Nintendo’s Latest Installment of Animal Crossing: New Horizons Capitalizes Need
With COVID-19 forcing social distancing orders to bleed into summer, those stuck at home have begun itching for something to do. Many have busied themselves with testing new recipes, dusting off the books on their shelves, and booting up those old home workout videos in an attempt to fill the passing hours. If there is one company that has benefited off of the people’s boredom, it is Nintendo. The multi-billion dollar video game company’s popular gaming system, the Nintendo Switch, has found itself as a commonplace commodity among American households.
For well over three weeks, the Switch has been consistently sold out in major retail stores. Originally priced at $299.99, new Switch consoles are now being sold on sites like Ebay for well over $500. On March 20, Nintendo released its newest installment of the Animal Crossing franchise for the Switch. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game where players become a resident on a small island alongside bipedal animal friends. They work to beautify and customize the island, creating the remote getaway destination of their dreams. Mixing cute aesthetics, endless furniture and clothing choices, and online features that allow players to connect with friends, the game has experienced a similar boom of popularity to the console it was released for. Originally selling for $60, a physical copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons now sells for $94.99 on Amazon. Animal Crossing has created a safe haven for players among COVID-19 worries; each individual pixelated
island is its own world where people can meet up with friends and family without the fear of infection. In the weeks following the game’s release, people have held events such as weddings and graduation ceremonies in lieu of their cancelled real life counterparts. Couples have dressed their little villagers up and visited each other’s islands on mock dates. People are using the game in an attempt to maintain any form of fulfilling social interaction during this time of social isolation. What does this mean for the future? How will games affect the normalcy of a post-Coronavirus world? Despite the comfort Nintendo is currently providing many households, they have also created new questions with uncertain answers about how society will continue to intersect with increasingly normalized virtual realities.
Report: Nicolette Schneiderman
At the rise of Covid-19 many of us first questioned the timeline of fashion week and would we see the regular calendar continue - the question weighed over many of us for months! It was refreshing to see design houses and designers across the globe take advantage of the uncertainty and plow into production mode - thus my interest in Jerri Reid New York - The Black Designer based in Brooklyn New York wow’d instagram with his latest collection paying homage to the Black Is King film which debuted earlier this year in July. I was taken aback at quick of a turn round the young designer produced and released his well crafted designs reflecting some of the films most memorable moments.