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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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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The clue is in the name - DF Direct arrives every week and this week is no exception. GDC 2021 is in full effect, so Rich, Alex and John discuss a couple of the more interesting and relevant presentations before powering on in sharing more about recent DF projects and tackling a big bunch of supporter Q+A. Join the DF Supporter Program to contribute to the show and get it early, every Saturday!
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:45 GDC 2021: UE5 Demo From The Coalition - Intel CPU/GPU Presentations
00:19:23 MODdb Receives Takedown Notice From Take Two
00:25:23 Final Words on The Resident Evil Village PC DRM Debacle
00:28:02 DF Content Discussion: Ratchet 40fps - Addressing The Confusion
00:36:19 DF Content Discussion: Unreal Engine for Video Production
00:45:11 Supporter Q1: Will it be possible to gauge the performance of the Steam Deck now?
00:46:43 Supporter Q2: Do you think the Steam Deck will be able to handle the games from the Total War series?
00:47:33 Supporter Q3: Is it likely that a performant ML-based upscaling solution similar to DLSS could be implemented on Xbox Series?
00:50:31 Supporter Q4: Curious what your opinion is on the rampant devotion to leaked info?
00:59:40 Supporter Q5: Could you elaborate on how you are using BFI on your LG OLED?
01:06:14 Supporter Q6: What measures did you take to help prevent burn in on your OLED monitor?
01:10:59 Supporter Q7: Much has been said about cross-gen development holding back the potential of the new consoles. Now, can the same be said about the PC, in the sense that targeting a wider range of platforms could hinder console games design?
01:17:25 Supporter Q8: Do any of you play with inverted vertical controls?
01:20:01 Ending
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The specs have been updated, a few hundreds frames have been tested - and we've taken a look at the state of integrated graphics performance on AMD APUs in the PC space. Rich Leadbetter, John Linneman and Alex Battaglia sit down to share all of their thoughts on the Steam Deck in a 75 minute DF Direct Special.
00:00:00 Introductions + Steam Deck First Impressions
00:07:34 Form Factor + Control Discussion
00:12:14 Why Steam Deck Needs Game-Specific Performance Profiles
00:14:22 Specs Update - 88GB/s Memory Bandwidth Confirmed
00:18:32 Off-Screen Performance Testing
00:22:49 Ryzen 9 4900HS 35W Integrated GPU Testing - Doom Eternal, Control, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
00:31:00 "Talk About The Screen!!" + Other Steam Deck Iterations From Other Companies
00:37:09 Will Docked Performance Be Better than Mobile?
00:38:47 The Proton Compatibility Layer
00:43:43 M.2 2230 SSD Confirmed - Is It Upgradeable?
00:45:27 SteamOS Suspend/Resume Technology Confirmed
00:47:12 Can GamePass And Other Launchers And Streaming Services Run From Linux On Steam Deck? Will We Get Windows Drivers?
00:52:45 Is Valve Really Trying To Compete With Nintendo?
01:01:19 Supporter Question: Can 8 RDNA 2 CUs run ray tracing games at 720p/800p?
01:03:25 Will Steam Deck Get Bespoke Support From Developers?
01:05:08 Supporter Question: What Games Will Be Especially Heavy On Battery Life?
01:07:32 Supporter Question: Can Steam Deck Run Crysis 3 at 720p60 Without All Settings At Low? Will You Be Testing Crysis With Steam Deck?
01:09:34 Final Thoughts + Do We Really Need A Switch Pro Right Now?
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DF Direct Weekly is back with a 20th episode milestone - shot before the Steam Deck reveal. We will have a Deck-specific Direct a bit later in the week. In this video, we talk about the lamentable Resident Evil Village DRM situation, Skyward Sword HD on Switch and the 'stealth 120Hz support' in A Plague Tale: Innocence - which is actually a good old PC-style v-sync off, unlocked fps scenario. All this and much, much more.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:03 RE Village DRM situation
00:18:04 A Plague Tale Innocence 120Hz unlocked frame-rate
00:27:11 Zelda Skyward Sword HD impressions
00:36:40 Powerslave/Exhumed returns!
00:41:12 MiSTer gets CPS2 arcade support
00:46:54 DF Content Discussion/Supporter Program schedule
01:12:01 Supporter Q1: Does the PS5 Shortage indicate a long PS3-era console generation?
01:19:33 Supporter Q2: What are the chances of other PS4 titles getting 120fps support?
01:24:11 Supporter Q3: Any plans for more switch overclocking videos?
01:29:22 Supporter Q4: Do you think the die shrink switch we got a couple years ago or the new oled switch will run cooler?
01:31:29 Supporter Q5: Would you be interested in digging into some of the older computer titles for DF Retro?
01:36:24 Supporter Q6: Will Sega ever tap the vast and excellent Saturn library? Also please talk about the Saturn more.
01:42:54 A NEW CHALLENGER HAS ARRIVED!
01:43:48 Ending
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