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Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #224 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-07-24 14:24:16
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
Q&A

Content

Hello and welcome to the latest "call for questions" post from Digital Foundry. Despite languishing in what is typically the news-free/silly season pre-Gamescom, it turns out we have a range of talking points.

We'll be talking about the leaked AMD "Magnus" APU that is understood to be the processor powering Microsoft's "the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation" - and it's a certainly a beast. We'll also be discussing the "low power mode" coming to PlayStation 5 and its possible staging for a next generation handheld. Beyond that, we're blown away by the Fallout Bakersfield trailer, and we'll be taking a look at Oblivion Remastered 1.2's performance on consoles.

Other topics we're thinking about? No Rest for the Wicked's undetermined status on Xbox and possibly Pure Pool Pro's 8K trailer.

But this is the part of the show where we ask you to get involved! Got any comments on the week's news? Anything you'd like us to discuss beyond the above? And of course - your questions for the team on anything and everything you want!

It'll be Rich (ie me), John and Alex on the panel and the cut-off point for your questions is 7:00am BST on Friday morning. Thanks!

Files

Comments

ConcreteLlama

Now that third party docks are available for the Switch 2 have people been sending you their unsolicited dock picks?

Statistical Barista

Hey DF Crew, Do you think with the introduction of the low power mode on PS5 we could get more resolution and graphical settings on console? I’d love to get higher frame rates or better textures on a 1080p monitor.

minty-hippo

In lieu of the traditional "slim" model revisions that get cheaper and more efficient over time, would this low power PS5 mode benefit the rumored PS5 handheld alongside a cost-reduced consolized version of that same handheld? This would allow Sony to produce a PS5 SE or something similar to get people in the PS4 (and patched PS5) ecosystem at a lower cost if the PS6 will be more expensive. Maybe they can fully adopt the PS5 Amateur™ branding!

Paul Thexton

Hello gents! With the seemingly more frequent upcoming reviews of Apple Silicon hardware, what class of PC or otherwise hardware would you be comparing it to principally when it comes to matters of "how good is the upscaling" etc? In my mind you can make legitimate arguments for comparing it against full-fat desktop GPUs on a purchase cost/performance basis, but also legitimately comparing it to APUs/Consoles on a power consumption/architecture basis. Looking forward to Oliver's review of Cyberpunk 2077 for Mac, I've been playing it on my 14" M1Max laptop, and honestly I'm happy with it, I'm quite sure there are going to be some upscaling "uglies" going on, but on a 14" screen I just can't see them and therefore don't care. I'm getting a solidly locked 60fps on ~18 hours of gameplay so far.

Hunter

I've listened to the DF crew talk for hours and hours, and yet there is an essential detail to the soul of a man that remains a mystery: what is your favorite version of Tetris? I'll allow John a top three.

TheMightyEthan

Hey DF! Wuchang Fallen Feathers is currently at Mostly Negative on Steam, with only 21% of reviews being positive as of posting this. Most of the because reviews say the game is fun but performance is abysmal. Have y'all had a chance to check out the game on PC, and if so is it actually significantly worse than other UE5 games or are people just finally getting fed up with all the typical problems we see with that engine? Would love your thoughts! Cheers!

Taylor Wiseman

Hello DF Crew, do any of you have any recommendations for Portable Monitors for Switch 2? I want to get around the poor motion Clarity in handheld mode by putting it in docked mode on a portable screen. The one Portable Monitor I tried, the UPerfect Utouch G16), had a low color Gamut, and I’m in the process of returning it. Again, Do any of you have recommendations for models of Portable Monitors or specs that one should have? Thanks, and keep up the great work.

MarcusAuralius

Hello DF Crew! I have been seeing and hearing Donkey Kong Bananza reviewers bemoan the frame-rate drops as an early indicator of Switch 2’s overall performance for the rest of its life. While I understand DKB may highlight specific limitations of the console due to its portability and lower-powered CPU, it’s my understanding that early titles aren’t typically a good indicator for the level of performance or quality of later-generation releases. Conventional wisdom would suggest games will run and look better in 4-5 years once developers have a better understanding of the hardware. Is that no longer the case?

Eric Benoit

I just noticed Xbox is no longer selling movies or TV shows on their store. No more Kinect, backwards compatibility program stopped, now you can't purchase media. Do you think it's necessary, in Microsofts drive to make everything an Xbox, to get rid of features on the Xbox itself?

The Phantomnaut

If Windows’ future plans involve more of the Xbox, what does it mean for backwards compatibility, especially for disc only ones? Games like the Battlefield: Bad Company series, Driver: San Francisco, Syndicate, and 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand are tagged with that limitation but are the cheapest, and sometimes the only, way to play these. Are we going to be out of luck (officially) down the line if Windows excludes these disc only BC games? Should I just keep my Series X indefinitely so I can have 50 Cent shoot down a lot of helicopters for a crystal skull at 60fps with online coop?

superbargie

Ahoy there me DF hearties. Do you think that the traditional console model (and by extension, the console war) is dead, given the convergence of console hardware design on a similar PC-based "template" and the increasing lack of genuine platform exclusives? It seems like the next real "frontier" of competition and development is the handheld space with many companies either putting their hat in the ring or reviving their handheld business (specifically Sony) in light of the success of the Switch and Steam Deck - is that where companies are going to start focussing on more and more?

DyeHardX86

Alright gents? Alright. If AMDs Magnus APU is indeed An Xbox or PS chip what do you think this means for RAM size/clocks and prices for the system?

DyeHardX86

I laughed out loud so hard at this

Pol Kallamata

Will Pure Pool Pro be the killer app that finally drives mass mainstream adoption of 8K television sets?

Peter Karadimas

Hello gentlemen, What is holding back steamOS and Bazzite from competing in the desktop space. How viable is it now and would it provide any tangible performance improvements over windows?

MGsubbie

Do you think it's possible that future graphics cards will come with an m.2 slot and dedicated decompression block for ultimate directstorage implementations? Right now the options are between CPU decompression which still means much higher system memory usage and higher latency, or GPU deflate which uses general compute and causes a performance decrease. The option I'm thinking of would lower the latency and could outperform the PS5, even significantly so.

wildwildwesty

Ahoy hoy, mateys! I was one of the early adopters of the Oblivion Remastered 1.2 patch by opting in to the Steam beta. I found no performance difference at the time which Alex confirmed in the Direct. But what's intriguing is when I opted in to the patch it did not appear to download anything or significantly change any files. Upon the official release, however, Steam updated the game with 5GB worth of files, and I do believe i now see an improved frame rate. Has a Todd Howard shaped aneurysm impacted my perception, or has something positively changed?

Julian Shniter

There is a lot of talk these days about the switch 2 (sorry alex) being capable of Ray tracing and DLSS. But do you the hardware is capable of Nvidia Reflex, and do you think we could realistically see an implementation of it. Especially given how laggy the screen is.

MarcusAuralius

I also unironically lol’d at this.

Scott Posilkin

Performance issues aside, it’s so nice to see detailed physics appear alongside UE5 in Skyrim Remastered. Any chance this proof of concept sparks a resurgence in physics in games ? I think I speak for many when I lament the loss of such physics in modern games and am confused as to why this has happened.

Kirkland Spector

Hello DF! First time poster - fan since 2009’s esteemed “Uncharted 2 Tech Analysis” video - pre VO! Does the DF crew have concerns over the longevity of playing PC games on distance hardware in the future? Exact games fail to come to mind at the moment but I've definitely run into games that struggle to play on my modern machine. Some are for offline service reasons like Games for Windows; but others being technical issues where they fail to boot, require mods, or a similar loss of Physicx hardware situation results in unplayable. Am I being overanxious, fearing that in 20 years multiple games will begin to have compatibility issues? DF is a huge part of my life and I greatly appreciate the work you all do! With love from San Francisco :)

VeryProfessionalDodo

Nothing is holding back Bazzite at least, since many people are using it for their PCs in general, not just in the living room. Tangible performance improvements from Windows to Linux are known, but are usually reserved for CPU bottlenecks. On GPU bound scenarios (most of them), it's either equivalent performance, or -5 to -10% normally.

Kaveh PG

Is it just me or have there not been many new games announced? Are publishers really waiting for gta6 to pass before even trying? What next big thing do you think is cooking up at the major studios? Any indie gems we should now about in the meantime?

Kyrith

Hello, esteemed crew! To the ongoing question of first party Nintendo cowering in a corner from DLSS: is it possible Nintendo devs are enormous sticklers for 'image purity,' and that's why they don't use it or even AA half the time? Maybe Shigeru Miyamoto is the kind of person who goes on Reddit to complain about 'fake frames' and @$#& TAA. More sincerely, Nintendo's general shirking of temporal AA/upscaling does feel intentional to me. Thoughts?

AshesBoomstick

G'day DF gents! As a hardcore pool fan, I can' help but be underwhelmed by another "pretty looking" pool game, and would prefer to learn more about Pure Pool Pro's game physics. I get tired of all pool games, because they never seem to account for the table/cloth and how that friction affects ball behavior. Without that realistic feel of cue ball slip, grip and motion based on cloth conditions, it's just another facade that will bore me quickly.

Skyrimfest 26 FPS Edition

Are we doing GPU reviews backwards? Instead of testing GPUs and comparing different FPS numbers at fixed settings, shouldn't we be comparing the settings needed for a GPU to achieve a 60fps target? Wouldn't that mirror the real world where people are happy to dial down a few settings to get the performance they want?

BespokeEP

I don’t think PlayStation is interested in forcing devs to make “SeriesS” like versions. What Jim Ryan said about lower spec’ed machines has been proven true time and time again. All it’s done is caused Xbox to be late on two of the biggest games this generation and had 100’s of games just skip Xbox entirely. This “PS6” handheld will play most PS4 & PS5 games natively and will play PS6 games via remote play/cloud. I think most devs have likely been briefed on the handheld plans which will motivate devs to go in over the next few years and patch in the low powered mode so that their games will be compatible when it launches. I also think PS6 games from the get go will have low powered versions for a potential future PS7 handheld which will play PS6 games natively and PS7 remote/cloud… though if technology moves fast enough it might also play PS7 games natively

BespokeEP

Goooooooooood morning DFnom!!!!! Can we get a DF Retro slash tribute to the Prince of Darkness highlighting the greatest racing game of all time …Rock N’ Roll racing? John! Would you like to take point on this one? “Alex’s pizza is dominating the race”

jose

Could the switch 2 run Astro bot?

Max Fletcher

Hi Gents! What is the possibility we could see FSR3 frame generation used on Switch 2 in combination with DLSS for upscaling? Could it be a possible way to get some use out of the 120hz screen? Thanks as always!

AdorablyAllPhysical

Hello DF-ites. I was curious what you think the next node shrink for the Switch 2 will loook like if they do a mariko-style version (and maybe Switch 2 lite and OLED). Will they stay with Samsung? Seeing how good efficiency already is with the current chip running on such an outdated process makes me excited for what a node-shrunk version could look like in terms of efficiency.

BespokeEP

Not a question, but a little food for thought for your discussion on the Magnus SoC. Jupiter is the name of the PS handheld SoC, and is also the god of gods who appears in the Shakespeare play “Cymbeline.” Cymbeline is about the tragedy of a Roman emperor who was the king of Britain. Magnus Maximus was a real life emperor of Britannia who was executed, which is pretty tragic if you ask me. Also the fact that Xbox is likely to do an S and X at launch again (they did say “consoleS” and only one SoC besides Jupiter was leaked, makes me lean more towards PS6. But because Jupiter is on Samsung SF2P and Magnus is tsmc 3nm I am leaning more towards Xbox cause I think for better pricing PS6 will also use SF2P. But whosever it is, the “other guy” just got a huge advantage with some good knowledgeable insight. Hopefully this gives you a little more to debate. New hardware speculation is always super exciting

Special Agent Cooper

Is anyone in the team privately and/or technologically excited about the Battlefield 6 presentation on July 31st?

elboobio

Why don't more TV/Monitor suppliers use hexagonal pixel arrays as opposed to the traditional rectangular ones?

editor0range

Hi DF. I was reading online about wild speculations of 3rd party Switch 2 game announcements are being held back by Nintendo. Well it is true that it is very quiet, 7 weeks after the Switch 2 launch. Do you think Nintendo is saving up announcements for another Nintendo Direct or are they actually capable of telling their game developer partners when to share news about their new games and when not? When do we get more Switch 2 patches for old Switch 1 games anyways? :-P Cheers!

WoundedBum

Hi DF, This is more of a throwback, and hopefully throwing Alex a bone to since he's had to deal with so much Switch 2 talk recently! I wondered what personally in the PC gaming world you see as significant hardware, whether it be for the impact that it had on you, or on the wider landscape, for example I remember getting the 8800GTX, after never previously owning a high end card, and it blowing away my expectations of what PC hardware could do, and further ensuring I never responsibly spent money again. Do you have any thing that comes to mind in a similar vein? Thanks

Max Fletcher

Honestly I think it really is as simple as the games out for launch started their development a long time ago.

(Don’t be a) Richard

Morning chaps. What are you guys going to do with your Xbox One’s now that they no longer have access to Movies & TV TV TV?

FalconPunch

Hey, friends! With DF receiving Mac hardware from Apple for testing, will we see some coverage of the recently released port of Cyberpunk 2077? It looks like an interesting one!

Ramnexus

Are you aware of any features in modern TVs that might go some way to compensate for a lack of anti-aliasing in games? I wondered this whilst watching Tom's recent review of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom for Switch 2. The updates to both games look impressive... except for the presence of "jaggies" due to a lack of any AA solution. Cheers.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Happy Half-Fortnight LADS! Now that "an Xbox" is the fastest selling video game hardware in US history (The Nintendo Switch 2), and with various analysts expecting multiple xbox games coming to this "new xbox", which Xbox games do you think are the best candidates for being ported or released on their record breaking new platform, and when will we get a black and green special edition console?

DaJaCo (Dan)

Happy Half-Fortnight LADS! (2) Do you think the recent "leak" that GTA VI will have a 60fps mode, but "only on the PS5 Pro" holds any water? Surely the 10% CPU bump is insufficient unless there is some unlimited time and money conjured special sauce.. or magic cerny PSSR 2026 edition..?

SonOfFaith

Let's settle this once and for all gents, for science! Which frame interpolation technology provides the lowest latency and/or best image quality; LFG, AFMF, or smooth motion? Thanks in advance!

BespokeEP

Remember most games are GPU bound, so like in Cyberpunk, the massive GPU increase is going to play a huge role in increasing the frame rate

Justin Valero

For those new to PC gaming, what are the benefits of windowed, borderless, and full screen options? Are there disadvantages to using a particular screen format related to DLSS/FSR and Frame Generation?

DaJaCo (Dan)

of course, its just that GTA games are normally 25 ~30fps and CPU bound (at launch).

DaJaCo (Dan)

"Never responsibly spending money again" is why I've stayed away from the PC space for a long time, I've built and used them, and found they become an ever present money pit. I'll happily buy all the consoles and immediately buy "Pro" consoles - because in the round it's still much cheaper for a technocrat long term.. and it keeps me focused on playing the games instead of fixing them.

DaJaCo (Dan)

I think TSMC 3nm is plausible for the PS6 launch console, sony always leans heavily on thermal management vs cutting edge node. Look at the original PS5, massive heatsink, specially developed liquid metal alloy thermal compound, large vapour chamber, special seal / containment design to a facilitate the liquid metal, massive fan - boost clock design to maximise clocks within a thermal limit.. So I think 3nm is plausible if they do as they did before.. i.e. "go narrow, hot, and boost clocked" .. whereas the 2nm makes total sense for a handheld.. no option to go hot there!

DaJaCo (Dan)

The gap between the original switch and the lite was 2 years, 6 months.. however, nintendo must have seen how launching the lite at a lower price point and with handheld-only simplicity - broadened the audience for the platform. The lite is especially suitable for children, being smaller, and lighter, with no removable parts to lose, and in an integrated plastic shell.. I would hope they can see that there'll be major benefits to closing that time gap somewhat. i.e. I think the market incentives to launch a lite console are higher than the incentives for nintendo to launch an OLED model. So I could see a lite model coming first.. and then them waiting longer for a better die shrink leap for the inevitable OLED/improved model. Maybe a lite in 1 ~ 2 years, and an OLED in 3 years + ?

Mario Rosa

Hello, gentlemen. I'm wondering if developers have ever contacted you in regards to fixing a tech issue that they were having issues identifying. I'm always astounded by not only how in-depth your coverage is but also but your knowledge on the underlying technologies that are in games so it's natural for me to wonder if developers seek you out for input.

DaJaCo (Dan)

It surely has Rich regretting letting go of his 8K screen.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Problem with dock pics is they only show size, and size isn't everything. It's all about the weight, the feel, and whether they're truly plug-and-play.

BespokeEP

Moore’s Law just released way more information last night on a bunch of new custom SoC’s. Magnus’ memory bus is actually 192bit and only has 66CU’s… it’s also a like for like with the PC part, so definitely the Xbox ’next’ S. Then there’s a more performant SoC named Orion, which would be the X. Orion Pax and Ultra Magnus are transformers… Orion Pax later becomes Optimus Prime and I believe Xbox Prime was the rumoured name for next gen… and it makes complete sense. There was also a chip called Robin which aligns with PlayStation’s Shakespeare character names

FalconPunch

Awesome, looking forward to it!

Octolimar

With cyberpunk going through so much change over the years, has DF ever thought about doing a re-evaluation of the game? I'd be especially curious to see a look at the pc version and a new look at optimized settings, as well as mods that can enable more advanced raytracing options such as replacing RTXDI with REGIRDI and REGIRGI, whatever that means exactly.