PS5 Cross-Gen, AMD FSR, and Unreal Engine 5 Prospects

The Controversy of Cross-Gen Titles

The panel begins by addressing the recent news that marquee titles like God of War Ragnarok and Gran Turismo 7 will be released as cross-generation games for both PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

• The hosts express disappointment, arguing that this strategy limits the potential for next-gen innovation.
• Particular concern is raised regarding the CPU limitations of older hardware, which may bottleneck physical interactivity, animation systems, and world design.
• While acknowledging the business realities and chip shortages that drive this decision, the team emphasizes that it creates a divergence from the narrative Sony originally sold for the PS5 launch.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution First Impressions

Discussion shifts to the announcement of AMD FSR. Based on initial demonstrations:

• The team classifies FSR as a spatial upscaling technique, distinguishing it from the temporal reconstruction methods used by DLSS.
• Skepticism persists regarding whether FSR can compete with the image quality benchmarks set by DLSS 2.0.
• There is an ongoing debate about the platform-agnostic claims made by AMD, with the team noting that implementation and real-world performance results are still pending further testing.

Technological Deep Dives

Doom Eternal Ray Tracing

The addition of Ray Traced Reflections to Doom Eternal is highlighted as a strategic choice that enhances the game's visuals without requiring a complete engine architectural shift.

Unreal Engine 5 Early Access

The hosts share their initial experiences with Unreal Engine 5, focusing on:

• The potential of Lumen (global illumination) and Nanite (virtualized geometry).
• The high hardware requirements, particularly memory, needed for effective development.
• A cautious optimism about how these tools will change game development workflows in the coming years.

Industry and Hardware Challenges

"We've gone back to the concept of the big chip NVIDIA product going onto the 80 line GPU, which we haven't seen since GTX 780."

The episode concludes with a frank discussion on the current GPU shortage, the bizarre product positioning of the RTX 3080 Ti, and the logistical nightmares surrounding HDMI 2.1 compliance in current AV receivers.