Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

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 Introductions

00:01:46 Nintendo Direct Reaction

00:35:56 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 away

01:05:34 DF Content Discussion

01:17:03 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?

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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 Introductions

00:00:22 PlayStation CFI-1100/Gamers Nexus Collab/Firmware Perf Upgrade?

00:12:51 GT7 Online only situation

00:22:06 Intel slide leak

00:27:57 Steam Deck dev kits are now out

00:30:37 New Nintendo update with Bluetooth Audio!

00:34:45 iPhone 13 is out

00:42:00 Sir Clive Sinclair has passed

00:47:55 AV Receiver HDMI update

00:55:40 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?

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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 Introductions

00:00:42 New PS5 model

00:11:14 Horizon Forbidden West pricing confusion

00:21:17 Alan Wake Remastered

00:32:18 Quake Remastered

00:42:42 Little Big Adventure returns

00:44:39 DF Content Discussion: Best of all the animals?

00:46:16 DF Content Discussion: DF Retro reveal

00:52:47 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 image

01:24:04 DF Supporter Q5: DLSS and performance drawback/gains

01:26:47 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

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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 5

03:39 Gran Turismo 7

09:33 Uncharted 4 + Lost Legacy PS5 and PC Remasters

17:45 Marvel's Spider-Man 2 + Marvel's Wolverine

23:13 God of War Ragnarok

28:06 Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Remaster

33:19 Project Eve

29:54 Forspoken

42:24 Tchia - A Game Inspired by New Caledonia

49:13 Trailer after Trailer after Trailer after Trailer + Conclusions

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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 Introduction

00:01:31 Dead Space Remake early showcase

00:11:19 WATA Games Controversy

00:22:08 Sony announced PlayStation Showcase for Sept. 9

00:26:04 Psychonauts 2 impressions

00:34:26 Breeding Stud Appreciation Fest

00:35:13 Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60fps patch

00:37:47 SEGA and Bandai Namco talent leaving for Chinese game start-ups

00:44:16 Game Boy games coming to Nintendo Switch?

00:47:23 DF Content Discussion

00:52:48 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?

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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 Introductions

00:00:48 Gamescom 2021: DokeV

00:07:28 Gamescom 2021: Forza Horizon 5

00:14:21 Gamescom 2021: Call of Duty: Vanguard

00:19:52 Gamescom 2021: Dying Light 2

00:25:03 Gamescom 2021: Halo Infinite

00:28:47 Gamescom 2021: Horizon Forbidden West/Horizon Zero Dawn 60fps patch

00:32:30 Gamescom 2021: RTX announcements

00:34:52 RTX 3090 Super rumour

00:39:14 DF Content Discussion: Intel Arc GPU Interview

00:51:04 DF Content Discussion: Little Nightmares 2

00:55:20 DF Content Discussion: Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60fps patch

00:59:47 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

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John Linneman, Alex Battaglia and Audi Sorlie take point on what may well be the longest and most packed DF Direct to date with all of the latest tech news, behind-the-scene project info and of course, questions from backers of the DF Supporter Program are answered!

00:00:00 Introduction

00:01:20 Intel XeSS

00:07:24 New Black Myth Wukong trailer

00:14:03 Pokemon Legends: Arceus reveal

00:21:57 Tales of Arise demo XSX vs PS5 impressions

00:30:53 DuckStation on Series S: 4K overclocked PlayStation 1 on Xbox

00:39:36 Ubisoft crossover season, Resident Evil x Rainbow Six x Watch Dogs x Assassin Creed

00:45:40 Shining Force: Heroes of Light and Darkness teaser trailer reveal

00:54:51 DF Content: Crysis coverage and feedback

01:15:04 DF Content: DF Retro updates

01:19:28 DF Supporter Q1: Who's the best gamer amongst the DF team?

01:23:28 DF Supporter Q2: The old testament

01:28:55 DF Supporter Q3: I was just wondering if Alex will be doing a video on exactly what sort of PC you need to play Microsoft Flight Simulator on console equivalent settings?

01:32:01 DF Supporter Q4: Any chance of a video building a spec for spec PC and pitting against the PS5/XSX in a performance video in various games?

01:36:17 DF Supporter Q5: Does setting the resolution on a PS3 to 480p and connecting to a CRT improve performance on PS3 games?

01:39:32 DF Supporter Q6: When do you think we could see a PS5 Slim or smaller Xbox Series X? 

01:42:35 DF Supporter Q7: PlayStation equivalent to FPS Boost?

01:46:29 Endgame

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Join Rich Leadbetter, John Linneman and Alex Battaglia for the latest DF tech chat - the team tried putting an Xbox SSD in a PS5 to disastrously disappointing results, before moving on to cover Abandoned, its disastrous trailer reveal and the conspiracy theories surrounding it, before moving onto the problematic Radeon RX 6600 XT. There's more GPU talk as Intel's move into the graphics market gets our attention and much, much more.

00:00:00 Introductions

00:01:15 Does the Xbox Series SSD work in PS5?

00:05:14 The Abandoned situation - marketing fail, conspiracy theories, trailer content

00:15:03 Radeon RX 6600 XT Misfire - And What Happened to Cheap 1080p Gaming GPUs?

00:34:08 Xenoblade Chronicles 3 accidentally revealed?

00:37:42 Anton Kaplanyan joins Intel

00:45:56 A500 Mini announced

00:51:18 Control on Series X fixed?

00:54:40 Black Frame Insertion update

01:04:41 Future guest hosts for DF Direct Weekly?

01:06:36 DF Supporter Q1: Would you guys do a deep dive on eGPUs over Thunderbolt?

01:10:50 DF Supporter Q2: what should be the benefit of adaptive sync enabled vs disabled for a situation where the game is rendering at ~100 FPS on a 144 hz monitor?

01:14:16 DF Supporter Q3: Are there any current or emerging technologies in the PC space that you see as providing a superior experience that simply isn't possible on today's consoles?

01:18:34 DF Supporter Q4: Whether a game using upscaling/reconstruction techniques should be considered or called 4K even though its not being rendered natively at 4K?

01:25:19 DF Supporter Q5: What are you guys’ thoughts on so called AI upscaling for things like full motion video content?

01:30:37 DF Supporter Q6: Would Digital Foundry be interested in doing a deep dive into render latency reduction?

01:35:27 DF Supporter Q7: Does Rich miss being in the office with other team members in any way?

01:43:20 Ending

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Somehow we managed to convince a guest to join us on DF Direct Weekly! Sam Machkovech from Ars Technica shows us around the Playdate handheld and joins in discussing the news of the week, bringing with him a 'special' bonus Q+A for Rich...

00:00:00 Introductions

00:01:55 Playdate hands-on crankin'

00:20:53 Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster impressions

00:34:59 The State of VR

00:51:26 3DFX... what?

00:57:01 Zool ReDimensioned announced

01:00:44 Sam's impressions on Flight Simulator

01:07:09 DF Retro: Super Star Wars feedback

01:10:31 SAM GETS RICH: Sam's Rootin Tootin Big America Cowboy Lightning Round of Questions

01:17:29 Supporter Q1: If a game uses normal rasterization and isn't using something like DLSS, are Nvidia's tensor cores basically sitting idle?

01:20:09 Supporter Q2: With all the other remakes of retro consoles on the market, do you see an option for DF to look into more alternative hardware going forward?

01:22:29 Supporter Q3: I've seen a tweet about how Zelda Wii U Tech Demo looks "better" than actual zelda games, can you explain the differences on a video between BoTW and this demo?

01:28:31 Supporter Q4: What one game in your opinion changed the gaming landscape the most?

01:31:01 Supporter Q5: Is it possible/probable that we could see tech like DLSS used to improve the experience of streamed video?

01:32:58 Supporter Q6: do you expect Nintendo to make any OS changes to prevent OLED burn-in or image retention?

01:39:38 End Game

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DF Direct returns, with John, Rich and Alex sharing their thoughts on Flight Simulator, The Ascent, NEW Mortal Shell DLC, the Radeon RX 6600XT and a fantastic new addition to the MiSTer ecosystem! NOTE: The RX 6600XT has an MSRP of $379, not the stated $349.

00:00:00 Introductions

00:00:55 Flight Simulator on Xbox Series, our impressions

00:18:24 The Ascent review and feedback

00:27:06 MORTAL SHELL DLC

00:29:13 AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT Revealed

00:36:21 MiSTer console casing

00:41:12 DLSS SDK release

00:44:58 Oculus Touch ring cracking

00:50:29 DF Retro Super Star Wars + Reveal of next month episode

00:55:46 DF Retro Play: N64 Futuristic Racers

00:59:13 Supporter Q1: Are there any “holy grails” from offline CG rendering that you’re still waiting to be implemented in games?

01:01:44 Supporter Q2: Do you think physichs and AI will ever start to be at the forefront again?

01:08:12 Supporter Q3: Will the RT performance of the consoles be left in the dust once AMD/Nvidia really hit their stride with hardware RT?

01:13:41 Supporter Q4: As soon as this cross-gen period is over, do you think we will be back to being stuck in 1080p/30fps hell?

01:17:15 Supporter Q5: What are some of the more recent games out today that you most look forward to playing on high end hard hardware 5 to 10 years from now?

01:19:45 Supporter Q6: Given the increasing number of streaming- based switch games, are you planning any performance and/or latency analyses?

01:21:32 Supporter Q6 Part Deux: Any plans for more FSR vs DLSS analyses now when we got games that support both?

01:26:37 Supporter Q7: I’ve had a chance to try DLSS and FSR in some of the games. Is there any way to properly compare the compute perf or quantify graphical quality delivered?

01:30:25 BREAKING NEWS: Sony Beta Firmware to allow Internal SSD Expansion

01:36:51 And now, the conclusion

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