Nintendo Switch 2 with DLSS chasing PS5 standard as tech demo allegedly wows devs at Gamescom

It appears that a number of Nintendo Switch 2 leaks and rumors as of late have come together into one believable situation: That some sort of hardware was revealed to developers at Gamescom with the result apparently being comparable to the output that could be expected from a PlayStation 5. It’s important to stress that this does not automatically mean the Switch 2 will be able to square off equally against the PS5 in terms of raw performance, but what it does mean is that Nintendo’s next-generation console won’t be as far behind Sony and Microsoft’s current-generation consoles as many had previously believed.

Reports from both Eurogamer and VGC have declared that a Switch 2 demo occurred at Gamescom, with presumably third-party hardware set up to emulate what Nintendo has planned for the Switch successor’s specs without actually showing off the unit itself. According to Eurogamer, an enhanced version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was run to show devs just what the Nintendo Switch 2 would be capable of, with the company apparently “keen to launch the system sooner if possible”. While many expect a Nintendo Switch 2 release date for the second half of 2024, the chances of a launch in the first half of 2024 seem to be growing.

VGC offers some more details about the Switch 2 demo, claiming that along with the Zelda demo delivering a higher frame rate and better visuals than available on the current Switch, there was also a look at a demo of The Matrix Awakens involving Unreal Engine 5. It has already been previously rumored that Epic is working with Nintendo in regard to Unreal Engine technology, and the higher frame rates for Zelda imply Nvidia’s DLSS was at work here. This is touched on later in the same report, which states that the use of DLSS allowed for “visuals comparable” to those offered by the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Interestingly, the article originally claimed DLSS 3.5 was utilized before being later edited to just mention DLSS. The different technologies offer different improvements: DLSS 3.5 brings ray reconstruction with it that enlists the help of AI denoisers to produce more accurate and appealing light reproduction in games. Another recent leak claimed that the visual quality of FF7R while running on a Switch 2 dev kit emulated PS5 visual standards, and this appears to be more believable now that these new reports have emerged.

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