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Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #281 (Patreon)

Published:
2026-09-10 11:50:58
Edited:
2026-09-13 17:48:42
Imported:

Content

Update: It's your regular reminder that we'll be taping the next Q+A show tomorrow! John's off on holiday for a couple of weeks so if you have any burning questions for him, do let us know!

Original Post: Quite a packed week for news, right? Lead story will be the shock announcement that Sony effectively cancelled Kojima Productions' PHYSINT, with Microsoft delivering block capitals alignment: XBOX is stepping in to publish the project. For those of you invested in the PlayStation ecosytem, what do you think about this?

Other topics up for debate: we'll be discussing the Zelda: Ocarina of Time gameplay reveal and also talking about the latest Nintendo Direct. Switch 2 getting docked VRR? We'll be covering that too, but there's a chance that particular segment may be spun out as an individual video. In the meantime though, it does look like it needs dev support to function meaning that right now the Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is the single game to run it.

DLSS 5 on AMD? Well, it took a bit of figuring out but I have got it running at 1080p 30fps on a Radeon RX 9070 XT. Turns out that the Ryzen iGPU was conflicting - removing it from Device Manager got DLSS 5 working. But it is working correctly? And are we seeing the beginning of the end for proprietary Nvidia GPU features?

Meanwhile, Ikea has delivered a Kallax mod for Skyrim giving you more storage and indeed a new quest. Is this one of the best brand tie-ins ever seen?

As always, here's where you come in with your comments, topic suggestions and of course, your questions. It's the usual Friday 8am BST deadline for the main Direct, Monday 8am for the dedicated Q+A show. Thank you!

Files

Comments

Perfect_Organism

Would be curious if Oliver has any comments on the Apple event last night.

Chris Baxter

Hi Digital Foundry, with For Honor dropping Linux/Proton support after nine years, is it time Valve steps in to defend consumers from losing access to libraries they've invested in? Also, while I'm still hoping Sony might bring Marvel Tokon to PC and Linux, I've completely lost hope there

Lexxington87

Dear esteemed Foundrymen, do we think Nintendo will follow-up with a Majora’s Mask remake based on the reception to Ocarina and would you want to see one?

SodaPop6548

The original Nintendo NES was the first console I ever played and my first experience gaming. Anyone remember Heavy Barrel? Anyway, right now Nintendo seems to know people want games and are providing that. Sony was on a roll with games during the PS4 generation. Xbox has been playing catch up for a while now. Say whatever you want about Microsoft/Nintendo, but as a PlayStation fan, when is Sony going to wake up and realize they’ve lost the plot? Surely some of their games look good, but it seems like they’ve hit the headlines a lot more for their gaffes this gen. Should Hulst be fired from his job? Personally, I think so. I was sour after they closed Bluepoint, annoyed after the Bungie fiasco, and irritated with the Kojima news. Why does it feel like Sony keeps making mistakes?

DaJaCo (Dan)

LADS! - Do you have enough confidence to settle the "Is it UE5" debate surrounding the Ocarina of Time Remake - Surely it's just Monolith Soft's modified version of the BOTW / TOTK engine? Also, what do you think about the level of interactivity on display, it seemed like some of the particle effects track the camera, and there seems to be dynamic fog and foliage that respond to character interaction significantly..? Will you be having a bash this time Rich, better late than never?

Andreas Wright

Greetings and Salutations to you Lords of the Foundry Digital (Just want to hear this is in Rich's voice 😀), Having seen some strange criticism on the art style and graphic quality of the Ocarina of Time Remake what are your thoughts on why it's proving so divisive? I like the general graphics and style Ninty are going for but just think the proportions are bit wrong especially on facial features of the child characters. Adult Link looks better IMO and they haven't even shown Adult Zelda but I'm sure she will look better too.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Given that Nintendo's docked mode VRR is likely to be restricted to operating between 40Hz and 60Hz at 2160p output, given the limitations of the dock - could this be another instance where Ubisoft's clever frame doubling algorithm steps in to keep VRR active when the frame rate dips too low? It was reported at the time that Ubisoft was going to work with Nintendo to expand the feature and make it more widely available to other developers. I wonder if this could be a solution for docked mode VRR too, and whether there are any related rumblings about updates to the SDK?

Full House's John SteamOS

Re: VRR on Switch 2. The fine article on digitalfoundry.net explains that it's for white-listed games. Do you think Nintendo will start with a small curated list of games supporting it and that they'll open the floodgates later? Seems a bit redundant to have a controlled list for a feature that your €10 tech demo was showing off at launch.

faisal manzoor

Hello there, we would love a Nintendo switch 2 vrr analysis as you know they released a update today, would be amazing to find out the in-depth analysis of it .

beer chugger 209

PHYSINT that's a shame. Will it still come to ps5 ? Also thoughts about Zelda and that folding iphone ?

Peter

​Good day, gents of the Foundry! ​With Sony stepping away from Physint and Xbox stepping in as publisher, it seems almost certain that Kojima Productions will have to leave the Decima engine behind (assuming they were leveraging this tech for Physint). Given their current work on OD, an Unreal Engine 5 transition seems the most logical path. ​From an engineering standpoint, how disruptive is an engine switch at this stage? Since the game is still in the early stages of production, can assets port over relatively smoothly, or does moving off Decima inevitably send core systems, and custom tech, and gameplay mechanics back to the drawing board? ​Hope you are all well, and all the best to Alex!

CABBAC

Are you planning anything special for the 282nd Direct?

1040STF

Could it simply be that Kojima will have more creative freedom with Xbox? They know how much Death Stranding 2 sold. They've been funding OD for years and seem happy to let him do his thing. It feels like they're less focused on results, at least in his specific case.

Alexander Davies

Hi fellas! Do you think that (most likely) Sony and Microsoft will seek to introduce a subsidised low-cost version of PS6 and Helix hardware that subjects users to suffer adverts (e.g. on the dashboard or unskippable 10-second clips before loading a game) in order to lower the purchase cost-barrier for normal people who make a normal amount of money? Thanks!

Eric Benoit

I seem to remember Jim Ryan at an FTC hearing saying he didn't consider Nintendo to be a direct competitor to Sony. Do you think that statement plays out after this weeks Directs? Seems like the Switch 2 really has a handle as a handheld on the 8th generation. Quite a few Sony "exclusives" can still be played on Steam. Honestly, except for killzone Shadowfall, The Order 1886, Uncharted Trilogy, and the Astrobot Series, I'm not sure what I'm getting any more from Sony except poor customer service.

Andreas Wright

No RT or DLSS in sight either right? Shame.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Not sure RT would have been a good fit, maybe just RTGI.. but a probe system probably a better choice. The apparent lack of DLSS is more puzzling if true., has this been confirmed?

Snorlax cat

Hello DF glassful pint enjoyers! So about Sony killing a really good opportunity to make a Kojima swan song -despite he will work like "tom cruise" quote from him-, do you think hermen hulst should step down? I think that he mismanaged a ton of the not good Jim Ryan heritage on the software side -because we know Mr. Ryan did good on the hardware stuff-, even with Jim Ryan's stuff blowing over his face, he is personally responsible for concord, and the fact that I have been playing my back catalog for the later half of this generation. Sony needs to thrive, I know we had the pandemic but we have to manage with what has brought to us, but this feels for all intents and purposes like the "lost generation" because the shifting economic tides and troubles along the way left us with just 4 or 5 heavy hitters. -Sorry for the long comment-. But for real let's face the facts, the big Herman hulst resumé came from the fact he kind of championed Horizon a very colorful and appealing new IP back then, since he has been doing the best he could which might not be enough. We can get back later on the fact if social media amplified the feelings of gamers during this generation, but it feels simply "lost". I don't want Sony gone, they are the home console pony with Nintendo being the hybrid one, I hope xbox gets back on their feet... but for "as god intended" living room consoles gamers like me I am gonna buy the PS6 sadly because despite physical media, I don't want an experience that isn't plug and play, I feel like too old of a cat for the tinkering. But this could kill PS7 bye bye. I love you all and hope you are healthy, please promise me too rest and surround yourself of loved ones, and also us your faithful supporters.

Snorlax cat

speaking backwards like in tenet?

what can I say exclamation point

Well, what can I say! Digital Foundry getting DLSS 5 working on an AMD 9070 XT feels like a turning point: Nvidia’s software is becoming platform-agnostic, almost like a console SDK. Does this cement Nvidia’s dominance by making DLSS the default upscaler even on rival hardware, or does it prove their hardware lock-in was always the weaker part of their strategy? And with AMD winning the next-gen console SoCs, could AMD’s long-term play be to make efficient hardware that runs Nvidia’s ecosystem better than Nvidia’s own budget cards—effectively becoming the ‘value platform’ for a software standard they don’t control?

regawdless

Hello Gents! The latest UE5 version received more AI / Machine Learning features, UE6 is reported to lean way stronger into it. What is your opinion on this from an "AI Slop" perspective? Cheers

HorizonOfANewDay

Opinion on Xbox Play Anywhere? MS has easy ties for publishers now to the point where it almost doesn't make sense NOT to do Play Anywhere. Opinion on the disc to digital program? Effective? Good? Too little, too late?

Octolimar

Hello DF lads! Besides things like neural rendering and all that, what new "strain" of dlss would you be interested in? I would love to see performance of the newer models improved but besides that I'm not sure where else the tech could. What would be after frame gen and upscaling, any thoughts?

MrSirPaul

Hi DF crew, how is it that Nintendo can push there hardware to look almost as good as systems multiple times its own power. Ocarina of Time looks just as good as any PS5 game. Nintendo games always look great no matter the hardware. What do you think they do differently? Thanks.

AMH

Crisis core on switch 2? Seems to run at 60 fps compared to the 30 fps ps4 version.

ZeeYoGlade

Good day to you DF’ers. Mr. Tom Morgan, you once talked about “how there is a bit of a plateau in terms of what we are getting out of each new generation and how Switch 2 achieves a lot of things Switch 1 was incapable of.” With the Switch 2 slowly catching up on hardware and fidelity capabilities, Nintendo seem to be embracing the upgrade while continuing to utilize their bread and butter that is their unrestrained approach to art direction. The Ocarina of Time showcase demonstrates their flexibility in taking a different approach with embracing more dynamic environments to blend with their art direction (as is a Zelda tradition). And I think it’s this approach (among other advantages) that makes their games standout against that plateau. A flexibility as strong as their catalogue if you compare their new Zelda game alongside the new Metroid and Kirby games, as well as Star Fox and Donkey Kong. Variety in gameplay, IP, and visual styles. Mr. Tom Morgan, do you feel Nintendo’s approach of unique art direction in tandem with the hardware power is an answer to the debate of the diminishing returns plateau you spoke of? Thank you and have a nice day.

Scully

Yo yo! Curious what you guys make of the new Zelda. On a technical level I think it looks pretty tremendous. I loved the illumination that the fairies gave off. Just for laughs this got me thinking back to your coverage of switch 2 rumors and someone asked the question of Nintendo using raytracing for puzzles like on the mirror shield. Do we think it’s happening now? Also I’m not sure if it was just my stream being janky but I swear I saw some choppiness but I’d love to hear from the experts. Cheers!

Obex

Hello my fellow digi men, do you already have the sci-fi game Exodus on your radar? It's similar in style to a new Mass Effect game and looks fantastic! What are your thoughts?

Spodlude

I love the lack of anti-aliasing in the new zelda. I'm not sure you guys will, thoughts...?

Real Frame Collector

Morning DF Crew, hard to know what to make of the PHYSINT news. I suspect the Death Stranding 2 financials (2 million sold?) didn't quite work out and with OD still somewhere in development, it's hard to tell when PHYSINT would release. While it's good that XBOX has stepped in to fund this game, this is in a year where they firing three thousand of their own developers from internal studios that are more commercially consistent than Kojima Productions. Doesn't make sense does it? I guess the more interesting tech question is if the Decima engine still an option and if not what are the alternatives?

Will Cooling

With the news that Slient Hill: Townfall's director Jon McKellan has teamed up with legendary artist David Roach to do a prequel story in this week's 2000 AD (PROG 2500 no less!), any favourite comics based on video games? Likewise, any thoughts about Rebellion accidentally turning themselves into a multimedia company when their attempt to get 2000AD video game rights led to them buying the company outright in the early noughties?

CynthiaSizer

Oh I was hoping you'd dedicate a full video to Ocarina!

Someguyperson

Rich, why on Earth are you investigating DLSS 5 on Radeon GPUs when you said that you were taking a break this week? How many snarky jokes do I need to make to get you to actually take a few days off to rest & recuperate? Go to a spa, get a massage, go to a chiropractor, sleep in. Go do stuff to relax yourself & your body so you don't keep physically breaking down.

1040STF

All the reviews I've read about Wolverine criticize it for feeling like a game from the past. But I've realized from playing some "games from the past" that this might actually be something I appreciate. Still, I'm curious, John, our retro north star: what do you think?

Someguyperson

I first watched the Ocarina of Time remake on my phone, and I thought it looked incredible! Then, I watched it on my 42" tv/monitor and saw all the flaws in the rendering (resolution & lack of AA). It's still a bit of an incredible feat though. The volumetric fog is absolutely fantastic, the materials work is second to none, the art in general is fantastic. The GI solution they are using is also really, really good. To me, it looks like all the shadows are baked out in those transition loading screens and the color of the lighting changes, but the sun shadow position doesn't change at all. The local lighting, shadowing & GI solution is really nice & clevar too. The purple glow of a Deku Baba dying spread to the underside of Link's hat, even though his body was clearly in the way. Do you think this is actually RTGI for local lights? It definitely isn't a screen space solution. They also have some fantastic sprite work when the enemy explodes. They seemed to bake out a 3D render of some liquid exploding with RT lighting and then turn that into a sprite, but in combination with the fantastic GI solution, it looks like the sprites could be rendered in real time, unless you look at it in slow-motion. I didn't count any pixels, but if I had to guess a resolution, it would be 1440p-ish. I really think it would look better with DLSS, but looking at those forest fairy sprites, they have an innate ghosting to them that probably didn't mesh with DLSS very well at all, so I can actually understand it in this instance.

wildwildwesty

Thank the lord, it’s the Direct Sabbath! I was stunned that Sony cancelled Physint, only for Xbox to snap it up. Can you please speculate (seeing as we have nothing official to go on) as to what Sony wasn’t happy with that Xbox is willing to take on?

wildwildwesty

Hey, listen! Wasn’t the Ocarina of Time Direct exciting? One poll I saw had 90% of people saying the remake looks great, though the other 10% have been a vocal minority. For me, it’s Nintendo at the top of their game, even if there’s a slightly uncanny quality I’m sure I’ll get used to. What do you make of the art style and direction they’ve gone for?

Ryan McCulloch

Hi DF. Metal Gear Solid is inextricable with the Sony brand for me. It sounds like Sony has judged Kojima’s games can’t bring people to their console anymore, so decided there’s no point in the cost of funding it. Both manufacturers are capable of terrible things, but are Sony misjudging just how cutthroat they seem right now, and how that is registering to players?

Zombiedude101

Ayup gents, PHYSINT's cancellation feels like another indication of the direction Sony is heading go cut costs after recent losses. KojiPro's work usually is expensive (between cameos, music licensing & their addiction to depth) but this does seem like a major own-goal if one of their hallmark creators becomes an Xbox / PC exclusive. DS2 surely was never going to represent sales for a Metal Gear successor, surely PHYSINT was a safer bet. Sure, it's another PR hit they've calculated their angled chins can handle, but if neither giant plans on subidising their hardware, how long before people just choose not to continue buying into the ecosystem, especially when other platforms & software solutions (Steam, GOG etc) offer an arguably better service. Steam Deck & Steam Machine make a good case for accessibility, and even with the hardware situation I wouldn't be surprised if we see some devices follow their example (as happened with the Deck) and that's a market Sony seem to be ignoring (for now) Or, worse - games as a service. Perhaps it's time for another video to compare the local & cloud streaming services out there (eg Moonlight/Sunshine, Parsec, Steam Remote Play)?

DanTurismo

After Game Pass didn't meet their goals, it feels like XBOX had two different paths they could take. 1. Continue with the standard console model: Entice people to your platform, build a big install base, then charge other developers a royalty for releasing their games on your platform. 2. Essentially become a 3rd party publisher and make most of your money by making and selling games. They still have a hardware team, so no harm in continuing to make hardware, but don't sell hardware at a loss. It feels like Phil Spencer had decided to do the latter, and it feels like Asha Sharma has decided to do the former. My question is, if this is the case, which of these approaches do you think was the right one for XBOX? Also, can Helix pivot fast enough to being the kind of mass market device that a platform first strategy needs?

DanTurismo

If next gen consoles are looking like they'll be over $1000, could you see more third-party publishers looking towards other platforms that people already own, like porting to Mac, Linux, or phones? I've never understood why most AAA developers don't seem to take these platforms seriously, when they have a massive number of users.

SL0MAR

me too! What's the bottom line for the switch 2 vs iphone duo performance video? Feel like doing one of those, or just updating with ~10% ish faster?

Full House's John SteamOS

I love everything about the OoT remake except one thing that I'm iffy about. John you might be the only one who might recall how revolutionary various aspects of OoT were, including one aspect seldom spoken about: the decision to bring Zelda's traditional lack of jumping (excl. Zelda 2) into 3D. That was a bold choice given the other 3D platformers that were available at the time on all systems. Whilst I'm sure the gameplay will be adapted accordingly now that there's a jump button, do you feel that the remake eschewing Zelda's iconic lack of jumping is not in keeping with OoT's Spirit (Tracks)? Making OoT Link jump on the spot is a thing now I guess.

Asterdahl

Greetings and salutations! I realize that a Switch 2 OLED is much higher on DF's wishlist than a Switch 2 light, thanks to the laggy panel with bad HDR. That said, despite my initial skepticism about the Switch light, after picking up the Echoes of Wisdom edition on a whim, I found myself using it far more than I initially imagined. Crucially, I'm still getting mileage out of it while my OLED has mostly been retired in favor of higher FPS and resolutions of Switch 1 games on Switch 2 versions if I'm playing docked. It's still bigger than a PSP or a DS, but the Switch light feels like a genuinely portable system from another era—smaller to take with you, and so much more comfortable to hold for long sessions. How feasible do you all think Switch 2 light is in the next few years? Is a die shrink that would make it possible likely? Are component shortages likely to make it an unattractive prospect this time around? Curious to hear your thoughts!

Asterdahl

Hey DF crew! I'm looking forward to hearing your astute breakdown of the technical aspects of the new OoT trailer! That said, I'm also interested to hear your thoughts on the maximalist Baroque visual style. The internet is a divisive and confusing place, people are constantly complaining about a lack of intentional art style in modern games, but sometimes it feels like they can't recognize an intentional art style if it reaches out and bites them! (Probably just different people... I hope!) Personally I found myself feeling similarly to the initial Starfox reveal. Whereas that style took me a few hours of playing the game to acclimate to, I found myself acclimated to OoT's new art style by the end of the direct. I think it would fit the darker aesthetic of Majora's Mask even better, so I'm really hoping whoever worked on this gets a chance to tackle it as well! How did you feel about the style? Did you love it at first glance, or are you still on the fence? Curious to hear your thoughts!

Skyrimfest 26 FPS Edition

Good to see Nintendo giving us the Welcome Tour upgrade we have been crying out for. Being the only title with docked VRR support, is the Welcome Tour now worth welcoming onto my Switch 2?

Visitors From Dreams

Morning chaps. I was very curious to hear Nintendo put a focus on the word "detail" when describing the art direction for OoT. It's just never been a very Nintendo thing to focus on, atleast when it comes to visuals which have always priotised being clean and easy to read. Am I weird for thinking that OoT's to my eyes incredibly busy visual design doesn't feel very... well... Nintendo? It feels silly, but it creates """problems""" that never existed within the game in the past, as an example it makes sense that people who live in the forest would use natural weaving materials, however, it doesn't make sense for children to make such intricate ornate clothing, a paradox that never used to exist thanks to the original and 3DS remakes simple visual design. The detailed visuals in this case kind of break the original games storytelling and world building. These are stupid things to waste time thinking about, and up until now nobody had too. Was anyone else dissapointed when Rick McCallum never showed up to tell us about how dense each frame was?

Alan

Hi guys, The NeoGeo AES+ release date has been pushed back a year, lots of people are NOT happy, especially ones that pre-ordered direct as the payment is taken straight away, the offer of a free controller for the Standard/Anniversary or 30% discount off a game for the $1000 Ultimate edition has let's just say, annoyed people even more, some are suggesting the whole thing is a scam, thoughts on this debacle?

Teasing Hilarity

Gentlemen! Huge Switch 2 news on the VRR front. Curious for your thoughts on Nintendo’s implementation. How does it stack up to others, particularly gold standards like XBOX? Will it iron out many of the pacing issues we see in games like RE, for instance? Thanks and have a great week!

Critically Wild

The infectious enthusiasm of the Retro podcast has had me looking back this year... and now I've got a PS2, Wii/GameCube, PS3 and Xbox 360 all hooked up in the living room with their various CFWs and exploits and just got a modded OG Xbox... cables up the wazoo. I'm at CeX at least once a week and trading with friends (and, yes, colleagues) — and I'm actually playing through old games on these systems! Question: is John going to accept responsibility for this affliction?!

Skyrimfest 26 FPS Edition

Now technology has advanced to the point where you can play alongside an IKEA KALLAX shelving unit in Skyrim, what budget Swedish furniture would you like to see in Elder Scrolls 6? My money is on 4x DLSS5 rendered LACK tables.

PassTheSauce

Shwmae foundry men 😊 I recently watched the always excellent DF Retro that had Sean from Blaze/Evercade as a guest. I have since pre-ordered the Nexus that has Banjo Kazooie packed with it. I have since learned the game is being built and not emulated for that system. My question is could this, and possibly other games built for the system in the same manner, become part of your analysis cycles? Thank you and all the best to the team.

Teasing Hilarity

I’m wondering similar. If Nintendo can bake-in LFC it would have a huge impact for current gen ports, in particular

Teasing Hilarity

I’m going to say they put the art (and gameplay) first, rather than the tech

CheapeOne

Hey y’all! How many technical problems are due to feedback not piercing the language barrier? For instance From Software games often have poor frame pacing, are they just not aware? Do they just need a poke from a Japanese source? Thanks for all you guys do ~

DeanUtube

Do you feel LFC (which the Series X allows natively and not the PS5 consoles) could be the sleeping giant in the eventual GTA 6 console comparisons? If the game drops a frame here or there just as Red Dead 2 did across the sony and series consoles the "plays best on ps5" advertising may backfire when the eventual DF review states the Series X version is perceptibly smoother in large part thanks to LFC. Thoughts?

Salman

Nvidia managed to get neural rendering/DLSS 5 on AMD GPUs before AMD managed to get ray regeneration on a 3rd game.

Eric Morgan

Good day Digital Foundry, Do you think Sony has become complacent because of PlayStation’s commanding market position and the lack of direct competition from Xbox? Sony recently walked away from Kojima Productions’ *Physint*, which Xbox is now publishing—potentially costing PlayStation another major title. It launched PSVR2 with very little sustained first-party support, without even porting much of its original PSVR library, and its unsuccessful push into live-service games appears to have disrupted the production of the prestigious single-player games for which PlayStation is known. Could Sony be repeating the overconfidence of the PS2-to-PS3 transition, when it assumed consumers would accept a $500–$600 console and gave Microsoft an opening with the Xbox 360? Given Sony’s current direction—and a recent State of Play that did little to inspire confidence—could we see history repeat itself next generation?

Scully

I also love hearing Rich reading out hilarious stuff. His delivery is ace. ROG is my favorite

Dan

Even if Microsoft agreed to include a physical disc drive in the Helix, would it ultimately be ineffective anyway, given that major publishers may still insist on their games being download-only? Also: could Good Old Games be the way forward? It doesn't allow people to sell used games, but it at least allows people to make their own physical copies of games!

Dan

I think Sony has always made mistakes, but they were largely overlooked until now because their competitors (Sega, Nintendo, and Microsoft) kept screwing up even worse! In fact, I've always felt that Sony's success (going all the way back to the PS1) was largely due to the mistakes of their competitors; now that Sony doesn't really have any competitors anymore, there is perhaps more of a spotlight on them than before

CheapeOne

That’s fantastic, happy for you m8. Any standout games?

Critically Wild

Thank you, and absolutely! Burnout 3 Killzone 1 (except the fps) Ace Combat 4 and 5 Wolfenstein 2009 (so good!!) Jak and Daxter 1 Prince of Persia Sands of Time Halo 1 — I'm a big Halo fan but I've never finished 1 or 2 on OG hardware. Really surprised how amazing 1 looks. Really just scratching the surface! I've been adding to the queue as people recommend on the Discord. Not on retro hardware, but started because of the Retro podcast: Never played a Final Fantasy until this year, but I got those on Switch and Steam and I've done FF7 (original), FF8, FFX, FF13 so far this year and halfway through FF12 at the moment... did not expect to fall in love with the series. Sorry my response is so verbose 😂

Snoopey0

Hi Dude, Duder, and Dudest. With the return of music to the Mii maker screen on switch 2, are we finally seeing the full potential of the console? Oh right there's also that VRR thing in docked mode...though what's with not enabling it for games that already support VR in handheld? What a nightmare. What even caused it in the first place?! Exclamation point!

Andreas Wright

It's obvious from the trailer...really don't get why Nintendo is not using it. Image quality is the only downside for me. Hopefully they can get to grips with more modern day graphical features for next new mainline Mario and Zelda games.

wildwildwesty

Hey John, have a good holiday! Do you game while you travel? What portable devices do you use and what will you be playing this time?

Craig.wtf

Howdy Foundies. Like many, I’ve been drawn by curiosity into trying DLSS 5 on a variety of games and as has been pointed out; it’s impressive tech but does tend to make people and spaces look a little ‘moist’. Am I right in thinking the DLL has been sourced from just the NBA game? If so would this not explain that output? If you think about it, it makes perfect sense that the effect would make people look sweaty and grounds look polished, just like they would in a basketball game. It’s very impressive that less than a couple of hundred megabytes can work as consuls it does. To me it suggests that each game that ships with it may have specific styles and / or materials baked-in. I guess we’ll know when more games are released that have ‘5’ included. What do you guys think about different versions of the DLL shipping with every game? Does this have any ramifications for people’s concerns that specific artist’s work may be included in certain shipped files?

HarryB

The take you guys seemed to have on Wolverine was that it’s ok to make an unambitious action game. Does its $300 million budget affect your view on that at all? It seems like an awful lot of money to spend to make what sounds like a fairly uninspired game.

Perkin Warbeck

John's thoughts on G-SYNC Pulsar have me really interested in getting a monitor with the tech next time I build a computer, but I haven't been planning on switching to an Nvidia GPU. What are the chances you think that AMD develops a substantially similar technology any time soon like they did with AMD FreeSync?

DaJaCo (Dan)

I suppose it is once you look at the better quality videos. I think it comes down to this simple fact - Nintendo games NEVER come to PC, or other consoles. Because of this, they are so locked down to their platforms, that there was never even the possibility that they might need per pixel motion vectors and depth buffers... so the engines have just never had that work put in. I guess we'll have to wait until all of the first wave of games are out, and hopefully games that are started fresh now, will have the engine updates implemented to enable motion vectors, and therefore various temporal upscaler options, including DLSS. For third parties it will have been fairly easy, because all of their games will have been multiplatform or with PC releases - for ages, and so their engines have had motion vectors for ages.. so its a simple porting process compared to an engine overhaul. That's probably why they are being so slow. It's a shame because the advantages are so big, they should have invested some time and paid off the "tech debt" early on.

SirToby

Hello DF, given the recent explosion of decompilation/recompilation efforts where games of yesteryear are now thrown back into spotlight, with better visuals frame rates and added features. Would love to hear your thoughts.

regawdless

Hello Gents! The 90s are back. Boomer shooters made a comeback, we got some good arcade racing games over the years, many spiritual successors or straight up remakes of iconic games from that era like Star Fox or Zelda. All good? No! There's no remake of Wave Race 64, the GOAT of good vibes racing games. And no spiritual successors from indie devs. Why is that? Cheers

Jin

Hello DF crew! After the latest switch 2 update, the first thing I did was actually turning off VRR. This might sound bizarre but I am really sensitive to the gamma shift on OLED displays. The moment VRR is engaged any near black color is turned into gray and it looks really awful. I really feel that VRR is currently a flawed technology but this seems to bother very few people?

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey DF crew, why do games nowadays take so long to develop? Apart from GTA VI, where you can tell what all that time has gone into, if only a few developers need to build proprietary engines to make their games, and the target hardware is mostly PC-based with no Cell-like shenanigans, how come back in the day a couple of people could make an 80+ hour RPG in one or two years? It’s not like consoles from the 90s were easy to develop for… Cheers!

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey DF crew, With SONY and Microsoft struggling to “please” gamers lately by making some bizarre decisions, do you think there’s room for another player? Do you think a company like Apple could produce a good console? Their brand is so recognisable, and they have some great in-house tech that could potentially be used to build something extraordinary. And it’s not like they’re struggling financially either… Cheers!

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey DF crew, Just wanted to say I appreciate all your hard work lately. It must be difficult with health issues in the crew (we miss you Alex), a lot of new games coming, tough market conditions and the overall negativity online that unfortunately impact you too. John, enjoy your holidays! Cheers!

wildwildwesty

Wazzup gents. About OoT, I’ve been seeing discord that very much misunderstands DLSS and your comments regarding it in the last Direct. Perhaps for the uninitiated you could clarify 1. Why DLSS would be a good choice for the game and 2. What solution Nintendo are choosing instead of DLSS and what reasons they may have? Many people seem to believe there is a performance cost of DLSS that the Switch 2 wouldn’t be about to handle. Thanks!

digitalfoundry

It's not a whitelist as such - more that there seems to be the need for developer integration as there is with the mobile VRR panel.

digitalfoundry

Problem is the only things it can really cut down on are memory and storage.

digitalfoundry

No, the DLL isn't "tuned" for NBA. It's a general model. Or rather three of them.

digitalfoundry

The only price relevant really is the one you are paying for it.

VeryProfessionalDodo

Ah, this feels like an LG color space issue! I think it's the RGB Range "Full" vs "Limited" debacle. I had that issue whenever my PS5 had a 120hz game, and it turns out it was because the PS5 and the TV had misaligned color ranges

Wadeski

A question for the DF Retro crew. It seems there is more active development for retro consoles than ever, with exciting projects on 32X fixing the Doom conversion, 3DO porting MKII, and plenty for other systems like Sega CD and Jaguar. Which retro console does the team think has the MOST exciting development scene at the moment, and are there any yet-to-launch projects the team are looking forwads to seeing?

Jin

This is different from rgb range issue. Color is either washed out or crushed everywhere if there is rgb range mismatch. However the VRR issue is only noticeable for near black colors.

MattGPT

Hello gents. Now that the Steam Frame price has been released, do you think it is a mistake to make it a stand alone unit (as well as able to stream from a PC), do you think that they would be better to launch a streaming only version? They could save on the RAM, the storage and have a lower spec chip? Most people who are probably looking to buy a Frame will already be PC gamers, probably with 5070 equivalents or higher and will do nearly all of their VR gaming via streaming to the headset, meaning the RAM, storage and most of thr processor will spend it's life sat idle. That stand alone hardware probably accounts for $350 to $500 of the retail price. Could a streaming only version sharing the same displays, lenses, body and controllers could be considerably cheaper? (Next week can all the DF team be drinking beer from their pint glasses?) Cheers!