Hey Everybody, Welcome back for some more fun. This time around we have so much to discuss we don't have time for it all. Taryn is again joined by Tran and Matt to review a Games, Movies, and even a quickfire quaestionaire about some devices at CES like the curved smartphones and tv's. It has been a crazy year and looking to 2014 we have our resolutions, and hype building for new games coming out, new consoles, and new tech. We also made some predictions for the year and things that may or may not happen. Enjoy, and don't forget to read all about the show, reviews, and articles on the website.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor & Fallen Order are now playable on Amazon Luna thanks to a new multi-year deal with EA. Cloud gaming just leveled up.
Sadly just if you subscribe to Luna it appears. I hooked my EA account into it, which has Jedi Survivor, and it doesn't show in my Library. They don't show as a source either, so just a heads up to not let your purchasing decision be swayed as to where you pick the titles up if a bonus streaming option held any interest.
Sony has been quietly working on a PS5 Pro PSSR update that addresses visual issues experienced in some previously released games.
Fast forwarding it's going to be interesting to see how PSSR will have evolved since 2024 once the PS6 is one month or so away from release.
Personally though, I gotta admit I am still not that keen towards upscalers.
Since I've got that feeling that they've been somewhat invented to just reduce costs and therefore sacrifice quality.
But, yeah, dunno, maybe it's just me.
I love them. Anything that can deliver a similar image with vastly less power used can only be good for gamers. No evidence in games yet to say they're releasing at less quality because of them
I think they serve a purpose, but overall the power they use I think is better spent just giving us a smaller boost to res instead of a larger upscale. Artifacts are worse that state stepping and pixelation.
Its the difference between working smarter instead of harder. And espcially in a world where more the most performant gaming GPUs are out of the price range of most consumers.... even then the highest of high end rigs will struggle with state of the art visuals at native 4K at a decent framerate.
100% upscalers are both cost reduction and efficient improvements. That isn't a bad thing at all.
Imagine hardware costs and power consumption to handle everything natively
I don't think it has much to do with financial savings personally, I think the introduction of AI upscalers is more about leveraging technology to get the most possible performance out of a GPU.
Personally, I am a big fan, I am currently playing AC Shadows on my PS5Pro and it is jaw dropping to look at!
Speaking of AC Shadows, I read somewhere that Ubi still haven't released a proper update for the Pro so once they release that, it should look even better.
You are not keen on getting more out of the power that you have? I don’t understand the argument.
You are in a console-focused space, where people's understanding of technology is barely akin to that of a child. Basically, if it looks shiny, it's good. So, I don't think your point will be popular.
But yes, ML-based upscalers were created primarily to make development easier and cheaper. They function by allowing developers to skip certain details, which are later added by the model, and by enabling the adoption of cost-saving and time-saving technologies like ray tracing.
It is quite literally the opposite of "free power" or "extracting more power" from the hardware. That would happen without these models, where rasterization techniques would need to be used, tailor-made for each game and hardware, thereby extracting every ounce of power available.
The genius of it is not the tech itself, it is the marketing. Manufacturers presented two equally bad options for users and developers: spatial algorithm upscalers and ML-based upscalers. So, these groups chose the least bad of the two, without realizing that the third, much better option, no upscalers at all, was deliberately hidden. So they are here to stay.
Thank you very much for the explaination. That's exactly how I feel about these upscalers.
And this feeling originated from, as one example watching DF tech videos.
And from them coming to the conclusion that there's a sacrifice being made by developers using upscaling.
(And that DF for that matter, although they actually have the knowledge about what's going on beneath, probably rather committing to their business model to produce videos accompanying upscale technology. But not investigating it, not going beneath it. Which is fine, because they had to make a choice business wise. I can understand Richard, who still criticizes when he seees fit.)
So thanks again!
And of course:
I knew this would blow up the downvotes.
Despite having actually phrased excitment about where PSSR will stand in a few years, right at the beginning of my comment.
But "Oh, 3 downvotes already!" often times lead to just more downvotes.
And I am totally fine with people not agreeing with a comment I've made in the Internet.
I don't get why people against AI upscaler, eventually we won't be able to tell the differences, and we save money on keep chasing GPU with raw power for 4k, 120fps, ray tracing... which even top of the line card that costs thousands of dollars cannot do.
More like youll pay a premium for AI upscale rather then receive actual performance upgrade for the price.
You don’t like upscalers? So you don’t like getting more out of your hardware? Niiiiice
I just can't believe how much more emersive of a game GOW:Rangerok is on the pro. I'm going for the platinum 🏆. Stunning!
I can't see any difference at all on any PSSR title. In fact, In GT7, it makes the image worse, with a weird shimmering texture on car interiors.
I feel cheated after having bought the Pro. The only really good thing about it is 60FPS in many more games. But graphically, I can't see *any* improvement, regardless of game, PSSR on or off.
What have you played though? You won't notice a difference on GT7 because of how it looks to start with. Only have to load up a game like FF7 Rebirth and it's instantly noticeable.
The reason you are seeing shimmering on car interiors (in that setting) is that it is using ray tracing, which is a massive step up in visual realism but is expensive so the resolution is dropped a fair bit. I think the other modes still give PS5 Pro an advantage over PS5 so just use those if the trade offs for that setting aren't worth it for you. They are for me.
For me, biggest improvement by far: Elden Ring now gets a consistent 55-60fps in the DLC areas on performance.
Any PSSR title? What kind of TV are you using? I ask because this is the complete opposite of my experience while playing on an LG OLED G2. I suspect the panel could be an issue here.
I'm using a 2023 LG C2, 65".
I never said games don't look great. I just don't see any improvement with PSSR.
Uhh, hey fake news!
This is a very oddly framed article reporting on the news that Ubisoft has a PSSR patch in the works for AC Shadows, but this awful author is inserting her own narrative that it's already out and updated and that it was Sony's update.
PSSR is not yet updated again. AC Shadows is not yet using PSSR. It could be days or weeks or even months before we see the AC Shadows PSSR patch and for all Ubisoft has said, they've only worked with Sony, they didn't say PSSR itself is being updated based on the work they did to implement it into the game.
Reads like something a know biased PlayStation fanboy on YouTube would write to justify throwing their money away on something that's marginally better than PlayStation 5 base and especially series x.
No. It just reads like someone is making their own headline and conclusion. No need to fanboy this up, troll.
The late 1980s and early 1990s saw gaming giant Nintendo engage in a rapid-fire series of corporate deals and backstabbing — the consequences of which would create a new rival and industry titan to change the gaming landscape forever.
TBH, there's no longer any rivalries. sure they are selling consoles but those looking for Nintendo games, will buy Nintendo's but those looking for higher end console experiences, will definitely choose Playstation
The game hasn't changed just the players as it's always been.
Intellivision vs Atari
Nintendo vs sega
Nintendo vs PlayStation vs sega vs Atari vs 3d0
PlayStation vs Xbox vs Nintendo
And now PlayStation vs Nintendo
They may be playing the game differently but they are absolutely competitors
Never consider Playstation v Nintendo as a rivalry now.
Glad you omitted Microsoft. Sony's war with Microsoft was over a couple of years ago.
Console wars is long dead imo.
Yep. It’s about to be what it would have been if no Xbox had joined the scene in 2001 - Nintendo and PlayStation providing the goods. LOTS of exclusives, Japanese games, etc!
Only difference now is Sony puts many of their games on PC, but otherwise, that’s about to be the status quo.
"higher end". Considering some of the most successful games sold of all time don't fall under the "higher end" category, I find that comment funny.
Great games exist everywhere, Astrobot proved that you don't need to have photo-realistic graphics to make an amazing game.
If a game handles great, is fun/awesome to play and I get my money's worth, then why isn't that a higher end experience?
Since when is "high end" means most sold? But ok, let's play the devil's advocate here and take some examples. Some of the best selling games in recent years are indeed the higher end experience Nintendo isn't delivering like GTAV, RDR2, CoD games, RE remakes, FF games, Elden Ring, BG3 etc. and these are multiplat games not available only on Nintendo's. So yeah, those seeking to experience these, have had to choose the PS or Xbox or go PC.
Nintendo has the portable market locked down with little chance for others but at the same time, they also know that they just can't compete at the higher end market. Licky for them their core fanbase is ok with games looking last gen being sold at current gen prices. The moment they go multiplat, they will be reduced to just a publisher like xbox because their games look and play better on more powerful hardware they're unwilling to supply.
@badz149 - you sound like you are 10 years old.
define deliver? Are Nintendo games fun to play? Do they handle great? Do they look aesthetically pleasing?
It'll be interesting to see what you say when the Switch 2 starts getting these 3rd party games because the hardware can actually handle them. Start moving those goal posts now badz, gotta get your new argument ready.
