Starfield Mods on Series S, Sony Emulation & Windows on ARM
Starfield Performance on Xbox Series S
The panel explores the introduction of mod support for Starfield on Xbox consoles. While Bethesda did not provide official performance settings for the Series S, community mods have successfully unlocked the frame rate and adjusted resolutions to improve performance.
• Performance potential: Mods demonstrate that the Series S has the necessary overhead to provide higher frame rates if optimized properly.
• Trade-offs: Unlocking the frame rate can lead to visual instability, such as screen tearing, and aggressive resolution scaling to 720p.
• Achievement Limitations: Using these mods disables achievement progress, making them an interesting academic exercise rather than a standard way to play.
Sony's New PS2 and PSP Emulators
The team evaluates Sony's latest efforts in bringing PlayStation 2 and PSP titles to the PlayStation 5. The results are described as inconsistent and underwhelming.
• Baffling Defaults: While the new emulator introduces region selection (NTSC/PAL), the default video filtering options are subpar and often blur the image unnecessarily.
• Technical Flaws: Tests indicate performance glitches, such as missing music during cutscenes and frame pacing issues in PSP titles compared to the original hardware.
• Missed Potential: The panel notes that retro-hardware tools (like the RetroTink 4K) provide superior scaling and presentation, suggesting that Sony’s approach is surprisingly lazy given the community benchmarks.
The Windows on ARM Experience
A critical look at the new Microsoft Surface laptop featuring the Snapdragon X Elite processor. The initial experience has been severely disappointing regarding gaming compatibility.
• Compatibility Issues: Many popular titles, such as Crysis 3 Remastered and Forza Horizon 5, simply fail to launch. The emulation layer (Prism) and GPU driver maturity are cited as major bottlenecks.
• Performance: Titles that do run often exhibit atrocious stuttering, even with Auto SR active.
"It’s just entirely random as to whether a game will work or not."
• Professional Perspective: The panel argues that Microsoft has allowed this product to launch in a half-baked state, reflecting poorly on the integrity of the Windows gaming ecosystem.
Marketplace Hurdles and LRG3 Updates
The discussion covers the frustrating state of the Windows Store and Game Pass on PC, with games often launching missing features (like DLSS) or failing to function entirely compared to Steam versions. Finally, the team highlights several notable announcements from the Limited Run Games LRG3 event, including physical releases for Beyond Good & Evil and Gimmick 2.