DF Direct Weekly #68: Half-Life 2 Switch Mod, New Sony Hardware, Nier Automata Switch Reveal

[@liamriley9816]

How did you have an entire conversation about somebody getting Half Life 2 running on Switch using the Portal code without talking about the Portal and Half Life 2 NVIDIA Shield ports? NVIDIA is even credited in the Switch version since they ported the games to their Tegra devices! 😂

[@Loundsify]

It is mental how much more they have gotten out of the Switch Vs the shield to say it's the same chip. It does make me wonder how much resources android takes up Vs The Switch OS which is tiny in resources used.

[@dontpokethebear3893]

I had Half-Life 2 on the switch handheld and loved it even though it was slow as hell lol. It had better controls than the switch joycons to be sure. I’ve been praying to Nintendo to utilize the Shield Handheld form factor. It was amazing .

[@mbsfaridi]

@@Loundsify Not to mention the SoC in sheild is clocked way higher than the switch.

[@FazerGS]

I came to the comments to say this! It reminds me of when Mario 3D All-Stars came out and nobody was talking about the Nvidia Shield port of Super Mario Galaxy that released in China.

[@liamriley9816]

@@FazerGS Twilight Princess was on Shield devices too.

[@alexweinberg3913]

Portal on switch is great, though it is worth mentioning that it was actually Nvidia Lightspeed that made those versions, not Valve.

[@rugan0723]

That makes sense. I've had HL2 on my Nvidia Shield for quite a while.

[@Soup-man]

I think I heard that studio ported Metal Gear Solid to the Shield. Why don't they port MGS to the Switch? Oh yeah, Konami

[@startedtech]

Completely forgot about the old Shield port.

[@HugoStiglitz88]

Even if portals performance on switch isn't super surprising its still awesome that they did a great job on the port. It's ultra settings, native res, 60 fps, and MSAA while docked. That's really good stuff considering how re4 runs on it LOL Also it is a VERY fair price unlike many other switch games ($20)

[@GenerationZ313]

I agree, I mean this could have been so much worse much like a lot of other 3rd party ports over the last 5 years.

[@HugoStiglitz88]

@@GenerationZ313 exactly. It's not a miracle port but it's still one of the best

[@raresmacovei8382]

Both Portal 1 and 2 are ridiculously easy to run maxed out, 60 fps, 4xMSAA at 720p and 1080p, so it's no surprise really.

[@elimalinsky7069]

The port of Half Life 2 to the original XBox is often cited as an impossible port, and it truly is a work of art. The fact that everything fits into 64MB of total RAM (shared between CPU and GPU) without breaking up the levels into smaller chunks and without altering the level design is impressive in its own right. And then there is the framerate, which although rarely hits 30fps, is quite consistent otherwise and doesn't flactuate between a slideshow chug and smooth gameplay like many much less technically impressive OG XBox games often do. The Source Engine is just incredibly well engineered.

[@Girvo747]

I'd love to see a video from you guys "Rendering like its 2011" where you discuss the techniques used in things like Portal 2, and how that differs from modern rendering techniques, and why it would theoretically allow for excellent IQ with good performance targeting something like a Switch!

[@DemarUnleashed]

Here is the twist: Alex Battaglia is actually the Switch 2

[@btarg1]

Man, Half-Life on switch would be perfect, but I also wanna see Portal/Half-Life on the other consoles from last generation and the current gen

[@wile123456]

Well you can play them in backcompat on Xbox. Also on steam they cost like 8 dollars for all valve games on sale

[@RJ-91]

orange box and portal 2 are backwards compatible on last gen xbox and current gen.

[@dabigbadwolf5081]

You can play Half Life 2 and Portal (Nvidia Shield Version) on any decent Android phone. On my POCO x3 pro Half Life runs at over 60 fps.

[@TruTrae]

@@dabigbadwolf5081 how do you get half life on an Android phone?

[@James2t3]

Left4Dead with wireless local play 🤯

[@ali8283]

48 inches is not a montor, its a TV.

[@p5rsona]

I'd love to have an AI companion with the personality of Richard

[@dedecoVGMDJ]

UNDERRATED COMMENT

[@SeanLumly]

Fun fact: according to the steam hardware survey, only ~2% of PC players are gaming in 4K. If this is generally true, it would imply that the vast majority of 4K gamers are console gamers.

[@theoldpcgamer77]

Not all people fill out the survey and if it counts huge markets in China and say Russia where they might be running lower end stuff for boring e sport type games in those gaming cafes, plus laptops or people who only play old games or indie games it could swing the survey results heavily. They don't have results for western countries only playing new AAA games.

[@Coxy-b34]

Thats PC elitist bait right there.😁 It's also very true,4K gaming is largely the domain of consoles gamers,most PC gamers are rocking some pretty outdatd hardware.

[@startedtech]

@@theoldpcgamer77 Out of everyone I know/have played games with on Discord, I don't know one that games on a 4K monitor. Every one I know has 1440p 144hz+, 1080p 240hz+, or an ultrawide. A cheap decent IPS 4K 60hz monitor will cost about the same as an IPS 1440p 165hz. 4K gaming on PC still only really makes sense if you're wealthy, have other uses for a 4K monitor, or are fine with 60hz. The 1440p monitors are just a better balance imo.

[@Ray-dl5mp]

4k monitors have always been expensive so that sounds right.

[@jakedill1304]

If only console games actually ran at 4K.. can you really call yourself a 4K gamer if it's at 1800p at best? At 30 frames a second LOL.

[@corey2232]

As a primarily PC player, 27 inch monitors are an ok size, but 42 - 48 inch seems way too large for a primary PC monitor. I like 32 inch, but above that seems pretty wild. I'm interested in Ultrawide, but don't really know much about resolutions similar to 4k on those displays. Every Ultrawide I look at seems to target their equivalent of 1440p. Lastly, monitor HDR needs to be more standardized, at least similar to TV HDR. I see so many variations claiming to be HDR, but they all seem loosely to qualify.

[@startedtech]

Yeah, I used to have a 32" monitor and that was at the threshold of being too big. Also, John's 38" Ultrawide is "only" equivalent to a ~30" 16:9 display, so not *that* huge of a difference compared to 27".

[@jakedill1304]

So I used to think like that then I tried playing a game on my buddies 50 inch TV back in 2015.. I could not go back, it sounds like it's too big until you do it then even doing something like going from 55 in to 48 in feels like you just kind of lost a lot of the luster.. trick is, just put the TV on on a stand and then have your desk in front of it.. I use it trade table personally cuz I like being able to move it around but.. I think I'm about 3 ft away from a 55 inch TV.. and my God is it is it just absorbing! I only run it in 1440p as well.. I like to set myself with the standards that I can maintain, and I know for a fact I'm not going to be able to push 4k on a 2080.. but the LG oleds at the very least have a set 1440p built into it that is crisp.. it's got increments at like 1080 1440 in 4k, you just want to use the PC resolutions not the TV resolutions to get that scaling to work right.. you can hit the little green button a bunch of times on the remote and it'll tell you what mode you're in, if it's 1440 but you're in 4k you're going to have a bad time but if it's in 1440 the actual resolution it looks really good.. especially 3 ft away. Like my room's not that big.. but I just have a shitty TV stand that I got from from like a thrift furniture store, it's it's falling apart and it's halfway made of cardboard.. but I don't need the shelves, now granted you don't want the cheapest if you're using an OLED cuz they're extremely heavy and fragile, as in picking it up can permanently warp the screen if you grab it by the edges or put any pressure on any side, so you know find yourself a good shitty Ikea stand lol.. but I'm pretty sure I don't even have that and that's all I needed, desk goes in front of it at the appropriate distance.. very much well worth it to have a screen that removes the the connection between staring at a screen.. it's like you're in the game basically you know.. it's not VR but it's a hell of a lot better than a 27 inch screen.

[@HeloisGevit]

I've used 48 inches as a PC monitor for 2 years now just fine, as have countless other people. Just need to use common sense when deciding where to position it.

[@raresmacovei8382]

I used a 32", 1080p60 TV as my PC monitor for 10 years. I actually still use it today, alongside a 27" monitor. It's absolutely the max comfortable size for a monitor. Anything bigger and it's too big.

[@HeloisGevit]

@@raresmacovei8382 Says someone who hasn't tried any bigger. Rich himself mentions he's also been using a CX as his daily driver for 2 years, same as me. I likewise agree it's by far the best monitor I've used.

[@eugkra33]

Getting an average of 50 FPS with Cyberunk on a 6600xt with Balanced FSR 2.0. High settings, and RT reflections on, and RT lighting on medium. Probably about the same as an RTX 2060 with DLSS, or maybe a 2060 Super. In most places in the game it's over 60 FPS, but there is some really demanding areas where it'll go under 40. Thats with an 8600k OC'd to 4.8GHz. If you have a CPU made in the last 2 years you'd probably do even better.

[@Heakz]

I used to have exactly 8600k 2060 super set up, sounds about right, except I had more RT settings on that reflections, RT in cyberpunk makes hitting 60 hard on any setup tbh, without dropping other settings drastically, which isnt worth it, the rasterized lighting and shadows are pretty good, can never beat RT reflections though.

[@julianorozaa]

Alex looks really different today

[@krebs3r]

28:50 Hi John, why 144 Hz you ask? Because mixture of tradition and limitation. 75 Hz: 3 x 25 Hz 90 Hz: 3 x 30 Hz 100 Hz: 4 x 25 Hz, 2 x 50 Hz 120 Hz: 5 x 24 Hz, 4 x 30 Hz, 2 x 60 Hz 144 Hz: 6 x 24 Hz

[@no_misaki]

27" is probably the maximum most people want to go unless you're mounting it further away or have an enormous desk. Pretty sure John's use case is like a niche within a niche here.

[@VariantAEC]

I barely have the space for the 24" monitor I have now! He thinks 30-40" monitors are the sweet spot? Some people still *NEED* these smaller options to be available or upgrading to better display tech is impossible.

[@mrglass7133]

I'll stick with my 65 in 4k LG.

[@kupokinzyt]

I use a 65" 4K TV and a normal desk. If my desk was a woman, my TV would satisfy her much more than your tiny 27" monitor.

[@samfromsalem]

and will reminded john he has a larger desk to accommodate such a large display. i have a large setup but i know most people don't have large spaces for that.

[@mrglass7133]

@@kupokinzyt LOL

[@ScrapKing73]

Things that were “obvious” or “of course” this week include: 0:07:59 Switch ports struggle when the tech is too high-end 0:09:54 Nier:Automata performance has been improved over time 0:10:58 We’ll find out the actual Nier:Automata Switch resolutions after launch 0:18:27 We’ll learn more about FSR 2.0 Cyberpunk modding when the Eurogamer interview is up 0:37:10 Steam Deck production doubling is fantastic news given the supply chain woes 0:39:25 This means Steam Deck demand is exceeding supply 0:42:35 They've known for a while now that Valve are OK with people opening up their Steam Decks 0:52:15 They can't confirm Nintendo is holding back components for a new hardware launch 0:54:10 launching a new Switch with the new Breath of the Wild would be the obvious thing to do 0:55:20 A lot of development in SOCs since the first Switch came out 1:02:45 There are things you give up with a CRT (especially a dodgy one) 1:03:25 Band & Olufsen have moved on from making CRTs 1:05:35 The limits of spacial methods would still apply

[@Beaut_Beau]

JOHN! This is the 4th or 5th video in a row of yours where YOUR mic audio has a low electronic hum when you speak, please check it out mate!

[@jakedill1304]

Yeah that sounds like source engine.. those hitches, it's amazing how more often than not they don't ruin the game.. I've worked on getting rid of hitches in my mods for way too long now LOL and there's just only so much you can do, without just completely redoing everything.. which would be doable if their tools were working for the latest versions but they sometimes aren't sometimes they are more than often they aren't.. they used to be a workaround where you could use the SDK in alien swarm LOL to do your Half-Life 2 mods but that didn't work last time I checked, and it would still be a hell of an undertaking to get everything into 64-bit.. and apparently Garry's mod won't work no matter what in that regard which takes a lot of things off the table, something about a contrast in how it deals with the physics that has caused safe corruption and crashing in 64-bit specifically.. you would think that valve could pull these hitches out because a lot of cases it's just a problem with the older engine allocating very small amounts of resources which were cutting edge up in 2004.. like it has pretty good pre-cash system, but you're always going to end up having to go chase something down to get it precached and the multithreading is.. well it has multi-threading LOL I think the Portal 2 is I think the most advanced version of the engine still using the original Half-Life to valve pipelines.. and there's a lot of different compatibility things which you would have assumed would be solving these issues but, I wonder if the switch being mobile doesn't have LOL no pun intended the switching capability to remove the hitching entirely.. which if they're aware of it and they're smart about it shouldn't be a big problem.. Usually the best I can do is I get very slight stuttering as things will load into a section, which would explain why the portals do it.. and that could be that could be kind of an issue if you're constantly having the stutter for every single portal given that my understanding is correct you're constantly from portal to portal... But like I said if they were smart about it and these are just buffer sections where when you open up a new section and then it preloads etc.. they never really got like streaming down I mean I don't even think that's in half life Alex to the fullest extent anyways like they're still loading zones.. I just get excited whenever I see a source engine game on 64-bit multicore hardware, like the things that you can do with that engine if you could get it into 64-bit and have it like be properly configured.. which is something that they never really do anymore on the PC anyways cuz they they got it as far as they need to to get it running pretty fast and Counter-Strike and TF2 just aren't doing much with the engine in a way that they would need it any more than they have.. which are the only ones that are actively or would have actively gone in and rejiggered if they could have been a benefit.

[@wile123456]

TLDR

[@brandon_nope]

ok

[@midierror]

I love hearing you guys talk about games, it's so fun! It's like being amongst friends. Love your work!

[@SoFishtry]

John given your thoughts on these Switch homebrew projects, might be interesting to check out some of the vita android ports. GTA, Baba is You, etc. run pretty well (with some minor UI/loading jank) and might make for a fun 'DF Retro' project looking at what people have done. Also, the open source ports like Exult, GemRB, etc. are interesting.

[@ivan4087]

"whoo need switch when we have DECK!!!!!!!!!" (probably come idiot somewhere)

[@ITNoetic]

12:20 I've tried nier Automata on the Deck, and it runs at 800p60

[@azazelleblack]

I've tested 6800XT and 6950XT in Cyberpunk 2077. "High" or "Psycho" ray-tracing is a no-go on either card with regular resolution scaling, even at low render resolutions like 720p. It's just not playable, sub-30. 6800XT is in the single digits. Adding on the extra shader workload of FSR 2.0 is not going to help.

[@jeff.amador]

I find the screen flashing all that Marvel vs Street Fighter stuff behind John to be remarkably distracting

[@ooiiooiiooii]

I love John but he seems to get more out of touch each episode. 4K and over 60fps is great but Will is right that isnt always realistic even with DLSS. It’s hard to do that with the best RTX or Ryzen GPUs let alone the CPU which seems to be the bigger bottleneck. These water cooled monsters aren’t what most people are rocking and I feel John and Rich are a little too spoiled to understand the consumer market.

[@VariantAEC]

Each of these people have their own faults and none of them understand the tech and analyze it in a holistic manner.

[@tabletaccountforyoutube]

It's funny, I recently bought a 1080p monitor and at least 2 different people made fun of me for it (well playfully). I love it though, it looks fantastic to my eyes and I have no need for 4K in the least. Plus, running stuff still in 1080p is literally like a free hardware upgrade (or alternatively, you could say moving to 4K is a massive hardware downgrade). Everything I play just runs perfectly at 60 FPS and I don't need to buy a $700 GPU to do it! I do admit 4K is nice on very large TVs though. That for me arguably the only time I would want it.

[@johnjames7332]

I did laugh when John said the cheapest nastiest CRT will outperform the best LCD when it comes to motion clarity. I have seen some very, very nasty CRT’s and lets just say that statement is silly. As with most reviewers i think they start off good but then fall into a trap of an elite thinking “only the best for me” & “i do this for a living therefore im right” - like winetasters.

[@theoldpcgamer77]

@@johnjames7332 Not really, crt has zero motion blur even at 60fps and zero input lag at any fps. Those are just facts even if the picture is fuzzy or low res, zero input lag and motion blur. Sure flat panels have crisp pixels and perfect geometry and look excellent no denying that but lag and motion have gone downhill ever since crt.

[@Keivz]

Having trouble thinking of a game that can’t do 4k60 with rt off and dlss on with a 3080+. I’d say that 4k60 in that scenario is always realistic.

[@raikohzx4323]

At its core, Portal was effectively built on top of Half-Life 2 as all Source games technically were, so putting in the HL2 assets and maps is getting things to work at the core level of the engine. Seems changes in the port process messed up some animations, but this was how people made the "Portal Gun in Half-Life 2" mod back in the day by just putting HL2 files straight into Portal.

[@hadesmcc]

Totally agree with John about Crysis. It is probably the shooter that I've completed the most times, exactly because it gives you so much choice on how to approach your objectives, whilst keeping you in the narrative of going after those objectives. It is one of my favourite pc games of all time.

[@GenerationZ313]

I haven't played Crysis but there are definitely games that I've played multiple times including Batman Arkham City because they are just that good.

[@killerfugu2659]

My issue with that 4K sony monitor is that here in the UK it's the same price as what I paid for my LGCX OLED

[@piensluc7444]

lg cx, c1 or c2 are the best buck on the market right now for gaming (bought a c1 55inch for 750 euro's) if you have both consoles....Sony are also good but as usual overpriced and the firmware updates from sony are not that great sometimes a mess and also not customer friendly !!!

[@desmondbrown5508]

Yeah, and the cool thing to note is that when you use reverse engineering tools like IDA Pro or Ghidra they usually already have baked in knowledge of Nvidia functions because the framework is easily and readily available to the public. So yes, there absolutely could be a framework created for FSR 2.0 mods to easily be ported as there is really not much obfuscation over the Nvidia DLLs.

[@antonkirilenko3116]

I think Half-Life 2 working as a mod on Switch comes from not just the games running on the same engine, but Portal 1 and Half-Life 2 literally using the same executable on PC. Seems like Valve didn't bother to clean it up before porting it.

[@alfo2804]

Don't all Source Engine games use hl2.exe? I thought that was just the executable for the engine itself.

[@TheChaoticDarkness]

Correction on the Nier Switch port. It is being done by Virtuos, who has done work on the Switch before.

[@DNFHistory]

I got FSR 2.0 working with Cyberpunk 2077 on my Steam Deck. And oh my. This thing is way better than last gen consoles. It plays Cyberpunk 2077 way better than a PS4 or Xbox One.

[@temjin0014]

I absolutely agree with John’s comments about taking a conservative approach with graphics tech on Switch. This reminds me of how DOA and Ninja Gaiden both look and preform better than most OG Xbox games. Where those games didn’t lead with normal mapping, shadows and cutting edge shader implementations. Instead opting for an expert level implementation of existing, tried and true techniques.

[@VariantAEC]

It's kind of strange because PS2 had games that do all the above and run at 60FPS while having way more geometry on screen games like Jak 2 and 3 didn't make as liberal use of normal maps as Xbox (2001), but those two games did use them.

[@VariantAEC]

@Jenny Melo Maybe actually look at the best games Xbox was running and compared those against the games I was talking about? You'll see that the "pos2" as you call it was running games with way more geometry at 60FPS and still managed to deploy normal map shaders. Normal mapped shading wasn't something that PS2's "Emotion Engine" had native support for, but the HW was still able to pull it off, obviously thanks to programming work arounds. Jak 2 and 3 used them a lot in gameplay and they used them even more in cinematics which all ran at upto 60FPS with progressive scan at 720x480 resolution. PS2 on paper is considered the weakest platform of the era and there are many multiplatform ports that show PS2 underperforming what about the games that showed off new things we never saw before? Well since most of those were exclusives PS2 is only compared against multiplatform titles that looked like trash next to Xbox and GameCube and this is why people believe PS2 didn't have any decent or even incredible looking games that blew the competition away. Haven's graphics weren't jaw-dropping but it's scale is probably the biggest of any game duing the era. You can literally fly around several entire planets no games from that era allowed anything like that. Ratchet and Clank got it's start on PS2 and back then Insomniac Games was a 3rd party dev and so was Naughty Dog (the dev behind the aforementioned Jak and Daxter franchise). How did those devs manage 60FPS with all the geometry, destruction, chaos, particle effects, physics and high resolutions? PS2 wasn't weak, it was difficult. You know I also have to point out that MGS2 was exclusive to PS2 and that still is considered by many to be the best looking game of that generation... how did that happen?

[@MegaDeth859]

I didn't believe the OLED hype until I saw it for myself. Bought an LG C2 and omg, I am so impressed. Unfortunately, I now find it difficult to go back to my regular backlit LED. What a difference.

[@ChadMorningWood]

I'd say if they were to launch a Super Switch/Switch 2, they'd release it with their new 3D Mario, MK9, and-or BOTW2. Nintendo, I don't think you realize how quickly I'd throw $500 for a Switch with vastly improved performance/visuals.

[@KoeiNL]

Just give me a Switch that can run BOTW at 60 fps.

[@hododod246]

I think Nintendo will never create $500 device. Most expensive console they created was wii u and Switch oled and probably they won't go above that price point. In order to change their current strategy of "lateral thinking with withered technology" they should see a clossal failure. Even with that kind of failure they might not go with device with high horsepower as we saw in wii u to Switch transition. I mean if they didn't try to match with Sony and Microsoft after wii u fiasco, I think they will never do it.

[@Neoxon619]

@@mikeuk666 If that was the case, I feel like Nintendo would’ve said so. Plus even considering that, the amount of materials would’ve been too excessive.

[@bern9642]

@@Neoxon619 i think it's more so about the change in their accounting like nintendo said. They are calculating stock bought differently than they used to.

[@alfo2804]

@@hododod246 They will eventually. Based economic inflation.

[@thiagovidal6137]

23:53 Because it's trivial. You can play at 1440p all you want on a 4k monitor. The price difference would be neglectable. It just doesn't make sense for them to manufacture a middle of the road product.

[@Neoxon619]

Yeah, it’s probably a bit late in the generation for a pro model at this point. And given the GPU that leaked, this upcoming Switch looks to be more of a successor.

[@corey2232]

Speaking of "M2," anyone at DF remember the proposed 3DO successor named the M2? Sounds wild now, but back then it was my most anticipated system. An N64, CD-based, 64-bit competitor made by Panasonic, correcting the mistakes of the 3DO & utilizing some really cool tech for the time. Sadly, the tech got bought out & used for children's TV/games or something. Just a huge disappointment for kid me, along with the announced Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 - 3DO edition - disappearing 😔

[@Rebelscum264]

I believe they added the chip to DVD players

[@Jprime777]

I remember that D was supposed get a sequel on the M2, wound up on the Dreamcast in the end.

[@blumcole]

Yeah. It was hyped up in magazines in the day.

[@tHeWasTeDYouTh]

the M2 actually did come out as a dedicated arcade hardware for Konami. I think Konami ended up releasing 5 arcade games with the M2 hardware, they are Battle Tryst, Evil Night, Heat of Eleven 98, Polystar and Total Vice.

[@alfo2804]

That sounds like it would have been monstrously expensive. If it did come out, it would have probably ended up with very few companies wanting to make games for it because very few people could afford to buy it. Plus they probably wouldn't have trusted Panasonic, coming off the back of the 3D0.

[@Alex_Logan22]

There will likely be more Inzone monitor options, Sony said these were just the first 2 models with more on the way based on feedback, and the M3/M9 naming convention suggests there will be more or perhaps there already are more in development. Ultra wide, 1440, I can see all that stuff coming soon.

[@Phil_529]

The Coolermaster GP27-FUS looks interesting. Leaked price pegged it at $1100. 576 zone 4K high refresh. Makes the Sony look like a bad deal.

[@wile123456]

Red dead redemption 2 also got an FSR 2.0 mod. Just tested it out and it works great and looks better than the standard TAA in the game.

[@Alcatraz760]

While Nintendo could be still resist using latest hardware, I’m not surprised if Nvidia forces them to use an soc with the 2024 architecture or whatever latest architecture.

[@Dac_vak]

John, I actually bought a bunch of those old PS 3D monitors back in the day when they got clearanced to $100. I still use them to this day as supplemental displays. Aside from the black flickering (which thankfully hasn’t affected my displays much), they were actually pretty great displays at the time!

[@mmmako]

I bought one and returned it after a few days, viewing angles made it 100% useless as a monitor and the low brightness ghosting/smearing made me think something was wrong with my PC at first.

[@VariantAEC]

@@mmmako Maybe you got a faulty panel? I still use that PS 3D diwplay it as my primary display on PS5. It's fine. The display on my laptop clearly has a much shorter gray-to-gray time, but I actually prefer the slightly longer slower update. Why? Because any tiny stutter on my PC screen is very noticeable but using this slower panel makes it far less noticeable. What's more is the color ghosting and smearing isn't eliminated on my PC display and I notice it on all panels including OLED (which most definitely shouldn't have this effect at all). My color vision updates differently than most people (I have to assume this at this point) and I due to that I apparently can play games at framerates as low as 3FPS just fine. I just tried it on Xbox 360 playing Forza Motorsport 4 by outputting from the console to the PC exclusively through a capture card and by limiting the output rate to 3FPS which is displayed live to me and recorded at 3FPS via OBS. This doesn't bother me and while 3FPS isn't ideal I can still stay on the track. There is still a delay in input response time, but it is governed exclusively by the output rate not by the game. Also FM4 has a load of performance issues that I also never noticed when playing on the PS 3D monitor or the even older Samsung TV I used to own. On the PC when outputting at 60FPS the performance issues are very clear.

[@borisdg]

The Portal ports are made by nVidia's Lightspeed Studio... you talked about that when it was announced and now it seems you forgot it saying its Valve...

[@mattbell1907]

I use an LG C9 55" for my PS5 and PC. I haven't had any burn in but I also use the auto hiding taskbar, pixel shift is on and my desktop background cycles between like 10 different 4k crops of an 8k image. Also if you hold the microphone button on the remote and say "screen off" it will leave the TV powered on but only show black till you press a button on the remote. Handy for if you are using the tv as a speaker for Spotify or just going out for 5 minutes and don't want to leave a static image on.

[@documentthedrama8279]

literally downloaded and tried FSR 2.0 cyberpunk OMG... just wow dude. I was right to have been jealous of DLSS for so long, its like magic. thank you AMD, you are the true MVP of PC gaming

[@thebookkeeper3508]

I'm with Will on the PC monitor debate...27" is ideal when the screen is not far from your face, and you get the additional pixel density compared to larger displays.

[@azazelleblack]

Ironically, having the 4K downscaling option on 1440p monitors is actually a downside for PC gamers. It prevents you from using DSR at 5K (5120x2880) at your full refresh rate, because the downscaling feature is inevitably a broadcast-style mode rather than a PC-style mode, so NVIDIA's driver only allows you to use 60 Hz. Quite frustrating.

[@micb3rd]

Interesting i've not come across this... can you share some more details....any specific models of monitors or TV do this and was it on a specific mode?

[@micb3rd]

@MOFU . MOFO, any more details on this ? BTW a general fix for avoiding getting stuck at 60hz with DSR or DLSSR is to first change to the DSR resolution e.g 5120x2880 in Windows and then launch the game. This has fixed 60hz issues many many times.

[@azazelleblack]

@@micb3rd What more details do you want?

[@micb3rd]

​@@azazelleblack Hi! I want to understand what hardware and or software causes this problem you described? What monitor or TV hardware and settings got you to this "broadcast mode" ?

[@azazelleblack]

@@micb3rd You've misunderstood. I'm referring to the difference between display modes intended for TV and films and display modes intended for PCs. They're different, and displayed differently in various PC software.

[@rugan0723]

I realize HL2 is a portal mod (which is very cool). But, its been available on the Nvidia Shield (same chip set) for a very long time. I was surprised to hear it was never officially released on the switch.

[@djwindkind]

for CRT TVs: Grundig, Philips, Panasonic, Loewe, Sony, JVC... basically any high end tv from 30 years ago... makes me want to scavange some 2. hand shops for a nice retro setup ;)

[@romanprokhorov3875]

I’m using an LG C1 Oled (55) as my PC monitor for a few months now, and it is beautiful experience. Wouldn’t want to ever come back to regular monitors.

[@jaspelino1963]

What I love most about Portal 1 & 2 on Switch is that it feels like Valve saying: Of course we're not competing with Switch. Here's two of our very best games in a nicely priced bundle running like a dream on Switch. And Nier Automata runs pretty good on Steam Deck. Not quite high settings, but higher settings than PS4 Pro / Xone X, apart from resolution of course.

[@JK-bh5lr]

I tried a can and a string and I believe there is room for improvement

[@jimmykewley8386]

I got a free 14" Sony crt because I was asked to throw it in a skip. Full RGB PS1 and Saturn games @60hz look and move beautifully.

[@Pruflas-Watts]

I like that John has Marvel Super Hereos VS Street Fighter playing in the background. I thought it was the absolute best VS game that Capcom made. It felt more fleshed out and complete and ironed out the delivery and bugs of X-men VS Street Fighter, the background transitions on super moves were amazingly cool for the time, and Cyber Akuma as the final boss and Horseman of Apcalypse was absolutely amazing.

[@diegoaccord]

Shout out for MSHvSF in John's background. 😀

[@fearingalma1550]

Here's hoping the GUI updates for Portal make their way to PC, so we can see Switch button prompts when a Switch controller is plugged in

[@TrickyCustomer]

Regarding video game history, I listen to the retro hour podcast. They have interviewed a staggering amount of 70s' 80s' 90s' retro game developers and computer systems designers. If you are interested in that history, I would highly recommend that.

[@cakeisamadeupdrug6134]

I'm surprised more streamers don't use ultrawides, given how popular it is among gamers. For those on KZbin, KZbin doesn't care about your aspect ratio, it can display content to whatever, and for those on Twitch it actually solves a lot of problems with streaming in 16:9. The number of people who have overlays, sub alerts, chatboxes, webcam, etc all covering up the game, having a 21:9 (or whatever) bar of gameplay in the centre gives room for all of this without covering up the actual content *and* because it's all within a 1080p container more of your maximum of 6mbps bandwidth goes on a smaller area of the screen so image quality should in theory improve. But no, I have a friend who talked to an artist about creating an overlay for her stream around 21:9 gameplay and the artist had no idea what she was talking about because it was so unheard of.

[@travisg6226]

I really wish John would buy contacts. I may be the only person it bothers but him pushing up his glass every 30sec drives me insane. Or just get better fixing glasses. Killing me smalls

[@rowanunderwood]

I'm 100% with Rich, been using a 55" oled as a PC monitor since September 26, 2019. I will NEVER go back to LCD.

[@helloguy8934]

Fuck yea

[@Afonso.Soares]

I want to know more about that 21:10 monitor John was talking about.

[@residentidiot5998]

53:50 Xenoblade 3 would've been a great launch title for it if it held native res and/or targeted 60FPS. Maybe they'll do it with BOTW2 or XB3's expansion.

[@weirdcitizen]

Would absolutely love Rich's concept for a dev reunion! Hope you guys get to make it someday :)

[@TomatePasFraiche]

John don’t worry you’ll be there at episode 420 🕺🏻

[@xBITTYBOOx]

To clarify on the subject of cyberpunk and FSR 2.0 it has been said that CDPR is in fact Implementing FSR 2.0 in cyberpunk on pc and consoles! Because if you go back and watch the announcement of FSR 2.0 you can see cyberpunk's name along with over a dozen more titles that FSR 2.0 will be available for So its absolutely safe to go ahead and say FSR 2.0 will be officially available for Cyberpunk On pC and console!

[@nask0]

one note about burnning issues: it tends to show up after 3rd year. I have used quite of oled stuff and i deeply regret their short lifespan in terms of longivity given the price range. Also, most of the people don't (and shouldn't) care so much of "protecting" their displays, which leaves them quite dissapointing in terms of those issues

[@craighopkins4496]

Just got oled... amazing picture quality.. wont ever go back to lcd

[@jakedill1304]

Once again I feel like I'm screaming into the void here.. but buying CRTs especially site unseen is a very very very risky proposition, they are very old the technology was finite and they were brand new they have a specifically finite lifespan.. they can be repaired but many things on them cannot be repaired anymore.. and doing these repairs requires know how, as well as a good pair of dishwashing gloves so you don't send yourself across the room.. rubber dishwashing gloves LOL that works for me anyways.. I hate even saying that but since I personally have been sent near across the room and dishwashing gloves did mitigate that.. that being said I just don't recommend anybody be open the thing up because in a lot of cases you won't be able to repair it.. outside of the the tape, which apparently controls the pin cushioning that you can't control with the internal tools, yes I said tape... there's four pieces of tape that apparently control the image quality on the edges LOL. But they will get inherently dimmer as time goes on and most have been run for a significant amount of time as they are not manufactured and haven't been for over a decade.. so unless you've seen the thing running, please please don't buy it unless it's like brand new out of the box.. certainly don't if it's expensive.. like get a video at the very least with something that you can scale it to... if things like the focus are screwed up there's a good chance you won't be able to retune it without special tools, now if you have a local TV repair shop.. this is a great place to get information on how to buy a CRT.. and as well they can let you know what things can be done and can't be done.. and if it can then it's worth it cuz they're awesome but as time goes on the likelihood that they're going to be in good condition goes downhill at an exponential rate.. it's not like an old stereo, which honestly if you're looking for good sound and you don't have a lot of money get an old stereo, get old speakers too.. but a CRT is not that unfortunately it's closer to a light bulb.. a really fancy good light bulb that lasts a really long time but it's still a light bulb and it still will die.

[@flyingplantwhale545]

Square hasn’t always done cloud on major Switch releases. Dragon quest 11, Life is strange true colours, That secret of mana remake, all had solid dedicated ports. The publisher seems to go the cloud route at complete random, as seen with the baffling Kingdom hearts collection (which easily should have handled a native port)

[@TheNerd]

30:00 I'm sitting like 30 cm away (which should be double the amount AT LEAST) from my Monitor and 27" are almost too big especially when I watch or play "fast paced" stuff or to say it differently: I (often times) need to move my eyes / head. For me 27-30" is the absolute maximum i can comfortably sit (literally) in front of. Imagine it like sitting 50cm away from your 60"ish TV. Any bigger and I would need to move my head constantly. And if you watch or play fast paced content.... no thanks. And yes I do agree that A LOT of TV's have a way better Image quality than PC Monitors which is a shame. Despite this: I think in terms of performance 1440P is "just the right amount of Pixels" at the moment. I'm on a 5900X and a 3080 and playing a "to 30 FPS tailored experience" on a PS5 or Switch is one thing, but playing a Game that was made for the PC / meant for 60 or more FPS and below 60 FPS is just awfull. I had no issues playing Horizon Forbidden West at 4K -> 1440P 30 FPS on my PC Screen. Felt very smooth. But Games like Overwatch, Doom etc. at 30FPS... nah

[@mbsfaridi]

Is that Wills natural hair colour? Looks amazing!

[@ParadoxalDream]

8:10 Ironic considering almost everyone is saying they were really unimpressed by the original "next-gen" footage IGN presented, but the footage from the Nintendo Direct convinced them this game could work after all. 8:35 Again, ironic because the open-world nature of Pokémon Arceus is NOT the game's problem. GameFreak simply sucks at optimization, but the Switch hardware can absolutely run such an open-world game, especially one that isn't even truly open-world and has loading screens between sections.

[@bern9642]

the problem has to be the extremely short development cycle/time. there is just not enough time to optimize the game before releasing it.

[@SolSeal]

The main scenes of Crysis are a copy of Halo Combat evolved. How you reach the island, how you are introduced to the aliens, etc.

[@StuartQuinn]

What is the monitor that Rich is using? I'm considering having my home office double up as a second TV room.

[@cyph3r76]

On the subject of games development at the end, there’s a good new documentary about Goldeneye for N64 called Goldenera. Well worth a watch.

[@KefazX]

First time I've heard someone else not liking 144Hz for general use. I also set my desktop refresh rate to 120hz on my 144Hz monitor.

[@D2KX]

120Hz is much more compatible to different video formats. The problem with 144Hz displays is that chosing a non-native refresh rate (e.g. 120Hz on a 144Hz display) can introduce some small input lag on some displays (this usually does not happen on G-Sync native displays with an NVIDIA module, but can happen for others).

[@KefazX]

@@D2KX If I run a game in exclusive fullscreen then I usually choose 144hz if can I remember it. But I don't play many games that require super fast input, so it doesn't really matter much for me. And I just got an LG C2 as my main monitor, so now 120 is max anyway.

[@HugoStiglitz88]

Same. 144 is a waste

[@HugoStiglitz88]

@@KefazX well LG C2 is better rhan any monitor. Absolute monster of a panel

[@piensluc7444]

@@HugoStiglitz88 - but you loose the bfi 120.........that"s why i bought a c1 (with the evo panel by the way) very great display for gaming.

[@DEVILTAZ35]

Something i don't think most people realise is even the latest LG C2 42 and 48 inch screen doesn't use the Evo panel. You need to go to 55 and up to get that.

[@eld460]

The Steam Deck is still on day one pre orders atm, I ordered mine day two and expected availability is this quarter. So production doubling is needed.

[@spenny2cents]

That statement was more Valve trying to keep the current pre-orders they have left, truth is most people are canceling their order after the initial hype and fomo wore off So “doubling orders” is a sly way of keeping those waiting on the list excited to be bumped up when in actuality they are just further up in line due to cancels

[@dan_loeb]

im suprised metal gear rising hasn't come to switch considering it's already been ported to tegra x1 on Nvidia shield tv.

[@tomsimmons7673]

Virtuos is the on porting Nier to the Switch. They did Final Fantasy X/X-2 & Xll, BioShock, X-Com 2, StarLink, and Dark Souls Remastered.

[@postjm9]

John seems to be frustrated by not having enough opportunities to spend his enormous wealth.

[@discodan2265]

Fholger's fsr mod for openvr has made vr sim racing so much better! What a legend! 🥰

[@splashmaker2]

For games upscaling by the engine makes more sense since you already have a high bandwidth output to the display and additional metadata useful for temporal upscaling within the upscaler. For streaming video don’t think about upscaling, think about video compression. There are great advancements being made in AI based compression, and that will be the way forward for increasing video quality at the same bit rates. For legacy content, a more rigorous offline AI remastering could work well though as software improves in that department. This would be best using spatial + temporal data, possibly incorporating all relevant frames within the upscaling AI model (sort of like a pre screening process before frame generation starts).

[@jnee]

Platinum really pushed the switch hardware and made something gorgeous with Astral Chain, so that gives me hope for Nier Automata port. Hoping to receive a Steam Deck in Q3, I'd love to see you guys do a Steam Deck vs Switch comparison on the game when it releases.

[@ionfreak83]

The thing is that Platinum is not the one porting Nier Automata but Virtuos so it could be either good like their port on Dying Light or bad like their port of Outer World.

[@ordohereticus3427]

NieR Automata runs great on the Steam Deck with all the settings maxed. Runs well on even older portable/handheld PC machines.

[@Psych0technic]

Regarding 100hz crts, you can absolutely look for the ones made by Panasonic because they let you turn off 100hz mode and run native 50/60. You also get component video and progressive scan support, which is great for og Xbox and wii. The only drawback is that they doesn't display any scan lines if you care about them, and a bit laggy with 240p resolution

[@pferreira1983]

The idea of Alex time travelling to talk about the Switch. 😂😂

[@SeanLumly]

The steam deck is the consolification of the PC for general consumers. If manufacturers can get balanced system prices down (eg. $600), and bundle Steam OS, they can compete directly in the console space.

[@GenerationZ313]

If it were more readily available I may actually consider getting the Steam Deck so that I can finally play the countless games I own on PC but can't play because I don't have a powerful enough PC and don't want to use a laptop.

[@SeanLumly]

@@GenerationZ313 I'm exactly in the same boat. I'm looking forward to Steam deck mainly for indies, older titles, and emulation! But it's amazing to think that it too can run games like God of War. Steam's huge library of games, and the open nature of the hardware are EXTREMELY attractive to me.

[@XaviSanz35]

144hz is for watching content in 3d with nvidia 3d glasses

[@typeraver]

In relation to the monitor size discussion, i think that the DF crew responses, particularly Johns and Rich's are niche and out of touch. These sneaky buggers are trying to manifest a use case that is not so... Thankfully Will is there the balance and represent the core. On the niche note, i'd like these boys to try the quirky 9:8 LG monitor (Dualup) thats recently been released - 2880x2560; even a couple of these side by side! Oh, and when I first saw Sony's bringing new monitors to the PC market, my first thoughts were - The Trinitron is back! Wishful thinking!

[@charoleawood]

I think that MGS5 carried on the Crisis baton, even though that's not a first person game. Also, Splinter Cell Blacklist is really great --- the environments aren't so large, but the options for completing objectives are compelling as is the give and take nature of enemy engagement.

[@TAGMedia7]

Where is John going?

[@skochin]

I can't image why anyone, except Nintendo fans, would want to play Nier, this beautiful game, on the small switch screen. In 30 fps. With quality tuned down.

[@rexthesheep]

29:00 Yep! I have a lovely 1440p144Hz monitor, but I have my desktop refresh set to 120 for THIS exact reason! I'll turn it to 144Hz for select games (Quake Remastered 😎) but generally I tend to keep it at 60 or 120Hz for most applications. 144Hz is, crucially, a multiple of 24, but then so is 120 so it's kinda just, yeah okay whatever.

[@rexthesheep]

And indeed it's an IPS display with an overly bright backlight, terrible black levels and some of the most worthless HDR support ever. But I mainly got it for work rather than play anyway.

[@Dionyzos]

It's kinda disappointing that we don't get more "real" games for smartphones as they are significantly more powerful nowadays than the Switch. Sure, it's ARM but the market is HUGE since everyone has one. Simply strap on some of those neat controllers and off you go.

[@brandon_nope]

It’s not viable to release full priced games on mobile like Square does

[@anotheruser8105]

27 Inch rulz, for desktop gaming console/PC

[@jzilla1234]

John is a huge fan of DAT BBM. BIG BEAUTIFUL MONITORS.

[@floppa9415]

Anyone remembers HL2 on the Nvidia Shield Android Tablet?

[@johndavis29209]

Richard is so much more organically funny than the rest of the DF crew.

[@MentalXO]

More life experience 🤣

[@BuyTheChicken]

Someone clip 32:12 to 32:25 and post it somewhere out of context.

[@Eternalduoae]

Wow, the whole discussion from around @28:00 onwards is a bit detached from reality. 1)VRR - what portion of the market has this as an installed base? What portion of selling monitors/tvs have this as a feature? I feel like vrr isn't a solution because it's not there for users. Better to target static/consistent frame output. 2) 24" monitors /were/ the average?! You guys are not the average, normal or even near normal use cases. I've never even seen a 27" non-wide aspect display either in a home or at work. Is a 27" more likely for the average user than a 42" tv/ monitor? (OLED or not) Yes, of course, but that's still a vanishingly small number of users. Heck, a 22" TN or IPS monitor is still the standard go-to for most use cases. 24" is large. 27"? Who has those except for the ultra gamers?

[@LucDutra92]

A naked Alex bursting into DFs office to tell John and Rich that a powerful Switch 2 is on the way. That's be something

[@jotinhafilho5920]

Next week bois! Better be a special edition too.