You're stuck in lockdown, but that doesn't mean you can't visit a tropical island, a space station or have games night with your friends. This is how people have been battling isolation over the past year, as certain video games have offered a bit of distraction, adventure and socialisation, achieving unexpected success during the pandemic.
Animal Crossing
There are no adversaries or competition in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which came out in March for Nintendo's Switch console. Instead, players explore an island, collecting fruit and making tools and furniture, trading with others, as the seasons slowly change.
This version of the game certainly hit the spot with players hungry for a bit of light-hearted diversion. It powered to the top of the sales charts in the US in March 2020, and was among top sellers in other countries as well. It was the number two title in Europe for 2020 overall, according to German market research institute GfK.
"The smashing success of Animal Crossing is explained by two factors: one is an underlying trend towards family games and the other is the short-term factor of the confinement," said Nicolas Vignolles, head of the association of French video game publisher association SELL.
He said parents suddenly confronted with being confined with their children looked to video games to find options for family entertainment, and that "Animal Crossing was an ideal game for parent-child interaction".
Nintendo's chief in France, Philippe Lavoue, has acknowledged the firm's lucky timing of releasing the game just as many people were needing an escape.
"But we were happy to have helped confined people feel less lonely and to escape mentally," he told the French newspaper Le Figaro.
FIFA 2021
The halt to many football matches and the postponement of the Euro championship may have sparked interest among fans to play virtually. According to GfK, FIFA 2021 from Electronic Arts was the best-selling video game in 2020.
Among Us
The success of Among Us in 2020 was a big surprise for the industry as the title drew little attention when was originally released in 2018.
But its developers at US studio Innersloth kept refining their concept, which paid off when some prominent game-streamers on Twitch began to play it on the platform in mid-2020.
By November, the game had half-a-billion players, according to Superdata, which monitors the gaming industry.
The online multiplayer game takes place on a space ship. Most people are crew mates, but several are imposters who are out to kill or at least block crew mates from carrying out their assigned tasks. Lively debates take place as they seek to unmask the imposters.
The game's popularity has even seen US lawmakers join in matches broadcast on Twitch in an effort to reach young voters last year.
For French game publisher Vignolles it is the exchanges between players that explains the game's popularity.
"Among Us is at the intersection of social networking and video games," he said, noting that nearly one in two gamers in France say that video games help them create social relationships.
"That didn't exist before... This underlying trend has accelerated with confinement," said Vignolles.
Ring Fit Adventure
If working out and playing video games are usually two contradictory activities, Ring Fit Adventure brings them together.
The game works with the Switch console, whose controllers are slotted into a Pilates ring and a leg strap.
Once equipped, players can fight against monsters or be guided through fitness routines by the television.
The closure of gyms, along with lockdowns, fuelled a spike in sales, leading to shortages last year after consumers snapped up four million units between October 2019 and July 2020.
Board and card games
If chess boards and Uno cards graced the tables of many households more frequently during lockdowns, their video games versions did as well.
A sign of that is a collection of classic board games for Switch was among the top sellers for the console in France last year, Nintendo told Le Figaro.
"The big lesson of confinement was that video games have broken definitively the stereotype of a game that can cause people to withdraw and become isolated," said Vignolles.
"They were an incredibly effective antidote to isolation."
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
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Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
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Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
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Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
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Price, base / as tested Dh57,000
Engine 1,170cc air/oil-cooled flat twin four-stroke engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 110hp) @ 7,750rpm
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Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
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Four stars
Indian origin executives leading top technology firms
Sundar Pichai
Chief executive, Google and Alphabet
Satya Nadella
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Ajaypal Singh Banga
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Shantanu Narayen
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Indra Nooyi
Board of directors, Amazon and former chief executive, PepsiCo
Schedule
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BIOSAFETY LABS SECURITY LEVELS
Biosafety Level 1
The lowest safety level. These labs work with viruses that are minimal risk to humans.
Hand washing is required on entry and exit and potentially infectious material decontaminated with bleach before thrown away.
Must have a lock. Access limited. Lab does not need to be isolated from other buildings.
Used as teaching spaces.
Study microorganisms such as Staphylococcus which causes food poisoning.
Biosafety Level 2
These labs deal with pathogens that can be harmful to people and the environment such as Hepatitis, HIV and salmonella.
Working in Level 2 requires special training in handling pathogenic agents.
Extra safety and security precautions are taken in addition to those at Level 1
Biosafety Level 3
These labs contain material that can be lethal if inhaled. This includes SARS coronavirus, MERS, and yellow fever.
Significant extra precautions are taken with staff given specific immunisations when dealing with certain diseases.
Infectious material is examined in a biological safety cabinet.
Personnel must wear protective gowns that must be discarded or decontaminated after use.
Strict safety and handling procedures are in place. There must be double entrances to the building and they must contain self-closing doors to reduce risk of pathogen aerosols escaping.
Windows must be sealed. Air from must be filtered before it can be recirculated.
Biosafety Level 4
The highest level for biosafety precautions. Scientist work with highly dangerous diseases that have no vaccine or cure.
All material must be decontaminated.
Personnel must wear a positive pressure suit for protection. On leaving the lab this must pass through decontamination shower before they have a personal shower.
Entry is severely restricted to trained and authorised personnel. All entries are recorded.
Entrance must be via airlocks.
LIVERPOOL%20TOP%20SCORERS
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Canada
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Lewis Hamilton in 2018
Australia 2nd; Bahrain 3rd; China 4th; Azerbaijan 1st; Spain 1st; Monaco 3rd; Canada 5th; France 1st; Austria DNF; Britain 2nd; Germany 1st; Hungary 1st; Belgium 2nd; Italy 1st; Singapore 1st; Russia 1st; Japan 1st; United States 3rd; Mexico 4th
MATCH INFO
CAF Champions League semi-finals first-leg fixtures
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
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Stage result
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The Greatest Royal Rumble card as it stands
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
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John Cena v Triple H
Matches to be announced
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Raw Tag Team Championship, United States Championship and the Cruiserweight Championship are all due to be defended
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Languages: Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, basic Russian
Favourite food: Pizza
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Favourite bike: Gold Wing, Honda
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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