Stay ConnectedWhen it comes to video games and the hardware and tech we play them on, the team at Digital Foundry are unparalleled experts. Each week, DF Direct breaks down the latest breakthroughs in video game visuals, sound, and performance happening on PlayStation, Xbox, the most powerful PC setups, and more. If you’re a geek for graphics, GPUs, or just video games in general, DF Direct will help you get the most out of your gaming setup.
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PlayStation lead system architect Mark Cerny has just 'quote-unquote' dropped a big new deep dive into the technology of the PlayStation 5 Pro. Oliver Mackenzie had the chance to see the presentation several weeks ago and we have an interview on our YouTube channel - but the Digital Foundry team have much to talk about based on the presentation - and here they are to do just that.
00:00 Introduction
01:53 GPU overview: RDNA 2.x, 16.7 TF
06:32 Ray tracing improvements
15:01 Machine learning and PSSR
26:27 The future: Amethyst, ML exploration, and next-gen
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Alert status is elevated to GEOFFCON 1 as we react to the major reveals - and other games that caught our attention - at The Game Awards 2024. What can we learn from The Witcher 4's cinematic trailer and the RTX 5090 that powered it? Is Intergalactic from Naughty Dog really rendering in real-time at 4K 60 with ray tracing? How good does Mafia: The Old Country look and just how wonderful was Split Fiction? Does Elden Ring Nightreign exhibit any evidence of technical progression whatsoever? All this and more in the new Direct, plus Oliver's analysis of the new PS5 Pro updates for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:25 News 1: The Game Awards 2024 - The Witcher 4
0:15:07 Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
0:30:04 Split Fiction
0:37:33 Elden Ring Nightreign
0:42:57 Mafia: The Old Country
0:47:53 John’s picks: Ninja Gaiden, Virtua Fighter, Project Century, Turok. Onimusha, Okami, new GenDesign game
1:01:20 Oliver’s picks: FF7R PC, TLOU Pt 2 PC, Screamer, Sonic Racing
1:13:50 News 2: Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws PS5 Pro fixes tested!
1:26:31 News 3: LG discontinues Blu-Ray players
1:40:30 Supporter Q1: Will Doom: The Dark Ages have the same RT features as Indiana Jones? And should id Tech be licensed to other developers?
1:47:27 Supporter Q2: Why isn’t there a Cyberpunk 2077 PS5 Pro patch?
1:52:05 Supporter Q3: Should we be concerned about the Arc B580’s die size?
1:59:03 Supporter Q4: What would a hypothetical Arc B770 look like?
2:06:58 Supporter Q5: If Geoff was to give an award for game engine utilization, who would win?
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In a new, gigantor-scale edition of DF Direct Weekly, John and Rich celebrate PlayStation's 30th Anniversary, Alex joins to discuss Indiana Jones on PC with its 'actually quite reasonable' specs, while Oliver and Tom discuss potential Steam Machines, Lenovo Legion Go S, the latest Intel GPU announcements, Warhammer 40K Darktide on PS5 and Pro and... much, much more!
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:14 News 1: Sony celebrates PlayStation’s 30th anniversary
0:24:09 News 2: Valve branding guidelines suggest third party SteamOS hardware
0:37:05 News 3: Black Ops 6 on PS5 Pro tested + developer info!
0:48:48 News 4: Intel reveals B580, B570 GPUs
0:58:28 News 5: Lenovo Legion Go S leaks
1:09:44 News 6: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide PS5 Pro tested
1:25:29 News 7: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reaction!
1:46:23 Supporter Q1: Is the industry finally moving to mandatory hardware RT?
1:54:50 Supporter Q2: Can Microsoft minimize hassles if they move towards Windows for their console releases?
2:03:05 Supporter Q3: For midrange GPUs, is it better to use temporal upscaling to 1440p or 4K?
2:10:23 Supporter Q4: Will Switch 2 games output to 720p or 900p in portable mode for performance reasons?
2:17:18 Supporter Q5: Will upcoming portable consoles be supported like the Series S?
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Another gigantic edition of DF Direct Weekly sees Rich, Alex and John tackle the PlayStation Handheld rumours (no, it won't run native PS5 games), problems with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora's PS5 Pro patch, updates to Star Wars Outlaws and the outrageously 'familiar' Light of Motiram - featuring the four horsemen of the gaming apocalypse. Rich and Alex have high hopes for Intel's B580 GPU, while John has much to say about Half-Life 2's 20th anniversary and the recently released Dynasty Warriors Origins demo.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:19 News 1: Potential portable PlayStation in development
0:18:08 News 2: Avatar PS5 Pro patch shows PSSR struggles
0:31:25 News 3: Star Wars Outlaws patch brings PC fixes
0:37:47 News 4: Intel Arc B580 GPU leaked
0:49:42 News 5: Light of Motiram takes heavy Horizon inspiration
1:00:47 News 6: Valve celebrates Half-Life 2 20th anniversary with update, new documentary
1:19:42 News 7: Dynasty Warriors Origins demo drops
1:25:31 News 8: Highlighting Brazil Pixel
1:36:33 Supporter Q1: Will CD Projekt Red be able to fix UE5 stuttering?
1:44:08 Supporter Q2: How will Microsoft configure their business if Steam can run on Xbox?
1:51:21 Supporter Q3: Why does Windows 11 cause so many headaches?
2:01:58 Supporter Q4: Why haven’t we heard more about a PS5 Pro patch for Black Myth: Wukong?
2:07:45 Supporter Q5: How does Nintendo avoid technical issues in their games?
2:14:19 Supporter Q6: What would a theoretical PS3 Pro look like?
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PSSR on PS5 Pro: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - what's actually going on? Rich, Oliver and Alex discuss, before moving on to a look at Silent Hill 2's latest Pro update... which removes PSSR in its performance mode. Rich has some interesting findings from Assassin's Creed Syndicate's new 60 frames per second upgrade, along with a look at the latest iteration of PlayStation Portal - including direct cloud streaming support. And Oliver has some favourable impressions from the unexpected but rather cool Pro upgrade for The Callisto Protocol.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:05 News 1: PS5 Pro PSSR issues analyzed
0:29:50 News 2: Silent Hill 2 patch tested: PSSR dropped!
0:39:02 News 3: STALKER 2 suffers launch woes
0:51:04 News 4: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate gets current-gen patch
1:02:23 News 5: Sony in talks to acquire From Software
1:12:34 News 6: PlayStation Portal updated with cloud streaming support
1:22:57 News 7: Callisto Protocol PS5 Pro patch released!
1:32:36 Supporter Q1: Are there any Nvidia graphics cards for $400 or less that are good deals?
1:42:29 Supporter Q2: When there are glaring performance issues in a game, what do you chalk them up to?
1:50:24 Supporter Q3: Why do games often offer so many console modes when one of them is clearly optimal?
1:57:13 Supporter Q4: Are you feeling Unreal Engine 5 fatigue?
2:01:29 Supporter Q5: Will Microsoft bring Xbox backwards compatibility to PC?
2:10:39 Supporter Q6: Which vaporware is better: Blast Processing or “the power of the cloud”?
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DF Direct Weekly returns, with Rich, John and Oliver discussing the latest chapter of the Xbox multi-plat transition saga, the release of LEGO Horizon Adventures and Intel's pledge to improve Arrow Lake CPU performance. Meanwhile, Sony is bullish on PS5 Pro sales as discounts begin in the UK and the team has concerns about the mooted Stellar Blade PC port. And finally, John has a forum for telling you all about how great the recently released Halo 2 E3 demo is - and why he loves the ModRetro Chromatic.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:17 News 1: Phil Spencer: no “red lines” on Xbox ports
0:26:42 News 2: Lego Horizon Adventures impresses on consoles
0:36:01 News 3: Halo 2 E3 demo resurfaces in Master Chief Collection
0:50:51 News 4: PS5 Pro sales reportedly not impacted by price
1:00:56 News 5: Stellar Blade developer considering PC release
1:07:56 News 6: Intel plans Arrow Lake performance fix
1:17:08 News 7: ModRetro Chromatic impresses
1:27:58 Supporter Q1: How will the next Xbox achieve the “largest technical leap” in a console generation?
1:35:07 Supporter Q2: If the next Xbox doesn’t have a disc drive, how will disc backwards compatibility function?
1:41:36 Supporter Q3: Are you excited to see the rumoured Nvidia ARM-based laptop chip?
1:47:43 Supporter Q4: Will we see support for ultrawide aspect ratios on consoles?
1:56:17 Supporter Q5: Can we give Epic credit for allowing Internet Archive to host older Unreal games?
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There's post PS5 Pro clarity in this week's Direct, with Rich, John and Alex discussing No Man's Sky at 8K resolution (tested!), God of War Ragnarök's patch on PS5 Pro - and the surprise arrival of Death Stranding on Xbox Series X/S. Rich does some performance testing there, leading to fascinating results. Meanwhile, John has a special moment with a new PC monitor, while Alex and Rich prostrate themselves before AMD's Ryzen 7 9800X3D. And yes, why DIDN'T the team do a full specs breakdown of the PS5 Pro's actual packaging?
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:08 News 1: God of War Ragnarök PS5 Pro patch tested!
0:13:36 News 2: Nintendo confirms Switch 2 backwards compatibility
0:25:27 News 3: Death Stranding lands on Xbox
0:38:11 News 4: No Man’s Sky patched for PS5 Pro
0:47:49 News 5: Sony INZONE M10S impressions
1:05:53 News 6: Sonic Generations can run at 60fps on Switch
1:11:42 Supporter Q1: Will you use the 9800X3D for high-end gaming benchmarks?
1:16:21 Supporter Q2: Will PS6 use 3D V-Cache?
1:17:32 Supporter Q3: Will Alex and John switch to 9800X3D?
1:22:15 Supporter Q4: Why is Game Boost falling short of the promised 45% increase to PS5 Pro raster performance?
1:29:21 Supporter Q5: Would AI frame extrapolation make native frame-rate unimportant?
1:32:30 Supporter Q6: What do you want out of a Steam Deck 2?
1:38:32 Supporter Q7: Why didn’t you spend more time analyzing the PS5 Pro box?
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Rich Leadbetter, John Linneman and Oliver Mackenzie combine their impressions and tests to deliver the Digital Foundry verdict on the PlayStation 5 Pro. How does the console improve PS5 and PS4 games? How good is PSSR based on testing across a range of games? And what of the enhanced RT features? Everything you need to know is right here.
0:00:00 Overview
0:01:00 Hardware impressions
0:05:44 8K support and display options
0:12:34 PS4 image quality enhancement
0:17:36 Game boost - Elden Ring and GPU bound games
0:32:01 Game boost - CPU bound games
0:35:57 Ray tracing upgrades
0:42:29 PSSR testing
0:58:02 Power consumption
1:05:16 Overall impressions - is PS5 Pro worth the money?
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Even though most of the team are concentrating on PS5 Pro content, we still managed to find the time for another episode of DF Direct Weekly. Tom joins Rich and John to discuss the death of Concord and the shuttering of Firewalk Studios, Indiana Jones and Mario & Luigi: Brothership, while Alex joins the fray later to talk Star Citizen, Squadron 42 and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered on PC. Meanwhile, in his spare time, John's been testing out a couple of alleged 'disaster remasters'...
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:13 News 1: Concord developer shuttered, game not coming back
0:18:16 News 2: Indiana Jones previewed!
0:31:56 News 3: Mario & Luigi: Brothership evaluated
0:42:47 News 4: Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered analyzed on PC
0:55:00 News 5: Shadows of the Damned is a ‘disaster remaster’
1:05:32 News 6: Alex’s Star Citizen update
1:21:01 Supporter Q1: Do you still think mid-gen enhanced consoles are unnecessary?
1:28:29 Supporter Q2: Will PS5 Pro owners typically own 120Hz VRR panels?
1:34:43 Supporter Q3: Could the Series X support a form of ML-based upscaling?
1:37:23 Supporter Q4: Why did Call of Duty abandon ray tracing?
1:40:57 Supporter Q5: Why has checkerboard rendering disappeared from most modern games?
1:43:33 Supporter Q6: What has John contributed to the upcoming EGM Compendium?
1:47:02 Supporter Q7: Will Capcom adopt a more PC-centric approach in the future?
1:51:45 Supporter Q8: Will Nintendo pioneer revolutionary uses of RT on Switch 2?
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Another bumper Direct sees John, Rich and Oliver discuss Shawn Layden's call for a reset on game development practises and his comments on the console/teraflop war being over. Remedy's impressive roster of upgrades for Alan Wake 2 on PS5 Pro come into focus, while the team can't help but wonder if Guerrilla Games' most recent comments really do spell the end for the Killzone franchise. John shares first impressions on Sonic x Shadow Generations, while Oliver REALLY wants to tell you all about Wayfinder on the PlayStation 5.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:04 News 1: Former Sony exec says console race has plateaued
0:22:43 News 2: Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro previewed!
0:32:47 News 3: Guerrilla Games is done with Killzone
0:43:53 News 4: Wayfinder tested on PS5!
0:55:01 News 5: Sonic X Shadow Generations tested
1:06:28 News 6: Ragnarök PC performance improved
1:13:18 News 7: Silent Hill 2 PC patch decreases stutter
1:20:42 Supporter Q1: Could the next Xbox be a hybrid with a GPU in the dock?
1:26:37 Supporter Q2: Is the games industry becoming more risk-averse?
1:33:34 Supporter Q3 Is John still using his Meta Quest 3?
1:40:16 Supporter Q4: Does Guerrilla’s new image treatment solution stem from Death Stranding 2?
1:46:23 Supporter Q5: Has John played any modern game consoles on CRTs with the RetroTINK 4K?
1:50:32 Supporter Q6: How will you cope with covering so many PS5 Pro enhanced games?
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