Digital Foundry Direct Weekly Digital Foundry

What's going on with Microsoft's new game preservation team and commitment to forward compatibility? Alex, Rich and Oliver rake over the details - such as they are. Meanwhile, there's discussion over Fallout 4's upcoming current-gen upgrade, while the new Star Wars Outlaws story trailer gets the DF breakdown. And with FSR 3 frame-gen coming to consoles with Immortals of Aveum, what sort of expectation level should be set?

0:00:00 Introduction and DF Merch
0:01:39 News 01: Xbox establishes game preservation team
0:20:26 News 02: Fallout 4 getting current gen upgrade
0:30:03 News 03: Star Wars Outlaws story trailer drops
0:46:10 News 04: Dead Space is dead!
0:53:56 News 05: Immortals of Aveum gets FSR 3 boost on consoles
1:08:29 Supporter Q1: Can you get console-like convenience on a PC?
1:16:12 Supporter Q2: Is the PS5 Pro’s CPU boost enough to bring a 30fps game to 40fps?
1:20:23 Supporter Q3: Are modern games too ‘fake’, with their reliance on upsampling and frame gen?
1:26:40 Supporter Q4: Could RT be losing traction with upcoming games?
1:34:38 Supporter Q5: Could Microsoft launch a Series S-matching handheld this holiday season?
1:42:06 Supporter Q6: What does Microsoft mean when they claim the next Xbox will have the biggest tech leap in a generation?
1:52:06 Supporter Q7: Should we be happy that more games are targeting 30fps on the consoles?
1:57:57 Supporter Q8: How powerful will the Switch 2 be relative to the Steam Deck and Series S?
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A wide range of Hellblade 2 previews emerged last week, but what have we learned about the game and is the dynamic resolution 30fps revelation in any way surprising? John, Rich and Alex share their thoughts while also sharing reactions to the latest chapter in the PS Portal hack story and Nightdive's POed remaster non-April fool. Alex shares news of his experiments with Intel's PresentMon 2.0 - and how it will change our PC games and hardware coverage - while there's intrigue and some level of excitement surrounding Intel's latest XeSS news.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:04 News 01: Hellblade 2 previews drop!
0:26:53 News 02: PS Portal hack patched before release
0:34:41 News 03: 90s FPS PO'ed getting Nightdive remaster
0:41:07 News 04: C-Smash VRS hits Meta Quest
0:52:03 News 05: Alex’s PresentMon experiments
1:06:57 News 06: Campaign demands: stop killing games!
1:16:19 News 07: Intel updates XeSS with revised modes
1:22:04 Supporter Q1: Would it be more practical to target 1440p than 4K for performance modes?
1:28:11 Supporter Q2: Dragon’s Dogma 2 has unimpressive NPC density, so why can’t it hit 60fps on consoles?
1:35:17 Supporter Q3: Why do some developers implement incorrect 30fps frame-rate caps?
1:43:36 Supporter Q4: Why isn’t low frame-rate compensation the default with 120Hz and VRR on PS5?
1:50:05 Supporter Q5: Could the PS5 Pro be powerful enough to run advanced path traced games?
1:55:04 Supporter Q6: With Microsoft potentially opening Xbox to third parties, was the 3DO approach right all along?
2:01:21 Supporter Q7: Would it have been better to forgo the PS5 Pro and instead shorten this console generation?
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This week's show is dominated by Xbox news in the wake of a new interview with Phil Spencer strongly indicating a big change in direction for the Xbox platform and by extension, its hardware. There's also talk of what form an Xbox handheld may take, while leaked photography of a white Xbox Series X 'All Digital' console brings about bafflement from the team.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:50 News 01: Phil Spencer wants other game stores on Xbox
0:30:36 News 02: Phil Spencer’s gaming handheld wishlist
0:44:21 News 03: White digital-only Series X leaks
0:55:32 News 04: Testing Outcast performance
1:13:31 News 05: Sunsoft’s Uforia: The Saga 2 released!
1:20:26 Supporter Q1: Are Switch cartridges or Blu-ray discs better for long term preservation?
1:27:25 Supporter Q2: What do you make of claims that developers are considering dropping Xbox support?
1:33:33 Supporter Q3: Why didn’t Sony upgrade the CPU further on PS5 Pro?
1:40:43 Supporter Q4: How would Microsoft’s cloud technology be leveraged in a next-gen console?
1:47:59 Supporter Q5: Could Switch 2 receive games at a slower pace than the original Switch?
1:54:39 Supporter Q6: Is Nvidia’s market dominance a bad thing for competition?
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Rich, John and Alex discuss the stunning Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra debut trailer, potentially big upgrades to FSR via its upcoming 3.1 upgrade, while Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's tweaked performance mode (via a new patch) is analysed. Have image quality concerns finally been addressed? Meanwhile, we attempt to draw a line under the whole PS5 Pro/GTA6 60fps situation, while John shares his experiences with Nvidia's AI-powered Covert Protocol demo. Can AI move beyond upscaling to provide new gameplay experiences?

0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:44 News 01: Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra stuns in debut trailer
0:18:56 News 02: AMD announces FSR 3.1
0:30:52 News 03: Latest PS VR2 update enables PC access
0:40:37 News 04: Could GTA 6 hit 60 FPS on PS5 Pro?
0:57:46 News 05: Covert Protocol demo shows off AI characters
1:10:17 News 06: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gets new graphics options
1:16:05 Supporter Q1: What should Microsoft and Sony do to differentiate their next-gen hardware?
1:36:44 Supporter Q2: Why isn’t Microsoft making more out of their consoles’ machine learning capabilities?
1:43:09 Supporter Q3: Should Sony invest in frame generation? Does PSSR suggest a lack of faith in AMD’s upscaling tech?
1:49:24 Supporter Q4: Could backwards compatibility actually hold back Switch 2?
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In a brand new, DF Direct Special we find Alex, Rich and Oliver confirming the leaked technical specifications for Sony's upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro console, we talk you through what the various spec points mean in terms of the gameplay experience, we go deep on ray tracing and machine learning-based upscaling and we reveal some new information about the new console based on recent developer disclosures.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:01:43 The CPU: What's Changed?
0:16:01 GPU Performance Boosts and Architecture
0:27:45 Ray Tracing: Really 2x to 4x Faster?
0:36:38 PSSR Upscaling and Machine Learning Performance
0:46:53 Additional Memory for Games
0:50:16 Closing Thoughts: What Do We Make of PS5 Pro So Far?
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Rich is still trapped in a white room with two plants, but the Direct discussions continue regardless. Oliver's been checking out Rise of the Ronin on PlayStation 5, Alex has much to say about Nvidia's DLSS-based GDC reveals, while Rich is intrigued by Intel's latest PresentMon 2.0 features. Meanwhile, the surprise release - and withdrawal - of the PS5 Stellar Blade demo raises more questions about our digital library future.

0:00:00 Introduction and DF merchandise
0:02:26 News 01: Rise of the Ronin preview
0:11:40 News 02: Nvidia announces upcoming game enhancements
0:35:55 News 03: Intel unveils PresentMon 2.0
0:51:08 News 04: Stellar Blade demo released, quickly pulled
0:56:48 News 05: Peter Moore questions the future of consoles
1:12:11 Supporter Q1: Should console platforms let you impose frame-rate caps yourself?
1:19:39 Supporter Q2: What rendering tech will we see pushed after path tracing?
1:27:22 Supporter Q3: Should more developers expose debug menus in their games?
1:31:43 Supporter Q4: What storage tech do you work off of?
1:39:38 Supporter Q5: What would Digital Foundry have looked like in the 1990s?
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