DF Direct Weekly #272: id Software Lay-Offs Damage Control, COD Black Ops PS5, 5 Years Of Steam Deck

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1. 

   24 Jul 2026 · 51 min

   DF Direct Q+A: Creation Engine 3 in Elder Scrolls 6/Fallout 5, Is Doom THE Great American Videogame?

   The Q+A show returns, with Rich, Oliver and Will getting to grips with the potential of the Creation Engine 3 in The Elder Scrolls 6 and Fallout 5, while assessing the merits of Doom as THE great American videogame. Sony's new vapour chamber patent is considered for PS6 viability, while questions linger over what Sega's support for Nvidia's RTX Spark actually amounts to. And there's more: what would the generation have looked like if it stuck to 30fps? Is Sony killing discs really about its post-handheld ecosystem? And what's the deal with Oliver's cat? 00:00 Introduction 00:42 Supporter Q1:…

2. 

   S1 · E273 · 20 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 38 min

   DF Direct Weekly #273: The Future of Fallout + Elder Scrolls, Xbox Account Deletion, Switch 2 OLED?

   Bethesda tweets out its current Fallout/Elders Scrolls plans... but why? Meanwhile, digital accounts and draconian anti-consumer limitations come into focus, the Ryzen 7 7700X3D is released and Capcom reveals good news about its upcoming Dragon's Dogma 2 Switch 2 port. Dying Light The Beast is cancelled on last-gen, rumours emerge of a Switch 2 OLED and the team reflect on the tenth anniversary of our reveal of the original Nintendo Switch specs. 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:40 News 1: Bethesda announces new Fallout games in massive post 0:25:44 News 2: Streamer’s Microsoft account pulled,…

3. 

   16 Jul 2026 · 47 min

   DF Direct Q+A: How Does The Xbox Reset Impact Project Helix?

   The fallout from the Xbox Reset continues as more questions are raised: does Xbox's recent pivots change the plan for Project Helix? Will it still allow other PC stores to run on it? Will it have a disc drive? Meanwhile, other questions are asked: will cancelling PlayStation Plus make Sony rethink its physical media cancellation? What about the "code in the box" GTA 6? And is Nintendo the last platform holder that not to lay-off its developers and antagonise its audience? 00:00 Introduction 01:06 Supporter Q1: If Microsoft makes so much money as a platform holder, why will Project Helix let…

4. 

   7 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

   DF Direct Q+A: Xbox 'Reset' Worse Than Expected - Huge Job Losses + The End of idTech?

   One part necessary re-organisation, one part liberation for key developers, one part vandalism of Xbox studios, it's a mixture of disbelief and anger from the DF panel as the full extent of Xbox's so-called "reset" becomes clear. If Asha Sharma's report on the business is on the level, clearly something had to be done - but as the scale of the lay-offs and the astonishing cuts to id Software become clear, are spreadsheets now more important to Microsoft than its audience? 0:00:00 Introduction 0:00:51 Supporter Q1: Why is Microsoft laying off 3200 people? 0:28:39 Supporter Q2: Will Sony be…

5. 

   S1 · E271 · 6 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

   DF Direct Weekly #271: The End Of PlayStation Physical Media & True Game Ownership

   Sony announces the end of PlayStation game discs via a three paragraph blog post - bringing to an end the era of physical media and actually owning the games you buy, along with the right to resell them, share them and preserve them. A sombre panel assesses the full implications of Sony's decision, why it's doing it, the damage it'll cause and how the PlayStation Store needs a major revamp to take the place of physical media. Also: Sony shuts down the PS3 and Vita stores, Xbox may have alternative plans for potentially phasing out discs and a new Switch 2 LCD panel will hopefully address the…

6. 

   7 Oct 2026 · 41 minNew

   DF Direct Q+A: Is PS5 QSSR Really A Game-Changer? Will Xbox Series X|S Get ML Upscaling?

   After the out-of-the-blue, completely unleaked release of QSSR upscaling for PlayStation 5, Digital Foundry supporters and the panel attempt to provide some answers, while tackling the question of whether Xbox Series consoles will receive a similar technology. Meanwhile, what are the chances of The Witcher 3 on Switch 2 getting VRR support - and what dead franchises would the DF team like to see returned and rejuvenated for modern and next-gen hardware? 00:00 Introduction 02:36 Supporter Q1: Why did Sony make QSSR? 14:11 Supporter Q2: Which games would benefit most from QSSR? 19:17 Supporter…

7. 

   S1 · E284 · 5 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 16 min

   DF Direct Weekly #284: Ghost of Yōtei QSSR Tested, Star Wars Galactic Racer, Gears E-Day PC

   DF returns to QSSR coverage with a closer look at Ghost of Yōtei, with John weighing in with his opinions on Marvel's Wolverine too. Rich reveals that Sony isn't the first to port an AI upscaler to a non-AI based GPU, showing FSR 4 running on the RDNA 1 Radeon RX 5700 XT. Meanwhile, John's very happy with the PC version of Gears of War: E-Day. And after sharing some stories on anniversary DF content, the Star Wars Galactic Racer review embargo hits in real-time - and John's got a lot to say about it... 0:00:00 Introduction 0:01:13 News 1: QSSR tested in Ghost of Yōtei 0:25:19 News 2: FSR 4…

8. 

   3 Oct 2026 · 33 min

   DF Direct Special: PlayStation QSSR - AI Upscaling For Standard PS5 - A Current-Gen Gamechanger?

   A surprise to be sure - and a welcome one. Out of the blue, Sony has released QSSR - Quick Spectral Super Resolution - a refactoring of PS5 Pro's PSSR for the standard PlayStation 5. In this video, Rich and Oliver share their initial thoughts on the technology. We've got image quality comparisons from Marvel's Wolverine, we've got early performance testing from a PS5 dev kit, comparisons with PSSR and much more. 00:00 Introduction 01:29 What is QSSR? 05:28 QSSR vs IGTI 11:13 QSSR vs. PSSR 16:51 QSSR performance 26:04 Will QSSR be in GTA 6? 28:35 Concluding thoughts Hosted on Acast. See…

9. 

   30 Sep 2026 · 50 min

   DF Direct Q+A: PS5 Emulation on PC, Will Halo Move To COD Tech, Will PCs Replace Consoles?

   The progress in PS5 emulation for PC is becoming extremely rapid - so just how viable is it and should Sony be worried? Meanwhile, Rich, Oliver and Will discuss a range of topics: can PS5 Pro run PSSR and FSR frame gen together? Will PCs eventually replace consoles? Can a Project Helix console replace both a gaming PC and an Xbox console? And... would the Project Helix concept have changed if Xbox had won the console generation? 00:00 Introduction 00:41 PlayStation 5 Emulation on PC gathers pace 13:55 Q1: Why can't PS5 Pro run PSSR and FSR 3.1 frame gen together? 21:27 Q2: Will PC eventually…

10. 

    S1 · E283 · 28 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 1 min

    DF Direct Weekly #283: Halo Moves To Activision, Next-Gen TFLOPs, Silent Hill Townfall Tested!

    An extremely busy week at the Foundry but the Direct cannot be stopped - the team discuss the latest news as the "Xbox Reset" enters Phase Two and Halo is shipped off to Activision. Meanwhile, Rich, Oliver and Tom join forces to run the rule over Silent Hill Townfall, becauise the show moves on to discuss the implications of the next-gen consoles' respective GPU TFLOPs numbers. And finally, ending the show on a high note, Rich revisits 007 First Light path tracing, finding a night and day improvement in performance over the original release. 00:00 Introduction 01:12 News 1: Halo Studios…

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