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 why the staff keep referring to the year of our lord - and Oliver's getting rather excited about the latest breakthroughs in AI technology.0:00:00 Introduction0:00:50 News 1: Switch 2 motherboard leaks - with possible 8nm SoC! 0:27:47 News 2: Nintendo patent hints at Switch 2 upscaling0:43:45 News 3: High quality GTA 6 trailer reveals new details 0:55:35 News 4: Wukong developer says Series S holding back Xbox port 1:07:41 News 5: AI update: new GPTs, game tech 1:19:38 Supporter Q1: Does it make sense to pair an AMD CPU with an Intel GPU for a budget build? 1:26:02 Supporter Q2: Will Sony ship games like Marvel’s Spider-Man on Switch 2? 1:31:23 Supporter Q3: Are you saving some performance-challenged Switch games for Switch 2? 1:35:26 Supporter Q4: Is this the most exciting Q1 in gaming history? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the year wraps up, the hosts celebrate the best game graphics of 2024, spotlighting standout titles like STALKER 2 and Persona 3 Reload. The discussion dives into visual design innovations, including software ray tracing and real-time cut scenes. They explore the impressive remastering efforts by Night Dive Studios and the evolution of hair rendering in Dragon Age: Veilguard. The balance between stunning visuals and gameplay performance is scrutinized, while indie games also shine, showcasing technical marvels that push creative boundaries.

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 Introduction0:01:09 News 1: Switch 2 leaks describe dock, magnetic connection0:17:40 News 2: New Alan Wake 2 PS5 Pro patch tested!0:28:14 News 3: Indiana Jones lighting improved on Xbox0:35:32 News 4: New Legion Go uses SteamOS0:49:50 News 5: RTX 50 series leaks continue1:01:35 News 6: DF Supporter Game of the Year awards!1:18:01 News 7: “Monkey Kong” hits Nintendo eShop1:25:36 Supporter Q1: After the Mark Cerny interview, how do you think Sony will approach PS6?1:33:47 Supporter Q2: How will Project Amethyst affect Microsoft’s relationship with AMD?1:39:00 Supporter Q3: How will today’s high-end PC hardware compare to next gen consoles?1:45:01 Supporter Q4: Why was PS3/360 game performance often so poor?1:55:02 Supporter Q5: What do you make of FF7 Rebirth’s PC lighting upgrades?1:58:54 Supporter Q6: What’s the best looking last gen game? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Introduction01:53 GPU overview: RDNA 2.x, 16.7 TF06:32 Ray tracing improvements15:01 Machine learning and PSSR26:27 The future: Amethyst, ML exploration, and next-gen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 this and more in the new Direct, plus Oliver's analysis of the new PS5 Pro updates for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Star Wars Outlaws.0:00:00 Introduction0:01:25 News 1: The Game Awards 2024 - The Witcher 40:15:07 Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet 0:30:04 Split Fiction0:37:33 Elden Ring Nightreign 0:42:57 Mafia: The Old Country 0:47:53 John’s picks: Ninja Gaiden, Virtua Fighter, Project Century, Turok. Onimusha, Okami, new GenDesign game 1:01:20 Oliver’s picks: FF7R PC, TLOU Pt 2 PC, Screamer, Sonic Racing 1:13:50 News 2: Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws PS5 Pro fixes tested! 1:26:31 News 3: LG discontinues Blu-Ray players1:40:30 Supporter Q1: Will Doom: The Dark Ages have the same RT features as Indiana Jones? And should id Tech be licensed to other developers? 1:47:27 Supporter Q2: Why isn’t there a Cyberpunk 2077 PS5 Pro patch? 1:52:05 Supporter Q3: Should we be concerned about the Arc B580’s die size? 1:59:03 Supporter Q4: What would a hypothetical Arc B770 look like? 2:06:58 Supporter Q5: If Geoff was to give an award for game engine utilization, who would win? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Introduction0:01:14 News 1: Sony celebrates PlayStation’s 30th anniversary0:24:09 News 2: Valve branding guidelines suggest third party SteamOS hardware0:37:05 News 3: Black Ops 6 on PS5 Pro tested + developer info!0:48:48 News 4: Intel reveals B580, B570 GPUs0:58:28 News 5: Lenovo Legion Go S leaks1:09:44 News 6: Warhammer 40,000: Darktide PS5 Pro tested1:25:29 News 7: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle reaction!1:46:23 Supporter Q1: Is the industry finally moving to mandatory hardware RT? 1:54:50 Supporter Q2: Can Microsoft minimize hassles if they move towards Windows for their console releases? 2:03:05 Supporter Q3: For midrange GPUs, is it better to use temporal upscaling to 1440p or 4K? 2:10:23 Supporter Q4: Will Switch 2 games output to 720p or 900p in portable mode for performance reasons? 2:17:18 Supporter Q5: Will upcoming portable consoles be supported like the Series S? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Origins demo.0:00:00 Introduction0:01:19 News 1: Potential portable PlayStation in development 0:18:08 News 2: Avatar PS5 Pro patch shows PSSR struggles0:31:25 News 3: Star Wars Outlaws patch brings PC fixes0:37:47 News 4: Intel Arc B580 GPU leaked0:49:42 News 5: Light of Motiram takes heavy Horizon inspiration 1:00:47 News 6: Valve celebrates Half-Life 2 20th anniversary with update, new documentary1:19:42 News 7: Dynasty Warriors Origins demo drops1:25:31 News 8: Highlighting Brazil Pixel1:36:33 Supporter Q1: Will CD Projekt Red be able to fix UE5 stuttering?1:44:08 Supporter Q2: How will Microsoft configure their business if Steam can run on Xbox?1:51:21 Supporter Q3: Why does Windows 11 cause so many headaches? 2:01:58 Supporter Q4: Why haven’t we heard more about a PS5 Pro patch for Black Myth: Wukong? 2:07:45 Supporter Q5: How does Nintendo avoid technical issues in their games? 2:14:19 Supporter Q6: What would a theoretical PS3 Pro look like? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 rather cool Pro upgrade for The Callisto Protocol.0:00:00 Introduction0:01:05 News 1: PS5 Pro PSSR issues analyzed0:29:50 News 2: Silent Hill 2 patch tested: PSSR dropped!0:39:02 News 3: STALKER 2 suffers launch woes0:51:04 News 4: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate gets current-gen patch1:02:23 News 5: Sony in talks to acquire From Software1:12:34 News 6: PlayStation Portal updated with cloud streaming support1:22:57 News 7: Callisto Protocol PS5 Pro patch released!1:32:36 Supporter Q1: Are there any Nvidia graphics cards for $400 or less that are good deals?1:42:29 Supporter Q2: When there are glaring performance issues in a game, what do you chalk them up to?1:50:24 Supporter Q3: Why do games often offer so many console modes when one of them is clearly optimal?1:57:13 Supporter Q4: Are you feeling Unreal Engine 5 fatigue?2:01:29 Supporter Q5: Will Microsoft bring Xbox backwards compatibility to PC?2:10:39 Supporter Q6: Which vaporware is better: Blast Processing or “the power of the cloud”? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Chromatic.0:00:00 Introduction0:02:17 News 1: Phil Spencer: no “red lines” on Xbox ports0:26:42 News 2: Lego Horizon Adventures impresses on consoles0:36:01 News 3: Halo 2 E3 demo resurfaces in Master Chief Collection0:50:51 News 4: PS5 Pro sales reportedly not impacted by price1:00:56 News 5: Stellar Blade developer considering PC release1:07:56 News 6: Intel plans Arrow Lake performance fix1:17:08 News 7: ModRetro Chromatic impresses1:27:58 Supporter Q1: How will the next Xbox achieve the “largest technical leap” in a console generation? 1:35:07 Supporter Q2: If the next Xbox doesn’t have a disc drive, how will disc backwards compatibility function?1:41:36 Supporter Q3: Are you excited to see the rumoured Nvidia ARM-based laptop chip? 1:47:43 Supporter Q4: Will we see support for ultrawide aspect ratios on consoles? 1:56:17 Supporter Q5: Can we give Epic credit for allowing Internet Archive to host older Unreal games? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 PS5 Pro's actual packaging?0:00:00 Introduction0:01:08 News 1: God of War Ragnarök PS5 Pro patch tested!0:13:36 News 2: Nintendo confirms Switch 2 backwards compatibility0:25:27 News 3: Death Stranding lands on Xbox0:38:11 News 4: No Man’s Sky patched for PS5 Pro0:47:49 News 5: Sony INZONE M10S impressions1:05:53 News 6: Sonic Generations can run at 60fps on Switch1:11:42 Supporter Q1: Will you use the 9800X3D for high-end gaming benchmarks? 1:16:21 Supporter Q2: Will PS6 use 3D V-Cache? 1:17:32 Supporter Q3: Will Alex and John switch to 9800X3D?1:22:15 Supporter Q4: Why is Game Boost falling short of the promised 45% increase to PS5 Pro raster performance? 1:29:21 Supporter Q5: Would AI frame extrapolation make native frame-rate unimportant? 1:32:30 Supporter Q6: What do you want out of a Steam Deck 2?1:38:32 Supporter Q7: Why didn’t you spend more time analyzing the PS5 Pro box? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices