A while ago Nvidia (And today, in fact, but I didn’t plan to write about that) released a demo for DLSS. It’s a tool that basically paints over frames in the game, and makes them look hyper-realistic (I’m simplifying, and the tech is really cool - but that’s a lot of it).

This has been met with an unimaginable wave of backlash. A lot of people think it’s betraying a lot of the artistic aspects of game design and history.

In fact, it’s a perfect microcosm of a lot of the concerns surrounding AI and its impact on human expression.

I just want to bring up a sobering anecdote.

I had a set of friends in college who weren’t gamers, and the only thing they really played was maybe 2K - and Mortal Kombat.

I showed them Guilty Gear Strive. They were not impressed. They said the game looked bad. Worse than MK.

This is hilarious to those who are in games who are familiar with how these two franchises are seen in terms of their artistic achievements.

Guilty Gear Strive is seen as one of the greatest accomplishments in 3d animations - in terms of personality, gameplay visibility, performance and more.

Mortal Kombat is seen as less impressive, relying on mostly utilizing motion capture (sometimes to an overwhelming degree) and not going as crazy on the styling compared to other fighting games. (The fatalities are technical masterclasses, make no mistake).

The average person - even those who play games - don’t really care about that.

These people don’t care about the technical aspect. They just want something that just "looks good" - which usually means looking realistic.

I think that’s why so much AI art is the same.

Note: No one is stupid or less capable because they don’t care. I’m not a car person. I make a lot of mistakes that car people get mad at me for. But they also understand I’m more of a tech guy instead of a

I wonder how many stylish games will see an uptick in sales because people won’t be put off by the visuals. Is it really such a bad thing that people can pick up "Hi-Fi Rush" and make it look realistic? I don’t know the answer to this.

I’ve always enjoyed the feeling of being on the cutting edge of stuff. It feels good to play video games that are great that no one knows about and spread the love - or to read a manga that’s slowly getting traction, or to stumble upon some good music.

This page is for vibes like that.

Warning: Unlike with tech, where I can explain things in deep detail - I cannot do the same for music.