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Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #150 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-02-15 12:31:10
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:
Q&A

Content

Hi everyone and welcome to the latest Call For Questions for the next edition of DF Direct Weekly - the milestone 150th edition - for which we have absolutely no special plans whatsoever! And why should we, when the content is so strong. 

We're eagerly awaiting Microsoft's podcast/business update later today, so we'll be sharing our thoughts on whatever announcements or lack of them the Xbox team has for us. We'll also be discussing the somewhat apocalyptic PlayStation financial briefing, which seems to be suggesting that there'll be no first-party megaton games until 2025 and that the generation has already peaked. Wow. 

Beyond that, Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is featured, principally because John worked heavily on it. And then Rich (ie me) will be sharing his 'journey' in getting hold of a 77-inch OLED TV (via Facebook Marketplace, naturally) to replace the 75-inch LCD that has, unfortunately, developed a fault.

Anything else we should be covering? Any specific questions on these topics or gaming more generally you'd like us to tackle? The stage - or rather the comments box below - is yours.

Files

Comments

SmoothSegue

It seems like much has been made of AFMF being like DLSS 3 frame generation for everything, but if AFMF stops generating frames whenever there's a lot of motion on-screen, doesn't that defeat the point of high FPS? What's the point of a higher frames when looking at a relatively static image?

Full House's very own John SteamOS

Oh no, Rich! Is that busted telly the 8K monstrosity you got back in the day? And also, what model OLED telly have you got now? More importantly, did it fit in your car or did you have to hire an 18-wheeler to get that bad boy home?

Bears in Games Neo

I got an Xbox gift card from work and figured I'd head over to the Xbox PC store to pick up something. But the store seems to be languishing - no EA WRC, no Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, no Tekken 8? Any idea why Microsoft doesn't seem to be bothering getting games into their stores? (I got Jedi Survivor and Tekken 8 on the Series X in the end, so it's fine)

Osvaldo Doederlein

How about a special piece about DLCs? This is a common supplement of many games today but there are many kinds. Some DLCs are just more of the same / extra levels of essentially same game. In some cases it's kinda boring, but in some story-heavy games like RE4 the DLC (Separate Ways) can fill the gaps of the main story in a great way. Some DLCs offer a very different experience, for example 2017 Prey's Mooncrash is a roguelike. The very best IMO are DLCs that deepen the gameplay, like Doom Eternal's two Ancient Gods that double down on the combat system forcing you even more to use specific weapons for specific enemies, add new platform mechanics too, etc. This deepening of the gameplay was so much loved by fans that the second part disappointed because it failed to be even even harder again. Finally, there's the modern trend of "Game+" which I personally don't like because games often don't give you enough resources to compete big skill trees so completionists are required to use the G+ run for that, but again, some game's G+ are more rewarding with rebalanced combat and other tweaks.

Saraaahhhh

Do you think that Sony will have to refocus on smaller projects, considering that the cinematic third person games they heavily use in marketing are getting more and more expensive to produce? There's of course also the issue that games take longer and longer to develop, leading to Sony owned studios producing less games per hardware generation.

ctg867

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth seems to have reignited the debate over yellow paint sign posting. Where does DF fall on this? The whole thing makes me really appreciate the work studios like Naughty Dog do. They're no stranger to yellow paint and the like, but it's always used without harming their overall art design. They've also been innovators with their accessibility settings for those who need additional help. "Dump yellow paint on it" may keep play testers from getting lost but it really undermines the experience for me.

Thomas the Jank Engine

Hello you absolute chads. Can you start putting yellow paint on whoever is currently speaking in DF Direct? How else am I supposed to know who to be focusing on?

Allan Lindqvist

What do you make of the rumors of Sony putting more focus on PC given the console sale slip? Fanboy anger aside this must surely be a good thing for gaming?

Allan Lindqvist

What's the progress on getting Ollie that vision pro for testing?

Leftisthominid

How is Audie doing in Richard's basement?

Leftisthominid

Now that Richard has switched to Unreal Engine 5 per DF Directs 56 and 87, if something unexpected happens during recording, will the new shaders not be able to asynchronously compile and thus cause an unfortunate stutter?

Leftisthominid

Can we get an update on Richard's lack of notionally instant notifications? I have noticed that I get my notifications simultaneously instantly on my Samsung phone and my iPad

Leftisthominid

What is the status on the Radeon VII? Possible collaboration with Random Gaming in HD?

Leftisthominid

The Steam deck screen can arbitrarily change its frame rate. How can one do this on a Windows laptop?

F to the G

Hey lovely people! Which hardware category excites you the most over the coming years and why? Doesn't have to be PC hardware but also more general domains. I think for me it will be displays in general but especially PC monitors with more OLED offerings one the way that hopefully will steadily decrease in price, as most QD-OLED models already do.

Leftisthominid

What are some things that today's 2020/prior consoles can do that can still be considered bespoke next-level stuff?

zephyr

In PS4 emulation news, fpPS4 can now boot and run Bloodborne at a blistering 1fps. This begs the question: What will happen first, an official PC release running at 60fps or emulated Bloodborne at 60fps?

Chase

Bonus retro question for Rich: as someone that was in the press for Black & White hype, were you a believer in Peter Molyneux Fable hype?

Kellan Sandifer

What type of game would the DF team make if you guys had the funding and staff? Would DF develop an in house engine or use UNREAL? Would you prioritize optimization on series s? Would Ray tracing be Mandatory?

SillyMrBingus

A play in one act. [enter Rich and John, looking dashing as ever] Rich - This question comes to us from Egregious Deckus: John, he wants to know if Arzette runs on Steam Deck. The Steam listing does not list any information about Steam Deck verification status. John - It runs great on Steam Deck. I have tested it myself on my brand-new Steam Deck OLED. Egregious Deckus, you and all other wonderful Steam Deck users can rest assured that Arzette is a wonderful experience on Deck. [and they all dance and make merry for verily Arzette on Deck is confirmed and Egregious Deckus' concerns are aswaged]

Steve B.

Hi DF, EA not happy with immortals of aveum, having poor sales, specially on PC according to steam, is Unreal Engine still too new and demanding on hardware in the pc space (general performance and stutters) would using a lighter engine been more successful? Thanks

Chill_Mode_JD

I recently upgraded to a 4k monitor for the first time, so from a complete beginners perspective to high resolution gaming what graphic settings would the DF crew prioritize to keep the frame rate up to par on mid range to high end systems. Much appreciation to the DF crew and community! Have a great weekend dudes and dudettes

Cromulent LCD Pixel

Given we have seen how succesfully Valve has implemented “Poor man’s gsync” aka adjusting the screen’s framerate arbitrarily, how likely is it that Nintendo will allow developers to target arbitrary framerates in portable mode in their next console? Seems like it could be an incredibly powerful tool for developers and allow Nintendo to better control their battery life

Scorpwind

Hey, DF exclamation point A question for Alex regarding the TAA video: You covered most of the things that I think that shoul've been covered. One thing that I think needed more emphasis was the fact that TAA doesn't have to look so bad at 1080p. By tuning the algorithm, (giving it less samples, tuning the blending strength etc...) you can significantly minimize the blurring. A lot of people also opt for a combination of downsampling + upscaling just to achieve the same thing. 1080p isn't going anywhere any time soon. Especially if graphics cards that are specifically aimed and marketed at that resolution will continue to be made. Do you think that at least some developers will take any complaints regarding TAA more to heart after your video? Especially regarding lower resolutions? Regards from the F*ckTAA subreddit (you don't need to say this part if you don't want to).

hatsune mike

Hi DF team! I’ve been watching through a lot of the old DF retro videos and really enjoy John’s PS3 1080p series. Have you thought about doing a similar mini-episode on OG Xbox HD games?

tod weitzel

What's up with the EULA for Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered claiming publishing rights to any mods and requiring that modders go through mod.io? Is this just how things are going to be now? Is Nexus Mods vs mod.io the next great frontier in gaming warfare?

Xbox Ally Has Gone ROGue!

If Sonic Supersonic has a Deluxe re-release with extra contents, will it becomes Sonic SSD? THE ONLY TRUE FOLLOW UP TO SONIC CD IS FINALLY HERE

Massimo Mongiardo

I just watched your alien isolation switch port video from a few years back and it got me wondering what impossible ports we might see on switch 2 that actually fare better than they did when they originally released on current gen hardware. any predictions on switch 2 impossible ports? elden ring better than ps5? or are we in a different ball game now? thanks love the show!

Alan

Hi DF Team, The Xbox Direct could have been released or live-streamed in the days after the leak, huge damage has been done because of the silence, they didn't really tell us anything, four games will no doubt be a start of a slew and who is going to get a Next Box unless it's as least as powerful but much cheaper than PS6?

NailzMannz

Hey DF, Following up on the future of Xbox, could it eventually become purely software/service based, giving 3rd party vendors like Asus ROG, MSI, Lenovo the space to build plug 'n play devices that ship with an "XboxOS"? Perhaps there are devices of various spec (low, mid, high) to create a product stack? Could this work like in the mobile PC space (arguably more niche) or is this dead on arrival because of the fact that PCs exist? Thanks for dedication to creating great #content.

Abadaba-Pling Boink Wee Juhu

Did Microsoft backtrack due to the rumor backlash or are they just amazingly incompetent at communication, letting the rumor fire burn uncontrolled?

Oli Jacobs

Hi DF Team, If a prospective PS5 Pro does exist, would you rather it keep the art school dropout aesthetic or adopt a new design entirely? Keep up the good work

Eddjnr

Hi Team Congrats on the 150th episode! My Question is, what are your predictions or wishlist for the topics being discssed in another 150 episodes? Will it be a slow news day that focuses on Alex'x new haircut? or will you be discussing some latest greatest cutting edge tech that is starting to emerge?

The Knight Who Says Ni!

"Oh, Digital Foundry, esteemed keepers of the gaming flame! We, the Knights Who Say Ni, beseech thee: What bespoke futures dost thou foresee for Xbox gaming in the here and now? Shall we be graced with controllers shaped like the sacred coconut, or perhaps Kinect games where we must bellow 'Ni!' to navigate menus? And lo, as confirmed by the Messiah Phil Spencer, it is decreed that Xbox games shall venture forth to other platforms on a quest for cross-platform camaraderie. Pray, enlighten us with thy crystal ball, and unveil the quest for which the four games going cross-platform could be!"

Perkin Warbeck

How much longer will we have to wait to hear something from Team Asobi? Should we be worried? They’ve only increased in importance with the closing of other Sony studios.

Someguyperson

I think the Phil Spencer quote, "I don’t think we should as an industry ever rule out a game going to any other platform." says it all. The lack of insight provided by this presentation seems to belittle the fanboys who were up in arms about Xbox exclusives being released on other platforms. It really seems like Microsoft will just release any game on any platform whenever it wants and the consumer will just have to deal with it. Do you see this as another "Don Mattrick moment" for Xbox? Is this just the reality of Microsoft owning Activision, Blizzard, and Bethesda? Is this really a whole lot of nothing that fanboys are going crazy over?

Someguyperson

Right now it seems that there are only 13 games that are exclusively available on the PS5. If we are truly halfway through the PS5's lifespan, that would take us up to 26 PS5 exclusive games this generation. For reference, the Wii U had 35 exclusive games during it's short, pitiful lifespan. Would you consider the Wii U a success compared to the PS5 in this metric, or would you prefer to shame the number of PS5 exclusive games? Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_5-only_games

Mythic Resonance

Hello, Digital Foremen! Congratulations on the hundred-and-fiftieth Direct! I'm back again with my notionally-annual DF Direct question submission: How do flicker filters work on interlaced displays?

tod weitzel

What's the appropriate way to reissue 50hz games on platforms where the bulk of the users are going to be playing on fixed 60hz displays? I am thinking of the upcoming Jeff Minter collection from Digital Eclipse, where almost all of his early work is 50hz PAL, but I will likely be playing it on the 60hz Switch OLED.

Octolimar

Why do so many games' framerate caps have frame pacing issues, whether it be console or pc? If it's as simple as a modder adding a built in fps cap on the ps4/5 to fix bloodbornes issues, whats the deal here?

Alex's Retro PC

If tomorrow you were hired as head of Xbox’s handheld device team, what would be your priorities in terms of hardware and software? What tradeoffs would you make that might go against conventional wisdom?

(Don’t be a) Richard

What is your view on MS allowing the rumour mill to go wild for over a week, only to tell us that four unnamed games are coming to PS/Switch and that Starfield and Indiana are not amongst those. It felt like a very hollow and anticlimactic announcement. This feels like something they could have and should have addressed in a tweet or press release rather than allowing the press to run rampant with the story. Maybe Phil shouldn’t have said they’d have more news “at a later date” which made the story larger than it was.

DaJaCo (Dan)

150! Is that how many weeks you gents have under your belts - or is it the number of teraflops that the next-gen Xbox will crunch? With Sarah Bond this week saying: "what we're really focused on there is delivering the largest technical leap you will have ever seen in a hardware generation" - I wonder if you could perhaps qualify what that might mean in each of the 2 possible interpretations of her comment.. (i.e. largest leap for any console ever... or largest leap for any Xbox console ever) .. thoughts?

Mr Bespoke

Hi DF team. What's the worst trial and error you'd ever had to face setting up your equipment on Digital Foundry? e.g camera setups and PC builds etc. Thanks and keep up the hard work.

Saskira

Hi DF, that TAA video was awesome! I didn’t realise the humble origin of TAA. With DLSS essentially iterating on the same basic concept of TAA and is another step forward in the fight against jaggies (amongst other things), it makes me wonder where we will go next. Where do you see Super Sampling going? Thanks.

DarkRod99

Question for John. How did you learn Japanese and do you have any tips for learning. I've been wanting to learn for a while now, even downloaded some apps for practice. Greetings to everyone in DF!

DaJaCo (Dan)

With Microsoft making crude jokes like "Every hole is a..", sorry I meant: "every screen is an Xbox", and recent admissions that windows is an 'obstacle' on handhelds. Is it time for Microsoft to create a lightweight game-centric "XbOS" (Xbox OS) - something that basically runs on anything, allows quick booting between it and windows, is highly optimized for microsoft hardware - runs and integrates Game-Pass.. and if they're feeling harmonius, maybe Steam too.. ?

alexrdavies

Lots of speculation about a Microsoft handheld. How outlandish/possible would it be to make a handheld that matches the Series S for specs and power? What would that kind of handheld cost at console manufacturing volumes, and how would it compare to the expected Switch 2?

Everett Giesbrecht

Dear Digital Founders, As we know, Sony has announced that the PS5 is in the “latter stages of its life cycle”, and yet Wikipedia lists a mere 13 games as PS5 exclusives. I’m curious as to what Digital Foundry (and especially Mr. Linneman) thinks that Chad Warden’s reaction would be now that it is unfortunately Playstation that “ain’t got games”. You would hope Sony would have worked harder to prevent this problem, especially after modelling the PS Quintuple’s design after Mr. Warden’s popped collar. Thanks again to the Digital Founding Fathers, for all your work and insight, -Everett James (Montreal, QC) PS. At least the PS Portal should provide Mr. Warden with a more convenient form factor to take along “HD games” while he’s rolling in his Caddy, trying to get some hunnies.