Xbox’s Best Launch, FIFA Spending Limit

Microsoft’s best console launch yet

The next-generation Xbox Series X and S finally launched on Tuesday, and became Microsoft’s most successful console launch to date.

"Thank you for supporting the largest launch in Xbox history," said Phil Spencer. He added that Microsoft is "working with retail to resupply as quickly as possible”, so it will probably be possible to find a console before Christmas.

Best launch: The Xbox Series X and S consoles launched simultaneously in more territories than ever before, and sold more units put together than any previous Xbox console did at launch. "The primary outcome of all the work that we do is how many players we see, and how often they play," said Spencer. "That is what drives Xbox.”

Player count: Microsoft claims to care more about player count than raw hardware sales. "We publicly disclose player numbers. That's the thing I want us to be driven by, not how many individual pieces of plastic did we sell,” Spencer explained.

Which staple of British pop culture can you encounter in Fallout 1?

a) Coronation Street
b) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
c) The TARDIS
d) Sherlock Holmes himself

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.

More family-friendly human sacrifice

Bandai Namco’s Tales of Berseria opens with a rather dramatic scene where a character is sacrificed in a ritual. In the Japanese version of the game, the unfortunate victim is impaled on a sword by the villain.

The Western release toned down the brutality a bit, turning the ceremony into a more mystical affair where the victim is levitated and then killed by some kind of supernatural force. Much less sinister!

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

New parental controls for FIFA 21

EA has been under fire from a number of national regulatory bodies and campaign groups who consider EA’s monetization strategies to be little more than gambling. As a result, EA has added optional spending limits to FIFA 21.

The controversy is centered on the FIFA Ultimate Team mode, and while EA refuses to change or remove the game mode, they are adding “a new suite of tools” that inform players about their spending habits.

Parent tools: FIFA Playtime allows parents to take control of how much time and money their children spend on FIFA 21. The tools let you impose a limit on how much money can be spent on FIFA Ultimate Team packs. The limits will not affect packs awarded via regular play.

All or nothing: Most countries still don’t regulate loot boxes, but the mood seems to be shifting as game companies push the boundaries between gambling and purchases. As a result, companies have started revealing the probabilities of getting different items in packs.

Game & Watch teardown appears online

Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. orders have started shipping, and that means curious customers with screwdrivers have started digging into the hardware.

@ghidraninja has opened one up, and started figuring out exactly what kind of hardware is driving the handheld – and what security measures protect it from prying eyes.

Super Hack Bros. The device is powered by an STM32H7B0VBT6 chipset with an ARM Cortex-M7, 128 KBytes of Flash and 1024 KBytes of RAM – more than enough to play Super Mario Bros. and The Lost Levels. You can buy it from Nintendo Official UK Store for £44.99.

Jailbreak ahoy: While the firmware features some security features that prevent the device from being tampered with, it appears that NES ROMs are copied from Flash memory into RAM, so it could be possible to get other ROMs to work as well.

• Xbox Game Studios is working on new AAA open-world games according to a narrative director's LinkedIn
• More connectivity between Pokémon Go and Pokémon Home and now includes transfers from trainers level 33 and above
• Cross-play support for Minecraft Dungeons on November 17th allowing PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch to play together
• Brotherhood of Steel appearing in Fallout 76: Steel Dawn, introducing Paladin Leila Rahmani and her merry men
• Serious Sam Collection out for Switch and available on the eShop

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 46: 5577

Which staple of British pop culture can you encounter in Fallout 1?

ANSWER: ANSWER: The TARDIS

The two first Fallout games were jam-packed with secrets and Easter eggs, including many special encounters featuring pop culture references. For example, you can find the remains of a whale scattered around a broken pot of daisies – a reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

In the first Fallout, you can even encounter the TARDIS. It’s described as a police box, but it’s pretty clearly more than that. If you step too close, its lights will begin flashing before it vanishes. Fallout might deal with some serious themes, but at heart it’s a pretty silly and fun game.

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!