DF Direct Weekly #192: PlayStation 30th, New Steam Machines? Indy PC Reaction, New Intel GPUs!

I'm ready to move away from Windows on anything that isn't a work/productivity use case. I would just want to see how a generic Steam OS install would leverage Nvidia GPU's and feature sets. How seamless it can support the other launchers on PC. How well does it work with VR. Also how they are handling user privacy. The main thing pushing me away from Windows is all the BS that is added as 'features', the things that are on by default and if you don't want it you have to disable it, and the leveraging of my data to use for their profit. I'm ready to jump, it just has to check some boxes. Update 24H2 just forced several of my applications (GoG, Gamepass, Blizzard, etc) to not open due to some request/requirement for high accuracy location data collection using my wireless and Bluetooth. It's just busted at times.

Rollcage

I'm playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on my og Rog Ally as I'm watching this and it runs well

My issue with Intel is you can't really trust they will keep going with updated drivers long term given the issues they are having. Would love for them to do well though given the state of the GPU market as the price increases have been ridiculous even if you can afford them.

Small correction, Rich said Black Ops 6 was from Infinity Ward when in reality Raven Software was the primary studio on Black Ops 6 with Treyarch assisting with multiplayer & zombies. Yes they used IW’s engine, but please credit were it is due. It would be like crediting Epic games for FF7 Rebirth.

Ps5 pro is a scam, Just say it 😅

Too many vids now

as a console gamer i would utterly welcome a version of steam for my tv setup where I can still seperate my work and relaxation space. steam is hands down THE best ecosystem, and getting that without hooking up my entire work station to the tv would be amazing. i want xbox to do that, but steam is much more likely and savvy, imo

There's been exactly zero Improvement noticeable to the end user in the technology for Call of Duty since 2019 if anything it's regressed since then since there are no RT features in the newer games and I think they all do look worse than the original Modern Warfare 2019 even with Ray tracing turned off.

"Even if we exclude the lower end of the PC Market."

Wow very cool.

"Xbox running Windows"

So a PC?

Studying environmental science changed my perspective on hardware upgrades a lot. The idea of a GPU you buy being obsolete in a few years isn't as relevant as it used to be and that's a good thing.

Remind me again... Why was Tom on the panel? He didn't get to talk a lot 😅

I love the tacit admission at about 2 hours in that dlss is a worse upscaler than the dumb upscaler in your tv.

With the game pass if you don't have a RT card you can play "Indiana Jones " in cloud gaming... It's sad that you never test the cloud gaming version .

Well it sounds like that the base PS5 is now in the same negative league as XBox Series S

I don’t think Valve has sorted every problem, there is still major issues with Anti cheat on games running Steam OS. Sure some run but most do not.

It's just sad that how much amazing tech gets wasted on COD :/

That B580 is very interesting imo. May recommend it as a part of builds going forward...

DF please look into why POE 2 is so broken on the PS5 pro. The performance is worse than base PS5 many micro stutters unplayable

Give me a third person only cam in Indiana Jones and I'll think about it, the FPS mode makes me nauseous by only looking at it for a few minutes

The pattern is obvious at this point: until it gets better PSSR is not good enough, so they really should offer the option not to use it, this nuclear option they have right now is bonkers and a slap to anyone who paid $700+ for an "upgrade"

It is fun how Linux is becomig, little by little, very good for gaming. Make no mistake, Valve is investing a LOT in kernel patches, improving Wine that is the base for Proton, video drivers, video subsystem (replacing X11 with Wayland), SDL for input/threrads/mixer and others, and it is starting to show. If you follow Linux news, you will see a lot of movement towards making it more responsive for games, and even implementing things like semaphores (for threads) that are only used in Windows games, directly into the kernel.
Take note, in 1 to 2 years, Linux will be a better operating system for gaming than Windows, because it can change the implementation of Windows to add things like upscaler and fps cap, that Microsoft will never do because it would be a backwards compatibility nightmare for them.

Not gonna lie, I'd love a native 720p screen in one of these competing handhelds. Easier to run, potentially no upscaling involved, clean resolve.

Please please cover the alters demo on an episode. It is unbelievable what they have achieved on series s, totally unbelievable. It is clear as day in terms of image quality. These are the best visuals by some way on series s. And it's 60 FPS. I've eaten myself alive 😂

The indie title Tiny Glade has a form of RT that runs like a dream on Pascal and even Maxwell gpus and the lighting looks way better than Indiana Jones! Of course in order to achieve this they had to severely limit the amount of materials and shaders but my point still stands that it is still a better looking game running on much older hardware.

Is Alex wearing a skirt in a video?

Hello John. The N64 might not have had the best fighting game library but it had the best fighting game that generation. Super Smash Brothers!

New glasses for John and it's STILL sitting very low on his nose, barring his eyes. Come to my store in The Netherlands John, I'll adjust them properly for you. Silly nitpicks aside, great episode as always guys ;)

PS3 (Slim, not super Slim) was my first ever Console - have some fond memories of it with games like FF13 and MGS4 being my first games (never played MGS before that too!)

I noticed in Indiana Jones, you can't have both Vsync and frame-gen on at the same time for a reason

I was in college when the PS1 came out, so I had grown up right along side the entire video game industry, and the PS1 completely stunned me. It was a monumental step forward in so many ways. It completely rekindled my love for video games.

Very glad to see the B580 popping up at an affordable price point. Commenting on both that topic, as well as the ray tracing requirement for Indiana Jones, I really regret buying the RX 5700 XT. Honestly, in hindsight, RDNA1 was a shit generation. I was originally planning on waiting to see what AMD's first foray into RT would look like, but alas, we chipped in to get a friend a used PC and the GPU was underwhelming, so I threw them my RX 580 and decided 'may as well get a worthwhile upgrade'.

It BSODed for the first couple months I owned it due to the horrible drivers that lingered for a while. It's always had weird issues like straight up powering my PC off but only in Forza or MSFS and literally no other games. Now it runs extremely hot, even after repasting and replacing the thermal pads, basically always hitting the throttle temp for the hotspot. It's been a pain in my ass for 4 years and I've wanted an upgrade for a while but frankly, I can't justify a card that isn't an upgrade, and for so long anything that was an upgrade was too expensive to consider. I got the 5700 XT at a time when I had more disposable money.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how the B580 turns out, because I'd love to be free of my 5700 XT. My first GPU was an HD 6870, and then I had the RX 580. In comparison, I've loathed my RX 5700 XT. Used to love AMD regardless, for their pricing, not for loyalty. Couldn't stand that they lost the plot in that department.

Sorry John but the best Indiana Jones games is "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis".

Video game writers / reviewers were a very nerdy bunch and a console from Sony excited them because it had the potential to turn their slightly embarrassing hobby into something mainstream and acceptable. Magazines like Edge that desperately wanted to be taken seriously couldn’t contain their excitement at the prospect. At the time, Sony was an absolute giant of a company compared to Sega and Nintendo - they were a household name that made “cool” consumer electronics. Sega didn’t stand a chance against the nerdy writers who wanted to be accepted and the huge budget of Sony. The PlayStation had some exceptional titles but it ushered in the era of games developers pandering to the casual gamers which has ultimately led to games in 2024 being basically interactive movies with no challenge / or sequels and copies of existing big sellers.
BTW this is not an attack on the writers / people being nerds, I’m just giving a perspective that is never really expressed.

The GeForce 6000 series was the first to support DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 3.0 though, Alex! 🧐
I can vividly remember using my 6800 GT to play Far Cry 1 and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory with HDR (the software tonemapped variant that required SM 3.0 in those games)! 🤩

Rich and Co.
Check-out Hitman 3 WOA on PS5 Pro. The game looks phenomenal after the December 12 patch. It’s 4K, 60 fps, imagery sharp; and there’s not multiple modes. I’d say it looks every bit as good as Guerrilla’s Horizon series.

The Steam deck is a huge sales flop. What chance do Valve have releasing a pre built PC in a console box.😂

I want a steam machine

Dresdenfiles00, just switch to PS to have the value of a console while keeping your PC. Simple. And it's kind of the only option left to you if Xbox becomes as you suggest, PC-like and no longer frustration-free.

The jagwar

PlayStation made gaming mainstream and it was edgy, brash and in your face and Nintendo and sega underestimated PlayStation and they both paid dearly for that, particularly Sega with their stupid decisions like the 32X.

I wish the Gamepass version of Indiana Jones would also be tested, it seems to be very CPU Bound as well. constantly CPU Bottlenecked with a 13700k makes for very difficult to ignore microstutters

Ngl as a Playstation-only gamer, I wouldn't mind buying a Valve console if their pricing and hardware specs are competitive. With games moving into digital-only, I have far more confidence in Valve's digital storefront than Playstation's. Steam is far more consumer friendly and also has more games, especially stuff like early access which sometimes takes years to release on Playstation.

Would love to see steamOS on the M4 Mac Mini

DF are such Steam shills, they pretend like the Xbox store never has says and everything is always full price. My Xbox library is much bigger than Steam and the Steam games I’ve bought like BG3 have been full price.

I prefer Windows on my Steam Deck exclusively for the fact that I can play game pass games that way.