's dock are discussed and Valve's video showing the insides of the Steam Deck proves as frustrating as it is illuminating. All of this and more in the new DF Direct! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The latest DF Direct Weekly tackles the online bunfight between Nintendo and Bloomberg about the existence of a '4K Switch', goes in-depth on HDR and dashboard changes on Xbox consoles and examines Nvidia DLAA... what is it? Rich Leadbetter, John Linneman and Alex Battaglia perpetrate this one.00:00:00 Introductions00:00:39 Nintendo Switch 4K denials00:06:49 Xbox Dolby Vision support + 4K dashboard00:18:17 TGS 2021 VR experience00:27:40 Nvidia DLAA Reaction00:33:51 DF Content Discussion: Unity 50fps issue fix?00:40:36 DF Content Discussion: The Medium PS500:46:56 DF Content Discussion: The Touryst 8K 60fps00:55:53 DF Supporter Question 01: Why not release physical games on USB?01:00:36 DF Supporter Question 02: Why has there not been a CRT resurgence?01:04:09 DF Supporter Question 03: What do you see as potential use cases in future games to utilize many random read IOPS?01:10:09 DF Supporter Question 04: Can the AI tech used in DLSS and DLAA be transferred to other graphical improvements?01:12:51 DF Supporter Question 05: Have you ever considered filming the DF Weekly on Fridays?01:15:33 DF Supporter Question 06: What is the biggest technical issues you face creating content?01:24:00 DF Supporter Question 07: Do we pray too much at the altar of ray tracing? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's all change in the weekly line-up for this episode! John Linneman and Audi Sorlie are joined by Coury Carlson from My Life In Gaming to discuss the latest gaming news, kicking off with a monstrous discussion on this week's Nintendo Direct.00:00:00 Introductions00:01:46 Nintendo Direct Reaction00:35:56 PlayStation 4 CBOMB Fixed!00:42:36 Is Klonoa coming back?00:47:37 Is Marvel vs Capcom 2 coming back?00:53:32 Beavis And Butthead Adventure on PS1 gets English translation!00:59:44 Mick McGinty has passed away01:05:34 DF Content Discussion01:17:03 Patreon Supporter Q1: I only have two Patreon memberships, MLIG and DF. You guys have the best content. Do you ever feel a tension between what content you want to make and what you feel your subscribers want?01:26:47 Patreon Supporter Q2: Could timed exclusivity be utilised as a way to mitigate heavy workloads and crunch for developers?01:28:53 Patreon Supporter Q3: Where were you when Metal Gear Solid 2 was released? Or alternatively, can you recall your first ever session with it? 01:36:13 Patreon Supporter Q4: If a theoretical PS5 Slim were to come out in a few years, do you think there's a chance it will be all-digital only with no disc option?01:40:23 Patreon Supporter Q5: How do you set-up a Dolby Atmos surround system? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Rich, John and Alex for discussion of the latest tech and gaming news! This week, the team discuss the PS5 CFI-1100 hook-up with Gamers Nexus, and the system software performance benchmarks hinting at a small boost to PS5 game frame-rates in very select circumstances, perhaps related to RT titles? GT7's online campaign and RT features are discussed and much more - along with tributes paid to an icon of the home computer industry.00:00:00 Introductions00:00:22 PlayStation CFI-1100/Gamers Nexus Collab/Firmware Perf Upgrade?00:12:51 GT7 Online only situation00:22:06 Intel slide leak00:27:57 Steam Deck dev kits are now out00:30:37 New Nintendo update with Bluetooth Audio!00:34:45 iPhone 13 is out00:42:00 Sir Clive Sinclair has passed00:47:55 AV Receiver HDMI update00:55:40 DF Supporter Q1: would a custom 8c/16t cpu and 4 teraflop GPU be fitable in a mobile power envelope?00:57:19 DF Supporter Q2: What are the DF team's favourite or most disappointing remakes so far?01:04:57 DF Supporter Q3: Is it always fair to expect ultrawide support as a standard feature on PC games?01:09:58 DF Supporter Q4: Why do you think most games aren't currently utilizing the hardware blocks for IO on PS5?01:11:32 DF Supporter Q5: What do you think is the most important next-gen feature developers should focus on?01:14:25 DF Supporter Q6: Would you ever release any content that goes into depth on what's involved in producing content?01:18:21 DF Supporter Q7: Do you think that full path-tracing is the "endgame", with traditional rasterization becoming obsolete, at some point of time down the road?01:22:57 DF Supporter Q8: Why do poor PC ports continue to plague Japanese developed games?01:26:59 DF Supporter Q9: In your opinion, when does the game become retro? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John, Rich and Alex reconvene for this week's DF Direct Weekly, talking about the new PS5 CFI-1100 model, whether Sony's $10 PS4 to PS5 upgrade policy is justified, plus discussing Alan Wake and Quake remasters!00:00:00 Introductions00:00:42 New PS5 model00:11:14 Horizon Forbidden West pricing confusion00:21:17 Alan Wake Remastered00:32:18 Quake Remastered00:42:42 Little Big Adventure returns00:44:39 DF Content Discussion: Best of all the animals?00:46:16 DF Content Discussion: DF Retro reveal00:52:47 DF Content Discussion: Patreon update and retooling.00:55:38 DF Supporter Q1: Would you rather a theoretical PS5 Pro doubled the computer units to 72 or added some kind of machine learning core for better AI upscaling?01:03:58 DF Supporter Q2: What are the exact differences between mesh shaders and primitive shaders?01:06:25 DF Supporter Q3: Is getting a reasonably optimised performance from newer PC games starting to require increased hobbiest/technical knowledge again creating a higher barrier to entry for new PC gamers?01:18:07 DF Supporter Q4: With console reviews of late you often mention running a game not at the maximum resolution supported by a console. This confused me somewhat in that having my Series X connected to a 4K display and then setting output to 1080p just gives me a poor quality image01:24:04 DF Supporter Q5: DLSS and performance drawback/gains01:26:47 DF Supporter Q6: Are there any plans to include Crysis Warhead in the Crysis Trilogy collection? If not, why?01:28:28 DF Supporter Q7: Richard does not seem as attracted to older games, despite the fact that he lived and worked through basically the entire era of 2D gaming. Why?01:39:12 Credits Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think of it as an E3 conference pushed out a couple of months down the road: we got to see God of Ragnarok and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 for the first time, we saw an extended edit of Gran Turismo 7 and Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy are getting remastered - and yes, there's a big, big bunch of cross-gen wares coming our way.00:00 Introduction + Grand Theft Auto 503:39 Gran Turismo 709:33 Uncharted 4 + Lost Legacy PS5 and PC Remasters17:45 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 + Marvel's Wolverine23:13 God of War Ragnarok28:06 Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Remaster33:19 Project Eve29:54 Forspoken42:24 Tchia - A Game Inspired by New Caledonia49:13 Trailer after Trailer after Trailer after Trailer + Conclusions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the 27th DF Direct Weekly! This time it's John Linneman, Audi Sorlie and - of course - Alex Battaglia talking about the biggest gaming and tech topics of the week including the early access footage to Dead Space Remake, taking a look at the WATA grading situation and discussing the number of departure of Japanese talent to join Chinese backed gaming enterprises. All that and so much more!00:00:00 Introduction00:01:31 Dead Space Remake early showcase00:11:19 WATA Games Controversy00:22:08 Sony announced PlayStation Showcase for Sept. 900:26:04 Psychonauts 2 impressions00:34:26 Breeding Stud Appreciation Fest00:35:13 Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60fps patch00:37:47 SEGA and Bandai Namco talent leaving for Chinese game start-ups00:44:16 Game Boy games coming to Nintendo Switch?00:47:23 DF Content Discussion00:52:48 DF Supporter Q1: Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the look of 360/PS3 games on non-native panels (eg 768p, 1080p, and 4K). Is this just nostalgia goggles?00:54:44 DF Supporter Q2: How do you gentlemen think the Big Three (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) feel about upscalers such as they OSSC, and RetroTink 5X?00:56:48 DF Supporter Q3: Curious how Alex keeps up with the new and emergent technical aspects of game development?00:59:05 DF Supporter Q4: Have there been any games that you've had to play for the channel that have pleasantly surprised you?01:04:43 DF Supporter Q5: Why do you think AF levels are still kept so low on console?01:07:31 DF Supporter Q6: As a person who hopes to someday get into video game journalism, what advice would you give?01:13:21 DF Supporter Q7: Are there plans to do an episode of Digital Foundry to bring attention to the fan-made project Shenmue: The Dragon and Phoenix Collection? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Gamescom week, there are tons of new game trailers to discuss, plus Horizon Zero Dawn has a 60fps patch! And what should we make of the RTX 3090 Super rumour doing the roads? Join Rich, Alex and Tom for the week's tech chat.00:00:00 Introductions00:00:48 Gamescom 2021: DokeV00:07:28 Gamescom 2021: Forza Horizon 500:14:21 Gamescom 2021: Call of Duty: Vanguard00:19:52 Gamescom 2021: Dying Light 200:25:03 Gamescom 2021: Halo Infinite00:28:47 Gamescom 2021: Horizon Forbidden West/Horizon Zero Dawn 60fps patch00:32:30 Gamescom 2021: RTX announcements00:34:52 RTX 3090 Super rumour00:39:14 DF Content Discussion: Intel Arc GPU Interview00:51:04 DF Content Discussion: Little Nightmares 200:55:20 DF Content Discussion: Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60fps patch00:59:47 DF Content Discussion: Tom Petersen deepfake?01:05:14 DF Supporter Q1: What do you think is the reason why we haven’t seen more games being FPS boosted since the 70+ drop and do you think we will ever see FPS boost for Xbox 360 games?01:09:28 DF Supporter Q2: Whatever happened to the Microsoft resolution boost feature?01:10:39 DF Supporter Q3: If both consoles are using RDNA2 and HDMI 2.1 then why doesn't the PS5 have VRR? / Do you think we will eventually see AI upscaling on console?01:20:33 DF Supporter Q4: Will there ever be a time where turning on Ray Tracing may end up increasing performance instead of decreasing it?01:25:24 DF Supporter Q5: Now that the Steam Deck looks to be the first mass market PC that runs games exclusively on Linux by default, have you thought about covering Proton at least in a special or as a "standard" in all future reviews?01:31:00 DF Supporter Q6: Is there a chance the team could start looking into input lag on multiplat releases?01:32:27 DF Supporter Q7: 1440p60 Native vs 2160p60 checkerboard pros and cons and which one you prefer?01:36:52 Endgame Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices