Tech

Animal Crossing: New Horizons review — A refined island getaway – VentureBeat

Published

5 years ago

March 16, 2020

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a tough game to assess. I’ve played around 60 hours since Nintendo sent over the download code in late February. But even if I had played 300 hours, I would still struggle to review Nintendo’s social-life simulator. That’s because the point of Animal Crossing is to play it consistently over the course of months and even years. And I can’t time travel. But even with that caveat in mind, I’m still confident in making this claim: This is the best Animal Crossing game yet.

Like past games in the series, New Horizons is about moving into a village with other animals. You get a house, you pay off the loan to a raccoon named Tom Nook, you get a bigger house to add more decor, and so on. The idea is to live a life inside a pleasant virtual town. That structure is back, but with New Horizons, Nintendo has added to and refined the Animal Crossing formula. And the result is more gripping than ever.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches March 20 for $60 on Nintendo Switch. It’s a series that I’ve appreciated from the beginning and then loved with New Leaf on 3DS in 2013.

Now, let me explain why this new entry is so wonderful.

What you’ll like

Animal Crossing: New Horizons has the best new-game experience yet

On the first day in Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the 3DS, you could hit a pretty hard wall. The game withheld several basic tools and mechanics until later days. After the first hour, you could find yourself just wandering around with nothing to do. This wasn’t a long-term problem, but it reveals a major contrast with how Nintendo approached this sequel.

New Horizons is much better about getting you into the flow of Animal Crossing. The first day when you start a new island is untimed and unrelated to the real-world calendar. This tutorial section gives you a chance to get familiar with some of the core mechanics. It guides you to features like crafting, catching fish and bugs, buying and selling goods with bells, and earning Nook Miles.

By the end of the introduction, it throws you back into the real-time game. And you can keep playing without running out of things to do. I think this is going to lead to New Horizons “grabbing” more people that bounced off of previous versions.

Above: Night fishing in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

It gives you big and small goals to work toward

New Horizons also has a great system of putting goals in front of the player.

If you ever feel lost or confused about what to do next, you can go ask Tom Nook. He’ll point you toward some goal that you can work toward that will unlock more aspects of the game.

Early on, these goals are very simple and manageable. These include crafting your first tools, picking home locations for villagers, and getting enough Nook Miles to pay your moving fees.

They then get progressively more complex and larger scale. You’ll have to collect specific materials to craft certain pieces of furniture for some of the new villagers you invite to the island. Or you’ll have to get a huge set of materials to help Tom Nook’s capitalist nephews build their first shop.

In a later quest, you’ll have to improve the overall look and feel of your town by adding infrastructure and decor. On my island, I’ve added some bridges and a ramp up to the higher elevations. I also built a playground on the beach with a jungle gym, slides, and rocking horses. Eventually, I’ll improve the appeal of my town enough to attract a very special guest.

Doing everything gets you a reward

But New Horizons doesn’t just rely on a strong start and then guided goals to keep people playing. It also has a wonderful moment-to-moment reward system with the new Nook Miles program.

This is a secondary currency that is separate from bells. You still earn bells by foraging and selling things in the store. Nook Miles, however, are a reward for doing everything else.

Everything you do in New Horizons will contribute to filling up meters in your Nook Miles app on your Nook Phone. Water 10 flowers, and you’ll earn some Nook Miles. You’ll also get some for chopping down trees, fishing, and talking to your neighbors.

These are things that people do in Animal Crossing anyhow. But New Horizons incentivizes players with tangible rewards. Because of this, I’ve found myself doing things like managing a flower garden. That’s something I would have skipped in previous games, but now I get something out of it. But I also get Nook Miles for fishing, which is something I always love in Animal Crossing.

Eventually, you’ll unlock daily Nook Miles challenges that come with bonus multipliers. So even as you move past the first two tiers of catching fish and have to wait to get a bonus until you catch 500 or more, you’ll get a smaller challenge that will reward you for catching five fish before the end of the day.

Nook Miles makes it so you are always working toward something, and that makes everything in the game more enjoyable.

The progression system feels great

Even though New Horizons gives players more to do on the first day and beyond, it still holds so much back. In previous games, you had less to do from the start and fewer major goals to work toward. New Horizons is the opposite in both respects.

Instead of waiting to get a fishing rod or other tools, New Horizons makes you wait to unlock other parts of the island. This gives you more space to build, and it even unlocks mechanics like digging for fossils.

Above: Moody beach shot.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

But New Horizons even has a progression system that makes the game more playable. For example, you start out with the option to only donate one critter at a time to the museum. But if you help entice Blathers, the owl who runs the museum, and help him build the actual museum building, you can donate multiple specimens at a time.

Players can also redeem Nook Miles to unlock user-experience features. There’s a quick-select wheel and a skill to increase the size of your pockets in the Mileage store.

This progression combined with the Nook Miles program, the short- and long-term goals, and the quick start make every session with New Horizons feel eventful and rewarding. The game gets easier over time, but as you get more capable you can take on bigger tasks. It’s exquisite design that sets this game above its predecessors.

Crafting is a great way to fill out your schedule

One of the big new additions Nintendo made to Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the crafting system. This enables you to collect materials like wood, stone, clay, iron, weeds, and more to build furniture and tools.

I was worried that this system would replace some of Animal Crossing’s classic loops. But that’s not how it actually works. Instead, crafting is complementary. It fills in a part of the game that was empty instead of replacing something else.

So now you’ll still spend a lot of your day fishing, catching bugs, talking to villagers, and more. But you will also want to find out what the “hot item” at the store is that you can craft and sell for twice its normal price.

But now, when the store closes and all the villagers go to sleep, crafting gives you something to do late at night. You can go around the island collecting materials for the next day. Or spend those hours crafting furniture to decorate your home and island.

Crafting is additive and feels like something that was always a part of the series.

The fruit stacks automatically

The fruit stacks by itself! Not much else to say here. In previous games, you had to drag the fruit on top of one another by yourself. Here, the fruit auto-stacks. Welcome to the future.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons looks and sounds fantastic

New Horizons still looks like Animal Crossing. It has the same simple style as the previous games, and characters like Isabelle still look the way you remember from New Leaf. But the game is now in HD, and everything looks crisper than ever.

Still, I think that New Horizons does a great job with establishing an atmosphere. Its ambient sounds and music are like if you turned a Chill Vibes YouTube playlist into a video game. This sort of thing is really noticeable when the breeze starts picking up or the weather turns hazy or rainy.

One of the reasons I can play this game for hours at a time is because it’s just so pleasant. I love running among the trees and listening to them rustle in the breeze while they sway with a satisfying animation. It’s a nice place to visit, and I always want to go back.

What you won’t like

Animal Crossing: New Horizons still has some user-experience annoyances

New Horizons is a friendlier game than previous Animal Crossings when it comes to the user experience. Note the aforementioned auto-stacking fruit. And a lot more of the shopping happens in a menu. You can also edit the layout of your house using an awesome drag-and-drop system.

It still has some clunkiness, though. I’ve accidentally almost purchased an item when I was trying to talk to Timmy Nook in the shop. Crafting (and this could change if I get a better crafting table) is only one item at a time. And you have to go through the menus and confirm everything each time. As far as I know, you can’t put items into a queue and walk away.

Nothing is so detrimental that it ruins the fun, but it’s occasionally frustrating.

Above: Time to celebrate in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Image Credit: GamesBeat

The save system really is a mess

I’m stuck on my Switch Lite. I know Nintendo says it will let us later transfer Animal Crossing: New Horizon to new systems. But that’s still not going to fix my problem. I want to play primarily on Switch Lite, and then I want to take my character onto my original Switch and visit my wife’s island. But I can’t.

If I use my account on that Switch, I have to start a new character that lives on that island and has nothing to do with my Switch Lite character.

This is just my specific problem, but I think other people will encounter a number of other hurdles because of the way Nintendo built New Horizon.

The problem for me is that islands are tied to the device and not to accounts. So even if you can transfer your save to a new system, you’re going to have to move the entire island. That’s not going to help people who started playing on a shared system but then each want to continue playing on their own individual Switch consoles.

This also doesn’t really ruin the game, but it is going to cause headaches for a lot of people.

Conclusion

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is fantastic. It is the best Animal Crossing game ever made. I’ve played for 60 hours, and I don’t want to stop. And those first 60 hours far surpass the enjoyment I got from the first 60 hours in New Leaf, Wild World, or the original.

Nintendo has found new ways to make Animal Crossing rewarding. It’s also found fun new styles of play that still feel like they belong.

The best thing I can say about New Horizons is that I think it’s going to win over some players who previously bounced off the franchise. And it will do so without losing any longtime fans in the process. Those players will find more to love than ever before.

Score: 95/100

Animal Crossing: New Horizons launches March 20. Nintendo provided GamesBeat with a downloadable review code for the purpose of this review.

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The Internet is Littered in ‘Educated Guesses’ Without the ‘Education’

Published

1 week ago

October 8, 2024

Nick Kossovan

Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.

The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.

Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.

The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.

Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.

On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.

The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.

More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.

Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:

You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!

Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.

Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.

There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.

Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.

Successful people tend to be secretive.

Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.

Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.

Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.

______________________________________________________________

Nick Kossovan, a self-described connoisseur of human psychology, writes about what’s

on his mind from Toronto. You can follow Nick on Twitter and Instagram @NKossovan.

Tech

Tight deadlines on software projects can put safety at risk: survey

Published

1 week ago

October 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.

Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.

The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.

The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.

The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.

Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.

“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.

The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.

“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”

The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.

However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.

That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.

“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.

“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”

The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.

About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.

“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.

Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

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Beware of scams during Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sales event: cybersecurity firm

Published

1 week ago

October 8, 2024

Anne Joseph

As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.

In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.

The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”

“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.

“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”

Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.

Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.

In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.

The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.

Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.

“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.

“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”

Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.

Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.

Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.

“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.

“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”

Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.

As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.

But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.

Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.

The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.

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