Digital Foundry Retro Discussion [2018 - 2020]

[Cyan]

Not that year. It was awful.

They managed to set my expectations over the roof, I ve never been so excited about gaming until hard truth hit me.
Thank God we did get some amazing gems though from Sony's first party studios which approached at least the feeling and some of the elements demonstrated. But they were scarce.

Despite Sony's shaky start, as a generation, that was a much more colorful generation than any other. For me it was the best in history in equality, emotion and general quality --when it comes to consoles, of course.

That generation was a victory in sales of the Wii - not so much in games' sales-, where PS3 and X360 also sold many units. I do not know if we'll see something like it again -only SNES vs Megadrive comes to mind as the more balanced generation.

 

[Cyan]

If you like that, check out this genesis cover a friend of mine did. Holds up pretty well vs the arcade version.

Wow, just realized this is 5 years old.

cool rendition of the song, thanks for sharing! It sounds cleaner than the SNES version. Also, it lacks the bass depth of the SNES version, so it's a tie, although I give the SNES version the nod since it's the one I played.

 

[Cyan]

So many memories, love these press conference retrospectives. I really miss the days of more original titles being the headlining reason to pick up a new console. I still remember playing through Heavenly Sword and Uncharted in late 2007.

But Sony really put themselves in a bind with that launch price and still having a substantial loss per console.

that and a Ken Kutaragi who was so pleased to have met himself (typical sentence here, of someone arrogant and full of himself)....

I shared the DF Retro video somewhere else and got this reply which got my attention...
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I remember that conference based on the biblical reminiscences that evokes me and that took place in it:

As the transfiguration of our Lord:

"There, while praying before them, his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light."

Matthew 17, 1-6
Mark 9, 1-8
Luke 9, 28-36

Or like the bright light emanating from the glowing PS3 behind during the conference, in the image and likeness of the star of Bethlehem's portal, because it anticipates and predicts just moments before, its glorious coming, the designated place where it would be replaced by the true star, the light that guides us, the divine, radiant and glorious personification that embodies said sign.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Despite Sony's shaky start, as a generation, that was a much more colorful generation than any other. For me it was the best in history in equality, emotion and general quality --when it comes to consoles, of course.

I think it was the real beginning of bloating budgets that hamstrung the entire industry to put out focused grouped derivative titles. The quality was often there, but so many games are now just TPS or FPS derivatives, even if they are labelled "RPG". I will admit to being one of the bastard plebs to fuel this direction Some damn good games though.

That generation was a victory in sales of the Wii - not so much in games' sales-, where PS3 and X360 also sold many units. I do not know if we'll see something like it again -only SNES vs Megadrive comes to mind as the more balanced generation.

It still irks me to no end how utterly weak the Wii really was. I've gone back through my mind countless times imagining how much better something modest like a PPC7400 + Radeon X1600 would've been. The system still would've ended up having issues competing against the HD twins later on. However, porting games would've been easier, and actually had some sembleance of what was seen on the 360 and PS3. X1600 can generally run PS3/360 graphics at 480p, or half frame rate without too much issue.

 

[dogen]

cool rendition of the song, thanks for sharing! It sounds cleaner than the SNES version. Also, it lacks the bass depth of the SNES version

You sure about that? I'm not hearing it myself. The genny is putting out some pretty punchy bass here, though this is an old effort

 

[Cyan]

You sure about that? I'm not hearing it myself. The genny is putting out some pretty punchy bass here, though this is an old effort

shall give the song a try in a different audio setup then. I played the video a couple of times in a laptop using the built-in speakers of the laptop, which are sooo bad. I listened to the SNES version afterwards and the bass seemed more obvious and powerful, but still....

 

[Cyan]

Doom modder uses Artificial Intelligence to enhance the textures of the cult classic.

The game has received an amazing graphical overhaul through the power of AI. Probably the best Doom mod to date, if you like to have EXACTLY the original gameplay and non over-pixelated graphics.

Game modders have started to experiment with AI, with Doomworld user hidfan utilising Nvidia's GameWorks SuperResolution and Topaz AI Gigapixel to enhance DOOM's sprites and textures, greatly enhancing the game's graphical detail.

Original thread where the modder shows his work:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/99021-v-0-95-doom-neural-upscale-2x/

https://www.overclock3d.net/news/so..._graphical_overhaul_through_the_power_of_ai/1


Doom NeuralUpscale 2x what is it ? :
Using AI NeuralNetworks (A lot of Nividia's texture tools : super resolution and a little bit of Topaz's AI gigaPixel), all textures and sprites have been upscaled 8x (with tons of AI artefacts), then downscaled to a final 2X to restore a pixel art look.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1061680377142505472

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1072238889673252864

The result in real-time is VERY nice.

 

[milk]

Unbelievably good results.

 

[dogen]

idk man, i'm have to try it. but the pixely-ness is part of doom for me at this point

also

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1061687403851599872

 

[seahorsesaw]

It still irks me to no end how utterly weak the Wii really was. I've gone back through my mind countless times imagining how much better something modest like a PPC7400 + Radeon X1600 would've been. The system still would've ended up having issues competing against the HD twins later on. However, porting games would've been easier, and actually had some sembleance of what was seen on the 360 and PS3. X1600 can generally run PS3/360 graphics at 480p, or half frame rate without too much issue.

Core gamers would've still hated it though because of waggle, but they should've at least built in motion plus from the beginning.

 

[Cyan]

idk man, i'm have to try it. but the pixely-ness is part of doom for me at this point

also

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1061687403851599872

that tweet is previous to more recent version, perhaps he fixed it. I'm currently following the original thread created by the author on this mod, and I am guessing he fixed that -can't assure that 100% but still...- and is now interested in adding other tweaks.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/99021-v-0-95-doom-neural-upscale-2x/

 

[OCASM]

Speaking of AI upscaling:

 

[Mobius1aic]

Core gamers would've still hated it though because of waggle, but they should've at least built in motion plus from the beginning.

Having weaker specs did not help to disuade the more "it's for kids and families" nature of the system. There was enough power there for shovelware devs to implement cartoony graphics without real effort. Anyone who seriously tried to create anything realistic or highly detailed would have to dance around the Wii's limitations, often leading to low performance. A more comparable hardware feature set and common workflow with it's HD peers would've been a boon for developers and Wii gamers.

 

[seahorsesaw]

Of course, though it's academic now.

 

[seahorsesaw]

Maybe a backwards compatible Wii HD with better specs and motion control released no later than 2009-2010 could've been a good idea.

 

[OCASM]

Having weaker specs did not help to disuade the more "it's for kids and families" nature of the system. There was enough power there for shovelware devs to implement cartoony graphics without real effort. Anyone who seriously tried to create anything realistic or highly detailed would have to dance around the Wii's limitations, often leading to low performance. A more comparable hardware feature set and common workflow with it's HD peers would've been a boon for developers and Wii gamers.

You can inplement realistic graphics on a N64. Fidelity and visual styles are different things.

 

[see colon]

Maybe a backwards compatible Wii HD with better specs and motion control released no later than 2009-2010 could've been a good idea.

I don't know. That would have been 3-4 years into the Wii life cycle and that's, IIRC, when they were really killing it in sales. Wii U had issues that prevented it from being a success, but I don't think release date was really one of them.

 

[Cyan]

Maybe a backwards compatible Wii HD with better specs and motion control released no later than 2009-2010 could've been a good idea.

a 19 years old friend of mine who is a retrogaming geek, actually has a lot of Wii games which he plays on the PC, and at Full HD and above graphics they look surprisingly good in some cases. I really liked playing Prince of Persia and Sonic Colors with him.

 

[Mobius1aic]

You can inplement realistic graphics on a N64. Fidelity and visual styles are different things.

OK, realistic styled visuals in the vain of circa 2006 expectations from the 360, PS3, and PC.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Maybe a backwards compatible Wii HD with better specs and motion control released no later than 2009-2010 could've been a good idea.

The problem was they made the Wii HW BC with GC. Basically by doing no work on the hardware design. Either they'd have had to create a new Flipper that was BC, or they'd have had to go through the effort of creating an emulator on a new architecture. A new architecture mid-cycle would have been bonkers, at the cost of a new console with none of the new-gen benefits. Basically, it couldn't have been done.

Nintendo should have picked modern hardware for the time. I think it's important to recognise the impact of their choices rather than fob it off, to learn what can be done better. After a meteoric rise, Wii fell off a cliff and its impact faded, like a flash toy. Had it been a 'real' console with 'gamers' games alongside waggle, it'd have had a different profile, far longer legs, and perhaps had a more pronounced impact on the industry instead of just being a blip.