Coming This Week To Digital Foundry (Week 33, 2023) (Patreon)

Hi everyone, apologies for the slight delay on today's update. I was visiting the O2 Arena to do some final filming for an upcoming sponsored video. The video, however, is actually the tip of the iceberg. Around October last year, we were approached by Virgin Media to help create their new 'Game Pad' gaming destination at the O2. The idea was that DF would be on-hand to ensure that the gaming experience was top-tier. What I thought would be a couple of meetings and equipment lists turned out to be a process that lasted a good six months as we effectively became contractors on the project. 

It's why there's a 98-inch QLED HDMI 2.1 monitor in their gaming lounge rather than a dim NEC industrial display (guaranteed to run without a hitch 24-7... the sane choice you might think - buit not great for gaming). And it's why there are Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 4K 165Hz displays in their pods as opposed to the random 4K TVs you usually see. Fair play to Virgin Media - we went in top-heavy on the specs and even when perfectly reasonable mid-range alternatives were suggested, they broke out the chequebook for the top-end equipment. 16 Neo G7s with a couple spare in case of failure is not cheap! This is not the usual type of Digital Foundry project but it was certainly an interesting one. You'll find out more about it this week or the next, but if you're at the O2 Arena, do check it out.

Fear not though: before I jumped into the car and headed to the O2, the #content meeting did take place and here's what's going on.

* Rich (ie me) will deliver that Virgin Media/O2 Arena video (it was freelanced out and I just need to add the final product shots I took today on location) and yes - I'm still planning on delivering that AyaNeo 7840U video. It's shaping up well!

* Tom wasn't at the meeting. He booked the day off. However, he will be completing the work on Stray for Xbox, then likely moving onto either Immortals of Aveum or Red Dead Redemption. I can't say which as we've yet to receive either of them - no guarantees on code until it's in our hands.

* Alex is returning to Baldur's Gate with a look at the major city in the third act. It presents with a far heavier performance profile than anything we saw in previous acts and it's here that you'll see the game engine really put through its paces. Before leaving for Gamescom next Tuesday, he's also keen on banking a new Retro PC Time Capsule video for you.

* John is finishing off work on the Quake 2 remaster video - and I think you're going to enjoy it. There's embargoed work in the offing beyond that, plus participation in Alex's next PC Time Capsule video.

* Oliver is keen on checking out a bunch of 'fixed on Switch' game updates, revisiting prior, problematic Switch reviews and revealing which games have been fixed. Beyond that, it all depends on what code arrives, if any. He's also keen on looking at the RT potential of the Asus ROG Ally.

* Will continues to do sterling work on our Eurogamer outputs and continues to work on the Core i5 13400F and Core i3 12100 CPU data that'll be put to good use across a few projects going forward. He may also be looking at the potential performance regression of CPUs afflicted by the recently unearthed security issues.

OK, so I've got a bunch of stuff to be getting on with, like setting up another week of DF Clips. We're going to be putting the old 'Kratos on Xbox' story up today or tomorrow. If you've got some suggestions for classic DF clips, do let me know! In the meantime, I wish you all a great week - even the person who leaked the Direct over the weekend.