uhhh…why is this in Gaming? I’m all for discussing the new DB, but i think this should land in Entertainment, no?

sounds about right from my personal experience. 40% of devs actually go out of their way to carefully design the lighting around it, and tweak lighting resolutions to get acceptable frame rates. the other 60% throw it in for marketing.

Edit: alright i have watched this video more and have more detailed thoughts. Many are pointing out that HUB used somewhat cherry-picked samples in this case, and they have a history of presenting RT in an unfavorable light (no pun intended). Now that I am thinking about it, I can see that a few of their samples are cases where the RT lighting produces softer, more realistic shadows or reflections, but Steve says the non-RT image looks better because the shadows or reflections look “sharper”. Idk, they weren’t that egregious, but it does give a weird vibe.

Regardless, I hope people don’t look at this and go “wow I guess RT is pointless then!”. The title of the vid suggests that we’ve had 6 years of RT with little to show for it, but I think I disagree. Part of the problem is that AAA game dev times are LOOOOONG, and devs are using engines from before the RT renaissance that they are comfortable with using. Accordingly, they stick with lighting techniques that they are familiar with, rather than trying to learn a new workflow. Combine that with the fact that the majority of gamers are still using last-gen consoles or 1080ti’s, and so devs have to use the old method of lighting to ensure that they can reach a viable audience. In that case, RT is a bonus feature that requires extra work on top of building the pre-baked lighting model.

We’re starting to see more UE5 games with “software” RT from Lumen, and these look great and can run smoothly on current-gen consoles. But even if the difference can be hard to see, the point is that RT lighting lets devs automate lighting in a lot of cases where previously they had to hand-place every lighting source. So moving to an RT future will mean that dev costs will go down, and smaller teams will be able to produce more visually-stunning games. It’s just that we’re in this weird limbo right now, where devs don’t want to go to only RT because a majority of gamers won’t be able to play the game, but gamers don’t want to get next-gen consoles because to their eyes, the graphics look basically the same. And of course they do, because devs are destroying themselves to make the pre-baked lighting look almost as good as RT.

Google takes the nuclear option

Same reason emulators are allowed. As long as the emulator doesn’t use Nintendo’s literal software/hardware or schematics, and as long as the emulator doesn’t traffic in illegal file-sharing, it is allowed. Or at least, it exists in a legal grey area. And Analogue’s pitch is original hardware, essentially rebuilt from scratch using FPGA technology. You still need actual Nintendo 64 carts to use this device. Or at least, that is how it is marketed.

I think the recent emulator shutdowns by Nintendo were more about software piracy. The devs knew that their emulators were being used to play unreleased Nintendo games. The emulators themselves may have been safe and legal, but the devs are mostly just volunteers, or small time operations running on a patreon. As soon as Nintendo applied even the smallest amount of pressure, the devs caved, because they don’t want to spend their entire life savings and then some trying to defend software piracy on principle. Me thinks that Analogue would actually put up a fight if Nintendo tried anything, and that’s why Nintendo doesn’t try anything.

Do you think Square will be more or less anal about copyright on Final Fantasy music after Uematsu retires?

Two comments on this post. One about how Sonic will lead the Skynet resistance, and one asking for help from Skynet to make this picture even cooler.

You never know with Nintendo. Don’t forget that Mario lives in a world where humans look like this:

So then…what is Mario?

how tf there only 2 comments in this thread? Y’all this is SILENT HILL TWO and it’s scoring WELL I guess my reason is horror games aren’t really my cup of tea. but this is a BIG DEAL!

Edit: here’s a key passage from the Eurogamer review that is hype:

The original game was both combat-light and a little short, and Bloober has addressed both these issues head-on. For the latter, the remake has opened up a slew of new landmarks for us to explore, so I devoted a lot of time picking through the streets of Silent Hill, revelling in the new-found freedom of being able to visit shops and buildings that had hitherto been out of bounds for us. This, coupled with longer levels and more places to visit, more than doubles the original eight-ish hour run-time.

As for combat? Well, be careful what you wish for, I guess. Silent Hill 2 was outrageously easy, even on its hardest difficulty, and Bloober’s edition is not. The good news is Remake doesn’t exactly make combat central to the experience (at least, not on standard difficulty). But it sure does make it harder to adopt the typical survival horror strat of run-away-run-away-run-away. Because of its claustrophobic tight spaces and nooks and crannies, it’s incredibly difficult to retreat from a fight, and there is essentially no meaningful way to stealth around the place, either. On top of that, most boss battles - they are all here, as well as a surprise or two - will deplete your ammo reserves with ruthless efficiency. It’s also often tough to finish off foes without taking damage yourself as a result, burning through your ever-dwindling medical supplies. (Yes, Lying Figures spewing toxic vomit in your death throes - I’m looking at you.)

They took a legendary game and made it better. Props to Bloober team, guess they still got it.

The OG roster, too! so sick!

USAID had sent Blinken a detailed 17-page memo on Israel’s conduct. The memo described instances of Israeli interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine.

The U.N. has declared a famine in parts of Gaza. The world’s leading independent panel of aid experts found that nearly half of the Palestinians in the enclave are struggling with hunger. Many go days without eating. Local authorities say dozens of children have starved to death — likely a significant undercount. Health care workers are battling a lack of immunizations compounded by a sanitation crisis. Last month, a little boy became Gaza’s first confirmed case of polio in 25 years

Christ this is so grim. How can Blinken and Biden read shit like this and then smile and wave about it.

If you were using this emulator, you weren’t likely purchasing anything from them in the first place. And I’m no doctor, but… I’d have to imagine that’s likely the reason Nintendo took this down to begin with.

Actually…I own a Switch and paid full price for TOTK on launch week. But playing the game in 30fps chunky resolution was very painful for me, as i’ve gotten quite used to 60fps+ over the last few years with 3D games. I almost put the game down in the first hour or so, playing the game was literally making my eyes hurt. That’s when i went poking into the Switch emulation scene and set up yuzu (RIP). Within a few hours i was playing TOTK at 60fps 1440p and it was mostly glitch free. I put another 20 hours into the game before putting that down. But it was a glorious 20 hours, as that game is absolutely beautiful when you can wipe away the greasy look of 30fps low-res Switch graphics.

So…I am a Nintendo customer that was getting a better experience out of my purchased Nintendo game by emulating it. I know that isn’t everyone in this scene - I see the reddit posts everyday for the past week about people playing leaked Echoes* of Wisdom. I get why that shit would piss Nintendo off. It just sucks that now, others can’t share the amazing experience I had with TOTK.

but without any of the cool fps unlocker or upscaler mods

It’s a fair question, but honestly I think Nintendo generally focuses on emulators that they perceive as affecting their current or near-future income. The Wii U is fully dead to Nintendo, at least for the moment.

Shiiiiiit. Now I’m really regretting not finishing TOTK on my PC back when I had that set up.

fair points! ty for your thoughts

So it’s the GOP’s dossier from before they pulled him for VP? Huh…not sure what to do with that, exactly. Definitely some meme potential, though.

The number of users to have voiced their disagreement already exceeds that of the admins.

Seems like it’s kind of a moot point then, no? If even a majority of Ukrainian users are aware of the issues with the list, I would expect most would just leave and the list would fade into obscurity.

What does “witch hunt” even mean anymore? I feel like it has been overused to the point of losing all meaning. In this case, by “witch hunt”, the writer means “they have started going too far and making some bad calls”. They aren’t calling for people to mount heads on spikes or review bomb, as far as I can tell.

It’s a strange case, though. Who do we think follows these curators? The title of the list is in Ukrainian, so I’d guess it’s mostly Ukrainians. On the one hand, I don’t want to tell Ukrainian folks how to spend their money with respect to Russia. Maybe for some, even the slightest whiff of Russia will turn them off from the game, regardless of how logical it is. It’s not my busieness to question the mostly-harmless emotional reaction of a people under siege. For those, these curation lists might still be useful. Of course, people that care this much would probably research another way if the curator lists didn’t exist.

For others, I’m sure they would prefer a curator list that actually does the research and doesn’t list a game unless the purchase would very clearly benefit Russia in tax dollars. For those, this turn of events is unfortunate. On the other hand, those people are probably level-headed enough to do their own research on a game-by-game basis.

My point is: the impact of these curator lists existing is probably minimal. But maybe i’m wrong, idk. What do y’all think?

they DID add those crossover decks recently, and the dev has indicated that there is more additional content coming. Idk, I think having the cards in HD wouldn’t look right, because the entire game has a specific kind of pixel art. Even the smooth, swirly background has a pixel art filter on it, bc that’s the vibe that the dev really wants the game to have. Mixing them would be like when pixel art rpgs have super hi-res fonts. It just doesn’t fit right.

Y’all I finally watched the trailer and now i’m kinda hyped. I’ve been watching Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix and it’s giving me those vibes. Maybe it’s just the female (but maybe nonbinary) protagonist in both media, but either way, it’s working for me and now I’m eager to see more about this one.