In DF Direct Weekly #215, the team discusses the impressive Switch 2 port of Cyberpunk 2077, AMD’s RX 9060 XT GPU, and the upcoming FSR Redstone technology, highlighting performance, performance issues, and industry competition. They also cover new performance monitoring features on Xbox, insights from a Nintendo developer about Mario Kart World on Switch 2, and speculate on the console’s capabilities and future game development.
The episode of DF Direct Weekly #215 primarily focuses on the recent extensive footage of the Switch 2 port of Cyberpunk 2077, which was unexpectedly released by CD Projekt Red. The team analyzes the quality and performance of the port, noting that it runs at various frame rates and resolutions, with the Switch 2 version showing significant improvements over previous consoles like PS4 and Series S. The footage reveals that the game maintains comparable asset quality to last gen but benefits from enhanced image sharpening and noise reduction, largely thanks to DLSS technology. Performance issues, especially during fast movement like driving, are highlighted, with concerns about frame drops and CPU limitations impacting the experience, especially in dynamic scenes.
The discussion then shifts to AMD’s announcement of the RX 9060 XT graphics card at Computex, which is positioned as an entry-level GPU with a competitive price point and options for 8GB or 16GB VRAM configurations. The team considers the implications of this card, noting that while it offers good compute performance for its price, the VRAM limitations could hinder future-proofing for AAA titles. They compare it to Nvidia’s offerings, discussing the importance of VRAM size, PCIe interface, and how these factors influence gaming performance and compatibility, especially for esports and less demanding titles. Overall, AMD’s new GPU is seen as a positive move to increase competition, though support for features like FSR4 remains a concern.
Further, the episode covers AMD’s unveiling of FSR Redstone, a suite of upcoming technologies aimed at achieving feature parity with Nvidia’s ray tracing and AI upscaling solutions. The hosts express skepticism based on early demos, which showed instability and less impressive results compared to Nvidia’s DLSS and ray reconstruction tech. Despite promising future release windows, the team emphasizes that AMD needs to demonstrate more mature and reliable implementations before these features can be considered competitive. The ongoing competition between AMD and Nvidia is viewed as beneficial for the industry, but AMD’s current demos do not yet match Nvidia’s established standards.
The episode also highlights the discovery that performance statistics can be accessed on Xbox versions of Doom: The Dark Ages, allowing for detailed analysis of frame times and resolution scaling during gameplay on Series X and S. The hosts praise this as a useful feature that provides insight into how DRS and other dynamic resolution techniques work in real-time, showcasing the effectiveness of these technologies in maintaining stable frame rates. They note that while some metrics are inaccurate or less relevant, the overall ability to monitor performance on consoles is a positive development, giving players and developers better understanding of game optimization.
Finally, the hosts discuss a Nintendo developer interview about Mario Kart World on Switch 2, revealing that development began as early as 2020 with the intent to fully leverage the new hardware’s capabilities. The game’s ambitious scope, including larger racer counts and open-world elements, would have been difficult to achieve on the original Switch. They also touch on the possibility of a dedicated home-only Switch 2 variant, which is unlikely but an intriguing idea. The episode concludes with thoughts on the upcoming launch, concerns about battery life, backward compatibility, and the potential for the Switch 2 to serve as a platform for both existing and new titles, emphasizing that much will only be clear once they get hands-on with the final hardware.