Nate the Hate has claimed a few times now that Kirby Planet Robobot will be getting a Switch release in 2025. Whilst he was spot on with the Switch 2 reveal, I've my doubts about a Robobot reveal when the Switch 2 Edition of Kirby and the Forgotten Land is releasing on 28th of August.
I do want to see news about various Switch 1 games getting upgrades or editions for Switch 2, particularly games that were capped to 30 FPS like Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, and Mario & Luigi Brothership. I actually avoided playing them just because of the 30 FPS.
@sethfranum I don't have a problem with pirate getting punished, they're absolutely in the wrong, and they're moreso in the wrong for likely knowingly putting someone else at risk by selling the original game cards on.
My issue, and most people's issues are that customers using genuine game cards are being put through unnecessary stress by having their Switch systems banned despite themselves doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Nintendo are tarring them both with the same brush, falsely punishing someone and then asking them to prove themselves. And what happens when such a customer doesn't know their rights or their recourse to getting their Switch system unbanned? They just have to accept that their Switch 2 system is banned and now they can't access the digital games they may've legally purchased, the online services they've paid subscription towards? How is that fair?
@sethfranum The customer's games weren't pirate copies, they were genuine copies that were the victim of a pirate's misuse.
Are you aware of how in the 90s, people would rent games from Blockbuster, make back-up copies, and then return the genuine games? This allowed them to continue playing the game despite no longer owning a genuine legal copy (in fact, they never did to begin with).
Once again, someone using a genuine game card should not be punished. The genuine item itself cannot be tampered with or modified, it does not become a "pirate copy" if a previous owner made an illegal copy of it using a Mig Switch.
Something else that bears mentioning, is that it's possible to backup the game software on a game card without copying the certificates. This is very common for installing games to hacked Switch systems or for use in emulators, as these do not require the certificates. The certificates are only a problem when the Mig Switch flashcart is involved, as it does require them to spoof the game cards.
@riggah You've fundamentally misunderstood the issue.
There are Switch 1 flash carts called Mig Switch, they work by loading a microSD card with game card dumps, and they rely on having the unique certificates that every genuine Switch 1 game cartridge has.
What happened here is someone used a homebrew enabled Switch or the Mig Switch's USB dumper accessory to dump some genuine game cartridges, install them to their Mig Switch, and then resell the genuine game cards on the grey market. Nintendo can detect which game cartridge certificates are being used when a game is loaded, and by comparing logs whenever your system next connects online, it can determine if two or more instances of the same certificate were being used at the same time, which should be impossible and asserts that either, or possibly both certificates are pirated.
Nintendo's approach to banning every console involved is indefensible, because it's banning someone using a genuine game card and may have absolutely nothing to do with the actual pirate.
It's a fair assessment that this looks like a Switch 1 game reaching its full potential on Switch 2, but I'd also say you should keep in mind the visual style and graphical fidelity are two different things.
As developers start taking more advantage of the hardware, we'll see more games capped at 30 FPS and sub-native resolutions on Switch 2.
This strikes me as a FOMO tactic. Adding games to the voucher scheme, after the purchase period? They're encouraging you to buy the vouchers pre-emptively to wait and see what gets added.
Consider this perspective. If your goal is to produce entertainment products for consumers, the aim would be to produce something of high quality and value that successfully entertains. That sort of mentality better serves the customer, compared to the goal of aiming to produce a work of art which may not align with customer satisfaction.
That isn't a bad way to run a business, and you can still appreciate the craftsmanship and workmanship of a product outside of evaluating it as a work of art. Sort of an argument of separating objectivity and subjectivity.
Whilst the anniversary artworks for Pokémon Go are nice, they're not strictly indicative of what's actually coming up. For example, the 6th anniversary artwork features an unnamed girl alongside another character Mateo, who was introduced with the routes feature. The 7th anniversary artwork features Alcremie and Mimikyu, two Pokémon with special gimmicks that have yet to debut. And the 4th and 5th anniversary artworks infamously feature Mega Mewtwo Y and X respectively, which have only very recently have been datamined as having their graphics data added.
I can somewhat understand Capcom's angle here. For a lack of new games, what they do have is a large selection of legacy games available on all major platforms (literally the "Legacy Collections"), and the continual merchandising of Mega Man through things like Yetee t-shirts, new figurines, new comic lines.
There's at least two more Legacy Collections they could release though, for the Mega Man Star Force series, and the Mega Man Legends series. Now if only Mega Man Legends 3 could ever come to fruition, but with Keiji Inafune's departure that seems highly unlikely.
@Divide_and_Wander Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent loosely fit that definition. Though I'd like to see how a Classic Mega Man Metroidvania would pan out, with a classic Metroidvania grid-map layout and defeating bosses unlocks new map exploration options. Heck, if Namco can do this with Pac-Man of all things, why not Capcom and Mega Man?
@Mirage-5x5 Microsoft's goal is money, and if it turns out there's more money in burning something down instead of building it up, they'll do just that.
@HugoGED I use a tablet for Zelda notes, it's nice having a screen propped up below my monitor where I can see real-time info about nearby Korok seeds or voice memories.
Microsoft's overreach and greed in all these studio acquisitions with no clear strategy has come to a boiling point, and I am infuriated that all these people are losing jobs and years of passionate work due to their neglectful management.
It also shows how strongly that they just care about the brands and not the people behind them.
@Debo626 I think my position here's been somewhat misunderstood. I'm not really defending the review bombing, so much as I'm empathetic to why people are resorting to it. I stand by that voicing dissatisfaction is not a disinformation campaign, but genuine review bombing where a few individuals fabricate too many negative reviews does actually become disinformation because it speaks volumes above the reality.
If we're talking about individuals that leave their one negative review, it's because they might not feel they have much else recourse about a change they strongly object to. Such as if they feel writing directly to Nintendo would be futile, but that lowering the public score might have an impact.
@Debo626
The integrity of the numeric review system is at odds with how people actually behave, that's the problem.
I don't condone them twisting the system, but I don't condemn them voicing their dissatisfaction. This is precisely why Steam uses their thumbs up/down system instead.
Broadly public reviews are rarely objective, but the approval or disapproval is easily understood.
Review bombers want to do damage because they feel that strongly about an issue, and like many social occurences they could be heavily misguided or rightly indignant. With the Mario Kart World update, indignance seems more likely because of a development that actually has affected customers after the fact.
Edit: To clarify, if one person is leaving multiple zero-point scores, that's an abuse of the system I can't abide.
@Dee123 Anyone leaving such a review knows that, and are aware of the system of averages and use it as a way to have the most impact.
For many people leaving these reviews, the random intermissions in online play is a huge problem and a deal breaker, when online play is perhaps the biggest and single most reason for them to even play the game.
@KoopaTheGamer That's fair, since people getting upset about the user experience being understandably worsened, are going to get emotional, exaggerate the problem, and unintentionally spread misinformation when they're voicing their dissatisfaction by whatever means they have. The idea of "tipping the scales" really comes into play here by having a sharp drop in the user approval of a given game, this is something that Steam understands with its thumbs up/down system.
@LEGEND_MARIOID I doubt that these users are intentionally spreading disinformation, so much as that they are looking to affect change.
@Dom_31
There's two kinds of AI image upscaling.
The first is non-generative upscaling, where the data model is trained on specific kinds of images (photos, illustrations, digital art, etc), and aims to "reverse" compression or downsampling. Some models are strict with producing an upscaled output that should 1:1 downscale to the original image, other models are more interpretive and add detail it identifies like material textures (hair, brick, grass, etc).
The second is generative upscaling, which is a prompt based process like generating an image out of nothing, but instead using a source image as a basis. This doesn't aim to be an accurate or faithful recreation, and is commonly used as a means of heavily guiding a desired output.
Either kind of image upscaling can be done well or done poorly, and in this case the generative upscaling has been done exceptionally poorly by someone with no eye for detail.
A number of Limited Run Games releases, have also had SUPERDELUXE GAMES releases, and are usually quite affordably priced, feature multi-language support, and quite nicely put together.
@SillyG I really doubt a single audio file is 4.5GB. My hunch is that all of the media is inside of a container file, and the update has to replace that container file. Therefore, replacing a single missing or damaged audio file, may necessitate replacing the entire container.
Think of it like sharing a ZIP file of a music album, but having to share a second replacement ZIP file because one of the music tracks was bad or missing.
@SillyG What likely happened there is the game build is structured in a way that the update can't just patch individual things, such as replacing what may've been a faulty file or inserting a missing file. Some Switch games suffer from basically redownloading the entire game within the update file, Bloodstained Ritual of the Night for example.
Still, it's another example of how LRG are slipshod in the actual release of their games, and betray their "Forever Physical" slogan.
I hope that the future PAL update too will be on the physical cartridge, but glad to hear they're at least shipping it with the essential compatibility update.
LRG got in trouble for shipping the Doom Classics Collection with a known issue that the game is unplayable on systems that were never connected online.
LRG also shipped Ninja Five-O with the base title and no updates, with people getting their hands on the game ahead of the digital release and any updates that might fix issues like gallery artwork not displaying.
The issue with AI as usual tends to be the proclivity towards cost and corner-cutting, taking an off-the-shelf solution to mass generate whatever is "good enough" without any meaningful direction, or purposeful refinement. Particularly, trying to side-step any human involvement and hire fewer people, which is just wrong.
Over time, I expect we'll see the biggest companies adopt internal AI solutions that are trained solely on their own internal data and practices, and used as a means to help automate processes and expedite the asset creation process. The idea being that real artists produce a baseline of what they want for their game or series, and the generative AI can help generate large numbers of similar work at scale with no misuse of data, and full control given to the artists.
AI can also be used to analyse data in meaningful ways to help guide decisions, instead of using the raw output as the product itself. That kind of data science can be invaluable, but also risks dulling critical judgement. Imagine for example, the world map design for Breath of the Wild. Much of that game's development was spent figuring out the best placement of all the individual points of interest, an AI tool could help figure out likely progression and directional paths in a 3D space and serve as a guideline for how to place your items and encounters.
@AmanPikon What you saw was the USB-C output of a Genki ShadowCast, which is a miniature capture card taking the HDMI output of a docked Analogue Pocket playing the Game Boy Camera. It was a pretty neat video by GameXplain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeOE8mpskHg
SEGA were one of the most egregious here, repackaging recent releases with no upgrade path, fully digital with game-key releases.
Hell, with Sonic X Shadow Generations, they expect you to re-purchase the DLCs! SEGA can stuff it, I won't re-buy the game full price and wait for the inevitably big sale that Sonic games always end up going on.
Aside from that, I can understand third parties struggling to get in edgewise after a customer's just bought a whole new system, one or two big first party games for it, and any accessories like the Pro controller or the microSD express card.
They also have to compete with the backwards compatibility backlog, a lot of people were keen to play older games with performance upgrades.
@speedracer216 It seems like Odd Rock is only a brief thing in the early game, up until DK encounters the first elder and gets access to the Kong Bananza power-up.
The UK My Nintendo Store have gone through the site and updated the graphics for DK Bananza, really cheeky thing here to switch this out so close to release!
A lot of other retailers are going to continue to display the cover art with Odd Rock, even after release, and confuse customers that didn't see the news as to why there's a difference in the cover art.
Using the navigation feature is pretty nice, but it's something I'm trying out after having played through the game multiple times before. It's not something I'd recommend for first-time players.
My set up is I have a tablet on a stand just below my monitor, so it's kind of like the secondary screen of a 3DS or Wii U acting as companion to the main screen. Getting bits of trivia about Hyrule's history as you explore the map is pretty nice, but there was an error in the voice memory for Hateno's Dye Shop. Zelda mentions using Silent Princess flowers to create a royal blue colour, but in-game they're used to dye clothes white.
@DjinnFighter Contra Operation Galuga having input lag issues is down to Unity engine. It seems to be a universal issue with Unity games capped to 30 FPS, they have huge input delay. When modded to target 60 FPS, whether that's a modded Switch or emulators, that input lag disappears.
That's the general hope for 30 FPS capped Unity Games, get a Switch 2 update for 60 FPS support.
That happens to line up with the video playback issue that's present in Ninja Five-O. On the original Switch, the animated video intro will fail to play in docked mode, but will play in handheld mode. This issue was present in the physical 1.0 release and a digital update after that, but I haven't checked recently if the issue is still present.
I haven't noticed a smell, but I did notice how significantly warm the system got after playing Pokémon Violet for a little while and then undocking it to plug in the microSD express card that'd just arrived.
I am so, so pleased to see that Switch 1 games without dedicated patches can run so much better. I am 100% trying out Bakeru when I get my Switch 2 up and running later, and I want to check out other struggling games like Bayonetta 3, and Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity.
@UltimateOtaku91 An earlier email did give me a heads up that I should have full tracking details by early morning, so I should have a working DPD tracking link by then. You probably will, too.
@Gohanjin The depth of field blur effect is a design choice, as it's recreating "tilt shift" which is known for making things look miniaturised. The hiccups, yeah they're an annoying problem where the engine dynamically caps at 30 or 60, and rounds down to 30 if it can't maintain 60. Occasional dips below 60 can still happen on Switch 2 so you still have to suffer that problem.
I wonder if Switch 1 games on Switch 2, are generally experiencing "shader stutter" due to how the compatibility/emulation layer works?
Scarlet and Violet had moments of brief stutter too, but it was dipping just under 60 FPS, whereas the engine for Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom has that frustrating behaviour where it drops to 30 if it dips even slightly under 60 FPS.
@AG_Awesome Cyberpunk 2077 would be the prime example of a game using ray tracing. Real-time ray tracing in 3D software is a simulation of the way light reflects and refracts around an environment, and can dynamically calculate how different surfaces and atmospheres should appear depending on light sources and their attributes like distance, intensity, colour, obstruction, and more. Some of the most common examples of effective ray tracing is the accurate reflections of light sources in puddles, lakes, or wet surfaces (like on rainy nights), or the appearance of light beaming through a window or leaves, and the obstructions cause the appearance of Crepuscular Rays (aka "god rays"). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays Ray tracing also allows for much more accurate shadow rendering.
@nand Right? Exactly what I wanted to bring up. OpenAI isn't the only one here that's thrown their hat into the Pokémon Red and Blue ring. Anthropic's Claude AI has gained attention for its ongoing experiments and progress with letting it try to beat Pokémon Red, and Google's Gemini model actually succeeded in completing Pokémon Blue.
The experiments run on the basis of giving the AI minimum information and a goal of completing the game, and letting it try to figure out how all on its own. Arguments like "the AI picked the best starter for defeating the first two gyms" aren't apt, since the AI has no prior knowledge of what a grass type is useful against, or what the first two gym battles will be. Which incidentally, is knowledge that a lot of 90s kids who hadn't even started playing the games would know, thanks to the Pokémon anime and playgrounds.
That'd be an interesting approach actually, how well do these AI models perform when they've "watched" the first season of Pokémon? What do they learn, and how do they apply it to playing the game?
@Max_the_German The issue is historic data. To filter by user, you need to record that as meta data to each screenshot and clip, and that's not something that can be done retroactively. This time around, Switch 2 screenshots record that user identifier to meta data along other data like what game it came from. I'll be curious to see if the meta data could be used to identify who created the screenshot if you circulated the original file online; meta data intact (as many sites automatically scrub EXIF data as it's a privacy concern).
Comments 7,668
Re: Rumour: A Nintendo Direct Is Set To Take Place Later This Month, It's Claimed
Nate the Hate has claimed a few times now that Kirby Planet Robobot will be getting a Switch release in 2025.
Whilst he was spot on with the Switch 2 reveal, I've my doubts about a Robobot reveal when the Switch 2 Edition of Kirby and the Forgotten Land is releasing on 28th of August.
I do want to see news about various Switch 1 games getting upgrades or editions for Switch 2, particularly games that were capped to 30 FPS like Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door, and Mario & Luigi Brothership. I actually avoided playing them just because of the 30 FPS.
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
@sethfranum
I don't have a problem with pirate getting punished, they're absolutely in the wrong, and they're moreso in the wrong for likely knowingly putting someone else at risk by selling the original game cards on.
My issue, and most people's issues are that customers using genuine game cards are being put through unnecessary stress by having their Switch systems banned despite themselves doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Nintendo are tarring them both with the same brush, falsely punishing someone and then asking them to prove themselves.
And what happens when such a customer doesn't know their rights or their recourse to getting their Switch system unbanned? They just have to accept that their Switch 2 system is banned and now they can't access the digital games they may've legally purchased, the online services they've paid subscription towards? How is that fair?
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
@sethfranum
The customer's games weren't pirate copies, they were genuine copies that were the victim of a pirate's misuse.
Are you aware of how in the 90s, people would rent games from Blockbuster, make back-up copies, and then return the genuine games? This allowed them to continue playing the game despite no longer owning a genuine legal copy (in fact, they never did to begin with).
Once again, someone using a genuine game card should not be punished. The genuine item itself cannot be tampered with or modified, it does not become a "pirate copy" if a previous owner made an illegal copy of it using a Mig Switch.
Something else that bears mentioning, is that it's possible to backup the game software on a game card without copying the certificates. This is very common for installing games to hacked Switch systems or for use in emulators, as these do not require the certificates.
The certificates are only a problem when the Mig Switch flashcart is involved, as it does require them to spoof the game cards.
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
@riggah
You've fundamentally misunderstood the issue.
There are Switch 1 flash carts called Mig Switch, they work by loading a microSD card with game card dumps, and they rely on having the unique certificates that every genuine Switch 1 game cartridge has.
What happened here is someone used a homebrew enabled Switch or the Mig Switch's USB dumper accessory to dump some genuine game cartridges, install them to their Mig Switch, and then resell the genuine game cards on the grey market.
Nintendo can detect which game cartridge certificates are being used when a game is loaded, and by comparing logs whenever your system next connects online, it can determine if two or more instances of the same certificate were being used at the same time, which should be impossible and asserts that either, or possibly both certificates are pirated.
Nintendo's approach to banning every console involved is indefensible, because it's banning someone using a genuine game card and may have absolutely nothing to do with the actual pirate.
Re: PSA: You Might Want To Be Careful Buying Pre-Owned Switch 1 Games For Your Switch 2
This policy shouldn't be defended, because it actively punishes people buying legitimate copies of games that may've been abused by previous owners.
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza, Like Mario Kart World, Was Initially Planned For Switch 1
It's a fair assessment that this looks like a Switch 1 game reaching its full potential on Switch 2, but I'd also say you should keep in mind the visual style and graphical fidelity are two different things.
As developers start taking more advantage of the hardware, we'll see more games capped at 30 FPS and sub-native resolutions on Switch 2.
Re: Nintendo Will Discontinue Switch Game Vouchers Entirely In 2026
This strikes me as a FOMO tactic.
Adding games to the voucher scheme, after the purchase period? They're encouraging you to buy the vouchers pre-emptively to wait and see what gets added.
Re: Miyamoto Views Games As 'Products', Not 'Works Of Art', Says Ex-Nintendo Dev
Consider this perspective.
If your goal is to produce entertainment products for consumers, the aim would be to produce something of high quality and value that successfully entertains.
That sort of mentality better serves the customer, compared to the goal of aiming to produce a work of art which may not align with customer satisfaction.
That isn't a bad way to run a business, and you can still appreciate the craftsmanship and workmanship of a product outside of evaluating it as a work of art. Sort of an argument of separating objectivity and subjectivity.
Re: Looks Like Paradox Pokémon Are Coming To Pokémon GO
Whilst the anniversary artworks for Pokémon Go are nice, they're not strictly indicative of what's actually coming up.
For example, the 6th anniversary artwork features an unnamed girl alongside another character Mateo, who was introduced with the routes feature.
The 7th anniversary artwork features Alcremie and Mimikyu, two Pokémon with special gimmicks that have yet to debut.
And the 4th and 5th anniversary artworks infamously feature Mega Mewtwo Y and X respectively, which have only very recently have been datamined as having their graphics data added.
Re: Mega Man Is One Of Capcom's "Most Important IPs" Despite No New Games In 7+ Years
I can somewhat understand Capcom's angle here.
For a lack of new games, what they do have is a large selection of legacy games available on all major platforms (literally the "Legacy Collections"), and the continual merchandising of Mega Man through things like Yetee t-shirts, new figurines, new comic lines.
There's at least two more Legacy Collections they could release though, for the Mega Man Star Force series, and the Mega Man Legends series. Now if only Mega Man Legends 3 could ever come to fruition, but with Keiji Inafune's departure that seems highly unlikely.
@Divide_and_Wander
Mega Man ZX and ZX Advent loosely fit that definition.
Though I'd like to see how a Classic Mega Man Metroidvania would pan out, with a classic Metroidvania grid-map layout and defeating bosses unlocks new map exploration options.
Heck, if Namco can do this with Pac-Man of all things, why not Capcom and Mega Man?
Re: "It's Heartbreaking" - The Pokémon Company Tech VP Joins Industry In Criticising Microsoft Layoffs
@Mirage-5x5
Microsoft's goal is money, and if it turns out there's more money in burning something down instead of building it up, they'll do just that.
Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom And Breath Of The Wild Updates Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@HugoGED
I use a tablet for Zelda notes, it's nice having a screen propped up below my monitor where I can see real-time info about nearby Korok seeds or voice memories.
Re: Romero Games Hit With Layoffs Following Microsoft Xbox Cuts
Microsoft's overreach and greed in all these studio acquisitions with no clear strategy has come to a boiling point, and I am infuriated that all these people are losing jobs and years of passionate work due to their neglectful management.
It also shows how strongly that they just care about the brands and not the people behind them.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@Debo626
I think my position here's been somewhat misunderstood. I'm not really defending the review bombing, so much as I'm empathetic to why people are resorting to it.
I stand by that voicing dissatisfaction is not a disinformation campaign, but genuine review bombing where a few individuals fabricate too many negative reviews does actually become disinformation because it speaks volumes above the reality.
If we're talking about individuals that leave their one negative review, it's because they might not feel they have much else recourse about a change they strongly object to. Such as if they feel writing directly to Nintendo would be futile, but that lowering the public score might have an impact.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@Debo626
The integrity of the numeric review system is at odds with how people actually behave, that's the problem.
I don't condone them twisting the system, but I don't condemn them voicing their dissatisfaction. This is precisely why Steam uses their thumbs up/down system instead.
Broadly public reviews are rarely objective, but the approval or disapproval is easily understood.
Review bombers want to do damage because they feel that strongly about an issue, and like many social occurences they could be heavily misguided or rightly indignant. With the Mario Kart World update, indignance seems more likely because of a development that actually has affected customers after the fact.
Edit: To clarify, if one person is leaving multiple zero-point scores, that's an abuse of the system I can't abide.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@Dee123
Anyone leaving such a review knows that, and are aware of the system of averages and use it as a way to have the most impact.
For many people leaving these reviews, the random intermissions in online play is a huge problem and a deal breaker, when online play is perhaps the biggest and single most reason for them to even play the game.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@KoopaTheGamer
That's fair, since people getting upset about the user experience being understandably worsened, are going to get emotional, exaggerate the problem, and unintentionally spread misinformation when they're voicing their dissatisfaction by whatever means they have.
The idea of "tipping the scales" really comes into play here by having a sharp drop in the user approval of a given game, this is something that Steam understands with its thumbs up/down system.
@LEGEND_MARIOID
I doubt that these users are intentionally spreading disinformation, so much as that they are looking to affect change.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@LEGEND_MARIOID
Yes, and I was exactly criticising that.
Re: Of Course Mario Kart World Is Being Review Bombed
@LEGEND_MARIOID
The public speaking its dissatisfaction by whatever means it can, should not be equated to a disinformation campaign.
Re: Front Mission 3: Remake Appears To Replace 2D Art Assets With Generative AI
@Dom_31
There's two kinds of AI image upscaling.
The first is non-generative upscaling, where the data model is trained on specific kinds of images (photos, illustrations, digital art, etc), and aims to "reverse" compression or downsampling. Some models are strict with producing an upscaled output that should 1:1 downscale to the original image, other models are more interpretive and add detail it identifies like material textures (hair, brick, grass, etc).
The second is generative upscaling, which is a prompt based process like generating an image out of nothing, but instead using a source image as a basis. This doesn't aim to be an accurate or faithful recreation, and is commonly used as a means of heavily guiding a desired output.
Either kind of image upscaling can be done well or done poorly, and in this case the generative upscaling has been done exceptionally poorly by someone with no eye for detail.
Re: Missed Out On Castlevania Anniversary, Advance & Dominus Collection Physical Editions? Fear Not, As Pre-Orders Have Gone Live On Play-Asia
@KociolekDoSyta
Just an FYI, SUPERDELUXE GAMES is a Japanese publishing brand established by Limited Run Games and 8-4.
https://limitedrungames.com/blogs/news/limited-run-games-and-8-4-teams-up-to-create-a-new-publishing-brand-for-the-japanese-market-superdeluxe-games
A number of Limited Run Games releases, have also had SUPERDELUXE GAMES releases, and are usually quite affordably priced, feature multi-language support, and quite nicely put together.
Re: Gex Trilogy Is Now Playable On Switch 2 As Compatibility Update Goes Live
@SillyG
I really doubt a single audio file is 4.5GB.
My hunch is that all of the media is inside of a container file, and the update has to replace that container file.
Therefore, replacing a single missing or damaged audio file, may necessitate replacing the entire container.
Think of it like sharing a ZIP file of a music album, but having to share a second replacement ZIP file because one of the music tracks was bad or missing.
Re: Gex Trilogy Is Now Playable On Switch 2 As Compatibility Update Goes Live
@SillyG
What likely happened there is the game build is structured in a way that the update can't just patch individual things, such as replacing what may've been a faulty file or inserting a missing file.
Some Switch games suffer from basically redownloading the entire game within the update file, Bloodstained Ritual of the Night for example.
Still, it's another example of how LRG are slipshod in the actual release of their games, and betray their "Forever Physical" slogan.
Re: Gex Trilogy Is Now Playable On Switch 2 As Compatibility Update Goes Live
I hope that the future PAL update too will be on the physical cartridge, but glad to hear they're at least shipping it with the essential compatibility update.
LRG got in trouble for shipping the Doom Classics Collection with a known issue that the game is unplayable on systems that were never connected online.
LRG also shipped Ninja Five-O with the base title and no updates, with people getting their hands on the game ahead of the digital release and any updates that might fix issues like gallery artwork not displaying.
Re: Smash Bros. Director Sakurai Laments 'Unsustainable' AAA Game Dev, Discusses AI And Uncertainty
The issue with AI as usual tends to be the proclivity towards cost and corner-cutting, taking an off-the-shelf solution to mass generate whatever is "good enough" without any meaningful direction, or purposeful refinement. Particularly, trying to side-step any human involvement and hire fewer people, which is just wrong.
Over time, I expect we'll see the biggest companies adopt internal AI solutions that are trained solely on their own internal data and practices, and used as a means to help automate processes and expedite the asset creation process.
The idea being that real artists produce a baseline of what they want for their game or series, and the generative AI can help generate large numbers of similar work at scale with no misuse of data, and full control given to the artists.
AI can also be used to analyse data in meaningful ways to help guide decisions, instead of using the raw output as the product itself. That kind of data science can be invaluable, but also risks dulling critical judgement.
Imagine for example, the world map design for Breath of the Wild. Much of that game's development was spent figuring out the best placement of all the individual points of interest, an AI tool could help figure out likely progression and directional paths in a 3D space and serve as a guideline for how to place your items and encounters.
Re: Reminder: You Can Use Non-Nintendo USB Cameras With Switch 2
@AmanPikon
What you saw was the USB-C output of a Genki ShadowCast, which is a miniature capture card taking the HDMI output of a docked Analogue Pocket playing the Game Boy Camera.
It was a pretty neat video by GameXplain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeOE8mpskHg
Re: Random: Zelda: TOTK Autobuild Sharing Exploit Lets You Summon An Army Of Ganondorf & Epona
Oh man, the fact that this relies on an external service (Zelda Notes) means this is gonna get patched so quickly.
This looks FUN.
Re: Third-Party Launch Games On Switch 2 Reportedly Sold "Very Low Numbers"
SEGA were one of the most egregious here, repackaging recent releases with no upgrade path, fully digital with game-key releases.
Hell, with Sonic X Shadow Generations, they expect you to re-purchase the DLCs! SEGA can stuff it, I won't re-buy the game full price and wait for the inevitably big sale that Sonic games always end up going on.
Aside from that, I can understand third parties struggling to get in edgewise after a customer's just bought a whole new system, one or two big first party games for it, and any accessories like the Pro controller or the microSD express card.
They also have to compete with the backwards compatibility backlog, a lot of people were keen to play older games with performance upgrades.
Re: Pauline's Age In Donkey Kong Bananza Has Been Revealed
@speedracer216
It seems like Odd Rock is only a brief thing in the early game, up until DK encounters the first elder and gets access to the Kong Bananza power-up.
Re: Check Out Donkey Kong Bananza's All-New Kong Cast Members & Animal Transformations
Zebra Bananza eh?
Not... Donkey Bananza?
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Switch 2 Box Art Shows Pauline In All Her Glory
The UK My Nintendo Store have gone through the site and updated the graphics for DK Bananza, really cheeky thing here to switch this out so close to release!
A lot of other retailers are going to continue to display the cover art with Odd Rock, even after release, and confuse customers that didn't see the news as to why there's a difference in the cover art.
Re: Donkey Kong Gets A New amiibo, Nintendo Details How They Work In DK Bananza
@HammerKirby
I would assume that these may not be in stock around Christmas time, amiibo print runs are usually limited.
Re: Poll: So, Have You Used Zelda Notes Yet?
Using the navigation feature is pretty nice, but it's something I'm trying out after having played through the game multiple times before.
It's not something I'd recommend for first-time players.
My set up is I have a tablet on a stand just below my monitor, so it's kind of like the secondary screen of a 3DS or Wii U acting as companion to the main screen.
Getting bits of trivia about Hyrule's history as you explore the map is pretty nice, but there was an error in the voice memory for Hateno's Dye Shop. Zelda mentions using Silent Princess flowers to create a royal blue colour, but in-game they're used to dye clothes white.
Re: Feature: 11 Games With 'Secret' Performance Bumps You Should Revisit On Switch 2
@DjinnFighter
Contra Operation Galuga having input lag issues is down to Unity engine.
It seems to be a universal issue with Unity games capped to 30 FPS, they have huge input delay. When modded to target 60 FPS, whether that's a modded Switch or emulators, that input lag disappears.
That's the general hope for 30 FPS capped Unity Games, get a Switch 2 update for 60 FPS support.
Re: Limited Run Games Says It's Found The Cause Of Switch 2's Carbon Engine Issues
That happens to line up with the video playback issue that's present in Ninja Five-O.
On the original Switch, the animated video intro will fail to play in docked mode, but will play in handheld mode.
This issue was present in the physical 1.0 release and a digital update after that, but I haven't checked recently if the issue is still present.
Re: Talking Point: Does Your Switch 2 Vent Smell?
I haven't noticed a smell, but I did notice how significantly warm the system got after playing Pokémon Violet for a little while and then undocking it to plug in the microSD express card that'd just arrived.
Re: The Switch 2 Fixes Its Predecessor's "Worst Performing" Game
I am so, so pleased to see that Switch 1 games without dedicated patches can run so much better.
I am 100% trying out Bakeru when I get my Switch 2 up and running later, and I want to check out other struggling games like Bayonetta 3, and Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity.
Re: Surprise, Xenoblade Chronicles Dev Also Helped Out On Mario Kart World
I need to see Shulk on a Monadocycle.
Re: Site News: We've Got A Switch 2
@UltimateOtaku91
An earlier email did give me a heads up that I should have full tracking details by early morning, so I should have a working DPD tracking link by then.
You probably will, too.
Re: New Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Update Is Finally Fixing Its Most Frustrating Feature
@Gohanjin
The depth of field blur effect is a design choice, as it's recreating "tilt shift" which is known for making things look miniaturised.
The hiccups, yeah they're an annoying problem where the engine dynamically caps at 30 or 60, and rounds down to 30 if it can't maintain 60. Occasional dips below 60 can still happen on Switch 2 so you still have to suffer that problem.
Re: Site News: We've Got A Switch 2
@UltimateOtaku91
I got an SMS message at 4pm, not an email, and the Argos order details page hasn't updated.
Re: Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom And Link's Awakening Are Improved On Switch 2, But It's Not Perfect
I wonder if Switch 1 games on Switch 2, are generally experiencing "shader stutter" due to how the compatibility/emulation layer works?
Scarlet and Violet had moments of brief stutter too, but it was dipping just under 60 FPS, whereas the engine for Link's Awakening and Echoes of Wisdom has that frustrating behaviour where it drops to 30 if it dips even slightly under 60 FPS.
Re: Site News: We've Got A Switch 2
Argos has shipped, a text message has given me a DPD tracking ID that doesn't actually work, but it's on its way!
Re: Mario Kart World Update Is Out Now, Here Are The Patch Notes
Interesting, LAN play for Switch 2 games?
So you could do a docked setup with multiple Switch 2 systems and TV set-ups?
Re: Mario Kart World Producer Answers The Biggest Question Of All: Does Cow Eat Hamburgers?
It's like the conundrum of making sandwiches and curries in the recent Pokémon games.
Where does the meat come from? Is it even meat?
Re: Moo-ve Aside Mario Kart World, Garfield Kart 2 Is Racing Onto Nintendo Switch
@r_p_trzy
Videogame dunkey had a video out two days ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd8QbFeFYjI
Feature length even.
Re: Nintendo Switch 2 Chip "Unlike Anything We've Ever Built Before" Says Nvidia CEO
@AG_Awesome
Cyberpunk 2077 would be the prime example of a game using ray tracing.
Real-time ray tracing in 3D software is a simulation of the way light reflects and refracts around an environment, and can dynamically calculate how different surfaces and atmospheres should appear depending on light sources and their attributes like distance, intensity, colour, obstruction, and more.
Some of the most common examples of effective ray tracing is the accurate reflections of light sources in puddles, lakes, or wet surfaces (like on rainy nights), or the appearance of light beaming through a window or leaves, and the obstructions cause the appearance of Crepuscular Rays (aka "god rays").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crepuscular_rays
Ray tracing also allows for much more accurate shadow rendering.
Re: Nintendo Prepping For All Switch 2 Eventualities With 'Out Of Stock' Signs
But how will I know that the Switch 2 is out of stock, when the out of stock signs are out of stock?
Re: Random: It Turns Out That AI Isn't Very Good At Pokémon Red
@nand
Right? Exactly what I wanted to bring up.
OpenAI isn't the only one here that's thrown their hat into the Pokémon Red and Blue ring. Anthropic's Claude AI has gained attention for its ongoing experiments and progress with letting it try to beat Pokémon Red, and Google's Gemini model actually succeeded in completing Pokémon Blue.
The experiments run on the basis of giving the AI minimum information and a goal of completing the game, and letting it try to figure out how all on its own.
Arguments like "the AI picked the best starter for defeating the first two gyms" aren't apt, since the AI has no prior knowledge of what a grass type is useful against, or what the first two gym battles will be.
Which incidentally, is knowledge that a lot of 90s kids who hadn't even started playing the games would know, thanks to the Pokémon anime and playgrounds.
That'd be an interesting approach actually, how well do these AI models perform when they've "watched" the first season of Pokémon? What do they learn, and how do they apply it to playing the game?
Re: Switch 2's Album Will Finally Let You Filter Screenshots And Videos By User
@Max_the_German
The issue is historic data.
To filter by user, you need to record that as meta data to each screenshot and clip, and that's not something that can be done retroactively.
This time around, Switch 2 screenshots record that user identifier to meta data along other data like what game it came from.
I'll be curious to see if the meta data could be used to identify who created the screenshot if you circulated the original file online; meta data intact (as many sites automatically scrub EXIF data as it's a privacy concern).