@Dalamar To be fair, DF had a LOT wrong when it came to analyzing Switch 2, including the idea that Cyberpunk wasn't using DLSS before being told it was, only for them to act like they knew all along by pointing out exactly why it uses DLSS....
Usually, companies try to copy popular ideas as a means to build on it to something greater, but with this, it seems like they copied, and then made it less interesting in the process.
Personally from this trailer, the "conversations" of the pilots is just abysmal. They don't really talk to each other, just making comments for the most part. It's all scripted to play based on location in the level, so there's no excuse that they couldn't have done something about it. And it doesn't help that the main character, Bowie, is practically silent during most of it when he's the one on-screen the entire time. This, to me, create a large disconnect with the pilots, giving little reason to have any sort of attachment to them, thereby, no real attachment to the game itself.
Then there's the music in this trailer. The level's music just doesn't click with me, probably because it's just kind of there. Music in games is meant to help tell a story through sound, and this really doesn't do that for me. And what's worse, there's not even a boss theme at the end. The level's music just keeps playing. This creates a lack of tension and of evoking emotion, making it feel like the fight is not all that important.
It's these sort of things that just ruin the game for me.
@Kiz3000 They do say estimated, but I'm under the impression that this is going to be similar to what other games dealt with. Silksong, for example, has a very small upgrade pack of 3MB, yet the difference between the Switch and Switch 2 version is a whopping 1.3GB by comparison. This is because with the upgrade pack, it doesn't contain the actual patch. It's more of validation data to download the Switch 2 version specifically.
Of course, that game isn't nearly as big as this game. Perhaps Nintendo's validation design results in larger sizes the larger the game is. Guess we'll see in a couple of weeks.
@Fiq_Strife It's getting Resident Evil Requiem (RE9) and releasing the same day as the other versions. At an event it was shown off at, it was running at 60fps, and this is a game that requires ray tracing. The game only exists on Switch 2 because Capcom was surprised to find that porting over The Village (RE8) was incredibly easy. After finding out how easy it was to port both that and Requiem, they ported over Biohazard (RE7) for the hell of it, and they'll all be released at the same time (I think).
@AverageGamer Bandwidth isn't really an issue, given that Ampere uses on average 25GB/s per TFlop, and Switch 2's GPU is technically a hybrid of Ampere and Lovelace with parity of such desktop GPUs minus the actual raw power.
As it is, DLSS is definitely superior to FSR2/3, and while the Switch 2 may use upscaling, they may have decided not to use upscaling for the Series S because it might have made it look worse.
These stats are kind of all over the place. PS5 is limited to 4k60, but Series X is 4k120? Maybe if the Series consoles were the target platform all others get ported from, but Switch 2 pushing ahead of Series S by going 4k60 while that is 1440p60? Maybe through DLSS, but it's not like Series S doesn't have access to temporal upscalers.
Well, the 2 screen setup would give reason for it being only for Switch 2 if it's how I think it is, which is when docked, the Switch 2 displays the upper screen on a TV, and the lower screen is streamed to either a Switch 1 or Switch 2. The rest can be used in a manner that works in either docked or portable mode, where docked mode can handle touch-screen input via mouse function of the Joycon.
NES in the closet in a box. Does it work? I dunno. I don't have a TV that has the necessary connections to check. I don't even know if it still powers on. Even if it does still work, it's got another issue. Long ago, it fell from its place on a shelf, and busted some pins on the audio chip. There is still audio, but it messed with the pulse channels, leaving only the triangle channel, noise channel, and the DMC. Think of it like the lead singer retiring, leaving the rest of the band.
I could get it fixed, but first, I'd have to familiarize myself with soldering, and then get the right chip to replace the busted one. To be honest, if I wanted to play my NES games, I could just get a clone machine, and I probably would have had one by now had it not been for how just about all of them excluding the expensive ones messed up with duty cycles on the pulse channels.
It is also important to note that each of those particular games has been available on Steam for years, some longer than others. It is typical that a game, even an old one, that finds its way onto a new platform is not likely to see sales for quite a bit.
@Emacster They are 3rd-party games. They choose when to have sales of them. So if the game is cheaper on Steam at some point than the eShop, that is decided by that developer, not the platform holder. And as it is right now, the Steam versions are either priced as much or higher than the eShop versions. Folks are willing to buy the physical version of Cyberpunk at $70 because it's actually on the cart.
@Znake The way they got it down to that much has to do with the audio language files. Originally, it had them all, but with Switch 2, only the main English language is on there with all other languages provided as free downloads. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade would certainly benefit from this separation, but of how much all but one of the audio languages take up, I don't know.
The unfortunate thing about these Ally devices (and pretty much any AMD-based portable PC) is that for being on RDNA below 4, they simply struggle for anything that utilizes ray tracing. This is because ray tracing is handled on the shaders. It's an expensive operation, and shaders can only do one thing at a time. When it's processing ray tracing, it can't process rendering.
Folks with the XAX who tried Star Wars Outlaws, for instance, were hitting only around 40fps using Low Quality settings at 720p FSR Balanced, all while chugging at 25W for the APU alone. Compare that to Switch 2 pushing 1080p in portable mode for the game while consuming roughly 11W for the entire system, as well as 1440p for docked mode at around 17-18W.
I don't know the exact size of the update, but my router's bandwidth monitor was reporting in the realm of 4.7GB for the update to a game that's roughly 20GB. I think this is the real reason why the game is not on cart.
@canaryfarmer If to 50% off, then the total for them to match the version currently $60 is..... $60. Heh, but then that too could end up going on sale.
MSRP of this version is $40 that has none of the DLC. The $60 version has both Year 1 and Year 2, which as DLC are $30 each. So even with this discount, if you wanted the DLC, you'd still be spending more overall.
@johnedwin The specs supposedly puts the GPU at around 16 CUs with a 1.2Ghz clock for portable and 1.65Ghz for docked. AMD CUs only have 64 shaders (as opposed to Nvidia's SMs that have 128 shaders), so it would be roughly 2.4 TFlops portable and 3.3 TFlops docked. That's not all that much over what Switch 2 can do. The area where it would excel heavily is in the CPU. But in any case, unless this system uses LPDDR6 RAM, it's going to get bottlenecked heavily just like pretty much any portable PC today.
@Arawn93 As much as the Vita was nice, Sony essentially just threw it out there to fend for itself rather than actually supporting it. They can barely even support their own current console, relying FAR too heavily on 3rd-parties. But then, that's pretty much what they've always done, purchasing up exclusiveness to reach it. But now when companies like even Square-Enix are ending that, what is Sony to do?
So now they want to throw 3 SKUs into the wild, and this is supposed to be a good idea? I can already see the frustration from a developer PoV, having to make sure their games work on all 3, which was already a problem with some regarding Series X|S.
@DennisLofgren And yet, all it takes is someone with a smartphone recording, and happen to be recording folks from DF talking to them. They can't be that careless.
Here's hoping they make Switch 2 upgrades to the Xenoblade games. Assuming they are, I'd say the delay had to do with them likely focusing on BotW/TotK first, as Monolith Soft was involved in the development of both games.
@johnedwin Be aware that there is a major shift in hardware philosophies between PS4 and Switch 2. PS4 is heavily raster-based, whereas Switch 2 is heavily compute-based. Games ported from the PS4/XB1 era shouldn't be expected to be that much higher in performance on Switch 2, but games ported from PS5/Series should see a relatively good jump over those older ports. The exception here is games on PS5/Series that were ported from PS4/XB1. FF7R Integrade, while it was never released on PS4, is still based on the original's internal design. So it still has a dependency on rasterization. Same goes for Elden Ring, but as most people know, Fromsoftware simply isn't good at optimization when not even the PS5 Pro can run that game consistently at 60fps.
@westman98 Plus from what I read, this games uses Mesh Shaders on supported platforms. Switch 2 has this support via Ampere architecture, which should greatly help in performance. The PC version also supports DLSS, so expect that to be used as well.
@Otimus Not just them unhappy about how DF is handling things. Plenty of others do too, including their own subscribers. It's one thing to speculate, but it's another when they choose to lean on their own speculation when it contradicts what actual developers are saying.
@LazyDaisy Very much how it is. FSR is a software solution that runs on shader cores, being hardware agnostic so it's not limited to any particular piece of hardware. But using the shaders means it ties up that hardware, preventing it from doing anything else in the meantime. It cuts time from rendering, which affects the overall render budget.
DLSS is in a similar situation, but only in terms of time. When DLSS is running on the tensor cores, the GPU is more or less idle. That is, if concurrency isn't being used. When it is, the current frame is being upscaled via tensor cores, while the shaders are rendering the next frame. The only PC game to utilize upscale concurrency is the same one Nvidia used to demonstrate that function: Wolfenstein Youngblood. We don't see it in any other game for various reasons. One, the upscale is already fast on such powerful hardware. Two, it requires a completely different setup in the pipeline, breaking the ability to use other upscalers as they don't support upscale concurrency. Third is that it can introduce input latency, as it would be a step after the GPU time frame rather than as part of the GPU time frame
This can change with Switch 2 because there are no other configurations to deal with for the platform. As far as latency is concerned, it's mainly for games that need quick action, like fighting games. There are ways around it though.
@Cakefish They could always go back to comparing Street Fighter 6, but when you think about it, they held off for so long to do a Switch 2 comparison with pretty much any platform. Then when they did, they didn't spend all that much time on it, and now they don't touch it anymore. Meanwhile, they continue to repeat their comparisons of Hogwarts and Cyberpunk.
This may be my bias speaking out, but I feel this is a situation where they are trying to keep a narrative, and won't spend all that much time with games that grind against that narrative. Like, I'm imagining that when FF7R Intergrade releases for Switch 2, they'll do their comparison at some point, and then won't return to it.
The Switch 2 is a newly-released platform that devs have barely scratched the surface when it comes to developing with it. Compare that to PS4, which has been out for almost 12 years. Devs have had so much time with it (especially with it being the lead platform for its time), that they most certainly learned how to do things to push the console in ways that they never thought possible back at its launch. This is why the "PS4-class" narrative is just faulty, as not even the PS4 (by dev knowledge) was capable of this PS4-level we see today.
Switch 2 is already exceeding today's PS4, and far exceeds 2013's PS4. As time passes, and devs learn more about the system, the Switch 2 then will push beyond today's Switch 2, all because devs are learning.
Steam Deck has the advantage in rasterization, but that is mainly a benefit for older games that rely on it over compute power. Switch 2 is more forward-designed, where games moving to compute over rasterization will benefit from the console.
But watching this video, they make comparisons saying Steam Deck looks better in a game over Switch 2 portable, yet what they show demonstrates the Switch 2 looking better. The shot where they talk about textures at the cliffside in Hogwarts, the Steam Deck looks to have better texturing on the bottom of the screenshot, but above the cliff, the Switch 2 version looks to have better texturing. Even in the shot where it says The Three Broomsticks, the Switch 2 portable version has better texturing.
Honestly, ever since they claimed years ago that Death Stranding on PC does post-processing before upscaling as a ruse to claim how Switch 2 can't do 4k upscaling (only to then claim Switch 2 uses a "lite version" to hit 4k), I stopped taking what they say at face value.
@AllBLK But they've been pushing opinion pieces for some time, and with regard to Switch 2, they've not been very reliable. Sure, one can say they are just speculating, but when they hold onto those speculations and make more to justify themselves in light of actual devs saying otherwise, then it gets very iffy to take DF for their word.
@Orpheus79V It's not baffling at all when you understand the situation. DKB is a game with heavy roots tied to Switch 1 development. One of the things mentioned by Nvidia on DLSS utilization is that if a game already uses temporal upscaling, the swap to using DLSS is pretty straight-forward. So why can't Nintendo use DLSS when the game uses FSR1? Because FSR1 is NOT a temporal upscaler. It's a spatial upscaler. It lacks the necessities for being able to swap in DLSS. In order for them to use DLSS, they would have to redo everything regarding it. Not something any company would legitimately do towards late development.
In a similar situation, I can also imagine that maybe the game only incorporates 3 CPU cores instead of the 6 available on Switch 2 because most of the game's development was done on Switch 1, where 3 were only available. The game went from targeting 30fps on Switch to targeting 60fps on Switch 2, and that was likely from the improved IPC of Switch 2's CPU cores (A78C vs A57). Altering the game and game engine to make use of 6 cores when it was being optimized and tied down to 3 cores is not an easy task when it could lead to a lot of hardships of breaking design. It's not nearly as easy as scaling graphics.
Now the question is, if they are also taking in the information of what console is running these (via unique signature), then can then go and ban the pirate? Or perhaps they already did because of them using an MIG Switch?
The leaks suggested the Switch 2's CPU having the overall potential of at least 2x the PS4 Pro's CPU power, but, we aren't really seeing that yet because Switch 2 is new, and devs have a lot more experience with PS4/Pro, so the currently results are less than that potential. Same goes with regard to the GPU. Even though Ampere/Lovelace have been around for a while on PC, devs don't really work down close to the metal there because the environment doesn't allow it. They work with a general shader language, which then a compiler handle the conversion from that readable code to machine code specific to the architectures. It doesn't necessarily handle it in the best ways, which is why requirements for PC versions of games tend to be on the higher side of things than console versions for equal quality.
And let it be known, just because the CPU is on the lower end of the spectrum doesn't mean devs can't pull a few tricks out of their sleeves. Witcher 3 on Switch was possible because the devs converted cloth physics code normally handled by the CPU to be done on the GPU instead. PhysX and other sort of technologies can be utilized to reduce CPU usage in favor of having the GPU handle it more efficiently. Does that cut into the render budget? Sure, but given the system has the blessing of DLSS, they can afford it. But this is something the devs have to put in the work to do. If they don't, then it's wasted potential.
It is also important to note that RTX GPUs have various features in the hardware not available elsewhere which go unused in the PC environment, but would make for important utilization on a low-powered device like the Switch 2. One in particular is hardware-based BVH acceleration and interpolation for ray tracing. Current implementations on PC are handled by the CPU, not simply because it's only available via Nvidia RTX GPUs, but because their implementation is not compatible with existing APIs like DirectX. With PCs having such strong CPUs, it's non-essential there. But for something like Switch 2, it's necessary.
@HeadPirate But, you theorize that they are putting more into each frame on the basis of when the frame rate is 30fps on PS4, as if there's available resources to do so, but considering the game runs at 60fps in Arcade mode, it means they aren't doing that. They can't do that. The system simply does not have the capacity to handle what is being thrown at it outside of Arcade mode, and it results in the lower frame rate.
And again, the only thing the PS4 version has over the Series S version is texture quality, which is because the Series S version is bugged. Folks have a temporary workaround that improves the texture quality significantly (which, even with that, still is under the Switch 2 version).
Sure, raw power isn't everything, but we can't just ignore the Series S having over twice the flops and almost double the rasterization power on an architecture that's 7 years newer which renders in a completely different and more efficient manner. That last point of being more efficient is that it utilizes tile-based rendering vs immediate mode rendering, which is a major advantage to bandwidth utilization. Rendering, post-processing, etc, all benefit from it, and it helps in other areas like early Z-culling. To note, the PS4 version does run at 60fps in arcade mode, but in World Tour and other battles, it drops. So this isn't really a case of making use of that additional time to render better.
Series S also has 8GB available for games whereas PS4 has up to 5.5GB (4.5GB guaranteed, 1GB flexible), so there's no way the PS4 is pushing higher resolution textures, especially when the newer architecture of the Series S can handle formats that are better optimized for utilization. It's already been reported that Series S has a texture bug that folks have been able to fix temporarily.
It has so many good things going for it that one doesn't usually find all together with a portable screen, but it's like everyone is so focused on this one aspect as if they are looking for reasons to throw it all away. I tell you, folks these days are crying for perfection at discount prices, and anything less is trash. Truth of the matter is.... premium quality comes at premium prices. Switch 2's $450 price tag isn't just the screen. It's everything that comes in the package. Whenever folks do comparisons, it's always with more expensive devices. Steam Deck? Talk is always about the more expensive OLED units, not the cheaper LCD units with a screen that is absolutely worse than what Switch 2 has.
And the thing about all this is that for all we know, it's a choice Nintendo made for the sake of battery life that could possibly be rectified with a FW update. Why? Because for all we know, they purposefully have the screen undervolted, which would cause such effects.
And yet, if this deep dive into the screen was never done, would anyone be complaining about it? I feel most would not because they couldn't tell before. But with it being sounded with trumpets and spread across the internet, folks can't unsee it. They've convinced themselves that it is a problem because now they see it in instances where one doesn't normally use it. "In slow motion".
DF may simply be pointing out technical stuff, but if we're being honest, they are doing very little when it comes to how folks interpret their results.
@sethfranum Thanks. Never had an OLED Switch. Only knew that it had the film too, but hadn't read up on if anyone with either had dealt with the film before when it came to redoing screen protectors.
No scratches, but I did mess up putting a screen protector on it which ended up with a spec of dust underneath it in the top-right corner. It's not on the actual displayable area itself, but on the border section. I thought about removing it to use the 2nd one that came with my pack, but with knowing there is a separate film on the screen for scattering light like on the OLED, I'm hesitant to remove the screen protector as I don't know if the film will get pulled off with it.
@Bluelink45 The whole bricking business was the interpretation of folks using the "because Nintendo" excuse, when the updated language was about informing people that a brick could happen with a modified system, especially updating one.
@Exerion76 That still doesn't stop DF from making comments and opinions that don't really have a basis on reality. They forced comparisons between Switch 2 and PS4 because their entire basis was from their initial PC rig with an RTX 2050m GPU underclocked to hit Switch 2 specs, and made claims about what Switch 2 could do based on that, like Switch 2 not being able to do 4k DLSS because their rig couldn't. Anyone with any sort of technical expertise knows that this was flawed to begin with because this is console vs PC where the former ALWAYS has the advantage. The GPU in their rig itself is lacking with only having 4GB of RAM and forced to have that separate from the rest of the system, whereas Switch 2 uses a unified RAM configuration that doesn't require splitting RAM into pools for CPU, GPU, etc.
And anyone familiar with DF knows this wasn't even the first of its kind with them. They did this same thing with a makeshift rig to match Switch specs to test out Doom 2016. Based on their "test", they claimed it was not possible, which is why the whole notion of "impossible ports" became a thing once Doom 2016 did come to the platform. So yeah, they already did it once, got pie in their face, but then with Switch 2, they went right back into their old ways as if they didn't learn their lesson. People claiming to be technical experts are not this foolish.
When they went to do comparisons with the Steam Deck, they used the Series S because they felt it was no longer appropriate to compare to older platforms that have such a different architecture and design. So for them to go throwing that out with Switch 2 by forcing comparisons to PS4, they let everyone know that they don't care. They are such an influence on the internet that they can do whatever they want. It's all about making content, and what better way to do that than to make it conflicting to get people to talk about it?
DF has been so incredibly terrible with their "analysis" with Switch 2 to the point it's like the boy who cried wolf (kind of). Even if they manage to get something right later on, their hollering with such bad opinions and forced comparisons of older platforms that they vowed not to do just causes me to turn the other way and not care.
Comments 911
Re: Digital Foundry Dives Into Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition's "Big Downgrades" On Switch 2
@Dalamar To be fair, DF had a LOT wrong when it came to analyzing Switch 2, including the idea that Cyberpunk wasn't using DLSS before being told it was, only for them to act like they knew all along by pointing out exactly why it uses DLSS....
Re: PSA: NES Classics Have Had A CRT Filter Overhaul In Latest Switch Online Update
@SBandy1 Some N64 and Gamecube games having widescreen options has to do with the games themselves supporting them on the original hardware.
Re: Star Fox Programmer's Next Game May As Well Be A New Entry In Nintendo's Series
Usually, companies try to copy popular ideas as a means to build on it to something greater, but with this, it seems like they copied, and then made it less interesting in the process.
Personally from this trailer, the "conversations" of the pilots is just abysmal. They don't really talk to each other, just making comments for the most part. It's all scripted to play based on location in the level, so there's no excuse that they couldn't have done something about it. And it doesn't help that the main character, Bowie, is practically silent during most of it when he's the one on-screen the entire time. This, to me, create a large disconnect with the pilots, giving little reason to have any sort of attachment to them, thereby, no real attachment to the game itself.
Then there's the music in this trailer. The level's music just doesn't click with me, probably because it's just kind of there. Music in games is meant to help tell a story through sound, and this really doesn't do that for me. And what's worse, there's not even a boss theme at the end. The level's music just keeps playing. This creates a lack of tension and of evoking emotion, making it feel like the fight is not all that important.
It's these sort of things that just ruin the game for me.
Re: ICYMI: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Estimated Switch 2 And Switch File Size Revealed
@Kiz3000 They do say estimated, but I'm under the impression that this is going to be similar to what other games dealt with. Silksong, for example, has a very small upgrade pack of 3MB, yet the difference between the Switch and Switch 2 version is a whopping 1.3GB by comparison. This is because with the upgrade pack, it doesn't contain the actual patch. It's more of validation data to download the Switch 2 version specifically.
Of course, that game isn't nearly as big as this game. Perhaps Nintendo's validation design results in larger sizes the larger the game is. Guess we'll see in a couple of weeks.
Re: Poll: Have You Had Issues With The Ethernet Port On Switch 2's Dock?
I didn't see an option for "Not yet".
Re: Nintendo Had No "Intention To Hinder Or Invalidate" Third-Party Docks For Switch 2
@KociolekDoSyta Here's hoping one of those firmware upgrades for Switch 2's dock is VRR support.
Re: Elden Ring Delayed On Switch 2 "To Allow Time For Performance Adjustments"
@Fiq_Strife It's getting Resident Evil Requiem (RE9) and releasing the same day as the other versions. At an event it was shown off at, it was running at 60fps, and this is a game that requires ray tracing. The game only exists on Switch 2 because Capcom was surprised to find that porting over The Village (RE8) was incredibly easy. After finding out how easy it was to port both that and Requiem, they ported over Biohazard (RE7) for the hell of it, and they'll all be released at the same time (I think).
Re: Elden Ring Delayed On Switch 2 "To Allow Time For Performance Adjustments"
Supposedly at a more recent event that demonstrated the game on Switch 2, it ran better. Don't recall what event that was.
Re: Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Switch And Switch 2 Docked Performance Revealed, Mouse Mode Confirmed
@AverageGamer Bandwidth isn't really an issue, given that Ampere uses on average 25GB/s per TFlop, and Switch 2's GPU is technically a hybrid of Ampere and Lovelace with parity of such desktop GPUs minus the actual raw power.
As it is, DLSS is definitely superior to FSR2/3, and while the Switch 2 may use upscaling, they may have decided not to use upscaling for the Series S because it might have made it look worse.
Re: Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Switch And Switch 2 Docked Performance Revealed, Mouse Mode Confirmed
These stats are kind of all over the place. PS5 is limited to 4k60, but Series X is 4k120? Maybe if the Series consoles were the target platform all others get ported from, but Switch 2 pushing ahead of Series S by going 4k60 while that is 1440p60? Maybe through DLSS, but it's not like Series S doesn't have access to temporal upscalers.
Re: Star Wars Outlaws Lands Another Update On Switch 2, Here Are The Patch Notes
@neil9000 And the download itself was 16.4GB.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Patent Supposedly Points To Return Of DS Games
Well, the 2 screen setup would give reason for it being only for Switch 2 if it's how I think it is, which is when docked, the Switch 2 displays the upper screen on a TV, and the lower screen is streamed to either a Switch 1 or Switch 2. The rest can be used in a manner that works in either docked or portable mode, where docked mode can handle touch-screen input via mouse function of the Joycon.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Play NES Games These Days?
NES in the closet in a box. Does it work? I dunno. I don't have a TV that has the necessary connections to check. I don't even know if it still powers on. Even if it does still work, it's got another issue. Long ago, it fell from its place on a shelf, and busted some pins on the audio chip. There is still audio, but it messed with the pulse channels, leaving only the triangle channel, noise channel, and the DMC. Think of it like the lead singer retiring, leaving the rest of the band.
https://youtu.be/XGIxhUIoXlY?t=93
I could get it fixed, but first, I'd have to familiarize myself with soldering, and then get the right chip to replace the busted one. To be honest, if I wanted to play my NES games, I could just get a clone machine, and I probably would have had one by now had it not been for how just about all of them excluding the expensive ones messed up with duty cycles on the pulse channels.
Re: Video: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Official Side-By-Side Comparison (Switch 2, Xbox, PS5, PC)
It is also important to note that each of those particular games has been available on Steam for years, some longer than others. It is typical that a game, even an old one, that finds its way onto a new platform is not likely to see sales for quite a bit.
Re: Video: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Official Side-By-Side Comparison (Switch 2, Xbox, PS5, PC)
@Emacster They are 3rd-party games. They choose when to have sales of them. So if the game is cheaper on Steam at some point than the eShop, that is decided by that developer, not the platform holder. And as it is right now, the Steam versions are either priced as much or higher than the eShop versions. Folks are willing to buy the physical version of Cyberpunk at $70 because it's actually on the cart.
Re: Video: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Official Side-By-Side Comparison (Switch 2, Xbox, PS5, PC)
@Znake The way they got it down to that much has to do with the audio language files. Originally, it had them all, but with Switch 2, only the main English language is on there with all other languages provided as free downloads. Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade would certainly benefit from this separation, but of how much all but one of the audio languages take up, I don't know.
Re: Video: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Official Side-By-Side Comparison (Switch 2, Xbox, PS5, PC)
@Emacster That's nice, but when we look at pricing right now....
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/limited-early-purchase-editionfinal-fantasy-vii-remake-intergrade-switch-2/ ($40, comes with the original FF7)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1462040/FINAL_FANTASY_VII_REMAKE_INTERGRADE/ ($40)
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/cyberpunk-2077-ultimate-edition-switch-2/ ($70)
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/32470/Cyberpunk_2077_Ultimate_Edition/ ($82.78)
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/wild-hearts-s-switch-2/ ($50)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1938010/WILD_HEARTS/ ($70)
Re: The ROG Xbox Ally X Receives Glowing Reviews, But It's Still Pretty Pricey
@StewdaMegaManNerd Especially when the Switch 2 can do some things better than the XAX.
Re: The ROG Xbox Ally X Receives Glowing Reviews, But It's Still Pretty Pricey
The unfortunate thing about these Ally devices (and pretty much any AMD-based portable PC) is that for being on RDNA below 4, they simply struggle for anything that utilizes ray tracing. This is because ray tracing is handled on the shaders. It's an expensive operation, and shaders can only do one thing at a time. When it's processing ray tracing, it can't process rendering.
Folks with the XAX who tried Star Wars Outlaws, for instance, were hitting only around 40fps using Low Quality settings at 720p FSR Balanced, all while chugging at 25W for the APU alone. Compare that to Switch 2 pushing 1080p in portable mode for the game while consuming roughly 11W for the entire system, as well as 1440p for docked mode at around 17-18W.
Re: Star Wars Outlaws Gets Another Switch 2 Patch, Further Improves Performance And Visuals
I don't know the exact size of the update, but my router's bandwidth monitor was reporting in the realm of 4.7GB for the update to a game that's roughly 20GB. I think this is the real reason why the game is not on cart.
Re: Capcom Switch 2 Launch Title Gets Its First Big eShop Discount
@canaryfarmer If to 50% off, then the total for them to match the version currently $60 is..... $60. Heh, but then that too could end up going on sale.
Re: Capcom Switch 2 Launch Title Gets Its First Big eShop Discount
MSRP of this version is $40 that has none of the DLC. The $60 version has both Year 1 and Year 2, which as DLC are $30 each. So even with this discount, if you wanted the DLC, you'd still be spending more overall.
Re: Rumour: Sony Is Gunning For The Switch 2 With A Handheld, Dockable PS6
@johnedwin The specs supposedly puts the GPU at around 16 CUs with a 1.2Ghz clock for portable and 1.65Ghz for docked. AMD CUs only have 64 shaders (as opposed to Nvidia's SMs that have 128 shaders), so it would be roughly 2.4 TFlops portable and 3.3 TFlops docked. That's not all that much over what Switch 2 can do. The area where it would excel heavily is in the CPU. But in any case, unless this system uses LPDDR6 RAM, it's going to get bottlenecked heavily just like pretty much any portable PC today.
Re: Rumour: Sony Is Gunning For The Switch 2 With A Handheld, Dockable PS6
@Arawn93 As much as the Vita was nice, Sony essentially just threw it out there to fend for itself rather than actually supporting it. They can barely even support their own current console, relying FAR too heavily on 3rd-parties. But then, that's pretty much what they've always done, purchasing up exclusiveness to reach it. But now when companies like even Square-Enix are ending that, what is Sony to do?
So now they want to throw 3 SKUs into the wild, and this is supposed to be a good idea? I can already see the frustration from a developer PoV, having to make sure their games work on all 3, which was already a problem with some regarding Series X|S.
Re: Developers Reportedly Still Struggling To Get Switch 2 Dev Kits
@DennisLofgren And yet, all it takes is someone with a smartphone recording, and happen to be recording folks from DF talking to them. They can't be that careless.
Re: Developers Reportedly Still Struggling To Get Switch 2 Dev Kits
So which devs have confirmed this? If they can talk about it to people at Gamescom, then they don't have to hide from the internet.
Re: Nintendo Identifies Xenoblade Chronicles X Voice Sync Bug On Switch 2
Here's hoping they make Switch 2 upgrades to the Xenoblade games. Assuming they are, I'd say the delay had to do with them likely focusing on BotW/TotK first, as Monolith Soft was involved in the development of both games.
Re: Video: We've Played Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade On Switch 2
@johnedwin Be aware that there is a major shift in hardware philosophies between PS4 and Switch 2. PS4 is heavily raster-based, whereas Switch 2 is heavily compute-based. Games ported from the PS4/XB1 era shouldn't be expected to be that much higher in performance on Switch 2, but games ported from PS5/Series should see a relatively good jump over those older ports. The exception here is games on PS5/Series that were ported from PS4/XB1. FF7R Integrade, while it was never released on PS4, is still based on the original's internal design. So it still has a dependency on rasterization. Same goes for Elden Ring, but as most people know, Fromsoftware simply isn't good at optimization when not even the PS5 Pro can run that game consistently at 60fps.
Re: Indiana Jones And The Great Circle Will Launch On Switch 2 In 2026
@westman98 Plus from what I read, this games uses Mesh Shaders on supported platforms. Switch 2 has this support via Ampere architecture, which should greatly help in performance. The PC version also supports DLSS, so expect that to be used as well.
Re: Hitman: World Of Assassination Has A Hidden 'Performance Mode' On Switch 2
Anyone remember when they said 18.3ms for 4k upscaling? Then doubled/tripled down on it? Now it's less than 3ms?
Re: Video: Switch 2 Vs. Steam Deck System Face-Off, Digital Foundry Investigates
@Otimus Not just them unhappy about how DF is handling things. Plenty of others do too, including their own subscribers. It's one thing to speculate, but it's another when they choose to lean on their own speculation when it contradicts what actual developers are saying.
Re: Video: Switch 2 Vs. Steam Deck System Face-Off, Digital Foundry Investigates
@LazyDaisy Very much how it is. FSR is a software solution that runs on shader cores, being hardware agnostic so it's not limited to any particular piece of hardware. But using the shaders means it ties up that hardware, preventing it from doing anything else in the meantime. It cuts time from rendering, which affects the overall render budget.
DLSS is in a similar situation, but only in terms of time. When DLSS is running on the tensor cores, the GPU is more or less idle. That is, if concurrency isn't being used. When it is, the current frame is being upscaled via tensor cores, while the shaders are rendering the next frame. The only PC game to utilize upscale concurrency is the same one Nvidia used to demonstrate that function: Wolfenstein Youngblood. We don't see it in any other game for various reasons. One, the upscale is already fast on such powerful hardware. Two, it requires a completely different setup in the pipeline, breaking the ability to use other upscalers as they don't support upscale concurrency. Third is that it can introduce input latency, as it would be a step after the GPU time frame rather than as part of the GPU time frame
This can change with Switch 2 because there are no other configurations to deal with for the platform. As far as latency is concerned, it's mainly for games that need quick action, like fighting games. There are ways around it though.
Re: Video: Switch 2 Vs. Steam Deck System Face-Off, Digital Foundry Investigates
@Cakefish They could always go back to comparing Street Fighter 6, but when you think about it, they held off for so long to do a Switch 2 comparison with pretty much any platform. Then when they did, they didn't spend all that much time on it, and now they don't touch it anymore. Meanwhile, they continue to repeat their comparisons of Hogwarts and Cyberpunk.
This may be my bias speaking out, but I feel this is a situation where they are trying to keep a narrative, and won't spend all that much time with games that grind against that narrative. Like, I'm imagining that when FF7R Intergrade releases for Switch 2, they'll do their comparison at some point, and then won't return to it.
The Switch 2 is a newly-released platform that devs have barely scratched the surface when it comes to developing with it. Compare that to PS4, which has been out for almost 12 years. Devs have had so much time with it (especially with it being the lead platform for its time), that they most certainly learned how to do things to push the console in ways that they never thought possible back at its launch. This is why the "PS4-class" narrative is just faulty, as not even the PS4 (by dev knowledge) was capable of this PS4-level we see today.
Switch 2 is already exceeding today's PS4, and far exceeds 2013's PS4. As time passes, and devs learn more about the system, the Switch 2 then will push beyond today's Switch 2, all because devs are learning.
Re: Video: Switch 2 Vs. Steam Deck System Face-Off, Digital Foundry Investigates
Steam Deck has the advantage in rasterization, but that is mainly a benefit for older games that rely on it over compute power. Switch 2 is more forward-designed, where games moving to compute over rasterization will benefit from the console.
But watching this video, they make comparisons saying Steam Deck looks better in a game over Switch 2 portable, yet what they show demonstrates the Switch 2 looking better. The shot where they talk about textures at the cliffside in Hogwarts, the Steam Deck looks to have better texturing on the bottom of the screenshot, but above the cliff, the Switch 2 version looks to have better texturing. Even in the shot where it says The Three Broomsticks, the Switch 2 portable version has better texturing.
Honestly, ever since they claimed years ago that Death Stranding on PC does post-processing before upscaling as a ruse to claim how Switch 2 can't do 4k upscaling (only to then claim Switch 2 uses a "lite version" to hit 4k), I stopped taking what they say at face value.
Re: "Somewhat Mixed" - Digital Foundry Delivers Its Technical Analysis Of Donkey Kong Bananza
@AllBLK But they've been pushing opinion pieces for some time, and with regard to Switch 2, they've not been very reliable. Sure, one can say they are just speculating, but when they hold onto those speculations and make more to justify themselves in light of actual devs saying otherwise, then it gets very iffy to take DF for their word.
Re: "Somewhat Mixed" - Digital Foundry Delivers Its Technical Analysis Of Donkey Kong Bananza
@Orpheus79V It's not baffling at all when you understand the situation. DKB is a game with heavy roots tied to Switch 1 development. One of the things mentioned by Nvidia on DLSS utilization is that if a game already uses temporal upscaling, the swap to using DLSS is pretty straight-forward. So why can't Nintendo use DLSS when the game uses FSR1? Because FSR1 is NOT a temporal upscaler. It's a spatial upscaler. It lacks the necessities for being able to swap in DLSS. In order for them to use DLSS, they would have to redo everything regarding it. Not something any company would legitimately do towards late development.
In a similar situation, I can also imagine that maybe the game only incorporates 3 CPU cores instead of the 6 available on Switch 2 because most of the game's development was done on Switch 1, where 3 were only available. The game went from targeting 30fps on Switch to targeting 60fps on Switch 2, and that was likely from the improved IPC of Switch 2's CPU cores (A78C vs A57). Altering the game and game engine to make use of 6 cores when it was being optimized and tied down to 3 cores is not an easy task when it could lead to a lot of hardships of breaking design. It's not nearly as easy as scaling graphics.
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
Now the question is, if they are also taking in the information of what console is running these (via unique signature), then can then go and ban the pirate? Or perhaps they already did because of them using an MIG Switch?
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
@Guitario Sue them for fixing a person's issue who had the legit cards because the "pirate" ran their copied games?
Re: Switch Port Experts Share Thoughts About Switch 2's "Raw" Performance
The leaks suggested the Switch 2's CPU having the overall potential of at least 2x the PS4 Pro's CPU power, but, we aren't really seeing that yet because Switch 2 is new, and devs have a lot more experience with PS4/Pro, so the currently results are less than that potential. Same goes with regard to the GPU. Even though Ampere/Lovelace have been around for a while on PC, devs don't really work down close to the metal there because the environment doesn't allow it. They work with a general shader language, which then a compiler handle the conversion from that readable code to machine code specific to the architectures. It doesn't necessarily handle it in the best ways, which is why requirements for PC versions of games tend to be on the higher side of things than console versions for equal quality.
And let it be known, just because the CPU is on the lower end of the spectrum doesn't mean devs can't pull a few tricks out of their sleeves. Witcher 3 on Switch was possible because the devs converted cloth physics code normally handled by the CPU to be done on the GPU instead. PhysX and other sort of technologies can be utilized to reduce CPU usage in favor of having the GPU handle it more efficiently. Does that cut into the render budget? Sure, but given the system has the blessing of DLSS, they can afford it. But this is something the devs have to put in the work to do. If they don't, then it's wasted potential.
It is also important to note that RTX GPUs have various features in the hardware not available elsewhere which go unused in the PC environment, but would make for important utilization on a low-powered device like the Switch 2. One in particular is hardware-based BVH acceleration and interpolation for ray tracing. Current implementations on PC are handled by the CPU, not simply because it's only available via Nvidia RTX GPUs, but because their implementation is not compatible with existing APIs like DirectX. With PCs having such strong CPUs, it's non-essential there. But for something like Switch 2, it's necessary.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Technical Analysis Of Street Fighter 6 On Switch 2
@HeadPirate But, you theorize that they are putting more into each frame on the basis of when the frame rate is 30fps on PS4, as if there's available resources to do so, but considering the game runs at 60fps in Arcade mode, it means they aren't doing that. They can't do that. The system simply does not have the capacity to handle what is being thrown at it outside of Arcade mode, and it results in the lower frame rate.
And again, the only thing the PS4 version has over the Series S version is texture quality, which is because the Series S version is bugged. Folks have a temporary workaround that improves the texture quality significantly (which, even with that, still is under the Switch 2 version).
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Technical Analysis Of Street Fighter 6 On Switch 2
@HeadPirate
Sure, raw power isn't everything, but we can't just ignore the Series S having over twice the flops and almost double the rasterization power on an architecture that's 7 years newer which renders in a completely different and more efficient manner. That last point of being more efficient is that it utilizes tile-based rendering vs immediate mode rendering, which is a major advantage to bandwidth utilization. Rendering, post-processing, etc, all benefit from it, and it helps in other areas like early Z-culling. To note, the PS4 version does run at 60fps in arcade mode, but in World Tour and other battles, it drops. So this isn't really a case of making use of that additional time to render better.
Series S also has 8GB available for games whereas PS4 has up to 5.5GB (4.5GB guaranteed, 1GB flexible), so there's no way the PS4 is pushing higher resolution textures, especially when the newer architecture of the Series S can handle formats that are better optimized for utilization. It's already been reported that Series S has a texture bug that folks have been able to fix temporarily.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Technical Analysis Of Street Fighter 6 On Switch 2
"but the textures are a notable upgrade from the Series S and fall closer in line to what you'd find on the PS4."
Anyone else irked by how this statement was put together?
Re: Street Fighter 6's First Season 3 Character Arrives This August
Sorry, but going to do it.
Oh Bob Sagat!!!!
Re: "One Of The Slowest Modern LCDs I've Ever Seen" - Digital Foundry's John Linneman On Switch 2's Display
It has so many good things going for it that one doesn't usually find all together with a portable screen, but it's like everyone is so focused on this one aspect as if they are looking for reasons to throw it all away. I tell you, folks these days are crying for perfection at discount prices, and anything less is trash. Truth of the matter is.... premium quality comes at premium prices. Switch 2's $450 price tag isn't just the screen. It's everything that comes in the package. Whenever folks do comparisons, it's always with more expensive devices. Steam Deck? Talk is always about the more expensive OLED units, not the cheaper LCD units with a screen that is absolutely worse than what Switch 2 has.
And the thing about all this is that for all we know, it's a choice Nintendo made for the sake of battery life that could possibly be rectified with a FW update. Why? Because for all we know, they purposefully have the screen undervolted, which would cause such effects.
And yet, if this deep dive into the screen was never done, would anyone be complaining about it? I feel most would not because they couldn't tell before. But with it being sounded with trumpets and spread across the internet, folks can't unsee it. They've convinced themselves that it is a problem because now they see it in instances where one doesn't normally use it. "In slow motion".
DF may simply be pointing out technical stuff, but if we're being honest, they are doing very little when it comes to how folks interpret their results.
Re: Poll: Has Your Switch 2's Screen Got Any Nasty Scratches Yet?
@sethfranum Thanks. Never had an OLED Switch. Only knew that it had the film too, but hadn't read up on if anyone with either had dealt with the film before when it came to redoing screen protectors.
Re: Poll: Has Your Switch 2's Screen Got Any Nasty Scratches Yet?
No scratches, but I did mess up putting a screen protector on it which ended up with a spec of dust underneath it in the top-right corner. It's not on the actual displayable area itself, but on the border section. I thought about removing it to use the 2nd one that came with my pack, but with knowing there is a separate film on the screen for scattering light like on the OLED, I'm hesitant to remove the screen protector as I don't know if the film will get pulled off with it.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Banning Switch 2's Using MIG Cartridges
@Bluelink45 The whole bricking business was the interpretation of folks using the "because Nintendo" excuse, when the updated language was about informing people that a brick could happen with a modified system, especially updating one.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Cyberpunk 2077 Tech Review On Switch 2
@Exerion76 That still doesn't stop DF from making comments and opinions that don't really have a basis on reality. They forced comparisons between Switch 2 and PS4 because their entire basis was from their initial PC rig with an RTX 2050m GPU underclocked to hit Switch 2 specs, and made claims about what Switch 2 could do based on that, like Switch 2 not being able to do 4k DLSS because their rig couldn't. Anyone with any sort of technical expertise knows that this was flawed to begin with because this is console vs PC where the former ALWAYS has the advantage. The GPU in their rig itself is lacking with only having 4GB of RAM and forced to have that separate from the rest of the system, whereas Switch 2 uses a unified RAM configuration that doesn't require splitting RAM into pools for CPU, GPU, etc.
And anyone familiar with DF knows this wasn't even the first of its kind with them. They did this same thing with a makeshift rig to match Switch specs to test out Doom 2016. Based on their "test", they claimed it was not possible, which is why the whole notion of "impossible ports" became a thing once Doom 2016 did come to the platform. So yeah, they already did it once, got pie in their face, but then with Switch 2, they went right back into their old ways as if they didn't learn their lesson. People claiming to be technical experts are not this foolish.
When they went to do comparisons with the Steam Deck, they used the Series S because they felt it was no longer appropriate to compare to older platforms that have such a different architecture and design. So for them to go throwing that out with Switch 2 by forcing comparisons to PS4, they let everyone know that they don't care. They are such an influence on the internet that they can do whatever they want. It's all about making content, and what better way to do that than to make it conflicting to get people to talk about it?
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Cyberpunk 2077 Tech Review On Switch 2
DF has been so incredibly terrible with their "analysis" with Switch 2 to the point it's like the boy who cried wolf (kind of). Even if they manage to get something right later on, their hollering with such bad opinions and forced comparisons of older platforms that they vowed not to do just causes me to turn the other way and not care.
Re: Charles Martinet Explains How He Wants To "Maintain The Integrity" Of Mario
I hate how people make assumptions with the only reason being "because Nintendo".