Comments 225

Re: Yes, Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen Are Getting Home Support

thedicemaster

@Lizuka they sort of do have controller options.
in the game's original settings you have options for the L and R buttons to use them to access the help system(HELP), use them to flip between pages(LR), or to play single handed(L=A)
those settings in the switch versions also affect new controls found on modern controllers but not on the GBA.
if you switch to 1 handed mode(L=A) it actually remaps the direction buttons to act as the face buttons, the right joystick as D-pad(same as left joystick), and zL/zR as B button.
this way the game can be played fully with just 1 loose joy-con.

and the switch let's you remap all the buttons you want changed.

Re: Rayman: 30th Anniversary Edition Is Getting A Physical Switch Release

thedicemaster

@NeonPizza pixel alignment for one.
upscaling from original to 720p/1080p and then to 1080p/4k means original pixels aren't going to align to physical pixels consistently even if they did the effort to align them to the output resolution.

this also limits the quality of a CRT filter, since it can't align to physical pixels to get deliberate effects and instead is forced to have blurring from the host console's upscaling.
this is fine for low quality CRT filters, but breaks down all the effort of a carefully crafted filter.

if you care about a good crt filter, you should care about minimizing the amount of upscaling steps and having the CRT filter applied at the host system's native resolution.

Re: Nintendo, Sony And Xbox Update "Safer Gaming" Principles

thedicemaster

@Wewewi grooming, extortion, bullying+pushing self-harm, doxing+swatting, in-game scamming.
all things (young) players are vulnerable to and need to be protected from.

roblox has been notoriously lax in this, but they're not the only platform where these things happen.

nintendo has been very restrictive with their communication options because even pictochat was not safe from predators, and still people find ways to send harmful messages in games.

Re: Video: Pragmata Hands-On Impressions Shared By Capcom

thedicemaster

@molkom as a twewy player, it feels natural.
you'll need a little bit of time to get used to the timings for switching between hacking and shooting(which differ depending on how well your brain multitasks), but it's very satisfying when you can get a good rhythm going and deal constant boosted damage.

Re: Nintendo's "Mysterious" Switch Online Playtest Program Gets Another Patent

thedicemaster

@JohnnyMind game developers didn't patent game mechanics in the past.
then gambling machine manufacturers sued game developers for game mechanics, so the game developers had to join in and protect their own game mechanics.

game mechanic patent lawsuits aren't common despite so many games sharing similar mechanics, game developers don't like using game mechanic patents as a weapon.

Re: Nintendo's Patent On 'Sub Characters' Could Have Some Dire Ramifications

thedicemaster

the amount of detail this article goes into when describing the patent is a lot better than what's usually done, but stil pales in comparison to the novel that the writer of the patent wrote.

it's far from vague, and definitely does not cover most summon mechanics.
in part because very few, if any, summon mechanics have a mix of automated and menu based combat for summons.

this patent also is not nintendo "going after" any particular game(patenting to target a specific competitor's game is really hard, getting it to stick is even harder)
this is them recording specifically the combat mechanics of pokemon legends Z-A, which like usual they do very close to the game's release.

Re: Developers Reportedly Still Struggling To Get Switch 2 Dev Kits

thedicemaster

they may say to rely on switch 1 backwards compatibility, but they're also interfering with that by withholding dev kits.
Jens Andersson(collectingsmiles) can't fix several bugs in colors!live on switch 2 because he can't get a dev kit yet.(sonarpen not detected, several actions cause crashes)

if he had access to a dev kit he could not only fix those issues, but add features like 1080p120 handheld, 1440p120/4k60 docked mode, mouse input for docked mode, collaboration through gamechat/gameshare.

Re: Octopath 0 Is A Game-Key Card On Switch 2, And Square Enix Has "No Plans" For A Switch 1 Upgrade Option

thedicemaster

@sethfranum not being part of the chip-making industry it's impossible to get exact numbers, closest we can get is by comparing comparable products on the market.

it's pretty much a certainty that the switch 2 uses 3D nand for cartridges, and for those you can look up microSD prices.
every SD express card uses 3D nand for storage, and some smaller SD cards with 3D nand exist.
the interesting thing is that these smaller sd cards(32GB and below) do not carry "express" branding and are limited to the same speeds as cards that do not use 3D nand.

if you look up spec sheets for 128GB express cards you'll see they have 2 sets of 64GB, overlayed and connected to a single controller to achieve the card's full speed.

it is likely anyone who can give more specific information is either not directly connected to gaming(and thus not inclined to come here), or under an NDA preventing them from going into details.

Re: Octopath 0 Is A Game-Key Card On Switch 2, And Square Enix Has "No Plans" For A Switch 1 Upgrade Option

thedicemaster

@sethfranum a 32GB switch 2 cartridge would functionally be a 32GB switch 1 cartridge but more expensive to make.

the 3D nand tech they use in these cartridges technically requires 128GB(2x64GB) to work correctly.
the 64GB they use is already a compromise, cutting read speed in half because they can't benefit from having 2 overlayed storage clusters.

it's with good reason that microSD manufacturers don't even bother with 64GB microSD express.

Re: Super Mario 3D All-Stars Updated To Version 1.1.3, "Improves Gameplay" On Switch 2

thedicemaster

@DsheroX @Medic_alert the right analog trigger does give analog input in the game, but it's weirdly calibrated.
it seems to have 4 stages, with a 25% deadzone.
0-25% pressed - deadzone(no response)
25-50% pressed - weak input, fludd gives charging sound, sputters, and quickly dies down.
50-75% pressed - fludd sprays strong with charging sound, then dies down quickly.
75-99% pressed - fludd sprays strong with high pressure sound(psh), dies down slowly.
100%(click) pressed - same as 75-99, but goes into aiming mode.

it could use a smaller deadzone.

again, this is from someone who has only played the all-stars version and has never touched the original gamecube version.

Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Director Acknowledges Performance Drops: "We Prioritized Fun And Playability"

thedicemaster

@The_Nintend_Pedant the issue is one you can't just fix with a minor change.
it's the destructible terrain.
it is very cpu intensive, so no toning down of any graphical effect or detail is going to help because that primarily reduces strain on the gpu.
since destructible terrain is a core gameplay feature, it's also one they can't skimp out on.

do you want them to delete all enemies?
turn the terrain into big Minecraft blocks?
or just remove destructible terrain completely?
that's the kind of change they'd have to make to eliminate all the edge cases where you get frame drops.
the average quality of the game would go down significantly, just for a few imperfections that are unlikely to get in the way.

Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Director Acknowledges Performance Drops: "We Prioritized Fun And Playability"

thedicemaster

people here are underestimating the performance requirements for fully destructible terrain.
large scale unscripted terrain destruction will cause frame drops on any hardware.
it's not a matter of whether you get frame drops, it's a matter of how many frames you drop and how much destruction before frames start dropping.
and it's also only in relatively short bursts that this happens, while the system is recalculating every bit of terrain surrounding the destroyed area to determine the destroyed sections, the falling debris, the new shape of the remaining terrain, and how to texture it.
it's one of the most demanding gameplay mechanics, so it can't be compared to relatively simple games where nearly every interaction is either scripted or single objects interacting.

for other games with fully destructable terrain:
minecraft sticks to simple blocks, and still nearly crashes on any hardware if you set off too much TNT.
lego worlds: I've only ever seen this run poorly on any hardware, even before destruction starts.

Re: Nintendo's Ability To Ban Switch 2 Consoles Has Landed It In Hot Water

thedicemaster

under the DMCA, even "legitimate" use of a mig switch is illegal.
yes there is an exemption to copyright for personal backups, but this unfortunately explicitly does not permit circumvention of copy protection mechanisms.
which is exactly what you are doing by extracting the key file from the cartridge and copying it to your mig switch microSD.
this is 1 of the things that got yuzu in trouble.

on top of that, any company has a right to deny you service unless it's based on you being part of a protected class.
a right they remind you of in their EULA.

Re: Nintendo Reportedly Pulled Amazon US' Switch 2 Sales After Beef Over "Unauthorised" Sellers

thedicemaster

@Rob3008 it's grey import, which causes several issues.

stock shortages in the regions the games/hardware is pulled from.
no factory warranty on defects.
DLC requiring a foreign account.
promotions not lining up(had this with my current smartphone, couldn't sign up for the promotion in my country because my phone was intended for a different country)
game defaulting to distant servers for multiplayer(bad ping, lag, low activity during daytime, many unfamiliar languages)
localization for a different region(even if the language is the same, jokes, references, and censorship are often different between regions)
sometimes the content is drastically different(some regions lose out on characters, game modes, voice acting)

and if not clearly marked and sold as a separate product(Amazon likes to put 3rd party stock from different 3rd parties together if they appear to be the same, just a few days ago i got a wrong product because of this) all of this will come as a complete surprise to customers.

all this trouble, because a few companies want to undercut their competition with an unfair advantage.

Re: Three Nintendo Ray Tracing & Rendering-Related Patents Published In Japan

thedicemaster

@WhiteUmbrella they've filed many patents yes, primarily as a defence against patent lawsuits.
they almost never file patent lawsuits.

and ray tracing has been possible on computers for over 50 years, it's not some fancy new technology only the newest most powerful computers can use.
it's just being used in a very demanding manner in modern games.
and switch 2 has dedicated ray tracing cores, so it shouldn't have significant performance demand.

with how videogame companies usually handle patents, it's unlikely these patents will stifle innovation in other companies.

Re: Pokémon Fan Loses "20 Years Worth Of Data" After Performing Switch 2 Transfer

thedicemaster

@Ashina cheating prevention.
with cloud saves you could trade away rare pokemon, then reload a save to restore them.
only way i can see how they could allow cloud saving without enabling easy cheating is to require you to be connected to the internet when trading/transferring pokemon if you make use of cloud saves.

@garfreek you can't have game saves on the sdcard without a modded system.
another thing they did to prevent cheating, and hacking.

Re: Fortnite Devs Hit With Unfair Labour Practice Filing Following AI Darth Vader Fiasco

thedicemaster

@demacho that's just selfish.
dynamically interactive npc's can never exist in any form because you don't like AI voices.

characters with deliberately written dialogs to further a carefully crafted story will continue to be put into video games, and those will still rely on real voice actors.
cutscenes will still use real voice actors.
player characters will still need voice actors.

this is a new type of character to exist along such story characters, that will offer smart banter as a gimmick or background filler.

by all means fight for your right to control who can and can't use your voice, but don't demand people stop creating new technologies just because they can't use your voice.

Re: Rumour: New Leak May Explain Why So Many Switch 2 Physicals Are Game Key Cards

thedicemaster

@Serpenterror 32GB would probably save them $1 in costs, going from $16 to $15.

below 128GB microSD costs(non-express) from the same series go down by only $1 when halving capacity.
with the 3D nand used for the Switch 2 cartridges you almost certainly have the same diminishing returns going for lower storage capacities.
so following the way microSD prices scale you'd have prices like:
8GB - $13
16GB - $14
32GB - $15
64GB - $16
128GB - $24
256GB - $50

maybe after some time they can get 64GB prices down to something like $10, and they end up with 128GB at $16, and 256GB at $22, and it becomes reasonable to offer different sizes.

indies probably would benefit from releasing their games as "switch 2 editions", releasing a full switch 1 game on an 8GB switch 1 cartridge with a free patch to support 1080p120/4k60, mouse input, and gameshare on switch 2.