Digital Foundry Direct: TGA 2021 Analysis & Tech News

Game Awards 2021 Analysis

The Impact of CG Trailers

• The crew discusses the prevalence of pre-rendered trailers at the Game Awards, noting how they can be deceptive and lack transparency.
• Key takeaway: When in-engine footage is shown alongside CGI, it often leads to consumer confusion and cheapens the impact of genuine real-time graphics.
• The team praises trailers that clearly communicate in-engine or real-time capabilities, citing Hideo Kojima's editing style as a gold standard.

Game Spotlights

• Warhammer Space Marine 2: An exciting reveal that seems to stay true to the original's combat feel.
• A Plague Tale Requiem: Notable for looking like actual in-engine footage with improved visuals.
• Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2: The team debates the feasibility of the beach sequence, noting that while visually impressive, it appears to be a highly scripted, linear sequence.

Tech & Industry Updates

Horizon Zero Dawn PC Update

• The inclusion of NVIDIA DLSS and improved shader compilation has significantly enhanced the game's stability and visual fidelity.
• The team views this as a welcome patch that may be a result of the work done for Horizon Forbidden West.

PlayStation "Spartacus" Rumors

• Speculation regarding a new tiered subscription service for PlayStation.
• The main concern: The team emphasizes that without proper emulation and curation of the back catalog (PS1-PS3), specifically addressing issues like UI scaling and CRT-era intent in pixel art, the retro component may fail to impress.

Halo Infinite Launch Critique

• The crew discusses the frustration surrounding games that require large day-one downloads despite physical disc releases, hindering long-term game preservation.
• Despite the technical accomplishment of the campaign, they express concern about the state of the PC launch, noting that a little more development time could have significantly improved the polish.

"The actual great work, the actual end products that users are getting is made worse by being placed alongside these pie in the sky renders."

Community Q&A

• Surround Sound: The team highly recommends 5.1/7.1 setups for immersion, noting that Dolby Atmos adds tremendous depth to the experience compared to stereo/headphones.
• Dynamic Resolution Scaling (DRS): They advocate for user-adjustable bounds, allowing players to trade resolution for a more solid frame rate target.