For several weeks, there has been indigestion. We were talking about it the last time we discussed one of these famous leaks : the more there are, the more they become uncontrollable in the collective unconscious. So much so that, without official communication from the main person concerned, a lot of potentially erroneous information gradually begins to settle into the collective unconscious of the players who follow these rumors directly or indirectly. We are told about sensory joy-cons, graphics upscaling, motherboards, potential games to accompany the release of the new console, and even specific dates for its marketing, all without any basis other than rumors. corridors impossible to check.
Obviously, when information becomes verifiable, it immediately takes on much more interest, at least in our eyes. Last Tuesday, December 31, a patent filed by Nintendo in July 2023 was finally made public. The latter does not directly mention the Switch 2, but deals with a system that is however applicable on various platforms. But this new data directly confirms some small rumors in the corridors, provided obviously that this patent does not fall into the box of filings forgotten over the years.
In this patent, Nintendo thus evokes a technology whose aim is to “ convert images from one resolution to another resolution (for example higher) and which can be used in real-time applications from images generated by a video game engine for example “. Since patent gibberish can sometimes be a little difficult to visualize, let's take a simple example: let's say your game is displayed at 540p. It's not much, it must be admitted. Using this technology, Nintendo could increase this low resolution to reach 1080p for example, using a process completely managed by artificial intelligence.
This method would also make it possible to considerably reduce the size of game files, so that they can fit on a smaller physical medium (yes, immediately, we obviously think of Switch cartridges). To be clear, this technology is quite clearly similar to a sort of DLSS with Nintendo sauce, the aim of which is toupscaler an image simply by AI. This process is already used by GEForce, but also Sony with its PSSR, which uses a similar principle. The idea is therefore to allow the next console (if it were to use this technology – which remains to be confirmed) to run games at a resolution previously impossible to hold on a portable device without the usual defects. associated with such power (size, weight, more expensive components). And then, this method would also allow much better fluidity: since the game actually runs at 540p before being artificially improved, enjoying a constant 60 FPS should be much less problematic.
Obviously, all this must be taken conditionally, since only an official announcement (which we hope will be imminent) will be able to confirm such information.
