Digital Foundry Direct Weekly
When 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
Ever wondered why game coverage often neglects Xbox consoles? It's an issue we've highlighted before and after Call of Duty failed to register on Metacritic, Microsoft is finally doing something about it. In the new Q+A, the team discuss the issue, its impact on DF and hopes that things will genuinely improve. Meanwhile, what to make of the reported Project Helix delay to 2028? Will new CPU releases get caught up in the hardware cr...
Big news this week from Fortune, with an insider feature on Xbox that combines deep access to senior management along with a range of big reveals: a Helix console costing between $1200 to $1800 coming 2028? A handheld in 2027? Disagreements between the Xbox and Microsoft OS teams? There's a lot to discuss here. Meanwhile, the team lament the end of BioWare and mull over the leaked Mass Effect trailer, and there's good news for RDNA...
Reports that Nvidia's RTX 5090 gaming flagship would be discontinued gathered pace, with Nvidia finally denying cancellation of the card. But in a world where a 5090 can cost $8000, is its presence in the gaming market all but over? Can Nvidia do anything about it? Meanwhile, DF Supporter have questions about GTA 6 on PlayStation and in the absence of actual information, we can only offer our thoughts and speculation. Finally, what...
A year on from its initial launch, Xbox Ally gets a brilliant OLED upgrade for the new X20 edition but are we any closer to an actual Xbox-like experience? Meanwhile, Nvidia delivers faster frame-gen and DLSS 5 while Epic acts like a lightning rod for all the AI hate with its latest pivot. Oliver tests out The Crew Motorfest on Switch 2, while John has thoughts on Castlevania: Belmont's Curse.
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In the new AI era, it seems that decompilation, recompilation and unofficial ports are child's play - so what are the chances of an unofficial GTA 6 PC port before Rockstar delivers the real thing? And adjacent to that, how is Sony going to react to the massive impact of the recent PS5 jailbreak? Meanwhile, the panel are asked about the importance of PS5 Pro as it nears its second anniversary and questions are asked about the suppo...
Dragon's Dogma 2 launched with problematic performance on current-gen consoles, making a Switch 2 port seemingly impossible. But the game improved and now the Switch 2 version is here and it's almost brilliant. The panel discuss the new port in depth, before moving on to their thoughts on the PC version of Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Then it's on to a remarkable native PC port of Hideo Kojima's P.T - complete with ray tracing! - bef...
After the out-of-the-blue, completely unleaked release of QSSR upscaling for PlayStation 5, Digital Foundry supporters and the panel attempt to provide some answers, while tackling the question of whether Xbox Series consoles will receive a similar technology. Meanwhile, what are the chances of The Witcher 3 on Switch 2 getting VRR support - and what dead franchises would the DF team like to see returned and rejuvenated for modern ...
DF returns to QSSR coverage with a closer look at Ghost of Yōtei, with John weighing in with his opinions on Marvel's Wolverine too. Rich reveals that Sony isn't the first to port an AI upscaler to a non-AI based GPU, showing FSR 4 running on the RDNA 1 Radeon RX 5700 XT. Meanwhile, John's very happy with the PC version of Gears of War: E-Day. And after sharing some stories on anniversary DF content, the Star Wars Galactic Racer re...
A surprise to be sure - and a welcome one. Out of the blue, Sony has released QSSR - Quick Spectral Super Resolution - a refactoring of PS5 Pro's PSSR for the standard PlayStation 5. In this video, Rich and Oliver share their initial thoughts on the technology. We've got image quality comparisons from Marvel's Wolverine, we've got early performance testing from a PS5 dev kit, comparisons with PSSR and much more.
00:00 Introducti...
The progress in PS5 emulation for PC is becoming extremely rapid - so just how viable is it and should Sony be worried? Meanwhile, Rich, Oliver and Will discuss a range of topics: can PS5 Pro run PSSR and FSR frame gen together? Will PCs eventually replace consoles? Can a Project Helix console replace both a gaming PC and an Xbox console? And... would the Project Helix concept have changed if Xbox had won the console generation?
An extremely busy week at the Foundry but the Direct cannot be stopped - the team discuss the latest news as the "Xbox Reset" enters Phase Two and Halo is shipped off to Activision. Meanwhile, Rich, Oliver and Tom join forces to run the rule over Silent Hill Townfall, becauise the show moves on to discuss the implications of the next-gen consoles' respective GPU TFLOPs numbers. And finally, ending the show on a high note, Rich revi...
Stellar Blade on Switch 2 enforces the use of frame generation to target 60fps - and Capcom is offering the same feature with a toggle in the upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 port. So how does it work and what have we learned from testing it in Stellar Blade? Beyond that, Tom, Rich and Oliver discuss whether next-gen hardware should be delayed, why Nintendo is avoiding DLSS in its own Switch 2 titles and whether Valve should release an AR...
In a bit of a slow week for news, the team goes hands-on with a bunch of cool games to present their findings - principal amongst them being 007 First Light's visually stunning, but incredibly taxing path tracing upgrade. Redemption Road's 12-minute Kingmakers gameplay deep dive impresses the panel before Tom delivers his thoughts on Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave on Switch 2, with Oliver testing Diablo 4 also on the Nintendo hybrid....
With Steam Frame just missing the embargo for the last DF Direct, John, Rich and Oliver share impressions of Valve's latest hardware plus there's some ARM standalone testing of Half-Life Alyx, Cyberpunk 2077 and Streets of Rage 4. Beyond that, it's Supporter Q+A time: why doesn't From Software fix 30fps frame-pacing issues? If DLSS 5 isn't really DLSS, how should DLSS evolve? Finally... with the legendary Kallax having been modded ...
DF Direct Weekly #281: Kojima's Psyint Canned By Sony, Coming To Xbox, Switch 2 VRR, Ocarina of Time
A massive week for news. PlayStation ends decades of partnership with Hideo Kojima as Physint is cancelled by Sony - but picked up by Microsoft, meaning it's coming to Xbox. The team take a look at the surprise-but-a-welcome-one reveal of VRR coming to Switch 2 docked mode, while there's commentary and analysis on the Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and a brand new Nintendo Direct. John and Oliver compare notes on Marvel's Wolverine,...
The DF Direct Q+A Show returns and suffice it to say, there's a huge amount of interest around DLSS 5. Will AMD and indeed Intel deliver equivalent tech? What are the limits of DLSS 5 and how will they be overcome? Meanwhile, is Pearl Abyss developer of the year? And is The Witcher 3 Remastered evidence that CD Projekt RED will return to the RED Engine?
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The Digital Foundry panel convene to talk about Sony's disappointing State of Play, John shares his thoughts on the Grand Theft Auto 6 Extended Look and there are more hints about Xbox's next-gen strategy as Asha Sharma discusses a family of devices - amongst other things - in an interview with the BBC.
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Six months after its reveal, DLSS 5 has launched with NBA 2K27 and its utilisation is a world apart from the first clips, not to mention the vast array of modded footage we've seen since its leak last week. Rich, John and Oliver compare notes on the difference it makes, the huge performance cost, what is achievable with mods and more.
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DF Direct Weekly #279: The Witcher 3 Remaster Reaction, Xbox Disc To Digital, Best of Gamescom 2026!
While Grand Theft Auto 6's gameplay reveal somewhat overshadowed proceedings, it was indeed Gamescom 2026 this week and with Rich's legs giving out, it was down to John to represent us at the show. So, after dispensing with some gaming and technology news, John delivers his own "best of" tour of Gamescom, discussing the titles he loved.
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26 minutes of actual GTA 6 gameplay "dropped" - and on balance, it's one of the most extraordinary visual accomplishments ever seen in real-time game graphics. It's not perfect - nothing can be - but in this DF Direct Special, Oliver and Rich share their thoughts and reactions to the presentation.
0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:24 Overall impressions
0:10:09 Performance: 30 FPS only
0:25:22 Lighting: shadowmaps, RT reflections, RTGI
0:3...
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