DF Direct Weekly talks Dead Space Remake and Psychonauts 2

Welcome to the blog post announcing the arrival of the 27th Digital Foundry Direct Weekly, the show for discussion of the latest gaming and tech news. I won't talk too much about this one as ultimately, I was not involved in it! We like to have a rotating panel on each Direct and sometimes our workflow is such that we can't spare the time to take part, but regardless - there's a good, solid, 75 minutes of chat for you to enjoy this week, kicking off with the somewhat unorthodox but still welcome reveal of the Dead Space Remake.

Summer is the time where we try to take some vacation time, and this does mean that we can't always cover every game we want to with either video or written content - Psychonauts 2 is a case in point here. John's a big fan of the game, however, and shares his thoughts on it in this week's Direct, as well as lamenting the sad loss of Konami's remarkable Breeding Stud franchise. Assassin's Creed Odyssey's 60fps patch? Some light coverage this week, but we'll be looking to go hands-on with it when we can.

Beyond that, retro collectors John and Audi share their thoughts on the WATA grading and trading stories that have emerged this week and their general thoughts on putting collectible games into protective plastic packaging and basically ensuring they can never be played again. The team also share their thoughts on this week's PlayStation Showcase - what titles should we expect to see?

DF Direct Weekly #27: Dead Space Remake, Psychonauts 2, Game Boy Games Heading To Switch?

And here are your curated timecodes for each discussion point:

• 00:00:00 Introduction
• 00:01:31 Dead Space Remake early showcase
• 00:11:19 WATA Games Controversy
• 00:22:08 Sony announced PlayStation Showcase for September 9
• 00:26:04 Psychonauts 2 impressions
• 00:34:26 Breeding Stud Appreciation Fest
• 00:35:13 Assassin's Creed Odyssey 60fps patch
• 00:37:47 Sega and Bandai Namco talent leaving for Chinese game start-ups
• 00:44:16 Game Boy games coming to Nintendo Switch?
• 00:47:23 DF Content Discussion
• 00:52:48 DF Supporter Q1: Over time, I've come to appreciate the look of 360/PS3 games on non-native panels (eg 768p, 1080p, and 4K). Is this just nostalgia goggles?
• 00:54:44 DF Supporter Q2: How do you gentlemen think the Big Three (Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony) feel about upscalers such as they OSSC, and RetroTink 5X?
• 00:56:48 DF Supporter Q3: Curious how Alex keeps up with the new and emergent technical aspects of game development?
• 00:59:05 DF Supporter Q4: Have there been any games that you've had to play for the channel that have pleasantly surprised you?
• 01:04:43 DF Supporter Q5: Why do you think AF levels are still kept so low on console?
• 01:07:31 DF Supporter Q6: As a person who hopes to someday get into video game journalism, what advice would you give?
• 01:13:21 DF Supporter Q7: Are there plans to do an episode of Digital Foundry to bring attention to the fan-made project Shenmue: The Dragon and Phoenix Collection?

DF Supporter Program backers also provide us with a range of interesting questions to answer every week, and this time we're looking retrospectively at Xbox 360 and PS3 image quality, the RetroTink 5X and other retro upscalers plus share some thoughts on the old chestnut that is anisotropic filtering levels on consoles games - and yes, our tips on how to get into the industry. We have a lot of fun in this show, and it's the tip of the iceberg really: join us on the DF Supporter Program and become a part of what we're doing - the aim is to throw our doors open to our backers and the positive community we're building is fantastic.