Digital Foundry Direct Weekly

Nintendo Direct rounds off the big summer gaming events and... well, it's a mixed bag for sure. What have we learned about the Ocarina of Time Remake? How well are the third party ports holding up? John, Rich and Oliver have some thoughts on that before moving on to reactions to the 30 minute Fable gameplay demo. Meanwhile, Nintendo is planning a new Switch 2 revision with a replaceable battery and... somehow, the RTX 3060 has returned.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:12 News 1: Nintendo Direct: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
0:09:29 Xenoblade Genesis, Xenoblade 1-3 Switch 2 Editions
0:17:40 Kingdom Hearts 4, Kingdom Hearts 1-3
0:22:21 Third party games: Dragon’s Dogma 2, Onimusha, Metaphor Refantazio, Space Marine 2, The Duskbloods, Devil May Cry 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider
0:35:47 News 2: Fable previewed in 30 minute demo
0:42:55 News 3: Switch 2 gets easily repairable EU edition
0:50:46 News 4: Is the RTX 3060 coming back?
1:03:51 Retrospective: Five years of FSR 1
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Our audience has questions, we've got answers - but first, the team gets to grips with the contents of Asha Sharma and Matt Booty's Xbox Reset memo. Beyond that, is Xbox console exclusivity the best route forward? Should Valve update Steam Machine specs? Will God of War Laufey get a massive PS6 enhancement? It's a big show and there's still more to discuss beyond that.

00:00 Introduction
01:00 What should we make of Asha Sharma’s “XBOX Reset?”
21:40 Supporter Q1: Will exclusives be enough to save Xbox?
27:47 Supporter Q2: Should Valve scrap Steam Machine for something more powerful?
33:44 Supporter Q3: Could God of War Laufey feature RTGI on PS6?
37:44 Supporter Q4: Are mainstream CPUs good enough for modern games?
44:18 Supporter Q5: Has the Series S secretly saved Switch 2?
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Taped before we produced our Xbox Showcase coverage, it's John, Rich and Oliver at their respective microphones to discuss all the big games at the recent Summer Game Fest. Geoff came good - as this excellent line-up of titles reveals.

0:00:00 Introduction
0:02:28 Final Fantasy 7 Revelation
0:10:35 Resident Evil Veronica
0:19:20 Stellar Blade: Blood Rain
0:24:35 Mighty Cuphead Adventures
0:29:25 Alien Isolation 2
0:33:21 Gen Atlas
0:40:23 Clutch
0:45:12 Crossfire
0:52:42 Virtua Fighter Crossroads
0:58:14 Other games: Haex, Star Wars Galactic Racer, 1666 Amsterdam, Star Wars Zero Company, Hot Wheels Infinite Rush, Guild Wars 3, Super Yooka-Laylee Kart
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It's Xbox's time to shine with the latest in the big summer showcases and Team Green certainly delivered. Gears of War: E-Day finally breaks cover, Halo Campaign Evolved impresses, while Senua, Metro 2039 and Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy look phenomenal. But what's the deal with Microsoft's exclusivity strategy and will it actually work?

0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:46 Gears of War: E-Day
0:13:36 Clockwork Revolution
0:16:21 Is Xbox returning to exclusive games?
0:29:30 Halo Campaign Evolved
0:34:24 Persona 4 Revival and Persona 6
0:38:52 Senua
0:43:21 Spyro: A Realm Beyond
0:46:02 Metro 2039
0:49:35 Crazy Taxi: World Tour
0:53:20 Doom: The Dark Ages | Revelations
0:57:57 Wo Long 2: Wings of Ember
1:00:48 Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy
1:04:40 Xbox 25th Anniversary Series X
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At the time of publication, it has been one year and one day since Nintendo launched the Switch 2 console - so, as is DF tradition, it's time to look back over the last year and assess the system's track record so far. Strong back compat, impressive first and third party support, actual ray tracing and game-changing DLSS results - has Nintendo managed to put a foot wrong at all?

00:00 Overview
01:10 Is Switch 2 a generational leap over Switch 1?
11:40 What are the worst and best Switch 2 ports?
21:46 Has Nintendo extracted the most from Switch 2 in their own games?
27:34 Have we accepted Switch 2’s hardware flaws?
33:27 What do we make of GameChat, GameShare, and mouse controls?
37:51 How do we rate Switch 2’s backwards compatibility?
44:08 Concluding thoughts
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