EA Motive’s Star Wars Future, Nintendo Switch Milestone

Switch has sold over 68.3 million units

Switch is officially Nintendo’s second best-selling console of all time, and has now outsold the classic Nintendo Entertainment System.

There is still some way to go before the Switch catches up to the Wii, which sold a staggering 101.63 million units and has produced 456.49 million software sales. The numbers come straight from Nintendo's financial report.

Booming sales: Digital software sales have increased dramatically, rising 139.4 per cent compared to last year, mostly driven by Switch. Nintendo reported sales amounting to ¥171.5 billion between April and September this year, which was likely boosted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Good business: Hardware sales increased by 80.9 per cent, while software increased by 71.4 per cent. Nintendo's mobile games business saw more modest growth, with revenues growing by 33.9 per cent to ¥26.7 billion. Nintendo claim their major upcoming releases are on schedule, but have yet to announce any release dates.

Who made Friday the 13th for NES?

a) SEGA
b) Sierra
c) Atlus
d) Sony

The answer will be revealed at the bottom of today's issue. Join up with our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss what the answer could be.

Sam seriously liked Lara’s twin shooters

Serious Sam Double D XXL by Mommy’s Best Games featured a Tomb Raider reference in the level Pyramid Looting. Sam asks: “Why is it you ladies are always interested in raiding tombs for treasure?”

He goes on to mention that he met someone "too classy for his tastes", an athletic girl who had a nice pair of handguns on her, which can't really be anyone but the young Ms. Croft and her weapons of choice.

Join our community on Twitter and Facebook to discuss today's fact.

Sega stops running arcade centres

Sega Sammy Holdings has sold the majority of their shares in Sega Entertainment, their amusement arcade division, to the Japanese company Genda.

Amusement rental company Genda is looking to invest in and expand the Japanese arcade sector, while Sega Sammy is smarting form a long year of pandemic-related restrictions. Genda will acquire about 85 per cent of Sega Entertainment, with Sega Sammy keeping a 14.9 per cent minority share.

Game over: Sega Entertainment created and operated arcade centres while Sega manufactures and sells arcade hardware. Sega shut down its iconic Akihabara arcade earlier this year, a strong indicator that they did not have faith in the arcade market.

Moving on: Existing arcade centers will keep the Sega name and branding, and Sega is not pulling out of the arcade game and hardware market – but Sega Sammy will no longer be running their own arcades.

Xbox Series X footage starts appearing

Xbox Series S & X launch day is drawing near, and since some lucky gamers have started getting their hardware a bit early, lots of gameplay footage is appearing online.

Most of the footage is just showing off the improved loading times in backwards-compatible games, and the new consoles' SSD storage is clearly making a difference, even in games that have not been optimized for the new consoles.

Gameplay and load times

• Forza Horizon 4 – 4K 60FPS
• Gears Tactics – 4K 60FPS
• Sea of Thieves – Enhanced
• The Touryst – 4K
• Gears 5 – 4K HDR
• Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Loading Times Comparison
• Killer Instinct – Loading Times Comparison
• Grand Theft Auto V – Loading Times – Story & GTA Online

Hype'em-up: There will be lots more reviews and impressions once the embargoes lift. Xbox Series S & X launch on November the 10th, a few days ahead of the PlayStation 5.

• Rogue Company will launch alongside Xbox Series S & X with a new rogue called the Fixer
• PlayStation 5 will not support 1440p natively, presumably targeting televisions rather than PC gaming monitors
• EA Motive is “not working on a new Star Wars project” and any speculation to the contrary is false
• PlayStation 5 launch day orders will all be digital since COVID-19 restrictions prevent Sony from providing them responsibly
• Dedicated servers for Friday the 13th: The Game are shutting down but the final update adds peer-to-peer matchmaking

To celebrate the start of a new generation of console gaming we are giving away a new PlayStation 5 to one lucky DailyBits reader. You can find out more about this giveaway on our dedicated page.

Here’s the Giveaway Code for Week 45: 8090

Who made Friday the 13th for NES?

ANSWER: Atlus!

Surprised to find out Atlus made a Friday the 13th game? Published by LJN, the game was notorious for its difficulty, confusing gameplay and for being unusually violent for a NES game. It also had a pretty unusual Jason design, with a blue mask and a purple outfit.

The unusual get-up has actually become iconic in its own right: NECA created an action figure based on the design, and appears as a costume in Friday the 13th: The Game. That game might be shutting down now, but it’s clear that the developers cared about the series – even its sillier and more obscure sides.

Today's issue of DailyBits was written by Gavin Herman, Erlend Grefsrud, Simon Priest, and Jamie Davey.

We hope you've enjoyed today's issue DailyBits! Please feel free to send any feedback over to [email protected]. Thank You!