Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

The team sit down once more to discuss the latest questions from DF Supporters. What do we make of Unreal Engine 6's debut in Rocket League of all places? Has Epic delivered a version of Lumen that is performant enough for lower spec kit? Is Sony's quality control to be blamed for lower than expected PC sales and finally, the big one... if Steam is a monopoly, why do we like it?00:00 Introduction01:09 Supporter Q1: What should we make of the Unreal Engine 6 announcement?16:48 Supporter Q2: What does the new “medium Lumen” preset mean for Switch 2?21:52 Supporter Q3: Which UE5 game got closest visually to The Matrix Awakens?25:58 Supporter Q4: Has the RTX 4090 aged like fine wine?34:10 Supporter Q5: Should Sony’s declining PC port quality be blamed for poor sales?42:05 Supporter Q6: If people don’t like monopolies, why do they like Steam?

John, Oliver and Rich sit down to discuss the latest gaming and technology news, kicking off with the end of the road for Destiny 2. It's had a fantastic long run, but where does that leave Bungie? Following that, it's a - dare we say it - Unreal Fest. The team discuss the latest Lego Batman on PS5 and PC, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book on Switch and more, before moving into retrospective mode - it's been one year since the Witcher 4 UE5 demo and five years since we went hands-on with the Valley of the Ancient demo, so what have we learned? And finally, the nostalgia continues: this week, it's been an incredible TEN YEARS of DF Retro!0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:16 News 1: Bungie ends Destiny 2 development0:19:44 News 2: Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight released 0:32:51 News 3: Yoshi and the Mysterious Book tested 0:45:41 News 4: Two new UE5 games buck engine trends 0:57:36 Retrospective: 5 year Unreal Engine 5 early access anniversary 1:12:07 Retrospective: DF Retro celebrates 10 year anniversary

PS5 Linux continues to yield dividends as Rich tests path tracing on PS5 with Quake 2 RTX, Portal RTX and Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive (!) on Sony's console. Beyond that, there's great news with the announcement of FSR 4.1 coming to older Radeon graphics cards, and there's a hint that Xbox may have some kind of "disc to digital" way to bring your physical purchases over to a potentially disc-less Project Helix. Finally, the team celebrate a duo of key anniversaries - Uncharted 4 and Doom 2016!0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:03 News 1: Path tracing tested on PS5! 0:22:07 News 2: FSR 4.1 coming to RDNA 2/30:36:07 News 3: New 007 First Light footage shows 60fps PS5 Pro gameplay 0:46:23 News 4: Report suggests Xbox “disc to digital” program may be coming0:57:18 Retrospective: 10 year Uncharted 4 anniversary 1:09:36 Retrospective: 10 year Doom (2016) anniversary

Another packed Direct Q+A show sees Oliver, Rich and Alex getting to grips with high-end graphics: are they actually worth it and are technological advances worth pushing? Meanwhile, can Switch 2 last for the 6-7 years Nintendo wants it to - or will next-gen consoles make it obsolete for multi-platform titles? All this and more in the new Direct Q+A Show. 00:00 Introduction 00:53 Supporter Q1: Is the high end PC experience really worth it? Should we stop pushing top-tier visuals in general? 11:07 Supporter Q2: Will we have to wait years for a SWOLED 2? What should we make of Nintendo’s reported increase in R&D spend? 19:44 Supporter Q3: Can Switch 2 handle another 6 or 7 years of cross-gen software? 24:46 Supporter Q4: Given inflation, isn’t it true that gaming hardware today is relatively cheap? 31:02 Supporter Q5: Could Microsoft ship a version of Windows for Xbox Series? 35:36 Supporter Q6: Will Project Helix hardware prove tempting for AI users? 39:09 Supporter Q7: Is PC emulation on Android ready for prime time? 44:04 Supporter Q8: What would you do in 2026 with an old 10-series PC? 49:17 Supporter Q9: How much does Oliver cut out of DF Direct every week?

In this week's Direct, Oliver, John and Rich get to grips with the reveal of Nintendo's Star Fox remake for Switch 2, there's justified concern over the Nintendo price hike for its new console, while Activision confirms that the next Call of Duty will finally leave last generation hardware behind. Meanwhile, the Pragmata resolution saga continues with an undocumented resolution hike for the PlayStation 5 Professional, while Pragmata (again) has an unconventional way to boost performance on Switch 2. And finally, the panel mark the 10th anniversary of Nvidia's remarkable Pascal architecture.0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:19 News 1: Nintendo reveals Star Fox! 0:17:18 News 2: Nintendo increases Switch 2 prices 0:27:38 News 3: Next Call of Duty drops PS40:39:05 News 4: Pragmata gets surprise PS5 Pro resolution bump 0:46:39 News 5: Switch 2 GameChat can boost game performance! 0:56:24 News 6: Nvidia 10 series hits 10 year anniversary!

A new Q+A show sees John, Rich and Alex tackle a number of big questions. Is Project Helix a console or PC? What's the difference nowadays anyway? Will Microsoft's "K2" initiative win back users lamenting the Windows experience? Meanwhile, with no games focusing on ray tracing, will rasterised fallbacks decline in quality going forward? All this and much, much more.00:00 Introduction 00:50 Supporter Q1: When does a console become a PC? 10:27 Supporter Q2: What should we expect from Microsoft’s “K2” plan for Windows? 21:33 Supporter Q3: Will developers stop caring about their raster-only graphics? 34:19 Supporter Q4: What do you think of the Neo Geo AES+?39:19 Supporter Q5: Why is Intel starting to ignore gaming dGPUs? 44:54 Supporter Q6: Is using frame gen to get to 30fps acceptable? 51:12 Supporter Q7: Do you know what pico means in Chilean Spanish?

Exploited PS5s can now run Linux - so obviously we had to check it out, running Steam versions of Crimson Desert, Black Myth Wukong and Pragmata on Linux via Steam, stacked up against the actual PS5 versions - with some fascinating results. Meanwhile, Alex talks us through an amazing tech presentation from the developers of Teardown, John impresses us with his new Anbernic RG477M, Tom provides us test data to prove that Oblivion Remastered is indeed still "broken", while Rich and Alex come to terms with the fact that it's time to say goodbye to the Ryzen 5 3600. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:02:15 News 1: Linux gaming on PS5 tested! 0:26:31 News 2: Teardown devs highlight voxel ray tracing enhancements 0:38:10 News 3: Anbernic retro handheld tested! 0:50:31 News 4: Oblivion Remastered is still broken 0:59:29 News 5: Saying goodbye to the Ryzen 5 3600

Some excellent questions from Digital Foundry Supporters this week. Does the F1 25 PS5 Pro path tracing demo and ReSTIR optimisations mean that path tracing is going mainstream - maybe for next gen? Is there still untapped potential in PS5 and Series X? Is Microsoft's new "We Are Xbox" strategy document just a massive balloon of hot air? Is Nvidia making path tracing an exclusive feature and what do we think about that? And... a year on from release, why Oblivion Remastered still broken? 00:00 Introduction 00:35 Supporter Q1: Will path tracing efficiency improvements bring PT to current gen console games? 12:30 Supporter Q2: Is there still untapped potential in PS5 and Series X? 19:25 Supporter Q3: Have we hit the peak of ML image reconstruction? 27:45 Supporter Q4: Why is path tracing exclusive to Nvidia in so many recent games? 32:54 Supporter Q5: Will Oblivion Remastered ever be fixed? 39:57 Supporter Q6: Would games really run 30% faster if they were optimized for Intel CPUs? 45:31 Supporter Q7: Do Microsoft’s recent Xbox promises mean anything?