A US authorized patent, filed by Nintendo in July 2023 and made public on December 31 2024, has revealed an attention-grabbing new characteristic which may be used within the Swap 2. The console, which has but to be formally revealed whereas remaining a significant thriller throughout the online game business, may be capable of play video games at each a better visible high quality and with higher efficiency if the patented tech is carried out.
The patent is for “methods and strategies for machine discovered picture conversions”, which you will recognise as sounding related in perform to Nvidia’s DLSS tech, and the likes of PlayStation’s PSSR upscaling tech. This machine studying methodology permits {hardware}, in layman’s phrases, to fill the gaps in online game graphics. It could possibly generate the visuals you see at larger resolutions, with out essentially needing the {hardware} such visuals would often demand.
This enhance in visible high quality additionally comes with out the sacrifices in efficiency you’d often anticipate. So, all in all, it is a useful little bit of tech. Particularly for the Swap 2 – which is extensively believed to not be as highly effective as trendy competitor consoles from Microsoft and PlayStation – and may gain advantage enormously from having the ability to squeeze extra out of the processing energy it does have.
The patent itself, which you’ll be able to learn right here, is sort of technical in its descriptions and illustrative diagrams. Nonetheless, in the event you take the time to undergo it, there are attention-grabbing tidbits sprinkled all through. As accessibility guide Laura Kate Dale factors out on Bluesky, the patent states this tech may scale back the dimensions of video games, to raised match on “smaller capability bodily media”. Laura appropriately makes the connection to Swap carts, which presently have a max capability of 32GB. machine studying picture conversions could enable for “greater” video games to suit natively on smaller capability bodily {hardware}.
This isn’t the primary useful characteristic we all know Nintendo is working with both, because it has beforehand confirmed that backwards compatability is coming to the console, which is smart given the Swap’s huge library of unique titles.
All that is actually left to do is an official reveal of the Swap 2 in some unspecified time in the future. What else are you hoping the Swap 2 comes filled with? Any dream options? Tell us!