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Take BOTW for example, it runs at about 30FPS at 900p on the docked Switch. It's not super stable and drops a few frames, think by the Deku Tree, for instance. What DLSS can do depends on what type of experience you want. You could run the game in 720p native (lighter load on the GPU), upscaled to 1080p. The deep learning super sampling would output an upscaled 1080p image, but the actual game would be rendering in 720p, so in TV mode, the frame-rate would be much smoother because the GPU is not working as hard to produce the image. The cost of running DLSS would be far lower than natively rendering the game in 900p over 720. Mario Kart 8 is a buttery smooth 1080p60. With DLSS enabled, it could, in theory upscale the image to 2160p or even 4K with very little cost. I'd imagine, with it being a Wii U game, there is still some overhead that could be used to achieve this. If they slightly upgrade (or even unlock) the clock speeds on the next model, this would be instantly achievable. For handheld mode, you could have Doom Eternal, as an example, rendered in native 480p and outputting at an upscaled 720p on the Switch Screen, which may even make 60FPS possible, or allow it to maintain a consistent 30fps upscaled to 720p (so no more variable resolution to keep the frame-rate stable). Basically, it allows you to play around with output and frame-rates and tailor the experience to what you want. Now I'm sure Nintendo will be extremely strict with what they allow users to select and it certainly won't be as free as it is on PC. But this stuff really works and I'm kicking myself for buying an AMD GPU a couple of years ago. There are loads of Digital Foundry videos if you want to get all technical which examine different uses of DLSS and the cost or running a game like Control in native 4K compared to upscaled 4K. The amount of power you can save is really as much as 50% and the difference in image quality is almost not visible unless you zoom right in. It's also really going to come into its own when stuff like ray-tracing takes off as rendering that stuff is extremely expensive. This shit is magic. The best part is it would not cost Nintendo anything like a full generation shift but can get similar results. All they would need to do is use a slightly more modern chip than the one they have now and keep everything else the same. This stuff has been around for a few years now but has only started seeing real results in the last 12 months as the technology has improved. They would be absolutely insane to not make use of it in their partnership with Nvidia, and best of all, they could still make a tidy profit off a $299 Switch with this feature included. They don't need to break the bank. Edit: It also makes sense for Nintendo to adopt this as a matter urgency, before the XSX and PS5 get up and running. The longer they leave it, the further they'll get left behind. Though that's just my opinion based on 2010-2012 and the Wii.

Welcome to a stupid thread idea I had that I'm calling Gaming Questions That Don't Matter. Simply put, I think about things in games way too hard at times and end up with questions that I'll never actually find the answer to and I think you should all join me in my torment. Each week, I'm gonna post a different question like this in the hopes of starting deep, meaningful conversations on stupid crap. This week's question is one that's bubbled up for me quite recently. And it involves the Zelda timeline. Yeah, that hot mess. But we're not here to debate whether it's accurate and we're certainly not here to debate on why the hell the Oracle games got moved to after Link's Awakening. For the sake of this question, let's just assume that this is the timeline and that anyone who diverts the discussion towards what goes where will get pointed and laughed at for not reading this post. OK? Cool. So, we can all agree that Breath of the Wild happens sometime after all of this, which has puzzled me for quite a while. Because... OK, so Zoras exist in BotW, must be somewhere in the middle or the left timeline. OK, now I'm lost. Somehow, Rito also exist in this world. Which would place it on the right hand side of the timeline, but that can't be, because Zoras exist and Wind Waker established that Zoras evolved into the Rito to adapt to the now flooded Hyrule, but they're right there on the other side of Hyrule in BotW, and oh no, I've gone cross-eyed! This isn't the only case of stuff from different points in the timeline showing up in BotW. There are way too many references to locations from all sorts of games and it makes no damn sense! A popular theory is that all three timelines somehow merge together to make the world of BotW. That would conveniently solve a lot of the problems here, but it does leave one major concern of mine. How? And then an idea started to bubble in my mind, which forms the basis of a theory that has led me to finally ask this week's question. Is Hyrule Warriors Canon? For clarity, I'm not talking about Age of Calamity (Nintendo has already confirmed that as canon), I'm talking about the original Hyrule Warriors, specifically the 3DS and Switch version. If you don't know the plot of that game, basically some evil sorceress gets the Triforce and uses it to smash different Zelda games together. These include Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker. You can play as Ruto (a Zora) and Medli (A Rito) in this game. I think you can see where I'm going here. Now, obviously Ruto and Medli went back to their respective worlds once everything was fixed, but you can't honestly believe that any Zora or Rito didn't take the opportunity to explore this strange new Hyrule where Link has a scarf and rock music is everywhere? What if said Zora/Rito got left behind once everything went back to normal? Suddenly, we have a world where both Zora and Rito exist, which would mean that Hyrule Warriors is this grand timeline unification, BotW can start making sense and I can stop giving myself an aneurysm thinking about it. I think you all know my view is that Yes, Hyrule Warriors is Canon. Now, obviously, there's bound to be something out there that's still unanswered despite this, but what do you think? Am I on to something? Or am I just barmy? (Don't answer that one, I already know) Discussion starts here

KiryuThumbsUp.gif Wow. I’ve not used the 2D option at all. There was one part where I was forced to play in 2D briefly, but other than that it’s been 3D all the way. The retro look is a nice additional option to have I guess, but with just how much work has gone into the 3D presentation, it sort of feels like it’d be a waste to play the entire game like that. Anyway, you’re in for a treat with the voice acting if you do replay it in 3D, as the English dub is indeed fantastic.

I'm sorry, where does it say Double Cherry? You can't just lump 1-up Mushrooms in with Double Cherries willy nilly! That just causes anarchy!

A JRPG without a good casino always gets minus 1 million points from me.

Played this A LOT over the weekend, too much actually. Yeah, collected all of the orbs and... I’d have made even more progress if it wasn’t for the casino! Must have spent a good couple of hours playing the slime slot machines in there. Addictive doesn’t even begin to describe it. Anyway, thanks once again to everyone that recommended this game to me over in the Game Pass thread, you guys picked an absolute winner!

For what it's worth, they can likely make just as much, if not more profit, from a revised more powerful Switch than they do off of the current one, as they will be able to produce the chips on a much smaller fabrication process (8nm, 12nm etc). My understanding of the current chip inside the latest Switch (Mariko), is that it's still using a fairly outdated fabrication process (16nm). Yes, the chip is old, but there comes a point where it's just cheaper to switch (excuse the pun) to a more efficient process. For mobile technology, that transition period occurs much quicker than the say, the technology inside a PS5. Either way, let's wait and see. But I'll be shocked if they don't launch a fairly decent console upgrade alongside Zelda.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Spy-My-Hairy-Eye/dp/B07V5X56SR/ Enjoy?

Lovely write up, cheers Nick.

When you have woefully low base stats of 440, no evolution and get shafted by not getting a Mega Evolution in the remake of the generation that you debuted in, drink is the only answer.

I'm so happy you're enjoying it, @RedShell. Yeah, that scene with the magazine is hilarious. Having a pervy old man in a JRPG is as important as having a bath house show up at some point. Also, Jade.

Spent some time grinding jobs and Charisma last Saturday. 48 hours in and I "just" need to finish the two post-game dungeons. Still need to do a lot more grinding for job exp, though.

I have a spare code if @S.C.G doesn't want to give up his code.

I think we know who your favourite character is. Now you've heard God Shattering Star, have you heard this version yet, featuring Claude himself?

On sorta related note. In the early Phantasy Star games (PSII I think), it was established if your character died and you took them to get revived that they actually cloned the character and clone kept all the original character's traits and memories. This always freaked me out a little.

My teenage years in 2 albums. Also, that Sky One logo really hits me right in the nostalgia.

I've got one of these on my wish list, as I've got loads of smaller sets of tools, but I'd like one set that has them all in one place. Looks like it also has a few things that my current toolset doesn't. God damn it, I'm going to end up ordering one and taking apart everything I own, arent I?

My iFixit kit arrived today (a week early): So I’m ready to start taking things apart! The kit is really nice and will find many uses beyond the modding projects. Super excited to get started.

DLSS does not mean native 4K to everyone dismissing it. Watch the video that @Goron_3 posted. This is technology that already exists in most Nvidia chips post Switch launch. It is completely feasible and even logical that a new Switch would include this technology. In fact, it would be outrageous if they didn’t include it.

Yay? Seriously though, this cartoon is like a freaking drug trip! It's just at the point in history where any CGI was considered good CGI and it's aged about as well as you'd expect.

Okay, so here's the trufax: The Double Cherry does not create a second Mario at all. In order for the moral quandary to be raised, the clone must have its own identity, ideas, and decisions, even if, at the moment of the split, the minds feel like they're equal (albeit growing apart the more time passes, as the two identical entities gain more and more distinct life experiences). However, this is not what happens with The Double Cherry at all, for the second Mario cannot act independently from the first Mario at all. If Mario goes left, both go left, if one jumps, both jump. Literally their only difference is location in space. Because they share a mind, it's fair to say, this is not a second Mario: it's a second body for the one Mario. When one of the bodies "dies"... it doesn't. It leaves no corpse. It poofs. Same thing happens when you finish a level. If the one remaining Mario body dies, then it completely falls off the stage, or leaves a corpse, or falls off the screen/4th wall. This never happens with the Cherry bodies, ergo, no life is being taken. The cherry "unphases" Mario's physical body into two separate vessels for a limited amount of time, and if one of them poofs, Mario's mind (or soul) reconvenes back into where the remaining body is. In other words, the Double Cherry is not a "Prestige" kind of situation to begin with. Mario still exists, because no life is lost in the scenario that Glen-i opened the thread with. Extra lives: This feels like it should be next week's topic.

If it's from the UK Pokémon newsletter, I don't think they've gone out yet.

Thank you both very much for that! But it's okay, I'll have another dig through my emails just in case but if I can't find it I'll just give it a miss, since it will just end up perma boxed anyway haha! xD

You can indeed combine mushrooms and cherries: https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/crispy-polenta-cakes-with-cherry-and-mushroom-ragu (actually that doesn't look too bad, may try making a veggie version at some point). And no Mario doesn't exist any more. Want to know why?

Great to read you're enjoying it @RedShell! I genuinely think it might be my favourite game of the last generation. So much heart and charm, definitely seems the right thing to help wade through some of COVID (along with a healthy - or unhealthy - dose of Yakuza), or any time, really. Such a jolly time. Only kicker was the music I guess - specifically it's repetition, dependence on older OST's and sound quality in the original release - but as someone who hadn't played a DQ game before this one, I didn't have too much to complain about in that regard, because it was all new to me!

Setting up shop in the middle of dangerous dungeons takes a toll

A few more games while they're on sale: With everything else I've picked up over the last couple of weeks, and with plentiful Gamepass titles to get through, I think I've enough. Maybe. Picked up Fallen Order for the PS5 update, even if it isn't the biggest upgrade. Hitman 2 because I've not gone through it fully and want to do that before 3. And I dropped Ni No Kuni 2 not long after it came out as I wasn't majorly fussed for the Pikmin/Little King's Story-esque parts but have a hankering for a JRPG and found the overarching game decent enough so going to give it another try (it was only just under £7 so not bad) before I grab DQ11 for playing down the line. The Falconeer I got as I liked the look of it and had an Amazon discount code that got me the game for £20. Oh and I also bought some curtain rails, a new bin and a bunch of other gouse stuff for my house move in the next 2 weeks or so. And treated the missus to some new clothes that she had been eyeing up.

Dark Souls 3. I'm going to leave a more detailed breakdown in here later on, but posting this now as a reminder to myself. (It's a solid 9/10 imo, but Bloodborne and DS1 are slightly better). Edit. Right here we go. First and foremost, my experience of the Souls games actually starts with Bloodborne, which after initially hating soon became one of my favourite games of all time. Towards the tail end of last year I picked up Dark Souls and absolutely loved it (a much harder game than BB, imo) and it made sense to try and play another game in the series. I deliberately opted against Dark Souls 2 because I've watched a lot of critiques of the games and they've all put me off it. I therefore decided to jump into DS3. First things first, this games looks absolutely gorgeous. After a bit of research, it looks as though this game came out after Bloodborne and launched on PS4 / XBO, and it certainly benefitted from that 'next gen' upgrade. The environments in the game massively benefit from this, and there were a couple of areas late on in the game that made my jaw drop, both in terms of their scale and also the visuals. Whilst I wish the game had more varied areas, overall it's probably the best looking game the team have made. The combat was as tough as ever but generally I think if you've played BB or Dark Souls before then it's not actually as difficult you might think. I guess the big change in this game compared to the previous Souls games is that the combat is much faster. In terms of enemy attack patterns and boss fights having second phases, it felt like I was playing Bloodborne again. I originally enjoyed this however a few areas into the game, I began to realise that the game almost seemed to lack a solid identity. It either felt too much like Dark Souls in certain areas, or too much like Bloodborne. I wasn't able to get rid of those feelings by the end of the game, unfortunately. That said, here I am 80 hours later having completed the game and honestly, it's just bloody terrific. The gameplay loop of all the games in this franchise was just so finely tuned by the time DS3 came out that it was destined to be a winner, and it's certainly one I'd recommend. The game ran at a flawless 60 FPS too.

Probably, I received my code for Zarude just over a month ago, though I haven't redeemed it, and probably won't. Would you like my Zarude code? Assuming it's still valid, of course.

I hope you do! I have to say it’s one of the nicest bits of kit I’ve ever bought, really solidly put together and a bit for everything that I can imagine needing. Well worth getting imo!

I've also got a spare New 3DS for when my New 2DS eventually dies. It's just a shame that it's an Animal Crossing one and not a standard version. I would have liked to have picked up another Vita as a spare but buying a new one now is pretty expensive. They never seemed to drop in price. That seems to be the case with most consoles these days. One time you could snap up a console that was past its generation for dirt cheap but it sadly just doesn't happen anymore. Again, I would have loved to have picked up a discounted new Wii U as a spare but they never appeared. I actually played this back in the day but I got rid of it before finishing it. No idea why as I do remember enjoying what I played.

I just don't see them taking the risk. They are at the same time the most creatively ambitious video company, and the most financially conservative. Their hardware advances have only ever been ambitious when they're up against the cosh - Wii came in response to the failed GC, DS to counter the emerging mobile scene, Switch to counter failed Wii U. When they're operating from a position of strength, as they are now, they tend to opt for mid-generation hardware refinements that streamline and update, making the machine more efficient (and probably cheaper) without improving the ability of the machine - DS Lite, Switch Lite, GBA SP (nostalgia bomb, anyone remember this fucking beauty of a machine?). Cost is low and it can't be made redundant through poor adoption (like the Virtual Boy, the likely lesson that taught them their conservatism).

DLSS is almost guaranteed to be included as a key feature of Switch 2. It’s basically a free 40-50% performance boost across the board with any 3D game; and it’s Nvidia’s big USP with their current generation of graphics chips. It’s a huge advantage that will go a LONG way towards closing the power gap between Switch 2 and PS5/Series X (which have no such equivalent feature).

Yep, also this. Everyone is just saying what I'm thinking currently. Nintendo just aren't gonna chase the performance, because that would make their consoles more expensive. When your main competition are expensive, power-chasing consoles, why give up your cheaper alternative niche?

I’ll admit I have no idea when it comes to the tech. However in 20 years any time Nintendo has been rumoured to be giving us a performance boost it turns out to be bullshit.

Yeah, these rumours never mention if they'll make Link's Awakening run smoothly!

Even with the monitor at that angle there’s plenty of room to open those drawers, bit of a trick of the camera I think. The monitor gets swivelled depending on my mood. It’s back in the centre at the moment. It was set to that angle initially because I used to have the laptop on a different stand so it was open and acting as a second monitor. Kind of miss having that but it did take up more space on the desk. I’m swapping out the speakers for a pc soundbar so it’s easier to position for a setup that’s moving a lot. Other than that I think I just need to get a new webcam and then it’s done. Not sure to be honest, I’ll look into it. I managed to find the pad with went with my Xbox One that I packed away just last week after hours of searching so at least have something to use for the moment.

Oh, I hated this decision for the 3DS games. Everything looked so pale compared to Black/White Sword and Shield thankfully dialed back to more colourful models. Yes, I know Kecleon is not in Sword/Shield, that model's from Home.

I'll tell you this now. Trial & Error is the name of the game. You're never gonna finish it without first failing hundreds of times. Night Trap is a pretty crummy game. It's more valuable as a piece of gaming history.

See, I'm not surprised. The card mechanic was designed for a game that has a mostly fixed camera for battles so you can see almost everything at once. It allows the player to more easily manage their deck and dodge attacks when you don't need to control the camera. The people behind the original version went on to make The World Ends With You, BTW. You can kinda see some similarities between the two. That GIF also reminds me that Chain of Memories is a drop-dead gorgeous GBA game!

4K? Pff. How about a stable 30-60 FPS in all games? You would actually notice the difference there...

Review Naaaaah.

Looks sweet. Do you kneel at the desk or sort of crouch down? It’s a standing desk, I’m just really short.

Put the final touches on the new desk today with monitor arm and vertical laptop stand. Pretty happy with it.

I didn't have the game till november, or when did I join. Everything else is OK. I have specific working hours so there si not a day or an hour I can always attend.

This is a bit weird but also a nice surprise. Last May/June I picked up a brand new DSi XL that also came with a brand new copy of Pokemon Conquest. Days after this purchase things went a little south for me for a few months. Because of this, as soon the items arrived I just put them in the cupboard with my DS games and forgot about them. Whilst fishing out Super Princess Peach for the picture I took in the other thread, I came across my forgotten purchase and finally opened it! I always wanted a DSi XL. I just rocked the original model and then Lite when I originally owned a DS but never did upgrade to this. It took a while to find a brand new model that was the colour I wanted. I hate the burgundy and yellow colour models and those were the ones that seemed to be mostly available. I got Pokemon Conquest as part of the bundle. It originally came with Pokemon White 2 but seeing as I already have that I asked for it to be swapped with Conquest. The seller was happy to make the change. I wonder how long these would have sat there had Aneres not mentioned Super Princess Peach?

Okay so I've done a lot of stuff and managed to get a 2* rating. I rearranged/planted more flowers, gave all the islanders gifts (basically a flower since they all seem to like that and give me stuff in return...the reason I do that now is because I gave Poncho a wrestling mask and he didn't like it to which he was like "thanks anyway"...I wished I sold it now, the ungrateful git! [emoji23]). I've made a load of scenes from films using people's custom designs and put their costumes as mannequins and surrounded them with props or floor fittings where possible. I've also created an island where my campsite is and I'm putting a few horror themed stuff on there.

Definitely going with droopy ears for my Palamute.