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Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #207 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-27 13:57:35
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
Q&A

Content

Hello there - it's Thursday (again!) which is our regular wake-up call for putting together the next episode of DF Direct Weekly! And once again, we begin this process with only the vaguest outline of how everything will play out! It'll be Oliver, John and Alex consisting of the triumvirate this week - I'm taking a breather after being a bit under the weather this week - so it'll need to be one of the others chuckling in the background at some of Alex's phrasing!

On the docket right now at least, we'll be discussing the latest episode of the second-best Direct on YouTube, as Nintendo shares its latest video offering which does not include any Switch 2 material whatsoever. However, we will be discussing Insider Gaming's 'scoop' on Nintendo's three-phase release strategy. Meanwhile, Alex will be voicing his displeasure about Nvidia's recent lapse in driver quality. And, if you fancy it, Oliver will be sharing some thoughts on the Mac version of Control!

One thing's for certain though: Direct content changes (sometimes radically) in the time between posting this call for questions and actually sitting down to record, and you can definitely make your presence felt. So please do continue to suggest topics and - of course - pose any and all questions for consideration for the Supporter Q+A section.

Files

Comments

Octolimar

Alex covered reshade years back, but new interesting shaders have come about since then. Would you be interested in covering this again? Shaders such as screen space rtgi and TAA are interesting and can be transformative for some games.

goregutz

Hi DF crew! I have a fun thought experiment. If the PS5 was to be released today at the same price point, what would it look like? Has technology/components cost moved to the point where it would look meaningfully different? Better RT perhaps? More simulation owing to a more capable Zen processor?

DenuvoFan68

Hey! Long time listener first time caller. In his video about AC Shadows, Alex talks about the fact that RT rays are being accumulated overall several frames, which can be seen in slight light lag. If rays are being accumulated over time, why is it not possible to implement RT GI at 60fps on consoles, by just halving the ray count sent per frame?

Peter

Hi DF crew, hope you have all had a satisfactory week! With rumours ever swirling regarding Xbox plans, how easy would it be to get games that were once console only from previous Xbox generations onto PC? I would think that the difference in RAM (split pool on PC Vs unified on console) would render this quite a challenge. Would it have to be through a emulation platform, and if so does this carry any inherent problems?

andre surles

Stutter Question - How is it possible that two identical pc's can have different results in the same games?

Gordon Lin

Can you all look at the Metroid Prime 4 trailer? It looks like 60fps! While it's not rocking ray tracing or the newest rendering tech, what do the discerning and all-percieving DF eyes note to make it look so good and so performant? What's the black magic enabling this game to do what it does on 2016 hardware?

Pol Kallamata

If either Steam OS or Windows made a serious play towards entering the living room through a PC/Console hybrid device, how would you anticipate Sony reacting to this with regards to its library? Would they continue to port their titles to PC a couple years after releasing on their platform? Or would they see this as a threat, and change tact? If the latter, what strategy could they adopt? Could you see them ending PC porting altogether, or implementing some sort of DRM solution (possibly their own launcher) that prevents their titles from being played on a PC/Console hybrid device?

Peter Karadimas

Hello DF crew! Is the concept of using the cloud for computational assistance in games dead? Microsoft presented a grand vision of doing physics calculations and more through azure but seems to have completely abandoned the concept. Is there anything currently being rendered locally that would stand to benefit from being offloaded to the cloud?

Marcus

Hi DF! You’ve often said upscaling isn’t being used as a crutch by developers, but I’m wondering about users who get left behind. Powerful GPUs like the 7900XTX are limited to FSR 3.1, which just isn’t on the same level. So how do you feel about the growing reliance on upscaling in games, especially when not all users have access to high-quality upscaling options?

Question Generated By JensenGPT

Hello DF crew. There will undoubtedly be many comparisons between Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Ghost of Yotei when the latter comes out later this year. In terms of technological makeup, how do you expect the two games to stack up with one another? We haven't seen as much of Yotei but we've gotten an early look at the gameplay and cutscenes running on PS5 so we have a general idea of how it'll look. Would you ever consider making a "duel" video for these two games, kind of like John's Gran Turismo VS Forza Motorsport videos?

Will Cooling

So when do we get our DF Today App?

Admiral Spudman

For the native Mac version of Control, how do you estimate ray-tracing performance will fair? Do you think native resolution 60 FPS ray-tracing is possible at any resolution on the M4 variants? I would imagine not with every ray-tracing option turn on in the game. But surely 60 FPS with some ray-tracing could be possible? As a Windows user, I am always curious how far gaming on a Mac has come.

Jesus

What are the odds the new timed game lending feature is just the first step into embracing the full Don Mattrick experience for Switch 2? It has me a bit worried.

jerrylongbones

Hey DF Crew! Appreciate this isn't recent news but especially with John being present this week, I was really hoping to hear any thoughts regarding disc rot. It seems after the emergence of defective discs from WB, this concern has come into the limelight. Is there really anything to be worried about here, hard to really know but it was interesting to learn Blu Ray's may have a potential life of 20 years. Should we be concerned about our collections and will this be a worry for preservation going forward? Its difficult with so much conjecture on the topic online. Cheers gents.

jerrylongbones

While I like this idea, with the vitriol surrounding Shadows and even Yotei, if it did happen, I don't look forward to the comments on that video.

Evan

Since the introduction of the nvidia app, it seems like there are ongoing issues plaguing the nvidia drivers that result in inconsistent behavior. Apps not showing on the list, the changes not being applied to games, etc. Has Alex or other team members seen these issues during testing? I am not seeing a lot of press on these issues I am wondering how broad the awareness is on these issues and if nvidia themselves understands the scope and severity.

Al

Which would you rather play: DLAA with mfg x2 or dlss balanced with frame gen off? Assuming the frame rates are comparable, which produces a more pleasing image to your eyes? Do opinions change if we kick mfg up to x3, or drop dlss to ultra performance?

Jonny_5a

Not sure I’m quite understanding Nintendos Virtual Game Card thing, sounds like it only works between consoles that belong to one account or others on its family plan? I thought I could already play games bought on one machine on another

quickgiant

Hi DF crew! Regarding the Switch 2 rumors last week about the 120Hz VRR screen, I too was skeptical, but then realized there might be some valid use cases for Nintendo. VRR is nice to have in general, especially on low spec hardware like handhelds, but adding in 120Hz could expand the VRR window through low framerate compensation. Is it plausible that they would use this tech for lower FPS modes but with less intrusive framerate drops?

Someguyperson

How do you feel about the slight outline filter applied to Metroid Prime 4? Considering the game is 100% running on Switch 1 is all the footage, what upgrades would you like to see on Switch 2 that could fit in the rendering engine & style that was already shown in trailers?

Someguyperson

What do you make of the Nintendo "Virtual Game Cards"? Do you feel this is a positive or negative for game preservation? Is this better or worse than just tying games to an account? Does John think this would work well for him & his son?

Someguyperson

Are you guys going to do a DF Retro episode on "Big Rigs: Over The Road Racing"? A PC port is coming to Steam later this year and even though the game is 22 years old, I feel like it might struggle to run at a consistent 60 FPS, 30 FPS, or really anything given the nature of the game. Maybe Audi could show up for this one too. I feel it's right up his alley.

Someguyperson

A 120 Hz VRR screen would be really useful for a handheld, but the real question is if Nintendo would pay for one in the Switch 2. I would say, no, Nintendo would just tell devs to fix their games and hit the correct refresh rate. If Nintendo can hit a locked 30/60, why can't everyone else?

Red Phoenix

Hello chaps! Good day to all of you. I am mightily perplexed over the fuss around frame generation and wondered if I am doing something very wrong. I am a huge fan of v-sync. If it is switched off, I feel like glass shards are piercing my eyes when gaming with all the nasty tearing going on. When I try to use framegen, it switches off v sync. I might have a whole lot more frames but they are hideously ugly. What is the point and will it ever improve?

Someguyperson

It's all relatively simple and uses relatively enclosed areas so you can Z-cull a lot out of there, unlike open world games. Art & stylization are key in making good looking & performance games.

Tamerator

Hello DF crew, what do you think of the Linux RADV driver that enables emulated ray tracing on pre-RDNA 2 AMD cards with 100% pass rate including cards as old as rx Vega 64? It was recently covered in the following YouTube video and it seems to also have pretty decent performance {30+fps) https://youtu.be/VEo7066YoVo?si=B3qZrXbwQEzt_ozm I’m really curious to hear your thoughts about it. Thank you.

1040STF

Are you considering reviewing the 5090 mobile GPU that is releasing this month? It seems pretty spectacular. The 2025 Razer Blade 16 particularly caught my attention: sure at 4000€ for the model with the 5090, that one is expensive but it has an incredible ratio between portability and performance that might justify the price. According to the first tests of Youtube's Dave2D channel, it can run Cyberpunk 2077 at 160fps with RTX Overdrive, thanks to Multiframe Generation set to a setting avoiding too much latency (base framerate is around 55fps). I'm not sure if it means The Witcher 4 or other future AAA games will run with RTX Overdrive and MFG without feeling sluggish on that model, but I find incredible to even have that conversation about a laptop, which, cherry on the top, has a 16" Oled 240Hz screen and weight only 2kgs.

Snorlax cat

this is a question to the resident naughty dog and pssr correspondent, Oliver: is the naughty dog missing the ps5 gen other than the last of us remake? is intergalactic gonna be a cross gen experience for real?

quickgiant

Cost is definitely the big concern. It does seem like high refresh rate displays have become more common even in budget devices though, especially in phones where you see 90 or 120Hz displays even on sub-$200 devices. Regarding hitting target frame rates, I think the issue is that Nintendo *can't* consistently hit locked 30/60 in first party titles. Examples include all the recent Pokemon games, or the new top-down Zelda entries, or even BOTW/TOTK in certain areas.

Aidan Penttila

Howdy hi. Big fan, etc. So, if Raytracing becomes more difficult and expensive when adding roughness to a surface, why do mirrors in games with Path Tracing (CP2077, AW2) not use them? This is doubly confusing when there are other reflective mirror like objects with pin sharp reflections. Second unrelated question: GT7 in PSVR2, the reflections of the driver... Are those RTT? I can't make sense of it based on resolution/rate. Thanks, much love.

minty-hippo

Hi foundrymen! Considering that both Patapon and Everybody's (Hot Shots) Golf are both being brought to the Switch by Bandai Namco—with Freedom Wars being another recent entry in this relationship—are there any other potential Sony IPs left rotting in the vault that you'd like to see return on the Switch or elsewhere? I'm personally rooting for a LocoRoco Collection, a PaRappa Collection, and maybe a Sly Collection for the Switch...seems like they're sticking to Japan Studio only IP for now but ports of older Western titles like the Ratchet or Jak series on Switch and newer platforms would be awesome! Thanks for all you do :)

Perfect_Organism

Damn I thought you meant cross-gen as in PS4/PS5 for a second. I went spiralling.

Keaten

I was half expecting to see Gravity Rush at the end there!

Auro

Is NVIDIA doing a good enough job with teaching users and developers how to use frame generation? I've noticed significant reductions to "garbling" and artifacts in some titles like monster hunter world when using mods to disabling the extra sharpening, and film grain. Additionally I find that motion blur never mixes well with frame generation, although I don't think users are told this. NVIDIA had even told some reviewers to use frame generation ABOVE the refresh rate of the screen, I guess this makes sense for benchmarking, but Frame Generation is specifically for VRR setups where this would be detrimental to the users experience. Reflex is supposed to limit FPS to VRR Bias but doesn't always consistently, especially when Frame Generation is active. Is the feature just too difficult to use for non-enthusiast users? Hard to say because when frame generation is at its best, I'm convinced that consoles will be heavily leaning on it going forward.

Christian Büschel

Hey DF! With an increasing number of features using Tensor Cores, it would be interesting to test the impact on performance when using them at the same time. For example, The Finals doesn’t support HDR, so I use RTX HDR. Also, I have a crappy mic, so I use NVIDIA Broadcast to keep my teammates on Discord from getting bleeding ears. And finally, I use DLSS to upscale the game. It has a noticeable impact on performance. I’m using a 3070. Especially lower-end cards could struggle with multiple ML features because of memory and tensor count constraints. Do you think it’s worth testing? Greeting from germany

Filip

Hey DF! What do you think about Project G-Assist? I think as a concept this is an amazing technology, but I can't talk to it at this time. It only accepts text prompts. But imagine if we could ask an AI assistant about the best ways to tackle a difficult boss, puzzle, or really anything, especially if we could specify to which length this AI assistant should go in order to not spoil plot of the game.

Conner Patzman

Have any of you had a chance to look at how FSR4 performs at 720p? I’m sure we will see some RDNA4 apu’s in the next couple of years that will be viable for handhelds and I’m wondering how much more viable it will be than FSR3. I personally find fsr3 to be unusable at 720p because the disoclusion fizzle is too distracting. Thanks for all your hard work!

Caboose967

Aloha from Hawaii. I've been thinking about the Xbox One reveal—what do you think might’ve happened if Microsoft hadn't bombed that announcement? Could Xbox have stayed more competitive with PlayStation instead of slipping behind with the Xbox One and now the Series consoles? It’s kind of wild looking back—so many people were upset about the always-online requirements and the idea of restricting used games. Yet just a few years into that generation, online-only games became pretty common, and now most games sold are digital anyway. Did Microsoft just pitch the future too early—and too poorly? Love the show, keep up the great work!

DudleyTheGentleman

Hi DF team, earlier this month Dr. Ian Cutress did some preliminary architectural analysis of the "infamous" Zeus GPU. During his analysis, he mentioned how the design is very reminiscent of Larabee. Did any of the DF team have any thoughts on the Zeus GPU's architecture/design beyond immediate skepticism? Was Intel just a decade too early with their crazy Larabee GPU? I personally would love to see some late 90s/early 2000s like competition when it comes to wild GPU designs.

The Shadow-Map

I loved the conversation last week on the naming conventions for PC settings. I think about this in terms of Coca Cola. R/C, or any off-brand cola, might taste exactly the same as Coke, but to the consumer the branding of a Coca Cola bottle improves the flavor. Why not do the same thing with PC settings? "Low", as an option a user can select seems like bad branding. Why give an option to select something that affirms in the consumer's mind they're experiencing something "subpar". A suggestion --Optimized Standard (Low) --Standard (Medium) --Enhanced (High) --Future Proof (Very High) --Future Proof Max (Ultra)

Abadaba-Pling Boink Wee Juhu

Do you agree that while NVIDIA G-Assist is cool, the UI is extremely stupid? Don't get me wrong, I pay for ChatGPT Plus and use it multiple times per day - but why should I have to text my computer to optimize itself? Just do it automatically or ask me about it, requiring the user to ask for it manually via voice or text is such a impressively cumbersome UI.

tod weitzel

Would love John's comments on Nintendo Virtual Game Cards, compared to the infamous Xbox disc sharing slides from E3.

Kaveh PG

Do you think in the 4 years between now and the PS6 we'll see any significant leap in budget processors over the 9800X3D? Could they ship with more than 8 cores? I had a friend buy a 14900K prebuilt, and while I think the 4090 will hold up for another 10 years, I can't help but worry that the processor will fall behind.

Shadowreaper

All Hail the Foundry! I've been thinking about buying a Steam Deck to make my daily 90 minute commute to work and back a bit more enjoyable. However I can't help but fear Valve releasing a steam deck 2 within 3 days of me receiving it. The steam deck hardware is 3 years old at this point and AMD has released multiple generations beyond both it's CPU and GPU spec, so an updated version seems somewhat reasonable. Gentlemen, I'd love to hear your opinions and predictions regarding a possible next steam deck

Neotokyo

Hey df team, was curious to hear your favorite gpu generation/card of all time? Personally loved the pascal generation and specifically the price to performance value of the gtx 1060. Cheers!

8BitVoxel

Hey DF, I just built a 9950X3D system with a 4090 and for the first in millennia felt like running some vintage benchmark gems! I'm surprise they even ran on Win 11, however it was a nostalgia blast to see the various 3DMarks of old (2001, 3, 5 etc). Knowing they don't really show the power and or capabilities of modern hardware if was fun nonetheless. Maybe an idea for a DF PC retro on original hardware from the period, a classic John and Alex side-by-side?

zephyr

Do you think the features of Nintendo Today! will be ported to Alarmo? It seems to me that Nintendo is cornering the market on video game themed time keeping applications. What must Microsoft and Sony do to compete in this brave new frontier?

DaJaCo (Dan)

Happy Half Fortnight Lads! With Samus gaining a new "psychic ability", could you all muster your own and take an educated guess as to what form Metroid is going to take on Switch 2.. Is it going to be a cross-gen wonder like Forbidden West, or a mild upscale / FPS boost with the slim chance of fancier motion/mouse controls? Surely they wouldnt miss the chance to pull out all the stops on the new hardware at launch? I say "psychic" but what I really mean is - What did John see behind the red curtain at GDC?

Alan

Hi Guys, Seeing the Metroid Prime 4 trailer for Switch, what extras can we expect from the Switch2 version considering the expected hardware? PS, I hope Richard feels and gets better soon, or maybe this is a ruse and he's away at Nintendo HQ for a hands on go of the Switch2!

DaJaCo (Dan)

What do you think of Nintendo's new virtual game cart system for time limited digital game lending.. it seems like a smart move from their perspective, to try and incentivise more digital sales.. however I'm curious if this is a first step, and how it will evolve over time. Personally i feel like this is a step towards digital resale. Imagine if you could rent your digital game to a friend..and nintendo takes a cut.. or sell it entirely, but perhaps its limited to a single resale (and nintendo takes a bigger cut). If digital could enter the free market of used sales somehow.. as well as being free to be written to any storage medium for preservation.. might then it finally be the death knell for physical?

Pomps

Hey DF team! In the fine print of the Virtual game cards website it reads: "Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive games and Nintendo Switch 2 Edition games can only be loaded on a Nintendo Switch 2 system." The distinction being made here and the recently discovered hidden 60fps mode of Xenoblade Chronicles x leads me to believe there might be some sort of enhancement for existing switch titles. What do you guys think? Its the closest to a confirmation as we have gotten so far

Dort

Hi, DF crew. What do you make of this scoop about Nintendo’s 3-phase Grand and Glorious Plan for releasing the Switch 2’s games this year? The part regarding 3rd party developers getting dev kits in June for an October release seems fast. I would have thought a fair portion of 3rd party developers already had dev kits at this point.

carrotsauce

Hello DF crew and Happy Spring! Having watched the Nintendo Direct from this week, do you guys think that Metroid and Pokemon are low res and low texture on purpose so they can showcase the “Nintendo Switch 2 improvements” next week? I know it sounds stupid but I think this week’s Direct was a big letdown for me because the big title games looked pretty disappointing and outdated, which makes more sense that Nintendo probably meant for them to look like that in preparation for the Switch 2 Direct. What do you guys think? Cheers and get better soon Rich!

Spodlude

Let’s get straight to the most groundbreaking of Nintendo announcements, Tomodaci life, Are you living the dream gents?

Bears in Games Neo

The most exciting announcement of the year: the Samsung glasses free 3D tv! How many will you buy? Will it have eye tracking like a 3DS? Does it work natively with games or does it require specific support? I'm a-quiver!

Candescence

Hi DF, considering the Switch 2 joycons apparently now have mouse functionality and the Switch 2 Pro controller potentially has back buttons, it reminds me that Microsoft is the only console manufacturer to not innovate at all with controller design or features or adopt any new features since the Xbox 360. This has had knock-on effects on PC where XInput has been completely stagnant, to the point where Valve has had to pick up the slack with Steam Input to support other controller types and features to allow their use in PC applications that don't natively support them, such as additional buttons and gyro controls. Should XInput be tossed to the wayside in favor of a new controller API for PC gaming, preferably an open-source multi-platform API, or should we be pressuring Microsoft to actually modernize XInput?

Abandoned Walnut

Hi DF team. When discussing gpu upgrades recently, you mentioned how one of the great things about popping a shiny new gpu into your pc is returning to old games and running them at buttery smooth framerates. My question is whether devs should start making console games such that future consoles can run them at much higher quality and framerates than current console hardware can manage. Granted some games have unlocked framerate options but I'm talking about things like locked 120 fps options with max settings even if current consoles can't manage it. It's incredibly frustrating returning to old console games running at low quality when the hardware can manage so much more. Cheers gents!

Tony Escobar

I would love any updates on all things Retro! I’m catching up on older videos, & the nostalgia for John & Audi hit hard. Any chance for another Retro Q&A? Retro Corner? GBA game favorites? Retro Games of the Year? Thanks for keeping it Retro!

DTM

Wasn't that a monitor announced last year?

DTM

Can you guys take a look at Atomfall? Especially it's ambient occlusion implementation seems weird, it reminds me of bad implementations in the past. It creates a sort of comic book like line around NPCs in particular and generally seems to cause exaggerated black crush..

Bears in Games Neo

It's the first I've heard of it but I definitely could have missed earlier news about it