Digital Foundry Direct Weekly – Details, episodes & analysis

Another week of exciting news as reputable sources reveal that PlayStation 5 Pro is incoming - and we've even got a sketch of the (possible!) design. Meanwhile, the Black Myth: Wukong Xbox no-show continues to command attention - as does the decision to release Avowed on Xbox consoles at 30fps. John, Rich and Oliver are on the mics this week - but Tom ducks out of his short vacation for a quick chat about the recent Metal Gear Solid: Delta and Silent Hill 2 press event he attended. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:07 News 1: PS5 Pro name, design possibly leaked 0:27:16 News 2: Why isn’t Black Myth: Wukong on Xbox? 0:41:24 News 3: Astro Bot VR ruled out - but PC could be coming 0:49:53 News 4: MGS Delta: Snake Eater preview! 1:06:53 News 5: Silent Hill 2 hands-on! 1:26:24 News 6: Avowed vows to target 30fps on Xbox Series consoles 1:34:48 Supporter Q1: What games do you most want to see updated for PS5 Pro? 1:41:36 Supporter Q2: How will Microsoft deal with the PS5 Pro? 1:52:24 Supporter Q3: Could Intel GPUs be in the next-gen consoles? 1:56:35 Supporter Q4: Given that the 4090 can no longer sustain native 4K at max settings in a lot of games, are we about to hit a performance wall? 2:04:28 Supporter Q5: Did Sony and Microsoft underestimate the needed console specs this generation? 2:12:19 Supporter Q6: Would DF consider adding a quantitative rating system to their reviews? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rich returns from Gamescom 2024, bringing with him hands-on impressions of STALKER 2 on Xbox and the incredible Black State on PC. Alex and Oliver share notes on the Final Fantasy 16 PC demo, while the team discuss the highlights - such as they are - of Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live. But the big story is the news that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PlayStation 5 - and the extent of Microsoft's multi-platform strategy is finally revealed. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:58 News 01: Indiana Jones headed to PS5 0:19:53 News 02: Hands-on with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 0:31:31 News 03: FF16 demo tested on PC! 0:47:13 News 04: Black State impresses 0:57:50 News 05: Gamescom Opening Night Live recap 1:06:45 News 06: Nvidia’s Gamescom announcements 1:19:14 Supporter Q1: Is disabling RT depending on the scene a good idea? 1:27:47 Supporter Q2: Is Series S preventing a Black Myth: Wukong release on Xbox? 1:34:33 Supporter Q3: Why did Wukong on PS5 use FSR and not TSR? 1:38:35 Supporter Q4: Could improved Wukong performance be a good selling point for PS5 Pro? 1:45:06 Supporter Q5: How will Microsoft differentiate the next Xbox? 1:52:21 Supporter Q6: Did Microsoft and Sony focus on the wrong features with PS5 and Xbox Series? 2:01:18 Supporter Q7: Is 12GB enough VRAM for graphics cards this generation? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the latest DF Direct Weekly, we take a very early first look at FSR 3.1's improved spatial upscaling, which 'dropped' just prior to recording. The team discuss Capcom's reveal of a NEW Dead Rising remaster/remake, while we have first impressions on a potentially game-changing patch for Dragon's Dogma 2. And just why is PlayStation 5 so technically competitive with Xbox Series X, despite having less horsepower? It's been a mystery for years, but we may finally have some answers. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:02:00 News 01: FSR 3.1 tested! 0:10:56 News 02: Dead Rising remake in development 0:22:55 News 03: Dragon’s Dogma 2 patched 0:30:12 News 04: Project Keystone details revealed 0:38:16 News 05: Forza Horizon 4 to be delisted 0:49:38 News 06: SGSSAA appears in new game 0:58:46 News 07: Unity 50Hz physics issue returns 1:07:55 Supporter Q1: Why haven’t more reviewers noted the issues with Elden Ring? And is it really fair to pile so much technical criticism on From Software? 1:27:03 Supporter Q2: What should our expectations be for a potential PS3 emulator on PS5? 1:36:05 Supporter Q3: Why is the Series X still sometimes outperformed by the PS5 in cross-platform games? 1:45:54 Supporter Q4: Could something like Auto SR be implemented on consoles for backwards compatible games? 1:50:00 Supporter Q5: Why do low settings in games look a lot better than they used to? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is slated for release in 'Fall' 2023, Kojima's helping to make a movie, Steam Deck is set to get a successor - and Returnal's recommendations include a mammoth 32GB of memory. All this, plus discussion of the RDNA 3 review aftermath in this week's show. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:00 News 01: Spider-Man 2 to launch in fall 2023 00:08:51 News 02: Death Stranding film in the works 00:14:45 News 03: Valve discusses Steam Deck successor 00:26:45 News 04: RX 7900 XT/XTX review follow-up! 00:51:34 News 05: Returnal PC requirements announced 00:57:39 News 06: High on Life launches with major issues, quickly patched 01:06:54 DF Supporter Q1: Which games would you like to get RTX Remix enhancements? 01:10:51 DF Supporter Q2: Why doesn’t DLSS significantly lower VRAM use? 01:12:22 DF Supporter Q3: Would you ever release the DF performance analysis tools to the public? 01:17:05 DF Supporter Q4: Alex, would you prefer to play a game with great ray tracing with PSO stutters, or a game without ray tracing with no stutters? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Game Awards - aka 'The Geoffs' - are back once again, bringing a deluge of new trailers and announcements for Rich, John and Alex to pore over in the latest DF Direct Weekly. Meanwhile, Stadia devkits are starting to emerge and Microsoft is raising game prices - but before all of that, the team takes a look at a dramatically improved build of The Callisto Protocol on PC. The Game Awards - aka 'The Geoffs' - are back once again, bringing a deluge of new trailers and announcements for Rich, John and Alex to pore over in the latest DF Direct Weekly. Meanwhile, Stadia devkits are starting to emerge and Microsoft is raising game prices - but before all of that, the team takes a look at a dramatically improved build of The Callisto Protocol on PC. Join the DF Patreon for EARLY ACCESS to every DF Direct Weekly, pristine video downloads, behind the scenes content and much, much more: https://bit.ly/3jEGjvx Podcast RSS Feed: https://digitalfoundry.podbean.com/ Subscribe for more Digital Foundry: http://bit.ly/DFSubscribe 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:59 News 01: Callisto Protocol PC updates 00:09:12 News 02: The Game Awards game reveal rundown! 00:50:33 News 03: Stadia devkits dissected, analyzed 00:54:03 News 04: Microsoft increases game prices to $70 01:01:21 DF Supporter Q1: Is Alex doing better this week? Has DF considered doing numbered ratings to send a message about certain issues? 01:04:37 DF Supporter Q2: Would you consider giving a “seal of quality” to games that meet technical standards? 01:05:44 DF Supporter Q3: Would you prefer to play on a huge projector screen, or a top-of-the-line OLED TV? 01:08:46 DF Supporter Q4: Portal RTX demands DLSS, so is Quality, Balanced, or Performance the best DLSS preset? 01:13:04 DF Supporter Q5: Rich, do you still think that Xbox OS and PlayStation OS will become interchangeable on consoles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a challenging week reviewing The Callisto Protocol and awaiting various performance patches, Alex, John and Rich unload about the triumphs and tragedies of the launch period, while reflecting on how good the game actually is. Meanwhile, Nintendo's promising improvements to Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, modders tackle Sonic Frontier's shortcomings - and Jesus Christ himself appears, rendered at 4K60 on RTX 4090. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:37 News 01: Callisto Protocol review aftermath 00:33:04 News 02: Poké-patch arrives for Scarlet/Violet, Nintendo apologizes 00:36:06 News 03: Fixes arrive for Sonic Frontiers 00:41:23 News 04: I am Jesus Christ Prologue: biblically-accurate graphics! 00:46:53 DF Supporter Q1: Which Switch games look better than you would expect? 00:50:54 DF Supporter Q2: Given the success of the Steam Deck, should Valve do Steam Machines again? 00:54:03 DF Supporter Q3: Who will implement a Nanite-style virtualized geometry system next? 00:58:28 DF Supporter Q4: Why do some games have broken physics when you increase the frame-rate? 01:03:14 DF Supporter Q5: Could Nvidia offer new tech as a paid subscription in the future? 01:06:54 DF Supporter Q6: If you could bring back a dormant Activision/Blizzard IP, which would it be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will we have to wait until 2028 for new consoles from Microsoft and Sony? And how are the two companies at war over Call of Duty? Audi, John and Rich discuss, also covering news on The Witcher 3's upgrade plus the latest news about The Callisto Protocol. Meawhile, what on Earth is the Boner in Berlin?   00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:31 News 01: Next-gen consoles to launch in 2027/2028? 00:13:41 News 02: Microsoft and Sony engaged in Call of Duty value dispute 00:27:01 News 03: Witcher 3 current-gen + PC upgrades revealed! 00:37:34 News 04: Callisto Protocol leaks and reveals 00:46:45 News 05: The Game Awards nominees announced 00:55:39 News 06: Warzone 2.0 tested! 01:07:17 DF Content Discussion: What has Audi been up to? 01:10:43 DF Supporter Q1: Given the performance woes of the new Pokémon games, does the industry need to re-evaluate yearly franchises? 01:18:10 DF Supporter Q2: How does being multilingual help the DF team? 01:24:05 DF Supporter Q3: With GPU/CPU stock still on store shelves, have AMD and Nvidia misjudged the market? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the latest episode, John, Rich and Alex share observations, thoughts and hopes for The Witcher 3's forthcoming re-release and there's discussion on Epic's improvements to Unreal Engine 5, plus thoughts on RTX 4080/4070 Ti pricing. Meanwhile, what on earth is happening with Pokémon Violet and Scarlet polish and performance? 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:48 News 01: Witcher 3 next-gen patch incoming 00:12:48 News 02: Unreal Engine 5.1 delivers big improvements 00:27:29 News 03: RTX 4080 released! 00:44:35 News 04: Gamers Nexus solves 4090 power connector mystery 00:50:35 News 05: DLSS 3 gets frame-limiter to overcome vsync issue 01:00:42 News 06: Pokémon Violet and Scarlet suffer serious tech issues 01:07:33 DF Supporter Q1: Why don’t we ever get anisotropic filtering above 16x? 01:10:03 DF Supporter Q2: Why does the PS5 reserve 1.5 cores for the OS, leaving only 6.5 for games? 01:16:51 DF Supporter Q3: Is Elden Ring a good candidate for game of the year, given its performance problems? 01:18:34 DF Supporter Q4: Are game developers relying too much on DLSS? 01:24:21 DF Supporter Q5: When will Audi be released from Rich’s basement and appear in videos again? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's been a lot of debate recently about whether Xbox Series S's limited performance is 'holding back' the other consoles from being everything that they can be - so Rich, John and Alex weigh in with their opinions based on developer discussions and two years' worth of gaming data accrued by the channel. Meanwhile, it's all about the patches as Forza Horizon, Sackboy PC and Halo Infinite receive important updates. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:18 News 01: Is Series S limiting next-gen gaming? 00:23:32 News 02: Forza Horizon 5 patch brings DLSS, FSR 2, improved RT 00:34:13 News 03: Sackboy PC updated to eliminate #StutterStruggle! 00:43:26 News 04: Halo Infinite gets animation fix… but many issues remain 00:52:44 News 05: “Unlaunched” 4080 12GB to become 4070 Ti? 01:01:40 News 06: Mega Drive Mini 2 released! 01:08:42 DF Supporter Q1: With AMD focused on raster performance, is this an indication most gamers don’t care about ray tracing? 01:17:08 DF Supporter Q2: What’s the most impressive game to play on a new high-end PC system? 01:22:09 DF Supporter Q3: Should developers include advanced modes in console games to enhance future backwards compatibility? 01:25:07 DF Supporter Q4: How do you think the current economic environment will impact next-gen consoles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A big, big week for PC and console gamers as AMD emerges to showcase its new RDNA 3-powered RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT graphics cards with Rich, Will and Alex delivering their verdict on the reveal. Also, what to make of the PSVR2 launch line-up and pricing? Meanwhile, the realisation that new gaming tech is going up in price hits home as it's discovered that Microsoft is losing $100-$200 per console sold. 00:00:35 News 01: RDNA 3 unveiled! 00:24:15 News 02: FSR 3 frame-rate boost tech teased 00:31:26 News 03: How does RDNA 3 measure up against RTX 4000? 00:45:18 News 04: RT upgrades in Halo Infinite, Forspoken, and Snowdrop 00:51:31 News 05: PS VR2 release details announced 00:59:33 News 06: Microsoft takes $100-200 loss on Xbox Series consoles 01:03:51 News 07: Sackboy PC Stutter Struggles + shader compilation questions 01:11:47 DF Supporter Q1: What’s the best value CPU + motherboard + RAM combination for a PC? 01:15:41 DF Supporter Q2: Was FSR 2 really worth it for the Series X version of Scorn? 01:18:09 DF Supporter Q3: IS ALEX GERMAN OR AMERICAN? I MUST KNOW. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices