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."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
MATCH INFO
Al Jazira 3 (O Abdulrahman 43', Kenno 82', Mabkhout 90 4')
Al Ain 1 (Laba 39')
Red cards: Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain)
The 12 breakaway clubs
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
FIXTURES
All kick-off times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Brackets denote aggregate score
Tuesday:
Roma (1) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2), 11.45pm
Manchester United (0) v Sevilla (0), 11.45pm
Wednesday:
Besiktas (0) v Bayern Munich (5), 9pm
Barcelona (1) v Chelsea (1), 11.45pm
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
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England squad
Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Dominic Bess, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ben Foakes, Lewis Gregory, Keaton Jennings, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Saqib Mahmood, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matthew Parkinson, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Amar Virdi, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Superpower%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESean%20Penn%2C%20Aaron%20Kaufman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam
RACE CARD
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,400m
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh70,000 1,000m
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 2,000m
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 2,000m
7pm: Maiden (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Al Ain Mile Group 3 (PA) Dh350,000 1,600m
8pm: Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Amith's selections:
5pm: AF Sail
5.30pm: Dahawi
6pm: Taajer
6.30pm: Pharitz Oubai
7pm: Winked
7.30pm: Shahm
8pm: Raniah
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
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'Ghostbusters: From Beyond'
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
Rating: 2/5
WORLD'S%2010%20HIGHEST%20MOUNTAINS
%3Cp%3E1.%09Everest%0D%3Cbr%3E2.%09K2%0D%3Cbr%3E3.%09Kangchenjunga%0D%3Cbr%3E4.%09Lhotse%0D%3Cbr%3E5.%09Makalu%0D%3Cbr%3E6.%09Cho%20Oyu%0D%3Cbr%3E7.%09Dhaulagiri%0D%3Cbr%3E8.%09Manaslu%0D%3Cbr%3E9.%09Nanga%20Parbat%0D%3Cbr%3E10.%09Annapurna%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
ABU%20DHABI%20CARD
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