Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

In a brand new, DF Direct Special we find Alex, Rich and Oliver confirming the leaked technical specifications for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro console, we talk you through what the various spec points mean in terms of the gameplay experience, we go deep on ray tracing and machine learning-based upscaling and we reveal some new information about the new console based on recent developer disclosures.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:01:43 The CPU: What's Changed?

0:16:01 GPU Performance Boosts and Architecture

0:27:45 Ray Tracing: Really 2x to 4x Faster?

0:36:38 PSSR Upscaling and Machine Learning Performance

0:46:53 Additional Memory for Games

0:50:16 Closing Thoughts: What Do We Make of PS5 Pro So Far?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rich is still trapped in a white room with two plants, but the Direct discussions continue regardless. Oliver's been checking out Rise of the Ronin on PlayStation 5, Alex has much to say about Nvidia's DLSS-based GDC reveals, while Rich is intrigued by Intel's latest PresentMon 2.0 features. Meanwhile, the surprise release - and withdrawal - of the PS5 Stellar Blade demo raises more questions about our digital library future.

0:00:00 Introduction and DF merchandise

0:02:26 News 01: Rise of the Ronin preview

0:11:40 News 02: Nvidia announces upcoming game enhancements

0:35:55 News 03: Intel unveils PresentMon 2.0

0:51:08 News 04: Stellar Blade demo released, quickly pulled

0:56:48 News 05: Peter Moore questions the future of consoles

1:12:11 Supporter Q1: Should console platforms let you impose frame-rate caps yourself?

1:19:39 Supporter Q2: What rendering tech will we see pushed after path tracing?

1:27:22 Supporter Q3: Should more developers expose debug menus in their games?

1:31:43 Supporter Q4: What storage tech do you work off of?

1:39:38 Supporter Q5: What would Digital Foundry have looked like in the 1990s?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Trapped in a plain white room with only two plants for company, an on-location Rich dials into the next DF Direct Weekly for salvation. Joining him this week as John and Alex, discussing the shutdown of the Yuzu and Citra emulators, the latest Sony PC ports from Nixxes, the Xbox partner showcase and hints of machine learning-based upscaling from AMD. Meanwhile, John's beard attracts an extraordinary level of attention.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:01:30 News 01: Nintendo forces Yuzu, Citra shutdown

0:28:16 News 02: Horizon PC specs released, Ghost of Tsushima PC announced

0:39:29 News 03: Xbox partner showcase drops!

0:58:53 News 04: Dragon’s Dogma 2 has unlocked frame-rate on consoles

1:09:03 News 05: Footage emerges from cancelled TimeSplitters game

1:15:30 News 06: AMD teases AI upscaling… but what is it?

1:26:42 Should I buy an OLED Steam Deck now, or wait for new portable Windows handhelds?

1:33:56 If cost were no issue, what VR headset would be best for PC gaming?

1:37:23 How does DLSS quality at 1440p compare to DLSS performance at 4K?

1:42:28 Do you think Sony will release their own dedicated gaming handheld?

1:48:20 How does John feel about being labeled as a television producer?

1:49:00 Did John and Marc get up to any shenanigans in Germany?

1:52:16 What’s the longest John has gone without shaving his beard?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another big DF Direct Weekly sees John, Rich and Alex tackle the massive issue of lay-offs in the industry along with the welcome response from some developers in taking back control of their own destinies. Meanwhile, the team reacts to THAT Kingmakers trailer, while assessing Nintendo's legal action against the Yuzu Switch emulator. Finally, what is DirectSR?

0:00:00 Introduction

0:01:42 News 01: Massive gaming layoffs at Sony and EA

0:28:39 News 02: Studios take back control

0:39:37 John’s game buying interlude

0:41:59 News 03: Kingmakers trailer impresses

0:49:03 News 04: Nintendo seeking Yuzu emulator shutdown

0:57:12 News 05: Pentiment PS5 doubles Xbox version FPS target

1:07:38 News 06: DirectSR streamlines PC upsampling

1:16:08 Supporter Q1: Is the 5700X3D a good upgrade over a 2700X on an older system?

1:21:04 Supporter Q2: What kind of performance do you expect from a PS5 Pro?

1:26:35 Supporter Q3: When games are fully path traced, what options do you expect to see in their graphics menus?

1:30:27 Supporter Q4: How do you think the recent rounds of layoffs will impact QA?

1:33:45 Supporter Q5: Could a next-gen Xbox be much more powerful than its PlayStation counterpart?

1:41:03 Supporter Q6: Why don’t we see more physics-oriented features like PhysX today?

1:50:48 John’s next DF Retro!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The news comes thick and fast this week as John, Alex and Rich discuss topics as diverse as the Switch 2's mooted 'delay' until Q1 2025, the fall-out of Microsoft's multi-platform strategy in the wake of the first releases, and Nvidia finally doing something about its ancient control panel with its new app. The implications of the PlayStation Portal hack are dissected and the logistics of PSVR2 support for PC are discussed in depth. Then finally, Rich reveals the results of BRAND NEW testing of the Radeon 7. PS5 vs R7... which is best? Many thanks to DF Supporter Chriz86 for helping us out on that one!

0:00:00 Introduction

0:01:28 News 01: Switch 2 reportedly delayed until 2025

0:13:08 News 02: Microsoft multi-plat games revealed

0:29:55 News 03: Nvidia debuts new all-in-one PC gaming app

0:47:43 News 04: PlayStation Portal hacked

0:54:31 News 05: PSVR2 support coming to PC?

1:05:57 News 06: Radeon 7 re-tested in 2024!

1:20:19 Supporter Q1: In the age of ray tracing, why do so many games forego shiny mirrors?

1:25:44 Supporter Q2: Is cross-gen game scalability really that transformative?

1:32:50 Supporter Q3: Could Game Pass become a reality on PlayStation and Switch?

1:38:55 Supporter Q4: Could a future Xbox lower-spec console be a handheld?

1:50:25 Supporter Q5: Is the traditional console generation model breaking down?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Xbox finally responded to the rumours and speculations surrounding its multi-platform plans, while Sony boldly announced that we are entering the latter stages of the PlayStation 5's lifecycle - and that new initiatives are required to increase profit margins. John, Rich and Alex share their thoughts on the announcements and strategies before moving on to other topics. John's been working on a new modern retro game - Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore - while a defective LCD screen sees Rich 'downgrading' from 8K to 4K and embarking on a one-man marketing campaign for Facebook Marketplace in the process.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:02:14 News 01: Microsoft explains multiplatform strategy

0:45:50 News 02: Sony: PS5 sales have peaked

1:05:22 News 03: Rich ‘downgrades’ from 8K to 4K

1:17:15 News 04: Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore released

1:23:01 Supporter Q1: Why don’t more games support Dolby Vision and HDR 10+?

1:32:41 Supporter Q2: Given the limited power of the consoles, should developers reconsider including performance modes?

1:41:16 Supporter Q3: Given Nvidia’s tech lead in GPUs, aren’t they an attractive choice for a next-gen console?

1:47:00 Supporter Q4: Can Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s image quality issues be fixed with a quick patch, or is there a more fundamental limit?

1:53:09 Supporter Q5: Whatever happened to the Vulkan graphics API?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The week in gaming news was dominated by Xbox Multi-Platform Game debate, outrage and meltdowns - and we can't quite believe what we were seeing. John, Rich and Alex share their views before moving to other topics: we go hands-on with Helldivers 2, check out the FF7 Rebirth demo and John shares his excitement over Penny's Big Breakaway. Meanwhile, DF Supporters strike gold once again with a range of questions and discussion points.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:00:52 News 01: Is Microsoft embracing multiplatform gaming?

0:43:52 News 02: Hands-on with Helldivers 2

0:54:41 News 03: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth impressions!

1:05:03 News 04: Penny’s Big Breakaway preview

1:11:42 Supporter Q1: What’s the minimum advisable frame-rate when using frame gen with a controller?

1:17:50 Supporter Q2: Is Nvidia purposefully limiting frame gen to the RTX 4000 series to increase sales?

1:27:18 Supporter Q3: Given that the Series S is the best-selling current-gen Xbox, should we consider it the baseline experience this gen?

1:34:14 Supporter Q4: Has the use of FSR been good or bad for console gaming?

1:43:14 Supporter Q5: Why doesn’t AMD often pioneer new graphics techniques like Nvidia?

1:51:44 Supporter Q6: Can John recommend any 3D Sonic titles?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another big, big episode of DF Direct Weekly as the team share their positive views on Sony's State of Play January 2024 presentation. Meanwhile, John and Rich have been playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and have much to say about it. The team also tackle the mounting evidence that Switch 2 will ship with an eight-inch LCD. The lack of OLED is a bit disappointing, but more to the point, the sheer size of the screen may have significant ramifications for the design of the overall product. And finally, a happy outcome is revealed for one of John's game preservation worries.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:01:00 News 01: State of Play reaction: Death Stranding 2

0:17:45 News 01: Stellar Blade, Dragon’s Dogma 2

0:28:50 News 01: Sonic X Shadow Generations, Judas

0:38:21 News 01: Metro Awakening, Until Dawn

0:50:23 News 01: Silent Hill: The Short Message, Silent Hill 2

1:01:48 News 02: Suicide Squad impressions!

1:19:14 News 03: New Switch rumoured to have 8 inch LCD

1:31:02 News 04: GT Sport patched with offline save support

1:37:49 Supporter Q1: How can Epic’s TSR beat DLSS 2?

1:42:00 Supporter Q2: Why does per-pixel motion blur look good, while display sample-and-hold blur looks bad?

1:45:50 Supporter Q3: Will frame generation make VRR obsolete?

1:49:07 Supporter Q4: What speed of hardware adoption should we expect from gamers?

1:54:27 Supporter Q5: Rich, when did you become interested in PC hardware and technology?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hitting its 'maximum break' 147th edition, the DF team reconvene to discuss the charms and the jank of Palworld, Capcom's puzzling DRM strategy and the wonders of Tekken 8. Meanwhile, Alex has been testing AMD's AFMF frame generation technology, John's dug deep into input lag analysis - and Rich is distressed to discover that his Radeon 7 graphics card doesn't work any more.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:00:54 News 01: What’s up with Palworld?

0:25:45 News 02: Capcom adds Enigma DRM to older games

0:35:31 News 03: AMD releases Fluid Motion Frames tech

0:52:30 News 04: Horizon Forbidden West PC features detailed

1:05:22 News 05: Tekken 8: a superb fighter

1:15:53 News 06: Input lag deep dive

1:32:52 Supporter Q1: What would you recommend spec wise for an upper-midrange PC?

1:37:08 Supporter Q2: Should id Software commercialize their id Tech engine?

1:40:12 Supporter Q3: Is the time of 1080p monitors over?

1:43:55 Supporter Q14 Could Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony develop their own Proton-like translation layers to run games from other platforms?

1:46:55 Supporter Q5: With John’s new Direct background, isn’t he worried about burn-in?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Microsoft's latest Developer_Direct makes the right impression with the DF team this week, with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle in particular attracting unrestricted praise. Meanwhile, we've got to talk about what's happening with physical media releases on Xbox, there are many questions to answer about the Nvidia RTX 40-series Super refresh and John's not happy about Bulletstorm VR.

0:00:00 Introduction

0:00:44 News 01: Developer_Direct 2024 reaction: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

0:21:06 News 01: Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

0:33:41 News 01: Ara: History Untold

0:39:35 News 01: Visions of Mana

0:46:15 News 01: Avowed

0:54:03 News 02: Hellblade 2 to go physical-only

1:10:49 News 03: Is The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered worthwhile?

1:23:08 News 04: RTX 40 Super series reaction + Q&A

1:45:50 News 05: Bulletstorm VR is a disappointment

1:53:05 Supporter Q1: How much manpower does it take to produce current-gen 60fps patches for consoles?

1:57:32 Supporter Q2: Was 2023 the year of the in-house engine?

2:04:24 Supporter Q3: Will 2024 be the year of Linux gaming?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.