Join Rich, Alex and Oliver for another huge Direct, covering off the 'no red lines' Xbox news and the Forza Horizon 5 PS5 announcement, hints from Phil Spencer about next-gen Xbox, along with early impressions on Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PC. Meanwhile, the team field questions about the controversial RTX 5080 release, while Alex tests out the surprise new feature - Nvidia Smooth Motion. Finally, Oliver is very, very excited about DeepSeek - but does it spell the end of Nvidia's AI dominance? 0:0...
Feb 03, 2025•2 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast As we close in on the 200th edition of DF Direct Weekly - where we currently have no special plans whatsoever - Alex, Oliver and Rich discuss Microsoft's brilliant Xbox Developer_underscore_Direct, and get highly excited about Doom: The Dark Ages, before moving on to discuss the reaction to the RTX 5090 reviews, the problems of GPU reviewing, Sony's baffling live services strategy - and the mysterious delay of AMD's RDNA 4 cards. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:56 News 1: Developer Direct 2025 - Doom:...
Jan 27, 2025•2 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nintendo Switch 2 has finally been revealed in a somewhat detail-light two minute presentation, showcasing renders of the new hardware, some details on backwards compatibility and a teaser for what may well be Mario Kart 9. John, Rich and Oliver sit down after the reveal and discuss the reveal - along with some intriguing leaks about the clock speeds of the main processor. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:12 Switch 2 hardware 0:16:42 New Mario Kart analysis 0:28:32 Only partial backwards compatibility?...
Jan 21, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast The embargo has lifted on the Editor's Day material Nvidia shared with the press during CES 2025. In this DF Direct Special, Oliver and Alex share their thoughts on the architectural improvements to the RTX 50-series cards, the laptops, the new AI features, DLSS 4, price and projected performance. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:08 Blackwell architecture: Blackwell SM design 0:03:39 Updated Tensor Core and RT Core 0:09:37 AI Management Processor and Max Q power management 0:15:13 Display Engine and vi...
Jan 15, 2025•2 hr 30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yes, it's true - not only do Oliver and Alex have full torsos and legs but they have now actually met in person at CES 2025! The duo discuss their reactions to the Nvidia keynote and the RTX demos that excited them the most before moving on sharing further impressions on their AMD, Intel, Asus and Razer visits. Also, the pair's critical eyes land upon the latest generation of displays showcased at the show. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:47 Nvidia CES demos - RTX Mega Geometry 0:14:25 RTX Neural Mate...
Jan 13, 2025•2 hr•Ep 196•Transcript available on Metacast DF Direct returns in the year of our lord, 2025! Rich and Oliver mull over the leaked imagery of the Nintendo Switch 2 motherboard. Is the SoC on a sub-standard Samsung process? Does it really matter? Can we expect PS4 Pro levels of performance? (Spoilers: no). Meanwhile, a higher quality version of GTA 6 Trailer 1 reveals new details, and Game Science has issues with console optimisations on Xbox Series S - so is this why Black Myth: Wukong isn't on Microsoft's consoles? Finally, Rich wonders w...
Jan 06, 2025•2 hr 46 min•Ep 195•Transcript available on Metacast As another year comes to a close, Digital Foundry unleashes its traditional holiday video, celebrating the best game graphics of the year. Outside of some highly honourable mentions, ten games are lauded for their phenomenal visuals. John, Alex and Oliver share their thoughts in a massive 108-minute long celebration! 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:58 Honourable mentions: STALKER 2, Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio, Nightdive Studios, Tiny Glade, FF7 Rebirth, Power Rangers 0:20:46 Dragon’s Dogma ...
Dec 28, 2024•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast With an official announcement for Nintendo Switch 2 due in the next month or so, it's perhaps no surprise to see the leaks coming in thick and fast - but how believable are they? Meanwhile, Oliver gets to grips with the latest patch for Alan Wake 2 on PS5 Pro - is there genuine improvement? Rich tries to piece together the latest RTX 50-series rumours into something coherently plausible, while John examines the latest Switch IP-abusing shovelware: the mighty Monkey Kong in New-York. 0:00:00 Intr...
Dec 23, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Ep 194•Transcript available on Metacast 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 P...
Dec 18, 2024•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 th...
Dec 16, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Ep 193•Transcript available on Metacast 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 sugge...
Dec 09, 2024•2 hr 28 min•Ep 192•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Dec 02, 2024•2 hr 25 min•Ep 191•Transcript available on Metacast 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 rath...
Nov 25, 2024•2 hr 23 min•Ep 190•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Chr...
Nov 18, 2024•2 hr 6 min•Ep 189•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Nov 11, 2024•2 hr 46 min•Ep 188•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Intr...
Nov 05, 2024•2 hr 59 min•Ep 187•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Wa...
Oct 28, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast It's all very Xbox-heavy this week, as Austin Evans reveals that the latest Xbox consoles have finally transitioned to 6nm silicon. There's plenty of reaction to Microsoft's Xbox Partner Showcase, including the reveal of FBC: Firebreak, while John gets very excited about the new Analogue 3D - an FPGA-powered N64 clone with cutting-edge video and overclock features. The team 'pour one out' for the cancelled Halo battle royale - and Nightdive has done it again with Killing Time: Resurrected. 0:00:...
Oct 21, 2024•2 hr 10 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast In a rather jovial DF Direct, John returns from Japan having played PS5 Pro and visited a big bunch of developers, there's curiosity around Nintendo Alarmo and mysterious online tests it has in the offing, there's much anticipation for Alien Isolation 2 and some degree of confusion surrounding Intel's Arrow Lake-S CPU line-up. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:56 News 1: Red Dead Redemption announced for PC 0:13:56 News 2: Nintendo announces alarm clock, mysterious online playtest 0:26:17 News 3: Alien ...
Oct 14, 2024•2 hr 8 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast October 11th 2024 marks the 25th anniversary of the GeForce 256, the original Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). With cutting edge technologies like hardware-accelerated transformation and lighting (T&L), combined with what was - for the time - brutal performance, GeForce 256 was a game-changer. In this DF Direct special hosted by Alex Battaglia, we bring together Nvidia staff to discuss why this product was so important. On the panel, we have: John Montrym, Chief Architect John Spitzer, VP of Deve...
Oct 12, 2024•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Another packed Direct sees Oliver, Rich and Alex tackling Nintendo's various takedowns - on the Ryujinx emulator and YouTube emulation content. Oliver spends some time with Until Dawn on PlayStation 5 offering up impressions that range from the good, the bad and indeed the ugly. Alex talks us through the UE5 MegaLights technology and the new God of War Ragnarök PC patch, while the new STALKER 2 documentary basically demands to be watched. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:53 News 1: Nintendo takes down ...
Oct 07, 2024•2 hr 51 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast A new State of Play quote-unquote drops, giving Rich, Alex and Oliver much to discuss in this latest edition of DF Direct Weekly. Ghost of Yotei, Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster and the new Dragon Age dominate discussion, before the team move on to talk about the latest PS5 Pro title reveals. RTX 50-series specs come into focus - with leaks revealing a huge gap between 5080 and 5090. And there's much concern and bafflement around Monster Hunter Wilds' recommended PC specs. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:1...
Sep 30, 2024•2 hr 6 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast In the wake of the PlayStation 5 Pro reveal, press had the opportunity to go hands-on with the hardware - and a wide range of games - at an event in Sony's San Mateo HQ. Oliver Mackenzie was our man on-site, and he's come back with a wealth of gameplay impressions, b-roll of the event and the titles tested and on-camera developer interviews. Is the upgrade worthwhile? Oliver is joined by Rich to discuss the event and to talk specifics on the range of modes and games tested. 0:00:00 Overview 0:02...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Another massive Direct sees Rich, John and Alex convene to discuss the huge Switch 2 prototype leak, the revelation that Intel and AMD battled it out for the PS6 contract, while the team shares notes on the quality of Capcom's Dead Rising remaster. Meanwhile, the actual nature of AMD's FSR 4 AI upscaling is discussed - along with continuing bafflement around the Horizon Zero Dawn remaster... and what's this about a Days Gone remaster too? 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:08 News 1: Switch 2 hardware re...
Sep 23, 2024•2 hr 8 min•Ep 181•Transcript available on Metacast In our DF Direct Special in the wake of the PlayStation 5 Pro reveal, we had much to say about the hardware, the pitch and the price - but not much to say about the games, owing to the poor media quality. Now, armed with a 65GB ProRes file of the Mark Cerny presentation, we can go deeper - much deeper - into the software that was shown and how good PSSR AI upscaling actually is. Strap in for another two hour show - and there's much to share in this one. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:02:47 The Last of U...
Sep 16, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast It's finally happened. PS5 Pro is real, announced and detailed by none other than lead system architect, Mark Cerny. John, Rich and Alex sit down to discuss the reveal, how Sony chose to market it, the Big Three tech innovations - larger GPU, ML upscaling and RT enhancements - and of course, the shocking price-point. 0:00:00 Overview 0:01:20 How is Sony marketing the PS5 Pro? 0:09:43 Big three features: larger GPU, machine learning and ray tracing enhancements 0:25:10 The missing disc drive 0:33...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast The inevitability of Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro increases still further as the firm 'leaks' the new design in a 30th anniversary artwork. Meanwhile, there are highs and lows for PlayStation: Concord crashes and burns, resulting in its withdrawal from sale - and yet spirits are raised by the frankly incredible Astro Bot. Elsewhere, RTX 5080 performance leaks suggest a 10 percent improvement over RTX 4090 - but where does that leave the RTX 5090 then? And then there's Anandtech: the team commiserate...
Sep 09, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Intro...
Sep 02, 2024•2 hr 22 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast 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 0...
Aug 26, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast 
