Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

A clean sweep of Sony news stories this week, as John, Oliver and Rich react to the alleged PlayStation 5 Pro specs and discuss the apparent debut of the Project Q handheld device in the flesh in the least flattering manner possible. At the same time, Sony is slashing the price on PS5 consoles... so could a new, replacement model be arriving soon? After that, there's more footage from Ratchet and...

In this week's DF Direct, John, Rich and Alex share their thoughts on the latest Spider-Man 2 trailer and its accompanying custom PS5, sort (likely) facts from the fiction surrounding the upcoming Switch 2, and lament the total lack of review coverage for the RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. Meanwhile, there's clarification on the Dolphin emulator's no-show on Steam and discussion on the lack of a Saturn mini re...

With the recent legal challenges to the deal failing or crumbling as we speak, it's time to discuss the realities of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision, Blizzard and King. Where does the deal stand right now? What are/were Microsoft's business objectives? Can Call of Duty actually run on Nintendo Switch? Does the recent Sony deal mean Microsoft gets early access to PS6? And to conclude, what fi...

This week, the team take a look at the specs required to run Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart on PC and discuss how crucial DirectStorage is to the future of PC gaming. Meanwhile, the AMD Starfield partnership sees specs reveals turned into an awkward marketing exercise that confuses gamers. Classic cut content is coming to Halo: The Master Chief Collection, while Rich reveals initial results using t...

In this week's DF Direct Weekly, the team discuss potential PS5 Slim and PS5 Pro hardware as revealed by... Microsoft? Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 16's motion blur is revised via a new patch, John tells us about a bunch of excellent PSVR2 games you may not have heard about - and the team chat tech concerning a potential Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake. Finally, CD Projekt RED's opinions about t...

A packed 89-minute DF Direct Weekly for you this week, as the team discuss the controversy surrounding AMD's technology partnership with Starfield. Does the deal mean that AMD is paying to block competing DLSS and XeSS upscalers from appearing in the game? AMD says: no comment. Meanwhile, the team mull over the week's FTC vs Microsoft revelations, Rich is excited by huge Assassin's Creed Unity per...

This week, John discusses the reaction to the Final Fantasy 16 reviews, the focus on the 720p-1080p performance mode and whether the game was actually targeting 30fps all along. Meanwhile, the team are impressed by the latest Nintendo Direct, Xbox raises prices, while the lack of DLSS in AMD sponsored PC titles once again comes to the fore. Also: to celebrate our 117th edition, the team share thei...

The latest DF Direct Weekly 'drops' with John, Rich and Alex reuniting at the mics after a massive week of not-E3 showcase news and fallout. Phil Spencer appears to be ruling out a mid-gen 'Pro' console update for the Xbox Series machines, Matt Booty says that Xbox One first-party game development is finally over, while Sony reveals that PS5 game streaming is coming to its subscription service. Me...

It's the impressions/reactions video you've been waiting for - and it took time because we wanted to investigate what was shown more deeply. John Linneman and Alex Battaglia share their notes on the Starfield Direct, discuss why the game is 30fps on consoles, what 4K on Series X actually means (and the implications for Series S) before moving onto the rendering tech on display and what they think...

A company revitalised based on the latest Ubisoft Forward, we saw a big bunch of excellent games and a couple in particular that look set to deliver proper 'next-gen' rendering - Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Beyond those 'bangers', the likes of AC Mirage and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown also caught the eye of John Linneman and Alex Battaglia. Plus: a quick look at the Ca...

In a special episode of DF Direct, John Linneman, Oliver Mackenzie and Alex Battaglia share their reactions and impressions to the excellent Xbox Showcase 2023, going through the event game by game with analysis and insights. Has Microsoft delivered the best event of the summer season so far? 00:00:00 Overview 00:02:32 Fable, South of Midnight 00:11:32 Star Wars Outlaws, 33 Immortals 00:17:30 Payd...

Geoffcon aka Keigh3 aka Summer Games Fest is back, kicking off with a mammoth show crammed with new games of varying quality, Nicolas Cage and a big bunch of obvious ads. In this DF Direct special, John, Rich and Alex mull over the various reveals and wurld prm'ears, debate the inclusion of the letter 'i' in 'mobile', dive deeply into Spider-Man's symbiote lore, get excited about the new Sonic gam...

The news of a PC port from Nixxes for Rachet and Clank raises the question: can PC handle the extreme storage demands of the Insomniac PS5 showcase? Alex weighs in with his thoughts on how the port will work. Meanwhile, Nvidia demos AI-driven conversations with NPCs, Redfall's development woes make the news again, while John's concerned about Nintendo's views towards emulation. 00:00:00 Introducti...

With the first of the summer games events done and dusted, it's down to Rich, Oliver and John to shift through the games of the Sony showcase, bemoan trailergeddon, regale Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with praise then to discuss the merits of the Project Q streaming handheld. Meanwhile, the lack of a physical release for Alan Wake 2 upsets John - and Rich makes him talk about Marathon. 00:00:00 Introduct...

This week on the show, Alex gets to grips with the latest patch for Jedi Survivor, testing to see whether the game's profound tech issues have been resolved. Meanwhile, the team discusses Nvidia's RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti announcements, while John has much to say about the poor state of day one console launches. Meanwhile, the buzz surrounding mid-gen console refreshes continues - but do we actual...

One of the biggest - if not the biggest - games of 2023 launched this week. Nintendo's Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has recently a massively positive reaction. John discusses his review and shares more thoughts on the game, while digging more deeply into the eternal question - is it too big for Switch? Meanwhile, Rich drops in from time off to share his impressions with the Asus ROG Ally and A Plag...

DF Direct Weekly returns after a seismic week in gaming, with Oliver, John and Alex discussing the crisis state of PC gaming 'in the here and now', raking over the coals of the deeply disappointing Redfall release, while we had to take a look at Man of Medan on Switch, which targets a cinematic 24fps. Meanwhile, John clues us in on the latest Analogue Pocket firmware update. 00:00:00 Introduction...

This week the team discuss the arrival of Star Wars Jedi Survivor, share first impressions after EA delayed sending review code, then move onto 'The Power of the Cloud' seemingly blocking Microsoft's Activision acquisition. Rich shares a conversation he had with the Xbox Sustainability Team on improving in-game efficiency, while benchmarks finally emerge on the impressive looking Asus ROG Ally han...

This week, Rich is joined by Alex and Oliver to discuss a range of topics, including the Unrecord footage that's gone 'viral', the launch of the first Unreal Engine 5.1 title outside of Fortnite to use Lumen and Nanite, and the arrival of the Horizon Burning Shores DLC - which looks amazing. Meanwhile, discover why Digital Foundry won't be doing another office tour and learn about Rich's 'cone of...

Rich, Alex and Oliver sit down for the latest DF Direct Weekly, discussing the controversial move for Microsoft to ship Redfall at 30fps with a performance mode to follow, along with confirmation that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justive League is getting a length delay. The team muse over the implications of Cyberpunk 2077's RT Overdrive changing the face of PC graphics in future games, while the thir...

Rumours of a new PlayStation portable streaming device dominated the news this week, supplanting the actual reveal of the ultra-powerful Asus ROG Ally, first revealed on - believe it or not - April Fools Day. Meanwhile, John is seriously unhappy about Microsoft blocking emulation on Xbox Series consoles, while the applications of AI tools and the concept of affordable GPUs prompts further debate....

We're not angry, we're just disappointed. And a touch baffled. Stupefied even. And actually, yeah, maybe a bit angry too. Just how did The Last of Us Part 1 launch on PC in the state it did? John, Rich and Alex discuss their impressions on the game, what went wrong with the port - and whether Sony should have launched it in this state at all. Meanwhile, it's a sad, sad day as E3 2023 is cancelled...

It's GDC week, with Alex, Rich and John discussing the big news from the latest events, including some exciting new Unreal Engine 5 developments, plus Nvidia's latest innovations in real-time path-traced gaming. Meanwhile, the team isn't that impressed by Elden Ring's RT upgrade, while EA's decision to delete a bunch of excellent Battlefield games doesn't go down particularly well either. 00:00:0...

John, Alex and Will take to the mics this week to discuss the possibilities of some exciting iterations on gaming favourites. Do the recent reports of a PS5 Pro make sense? What about an OLED Steam Deck? And if Counter-Strike is so great, why isn't there a Counter-Strike 2? 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:24 News 01: Resident Evil 4 impressions! 00:13:53 News 02: PS5 Pro - is it coming? 00:25:01 News...

A big week of news to discuss, with Oliver, Rich and Alex talking about Starfield's latest announcement and 'delay', plus the story that Suicide Squad will be pushed back in order to address the negative reaction to its State of Play gameplay reveal. Meanwhile, the COD war between Microsoft and Sony continues - and Halo Infinite on PC receives RT support. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:52 News 01: St...