The end of the year draws closer and as the Digital Foundry crew prepare to take a well-earned vacation, John, Rich and Oliver have just enough time to cram in one more DF Direct Weekly, looking back over a challenging 2022, looking forward to the New Year – and cramming in more supporter Q+A than we’ve ever done before!
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:35 DF Supporter Q1: What does Epic’s delisting of classic Unreal games say about the preservation of older titles?
00:08:24 DF Supporter Q2: What was the most successful cross-gen release of the year?
00:12:40 DF Supporter Q3: Could an Xbox One X set to 120Hz output 24fps game content without judder?
00:14:28 DF Supporter Q4: Why do PCs have to compile shaders while consoles don’t?
00:19:23 DF Supporter Q5: Can you name some positive developments in gaming this year?
00:26:37 DF Supporter Q6: What was your surprise game of 2022 – and your most disappointing game of 2022?
00:32:33 DF Supporter Q7: What was the most technically complete game of the year?
00:37:22 DF Supporter Q8: With TAAU a common sight on consoles, why exactly were we waiting for FSR 2?
00:41:04 DF Supporter Q9: Does Oliver have any thoughts on his time with DF so far? And does the team have any ideas to improve or shake up future content?
00:47:25 DF Supporter Q10: With so many big 2023 games and hardware releases, what are you looking forward to most in 2023?
00:50:26 DF Supporter Q11: If the Switch 2 launches in 2023, what kind of hardware is it likely to have?
00:58:06 DF Supporter Q12: Do you think Nintendo would add an option to Switch to allow it to run at docked settings in portable mode?
01:00:05 DF Supporter Q13: Could FSR 3 run on current-gen consoles? If it could, would it be worthwhile?
01:03:45 DF Supporter Q14: Would DF members ever make videos about their all-time favourite games?
01:06:05 DF Supporter Q15: Will Tears of the Kingdom have a significant graphical upgrade over Breath of the Wild?
01:09:21 DF Supporter Q16: Will DF do more frequent live streams next year?
01:11:40 DF Supporter Q17: With the year of the PS Triple almost over, any chance of a “Best PS3 Game” in your game of the year lists?
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Question 4 about why PCs need to compile shaders and consoles don't, you didn't really answer the question in my opinion.
For CPUs, we don't need to recompile every program for every CPU.
So the question is: why do shaders need to compile again for every graphics card out there?
im not convince that the switch is more powerful than the wii u lol
I think a Switch 2 for Q4 2023 is a must from Nintendo to stay relevant and I would personally love a handheld mode that uses DLSS to rebuild some 900p source to say 1296p, and the screen should be 1296p for handheld mode. And docked mode should support 120fps. Just my 2 cents.
They need to do a Switch 2 and the big feature for the new Switch should be to add features missing from Switch that wii U had. The touch screen and off screen features. On Switch 2, the screen should be part of the controller, not the console. So when you dock the console, you still have the touch screen. Mario Maker 2 was not as good as Mario Maker in TV mode because of missing the touchscreen.
I think the best games ever youd need to do a culmination which includes pc and then each console within its own generation. Comparing things without context of time, tech, competition is pretty irrelevant and will vary heavily from person to person and their own experiences i feel
I'd be extremely surprised if we don't get a nextgen Nintendo Switch in time for Christmas 2024, but I'm still betting that we see some new hardware, or at least an announcement sometime next year.
I agree that there were plans for new hardware, and that game devs were aware of this, and that the supply chain issues played a major role in delaying or altering new hardware, but I think that Nintendo's staunch and unwavering claims that there are no plans for new hardware are more in response to all the info leaks and rumors.
This is my reasoning:
– in 2019, the BotW Zelda sequel (now titled Tears of the Kingdom) was originally expected to be released for Christmas 2021, along with new Switch hardware
– the pandemic derailed those plans, mostly due to lockdowns, chip shortages, and supply chain issues
– instead, Nintendo released an OLED model with the exact same CPU and GPU, and delayed TotK — which from an outside view, doesn't add up — why release new hardware during a chip shortage, and not release new software when software development can continue during lockdowns?
– this is because Nintendo wanted to stick to their plans of using the new Zelda game as a launch title to show off new CPU/GPU capabilities — which means that we really should expect a new console in 2023
– the reason Nintendo is so adamant that there will not be any new hardware in 2023 is because if it was confirmed that TotK would be a launch title for a Switch Pro, then millions of people would cancel their TotK pre-orders for Switch
– thus, I expect that the Switch version of TotK will release as expected on May 12th, 2023, but once they sell an appropriate number of units for the Switch (somewhere around 10M units), they will announce the next generation console
– I expect the new Switch (Switch Pro, Switch Plus, Switch 2, Super Switch, whatever) will retail for $499 but be available as a bundle with a launch title, one of which will be Tears of the Kingdom
I'll be a bit surprised if we don't get new hardware in 2023, but if we don't I think we're pretty much guaranteed to get it in 2024, and then the launch title will be the sequel to Mario Odyssey.
Happy new year guys, you certainly are going to have a very busy year in 2023.
I think sticking to the switch form and ideas will totally sell. Because of the steamdeck and Ayo handhelds. So if the tech is upped people will buy. They also might be wise to have the dock provide more umph.
"The bus" , an early access title on Steam got an unreal engine 5 update. It's a bus driving simulation, as the title suggests and has a 1:1 representation of Berlin. Would be quiet interesting to get a DF point of view on this project… Maybe. It looks amazing in my opinion
I wish all DF staff a very bespoke New Year 2023 😉
Im personally done with Nintendo if their dock and games don’t support modern display hardware. Their games aren’t worth the money on 4K and 8K OLED / QLED displays, and I’m not rocking some ancient display just for their malnourished hardware.
Dick Bedwetter and the Malders
Nintendo is seriously Fu$$ed if they don’t bring it with the next console refresh.
Yay.. a whole hour with only the bad part of the podcast I always skip.
You guys should do a re-review of Gran Turismo 7, graphics have been gotten notably worse in one of the latest update:
just play the Spa 1h event when it rains at night, and you'll see what I mean once your eyes stop bleeding.
LoD settings appear to have changed as well, especially noticeable in the shadow/object draw distances on the LeMans track, watch for trees poping out of existence in the rear view mirror..
Have a Happy New Year everyone at DF. Every time Rich says "amazing things" I can't help think of DOOM 3's Dr. Betruger:
"Amazing things will happen here soon…. you just wait." See you in 2023.
1:04:00 Would love to see a whole DF Retro or something similar for World of Warcraft since it made a genre of its own.
Oh no, the momentum. The trouble. Well guess what? Nintendo switch’s best games are made by Nintendo and their exclusive developers like platinum games. If other devs dont want nintendos hundred million market of devices its their choice.
Great content, as always! Can you guys have another look at BF 2042 on PC? It now performs much better with recent patches and has no shader compilation stutter. It came out in 2021 but now looks much better than many of the 2022 releases while performing well.
More Oliver please.
1:50 That's the digital distribution for you.
Yeah I just canceled my dualsense edge preorder due to battery life. I can't understand what Sony thinks…
Hard agree on the strides that RPCS3's team has made this year. To be able to play some of my favourite PS3 exclusives from ten to fifteen years ago at 4k60… it's like removing a lens of vaseline from my screen and then seeing what the PS3 was actually trying to show me, especially the games that ran at sub-720p.
A near miss thinking about going for Linus style content. You guys are on another level.
Thanks for the video lads!
make the new switch come with an thunderbolt 3 port and install a eGpu on the dock
It will launch in 2024 and will be called the Nintendo Switchblade, guaranteed.
My association with epic is Unreal Tournament. Piracy is the only way to play games sometimes, in reference to Unreal games being delisted. I’m sure Gears of War is next.
I loved Horizon, shame it got no recognition except from you guys.
The most exciting things to me in 2023 with confirmed release windows would include a bunch of revivals and PC ports: Stalker 2, Homeworld 3, Space Marine 2, The Lords of the Fallen, Routine, Dead Space Remake, RE4 Remake, TLOU Part 1 on PC, TLOU Multiplayer…and the PSVR2 but only if Half-Life Alyx comes to consoles.
Them PS3 titles that are in 3D Motorstorm IPs and Super Star Dust are really terrific. I was hoping Sony would transfer some them 3D titles across to VR2, Killzone 3 Remaster, Resistance and Motorstorm titles.
Am also looking forward to next Nintendo console. Am hoping Super Switch but with other features.
Brilliant show guys. As always ✌️
I suspect one of the questioners is a family member of Richard!!
Rich should pepper his sentences with more of his trademark quotes like " Here and now!"
John has really mastered the narrative style performance review and retro video. I enjoy DF videos from the rest of the team as well, but John's are a true joy to watch, as he really makes it interesting with his video selection and narrative style.
For me, the chemistry between you all, particularly as it’s on show in the df directs, is the thing I enjoy most on your channel.
Friendly reminder that in Vulkan games Steam has an option to pre-cache shaders to completely do away with shader compilation stutters. If you're playing on Linux whereby DXVK makes every game essentially Vulkan, this applies to every game.
AMD do need to get ray tracing in the default Linux driver though.
I watched every one of these directs this year thank you so much guys!
Great show guys as always! Oliver was a welcome addition. Looking forward to next year. Richards instant classic line "I'll be comic sans" needs to be on a t-shirt!
Hogwarts Legacy my most anticipated
NEW SWITCH HAS TO HAVE BACKWARDS COMPAT…. But I am very sceptical… given the Nintendo switch tax.
What Richard said about how the narrative adds to it is so true (the car review comparison was spot on). DF for me is like watching a video review with a focus on technical aspects. Which video games are a combination of art and technology, so it's enjoyable hearing both talked about in one place. John giving a nod to the music in Frontiers really sticks in my head for some reason, because I feel I rarely hear people talk about game soundtracks in review. 🤔
Thankfully I've had all the Unreal games on my Steam account for years.
Olie, nice background! 🙂👌
Where can I buy Digital Foundry merch?
Elden Ring has the worst shader compilation ever
DF Direct has been a joy this year. I love listening to you guys talk. The tone you keep makes you all come off as both well read and respectful, without ever resorting to annoying "hype voices" that are so common in podcasts and YouTube in general, I think.
Oliver has a potential of becoming a voice actor I think.
I didn't know about the classic Unreal games getting delisted… That really pisses me off. The original Unreal is one of the most mindblowing games I've ever played, and I didn't even play it until like 2012. The Unreal collection was one of my first ever Steam purchases too.
Best PS3 game? Demon Souls, maybe, but I have a soft spot for Folklore.