A big component of what makes the
PS5
an attractive console, besides just being able to
play particular games you can’t play elsewhere, is the console’s various built-in graphical perks. Since the PS5
first launched in 2020, its hardware power has remained one of its
definitive perks, with
the PS5 Pro in particular taking matters further
with the inclusion of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, better
known as PSSR.
Even though the PS5 already has a few years under its belt, the brand
isn’t just resting on its proverbial laurels and letting its existing
hardware carry it. New advancements in graphical technology are coming
out all the time, and even games that looked pretty stunning when they
first dropped like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 can always look a little bit
better.
To that end, PlayStation has added support for one of its up-and-coming
graphical frameworks, Quick Spectral Super Resolution (QSSR), to several
more games in the PS5’s library following its initial launch last month
exclusively in Marvel’s Wolverine and Ghost of Yotei. The newly-upscaled
games include Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Control Resonant, ARC Raiders, The
Finals, No Man’s Sky, and Hell Let Loose: Vietnam.
Multiple Games in the PS5 Library Have Received QSSR Support
In case you forgot, QSSR is a proprietary AI upscaling framework created
in tandem between PlayStation and AMD. This framework came about from
Project Amethyst, an ongoing developmental effort between both companies
that also gave rise to PSSR. According to the official announcement of
the newly-upscaled games on the
official PlayStation news blog, QSSR provides “sharper details, cleaner edges, and more stable images
than traditional upscalers,” and since it’s built on the same platform
as PSSR, it’s easy for games that already use that framework to
incorporate it.
QSSR is a proprietary AI upscaling framework created in tandem between PlayStation and AMD.
In that news post, PlayStation got quotes from all of the improved
games’ developers on how QSSR has affected their respective titles.
Insomniac Games’ Mike Fitzgerald said that, after incorporating the tech
into the launch of Marvel’s Wolverine, the studio decided to go back and
add it to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 as well. “We’re excited for players to
swing back into our 2023 title and see QSSR’s exciting image stability
and sharpness benefits in both Fidelity and Performance modes,” he said.
Remedy Entertainment’s Erik Jansson said that “QSSR gives Control
Resonant a much more stable and detailed image, and we’ve worked closely
with Sony to have it ready in an update coming in December.”
Embark Studios’ Mikael Linderholm said that QSSR support will be coming
soon to ARC Raiders and The Finals, and said that his studio is “very
happy to see Sony’s continued investment in PlayStation technology
translate into meaningful improvements for all players.”
Gaming Hardware is Still Striving for Higher Fidelity
While I’m personally of the belief that graphics alone don’t
automatically make a game good, it is still pretty interesting to see
the degree to which graphical fidelity can be improved, especially as we
start to run up against the proverbial limits of realism.
Obviously, the use of AI in games is a feisty topic, particularly in
presentation elements like voice acting. In the specific use case of graphics, some efforts like
NVIDIA’s AI-powered DLSS5 and its widely-mocked “yassify filter”
on character models is probably not the optimal way to be going about
this. Rather than trying to generate and overwrite existing graphics
with slop, something like QSSR is closer to the ideal, taking what’s
already present and merely smoothing out the rougher edges of the
environmental rendering process.
PlayStation has promised that this tech will be coming to more games,
ending its news post by saying, “Developers are just getting started,
and we’re excited to keep working with them to bring QSSR to more games
on PS5 in the coming months.”
Marvelʼs Spider-Man 2
Release Date
2023-10-20
ESRB
T for Teen
Developer
Insomniac Games
Publisher
Sony Interactive Entertainment
