Too bad that Capcom didn’t bring MH Rise to Switch 2 (as a launch title).

As a game originally made for Switch 1, it has already got ARM-optimised code, which seems crucial for good CPU performance on Switch 2. and from the results on PS4, it should run very well on Switch 2, maybe even offering a 60+ fps VRR mode.

I’m not a MH player, but I heard very good things about Rise.

I would bet that CDPR will upgrade both games to FSR 4.1 and QSSR.

As mentioned before, I’d like to see CDPR bringing RT features to the 60 fps modes by lowering the resolutions, with support of these ML upscalers to maintain an acceptable image quality.

@RAVE_DAM0S Probably all of these devices support INT8, so I think its usage is a given.

And calling QSSR a “software only solution” is creating an image that is wrong: All ML upscalers are “software solutions”. PS5 Pro has dedicated logic on the graphics card part of its APU to run this software, the other consoles haven’t and use general purpose logic. Hardware with INT8 support uses that, because in my understanding it is more efficient than FP16 which PS5 uses. But as QSSR demonstrates, a useful ML upscaler based on FP16 is possible.

People often complain about Xbox, but their hardware department is making top notch products. Just look at the Xbox Adaptive Controller.

About the Nano: I have never seen such controller which is cute, beautiful and (I assume) very functional at the same time. Bravo!

@Sharklasers This is an insult based on national stereotypes I can’t stand unopposed. Painters in the 19th century would have called photographers being on the “wrong side” of history. Or musicians would have called people who pressed music on vinyl on the “wrong side” of history.

But instead of a balanced conversation, all you make is a damn Nazi comparison.

„Right side of history“ As if the morale values would be uniform across all people.

@Taggen1986 In my opinion, you made an unreasonable conclusion, based on an unreasonable assumption.

@MittenFacedLass Yes, moving to ARM with its low specific energy consumption makes sense for Valve. The Frame is not an accident, and the development of x86 emulation is too much effort for just a niche VR headset. Apple demonstrated three (3!) transitions over the decades, from 68k to PowerPC to x86 to ARM, and it worked flawlessly. Valve can do it as well!

Dear CDPR, now there are no excuses left for not bringing the RT 60 mode of PS5 Pro to base PS5. Even 720p -> 1440p could look fine enough with QSSR.

Compare that to what Cyberpunk 2077 offered in December 2020 on PS5!

The ball is in the fields of Microsoft and Nintendo. Microsoft should bring FSR 4 to Series. Nintendo still offers only a CNN model plus a very compromised “light” model. Two transformer models with the same or lower computational costs, but notably higher image quality would make a huge difference even for existing titles.

QSSR on PS5, potentially FSR4 for Series X (and S?) next year with the official arrival of FSR4 on RDNA2, Hardware Lumen with Megalights and 60 fps…

It’s like this generation has just begun.

Of course AMD will try to follow, because these technologies help a lot to make graphics more realistic. And „realistic graphics“ is still (unfortunately) the main goal of many directors and artists.

And „fake graphics“ is nothing new. Normal maps let a flat wall look like being made of thousands of polygons. But who complains if the result is convincing?

The main problem with DLSS 5 was the poor application for its reveal demos and now the many mods. To make the differences visible for everyone, all controls were turned to 11. But when abused, every technical system fails. It’s the same as with frame generation based on a 30 fps input. Impressive, but misleading.

@wsjudd „The usual ranges apply - from 40Hz to 60Hz in 60Hz mode, and lower when using 120Hz with LFC.“

1) 40 Hz is outside of the usual range for HDMI from 48 Hz to 60 Hz, afaik. The fact tha Microsoft and Nintendo offer it down to 40 Hz is because obviously all TVs support it, despite being not supported by the norm.
2) Is LFC now a system-wide feature when having a 120 Hz VRR screen connected? Or only if the game developers implemented it by themselves (like in Star Wars Outlaws)?

The hype around this game is tedious. I found the trailer so boring. Lowbrow humour, no wit, QTE to improve the relationship, „doing open world stuff“. Maybe the Netflix show was not representative for the game, but then it was a surprisingly bad trailer.

Soulsborne games made it clear to me that I prefer intensive experiences, not extensive ones.

@JJtheTexan A jump from 30 fps with PS5 to 60 fps with PS6 would require a CPU with double performance of a Ryzen 5 3600. For a console with a reasonable price (RAM and storage costs aside), that‘s not an easy task.

And we have a good example for that: GTA 5 was 30 fps on PS3 and 360 (or rather targeted it). But with PS4 and Xbox One, it remained 30 fps, and Rockstar opted for higher view distances etc.

Wouldn’t be surprised to see just an upgrade from 30 to 40 fps with the next generation!

@JJtheTexan Yeah, I saw „release date“ in the title and was excited, because I knew the year 2028, but a date is a specific day in my understanding. Unfortunate communication.

FSR 4 for RDNA 2 would allow to bring it to Xbox Series S and X.

(PS5 has no support for INT8, and using FP16 would be prohibitively expensive; please correct me if I’m wrong).

Let’s see if the devs at Microsoft and AMD are wild enough to implement FSR 4 for these systems. While it sounds crazy (especially for Series S), both systems could be needed for the upcoming years as the affordable Microsoft consoles, in case the prices for Helix will be as astronomical as suspected.

A good VRR implementation by Nintendo could solve many problems. Because for third-party games like this, handheld mode is the main way to play them, and they will mostly target 30 fps (60 fps on the other consoles).

If developers would have access to an easy-to-use VRR mode with low framerate compensation, developers could set the graphics settings incl. fixed resolution in a way that the framerate varies between e.g. 25 and 45 fps (with the lower boundary caused by CPU limitations). And that would be the best possible way to play these games on Switch 2 imo.

Now it‘s the job of Nintendo to inprove the VRR functionality!

The frame pacing seems to be all over the place, but 30 fps seems to be achieved most of the time. Bethesda unfortunately didn’t go the extra mile and didn’t implement VRR and low framerate compensation, which could have solved big issues. BUT traversal stutters remained a nightmare.

@Someguyperson If the cloud infrastructure is cheap enough to operate, I don’t see a reason not to target ALSO the more casual gamers. Nobody is taking away anything from the core gamers. But the casual gamers COULD also buy „core games“ and get more and more invested into gaming. If you put the bar too high with a heavy upfront investment like a 500 euros console or an 1500 euros PC, you won’t expand the group of core gamers, who buy (and therefore support) the same games as you and me.

And Xbox stands for easy-to-use console gaming, without conplex PC configuration and other uncomfortable stuff. The brands Nvidia and Steam don’t transport this message to casual gamers as good as Xbox does.

@Someguyperson Why this negativity? I know enough people who‘d like to play a bit FC, a bit CoD, a bit 007 First Light, but wouldn’t spend a 400, 500, 600 euros just for the required piece of hardware. An easy-to-use and affordable controller in combination with a free app on their existing TV would be great for them. And they would accept regular adverts.

@Frosh You mean Bl…, Bl…, …, Bloodborne???

A 9700X3D would have made more sense imo.

It seems to me the only reason why AMD is still offering Zen 4 is because of the 5 nm process, while Zen 5 is using 4 nm. Let’s assume that AMD wants to use this 5 nm process a bit longer. Maybe it would make sense to bring Zen 5 to 5 nm, with lower clocks than Zen 5 on 4 nm, but higher performance than Zen 4 (much better IPC).

Any other reason why AMD has yet stop the production of new Zen 4 processors?

People don’t care: https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/07/bare-bones-ps5-black-ops-ports-reportedly-have-more-players-than-latest-game-already-best-sellers-on-ps-store

From that perspective, Iron Galaxy and Activision made the right decisions.

Funny that so many enthusiasts say „Developers should make cheaper games with smaller development efforts“. And if they do so with great commercial success, those enthusiasts complain about the results.

Why doesn’t Microsoft use Xbox One and Series X as disc drives for Helix?

If you want to start playing a disc-based game on your Helix, it would check via internet
1) that the disc is in the drive of the coupled legacy console and
2) that this disc is not used in that moment for local play on the legacy console.

People could still use the consoles they bought the discs for!

My prediction: PS6 will get an optional disc drive, but it will only play PS4 and PS5 discs.

And hackers worldwide will try to burn discs with PS6 games which actually run on modded systems.

@Debo626 Why greed? If people like you boycott this release, then Sega earns less. Maybe Sega is good in assessing the willingness to pay of the target audience, and many of these people moan (like you) and pay the price regardless. I don’t see unfairness in this approach.

What I make of the news: If Valve and AMD can solve the problem, Nintendo and Nvidia can as well.

Media Markt Poland seemingly revealed the existence of a Quality and a Performance mode (also for Series S?), but later removed this info from its website.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours/comments/1udsah3/gta_6_will_have_a_quality_and_performance_mode/

@wsjudd It’s not the USK label alone, it’s the delightful combination of PEGI + USK. But most people will buy it digitally anyways.

@themightyant This game is cursed. I suppose the best console-like experience for this game will be on Project Helix with mods, what a shame.

@oliver-mackenzie

Please make a framerate analysis of the Stella Blade trailer. I am not sure what they have showed here (unstable unlocked framerate with double buffering?), but it was not the capped 30 fps that I assumed.

Thank you!

Many people were underwhelmed by the Duskbloods trailer, but they missed that it was running at 60 fps, unlike the first trailer 12 months sgo.

That and 60 fps for Lies of P are my highlights of the show.

The shows ends with Red Dead Redemption 2
(after the show, R* releases the trailer for PS5 and Xbox Series)

and as great finale a static picture with this text:

GTA VI
19/11/2026

I think that the solution is pretty simple: Microsoft should use existing consoles as disk drives.

With an firmware update for Xbox One and Xbox Series X, a Helix could access the console via internet and ask for confirmation that the disk is in the drive. The console would wake up, check the disk and give the confirmation to the Helix. The disk would then be blocked (cannot be used or ejected by the console, but digital games could still be played on it) for a set number of hours (then a reconfirmation is required) or until the Helix quits the game and releases the disk with a signal to the console.

A great keyboard is a piece of hardware you will use for a significant share of your life on Earth. This one has more longivity than a smartphone and costs a fraction of an iPhone. It’s no gadget. You can use it for leisure and work. It seems to be a joy to use it.

If you can afford it (and many people can), I don’t see a reason not to buy it.

Indies are here to stay, and their smaller budgets support pixel art. Why shouldn’t I play future games like Hollow Knight, Hades, Balatro, Absolum on Switch 2? Or even on Switch 1, which has chances to remain relevant until the mid 30s?

I‘m not familiar with the details, so please excuse my stupid question, but why should someone upgrade from an e.g. 7600 to a 7700X3D, if they could also upgrade to a more modern 9800X3D? And why is AMD bringing a new budget Zen 4 X3D CPU instead of a new budget Zen 5 X3D CPU („9700X3D“ or even „9600X3D“)?

Are there compatibility issues which could prevent upgrading an older AM5 board to Zen 5?

When everybody stopped expressing their wishes for the appearance of Silksong, it appeared.

Therefore, I stop expressing my wish for a PS5 remaster of Bl… Oops, that was close! 😅

@wsjudd Dear Will, I want to thank you for your articles here. When this website started, I expected to see something similar to the Eurogamer website with activated DF filter. But this website is so much more! Your articles are increasingly becoming a core part of DF, on a similar level as the videos. Keep on doing this great work!

@Granadico Based on the visible aliasing in the video, I suppose there is no DLSS involved.

I had preferred to keep the 3600 as the base CPU for PC testing. PS5 is the main console platform, and with a long transitioning phase, it will stay relevant for many years to come. Future handheld PCs will likely target the PS5 CPU performance to improve „compatibility“ with a huge number of existing and upcoming PC games (which target PS5 as well).

Btw, what is the CPU model closest to Switch 2 CPU performance? And can the CPU and RAM of this laptop with the mobile RTX 3050 be downclocked in a way to match Switch 2 performance? Would be great for „But can it run xxx?“ videos!

The world is full of meaningless BS, why should any reasonable person add some more BS to it?

I‘m in team Oliver: Just give me a super-polished 60 fps game, plus the option to uncap on 120 Hz screens.

The biggest influence on PSSR doesn’t have Sony, but Epic. As long as TSR creates better results than PSSR in UE5 games with Lumen, PSSR is of limited use for the majority of relevant games. Does AMD have enough engineers to support Epic, or is every hand needed for bringing Amethyst to market?

Great news, and the results are looking really good. Too bad that base PS5 (and PS5 Pro in 120 fps mode) only got a poor FSR1 implementation, so comparisons with a decent FSR3 or XeSS implementation are not possible.

Maybe Capcom will replace FSR1 in future, would help to bring Xbox Series S in a better position to assess the potential of Switch 2.

I decided to get the Switch 2 version instead of the PS5 version, and I‘m very happy so far. Playing primarily in handheld mode, VRR and the „Switch 2 per-screen motion blur“ create a pleasant experience.

I‘d argue that the image may be soft, but more stable than that created by FSR 1, even on PS5 (based on DF footage).

With the downfall of the Xbox Series sales numbers, Capcom obviously came the conclusion that Nintendo will be the primary competitor to Sony in the foreseeable future. Looking forward to Pragmata!

It might be obvious to others, but I didn’t know the specs and differences compared with the 9800X3D. I had to check other websites to find out the only difference is that the boost clock increased from 5.2 to 5.6 GHz.

This info should be in the beginning of the article.

I assume that Sony already has a PS3 emulator which is getting finetuned right now. And when the PS3 hardware for PS Plus Premium steaming is over its planned lifetime, Sony has the new solution ready.

A new website! What can I say?