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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As is DF tradition, we round off the year with a look at the team's personal picks for the best game graphics of 2023. Covering off the very best in both PC and console rendering, Alex Battaglia, John Linneman and Oliver Mackenzie share their thoughts on the most impressive visuals of the year, leading to an open debate on which title did it best: Alan Wake 2, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora or Cyberpunk 2077's RT Overdrive?
0:00:00 Overview
0:01:55 Honourable Mentions
0:16:14 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
0:21:28 Final Fantasy 16
0:27:10 Robocop: Rogue City
0:32:56 Resident Evil 4
0:40:33 Hi-Fi Rush
0:45:45 Super Mario Bros. Wonder
0:49:45 Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
0:55:50 Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive
1:02:57 Alan Wake 2
1:12:29 Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
1:22:43 Top Three Debate
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You'd think that the news would be drying up as we approach Chriastmas, but here we are again with another two hour DF Direct Weekly. John, Rich and Alex mull over the cancellation of The Last Of Us Online, while the team rake the coals of E3's demise. Meanwhile, John discusses the short-lived PC port of Link's Awakening, while Alex unearths what looks very much like Intel's innovative approach to frame generation. We've got good news about improvements to the Xbox Series version of Teardown, while the team discuss the reaction to the epic Gran Turismo 7 vs Forza Motorsport head-to-head.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:25 News 01: The Last of Us multiplayer project cancelled
0:21:21 News 02: E3 officially dead
0:36:08 News 03: Link’s Awakening ported to PC
0:43:22 News 04: Intel working on frame extrapolation
0:50:14 News 05: Teardown improved on consoles
0:53:56 DF Content Discussion: Forza Motorsport vs. Gran Turismo 7
1:24:16 Supporter Q1: Are there any older games with certain advanced effects that surpass modern games?
1:29:18 Supporter Q2: Should bad performance be a consideration when reviewing games?
1:35:41 Supporter Q3: Does running an RTX 4090 at PCIe Gen 4 x8 or x16 make a difference?
1:38:50 Supporter Q4: Why can’t Windows handhelds run SteamOS?
1:41:14 Supporter Q5: AMD has released the source code for FSR 3. Will this make console implementations of FSR 3 more common?
1:47:28 Supporter Q6: Should “Unobtanium” style extreme settings options be standard across all PC games?
1:51:55 Supporter Q7: Why do console games often use a mix of temporal reconstruction and bilinear scaling to reach a 4K output?
1:55:14 Supporter Q8: What gaming-related gift would you like to get for Christmas if money was no object?
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In the wake of the release of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, we produced our initial reaction video, but it turns out that the community has a big bunch of questions about the game they'd like us to tackle - so Rich, Oliver and Alex came together to continue the discussion. Enjoy!
00:00 Introduction
01:20 How will GTA 6 run on Series S?
05:57 Can GTA 6 run at 60fps on current-gen consoles?
08:30 Supporter Q1: How far off is the GTA 6 PC port? Is a Switch 2 port possible?
14:43 Supporter Q2: How do studios like Rockstar keep their games current graphically over long development cycles?
18:53 Supporter Q3: Were the RT features on GTA 5 on current-gen a test for RT in GTA 6?
20:29 Supporter Q4: Given that the GTA 6 leaks showed the game running on 10 series Nvidia GPUs, will those GPUs be able to run the final game?
23:16 Supporter Q5: What improvements should we expect in the PC version of GTA 6?
27:11 Supporter Q6: Do you think the GTA 6 trailer was captured on PS5 Pro development hardware?
30:36 Supporter Q7: Could the PS5 Pro run GTA 6 at 60fps? What other enhancements could we expect?
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It's TGAs week and Alex, Rich and Oliver convene for this week's DF Direct to discuss the highlights of the Wurlde Prm'ears - and to wonder what on earth OD actually is! Hellblade 2 is looking phenomenally good, while No Rest for the Wicked also catches the team's eye. Meanwhile, the group compare notes on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, with Alex continuing to rave about the PC version while Rich and Oliver offer a warm welcome to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions... and even Series S pulls off a good showing of this technologically advanced games.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:48 News 01: The Game Awards - Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2
0:08:51 OD
0:17:48 No Rest for the Wicked, Monster Hunter Wilds
0:26:58 Marvel’s Blade, Light No Fire
0:39:13 Black Myth: Wukong, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor Refantazio, Skull and Bones
0:51:58 News 02: Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora released!
1:01:58 Supporter Q1: How do you pixel count games with upsampling?
1:09:06 Supporter Q2: Do modern games avoid physics-based gameplay because of processing constraints or game design?
1:12:19 Supporter Q3: Does the addition of path tracing to Call of Duty’s lobbies suggest a wider implementation later on?
1:16:07 Supporter Q4: Should the console makers release jailbreak patches for older consoles?
1:19:38 Supporter Q5: Should GPU manufacturers introduce features from Special K into their drivers?
1:24:25 Supporter Q6: Can you pixel count The Game Awards?
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The first trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 has 'dropped' and we have reacted by bringing together three contributors to comb over the circa 90 seconds of footage and extract as much technological information about the latest iteration of the RAGE engine as possible. Is what we've seen here viable on current-gen consoles in real-time? Is there any evidence of hardware-accelerated ray tracing effects? How do the characters and hair rendering look so good? And is 60fps on PS5/Series X and an Xbox Series S port actually viable?
00:00 Introduction
01:53 Is the trailer real-time?
07:13 Ray traced global illumination
11:10 Ray traced reflections
17:04 Shadows and hair
23:50 Character rendering
26:30 Could consoles hit 60fps?
30:50 Closing discussion
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Batman: Arkham Trilogy arrived on Nintendo Switch just before we started filming - but let's just say that it hardly requires a deep dive analysis to see that Arkham Knight is a complete disaster. There's better news from Alex as we look at the optimisation efforts in Baldur's Gate 3, while Rich gets to grips with Half-Life 2 - and the entirety of The Orange Box - running at 4K 60fps on Xbox Series X. There's Dragon's Dogma 2 tech talk, John's VR odyssey continues apace, while the team discuss the fascinating story behind Gran Turismo PSP cheat codes finally being discovered 14 years since the game launched!
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:03 News 01: Arkham Knight on Switch is a disaster
0:15:46 News 02: Larian boosts Baldur’s Gate 3 performance
0:26:06 News 03: Half-Life 2, Portal unlocked to run at 60fps on Xbox Series consoles
0:37:56 News 04: Dragon’s Dogma 2 trailer released
0:49:05 News 05: Cheat codes discovered for Gran Turismo PSP
0:58:39 News 06: John’s VR odyssey continues!
1:09:25 News 07: Duke Nukem games released for Evercade
1:17:17 Supporter Q1: To play an older 360 game, is the best option original hardware plus a RetroTINK, or a Series X?
1:22:38 Supporter Q2: Have PC GPUs fallen behind in performance scaling relative to consoles over this generation?
1:28:28 Supporter Q3: Why do some UE5 titles skip over hardware Lumen, even on PC?
1:32:30 Supporter Q4: Could Sony improve the PS Portal with software updates?
1:41:29 Supporter Q5: Could frame generation be used to improve motion blur?
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In this week's DF Direct, the team catches up with the news about The Last of Us Part 2's remaster and wonders what the fuss is about, while Alex takes another look at Cyberpunk 2077 DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction across its updates and via the Alan Wake 2 DLL. Rich finally gets his hands on a PlayStation 5 'Slim' and unboxes it for your viewing pleasure, and Half-Life's 25th anniversary is celebrated by the team. Also: what is actually going on with Xbox's console sales in Europe?
0:00:00 Introduction and DF merch store!
0:03:13 News 01: The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered announced
0:17:27 News 02: Cyberpunk 2077 gets Ultimate Edition
0:35:16 News 03: Xbox sales down in Europe
0:53:19 News 04: Half-Life hits 25th anniversary, documentary released
1:07:59 News 05: StarEngine graphics update video released
1:19:30 News 06: Rich unboxes a PS5 Slim!
1:33:56 DF Supporter Q1: Have you checked out the Portal port for N64?
1:41:59 DF Supporter Q2: I think TLOU Part 2 looks similar to path traced games, with better image clarity - what do you think?
1:47:44 DF Supporter Q3: Do you worry that you emphasize top-end graphics too much in your game coverage?
1:50:37 DF Supporter Q4: Is there a niche for a powerful, exclusively handheld system in today’s market?
1:57:26 DF Supporter Q5: What if the new Switch was actually two consoles - a portable console and a home console?
2:02:07 DF Supporter Q6: Happy Thanksgiving! Do the American expats at DF celebrate Thanksgiving in their new European homes?
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We've finally got hold of a PlayStation Portal and we've got some initial impressions for you as we keep off this week's DF Direct Weekly, but beyond that we're talking about Steam Deck vs ROG Ally complete with some fresh benchmarks, we update you with our latest adventures with EA WRC on PC, while John spends plenty of time discussing the new RetroTink and its $750 price-point - along with his latest adventures with Meta Quest 3, Doom VR and the new Assassin's Creed VR experience.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:52 News 01: PlayStation Portal first impressions!
0:26:47 News 02: New Suicide Squad deep dive video lands
0:45:01 News 03: RetroTINK 4K to cost $750 USD
1:00:42 News 04: EA WRC PC update
1:08:59 News 05: Steam Deck OLED vs. ROG Ally!
1:25:12 News 06: John’s continuing Quest adventures
1:37:23 Supporter Q1: Will we ever see an arcade racing resurgence?
1:43:53 Supporter Q2: Did Starfield ship “unoptimized”? Why did it take so long to improve performance and add DLSS?
1:54:27 Supporter Q3: Is it possible Nintendo’s next console will be a traditional home system?
1:58:30 Supporter Q4: Is the Xbox One the only console to be obsoleted completely by its successor?
2:04:19 Supporter Q5: Will you ever do a retrospective on failed past consoles, like the Ouya?
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A massive, cosmic-sized DF Direct Weekly sees John, Rich and Alex react to the surprise reveal of the Steam Deck OLED, while tackling a bunch of questions about Rockstar's GTA 6 reveal. Meanwhile, media has started to tear down the new PS5 'Slim', answering our final questions about the make-up of the revised console revision. Beyond that, Nintendo denies everything about Switch 2 and Alex shares his experiences with his brand new Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU upgrade.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:50 News 01: Steam Deck OLED revealed and reviewed!
0:26:44 News 02: Rockstar announces GTA 6 announcement trailer
0:41:02 News 03: New PS5 model disassembled
0:49:06 News 04: Alex upgrades to a 7800X3D!
1:10:33 News 05: Nintendo denies Switch 2 briefings
1:14:50 News 06: RTX 40 Series “Super” cards specs leaked
1:25:18 News 07: John’s experiments with in-home VR streaming
1:35:44 Supporter Q1: If the EGS launcher were good, would EGS be profitable?
1:42:10 Supporter Q2: Can we expect a true PS5 Slim console in the future?
1:47:29 Supporter Q3: What’s the difference between ray tracing and path tracing?
1:51:02 Supporter Q4: How long will it take for the retro game market to truly settle down?
1:58:47 Supporter Q5: Why hasn’t Red Dead Redemption 2 been updated for Series X and PS5?
2:03:07 Supporter Q6: Why aren’t there more gaming technology outlets like Digital Foundry?
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In another packed DF Direct Weekly, we find Rich, John and Oliver taking a first look at the Modern Warfare 3 campaign, Oliver shares his thoughts on the Apple M3 launch, John talks Gran Turismo 7 updates and Super Mario RPG, while Rich tests out Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on the worst PS5 SSD upgrade available... hobbled to run at PCIe x1 bandwidth. Does the game still work?
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:05 News 01: Modern Warfare 3 campaign launches in early access
0:20:28 News 02: Apple announces M3 line of Mac chips
0:36:58 News 03: Gran Turismo 7 updated with new track, cars, 4-player splitscreen
0:43:36 News 04: How does Spider-Man 2 work on the slowest PS5 SSD?
0:53:16 News 05: Super Mario RPG previewed!
0:58:11 News 06: Switch OLED: does it burn in?
1:05:59 News 07: EA WRC: problematic PC performance
1:18:31 Supporter Q1: What OLED would you recommend to someone who enjoys both new and old games?
1:26:31 Supporter Q2: What are your hopes for the Max Payne remakes’ use of Northlight?
1:35:32 Supporter Q3: For retro themed games and collections, what can developers do to improve low-res visuals?
1:40:49 Supporter Q4: Some people seem to be rejecting graphical improvements - what are your thoughts?
1:49:39 Supporter Q5: Do you think Metroid Prime 4 will skip the current Switch and ship only on the upcoming Switch?
1:53:22 Supporter Q6: Is there a market for publishers to release older games without upgrades?
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