As I grin at the simple pleasure of seeing Goldie, an old Animal Crossing favourite, pottering around her tiny one-room house in a Wee Willie Winkie-style nightcap and pyjamas, I realise how good it feels to be home. Not home in the sense of being curled up on the sofa in real-life, but that sense of comfort that comes from immersing myself again so deeply in the animalese world Animal Crossing. There’s nothing that quite compares to the quiet, peacefulness of existing within the bright, simplistic world Nintendo’s life simulator, and with Animal Crossing: New Horizons, that sense of the series being the ultimate getaway from reality is amplified tenfold.
Fast Facts – Animal Crossing: New Horizons
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Release date: March 20, 2020 Platform(s): Nintendo Switch Developer / Publisher: Nintendo
That’s not just because Animal Crossing: New Horizons has possibly arrived at the most perfect time – a period where many of us may find ourselves being trapped at home a little more than usual – jetting us off to an island paradise courtesy of Tom Nook. Yes, the money-focused tanuki is back with a new investment scheme, and this time it’s about setting up a new life on a deserted island. Nook’s in charge now though, meaning you’ve been demoted to Resident Representative, and later when she eventually arrives like a sunbeam of cuteness, you realise Isabelle reports to Tom Nook now too. But that doesn’t mean your powers to shape the future of your new sandy home is any lessened. There are actually a slew of new features to help you execute your own vision of paradise – from terraforming to new crafting tools – and the moment Tom Nook steps back and relinquishes island control to you, you’re ready to create your ultimate desert getaway.
Time to getaway
Animal Crossing: New Horizons almost appeals more for its familiarity and repeated themes than with a new mechanic dotted here and there. New gameplay hooks are always appreciated, of course – this is the first Animal Crossing game for Switch, after all – but there’s an inherent need for the game to retain a lot of its existing charm and patterns for it to feel like an Animal Crossing title. And it’s more about the game’s pace than you’d expect.
In a world where you can spend hours on end looping short, pacey in-game days in Stardew Valley’s farming simulation, Animal Crossing is still tied to the real world passing of time. It mirrors your physical time and date in real-time, to the point that you become acutely aware of what’s going on in the Animal Crossing world depending on what time you dip into it. Initially, this means the pace of Animal Crossing: New Horizons feels incredibly slow, but, this is a game designed to be played as much, or as little, as you’d like on any given day. Across the month I’ve had to exist in New Horizons’ world, I’ve fallen back into a familiar Animal Crossing routine, checking in some days just for the daily rewards and to ask around town for the latest news, while on others something new will happen that encourages me to spend hours upon hours focused on trying to improve my new home.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
The longer you play, the easier it is to see the regular ebbs and flows of your island life. Initially, your island is nothing more than a few tents, the Nook family’s Resident Services tent, a new airport, and a handful slightly nervous-looking residents still questioning their decision to move here. You’ll need to build relationships with your villagers from the outset, understanding that each has their own defined personality and quirks, and work hard to build a life on this sandy dune for you and for them. The new ability of being able to place objects and furniture outside is a godsend, allowing you to really tweak the look of your island, and Tom Nook will also start to offer you the option to reposition homes and buildings to really customise your layout. Eventually, your island becomes more than a tangle of tents and nervous energy, and it isn’t long before it starts to look more like an actual settlement.
Your progress in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is as much linked to the game’s systems as it is the goals you set yourself. Nook Miles, for example, are a new currency form that unlock special rewards, including Nook Mile Tickets that allow you to temporarily escape from your own island to somewhere new. These alternate deserted islands offer a plethora of resources, including new foreign fruits to bring back to your home, or even a new villager to invite back with you – in a purely platonic sense, of course. New homes will literally be ready the next physical day for example, travelling salesfolk arrive a couple of times a week, and there’s a grind and graft to earning Bells – the game’s main currency. This is complimented by Nook Mile Rewards, which are quickly split into larger goals like spending 20 active days on your island, and smaller quick hitters like catching five fish, meaning there’s always something to aim for and focus on.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Of course, for those familiar with the ways of Animal Crossing, the ultimate goal is to draw in the familiar faces of the series – Blathers and the museum, The Able Sisters and their tailors, Kicks and his shoe emporium, and more. Almost a month in these lovely old pals have barely appeared on the island and, even if the game didn’t have a tonne of new features, that alone would give me a reason to keep playing. Animal Crossing still rewards the patient.
Craft and edit
(Image credit: Nintendo)
That goes for access to the game’s new features too – you’re not going to get all of them straight away. The headliners in terms of new additions are crafting and terraforming. Thankfully, access to crafting is such a huge part of the game it’s made accessible from your first full day on the island. To begin with, your focus will be on crafting the tools that let you fish, catch bugs, smack rocks, wobble trees, excavate fossils, plant trees and flowers, and the usual Animal Crossing busywork. But soon, you’ll start raking in crafting recipes, earning them from popping balloon presents that float across the sky, from the bottles that wash up on the beach, or from your merry band of island friends as gifts. Soon your home – and probably theirs too – as well as your island will be adorned with your creations, and there’s an ungodly pleasure to be found in finally landing a recipe type you’ve been waiting for – yes, I’m looking at you cute sofa.
Then there’s the terraforming, New Horizons brand new mechanic that lets you throw on a builder’s hat and directly edit cliffs, add water features and finally, finally lets you place and edit pathways – a revelation for those of us who used to run back and forth over the same spot to physically wear the grass away to create makeshift paths in the old days. But that doesn’t mean the latest system is perfect either. For those of you that have dreams of basically creating an island from scratch, I’m sad to say that’s not the case.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
The tools – at least those I’ve now got access to after three intense weeks of grafting – allow you to manipulate the terrain that already exists. You can add to or carve away existing cliffs, create or remove existing water, but forget about reshaping the island on mass. Perhaps that’s to come, but from the looks of trailers and everything I’ve experienced so far, I’m uncertain. Path placement is a little fiddly too, hampered by the limited camera angles and the fact you can only lay a path one tile at a time. And yet, there’s still a calmness about creating something from scratch to make your island look even prettier that is strangely therapeutic. The game is just missing the same kind of editor that you have for your home that would allow easier island-wide tweaks and designing fun.
But, those gripes do little to detract from the joy I’ve had spending every day with Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The sudden squeals of delight that have emerged from my body over the past month have genuinely scared my partner and my cat, and there’s no denying that every day is a treat with this game. With new faces to meet, old friends to reunite with, fresh features, regular visitors, quirky characters, and no doubt a plethora of incoming events, there’s plenty to keep you coming back, day after day, to New Horizons. And that’s without even being able to take advantage of the game’s increased multiplayer features too.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
This is an Animal Crossing game through and through, and although that comes with some time-based frustrations, that urge to just spend ‘five more minutes’ on your island deepens with every passing day. As your island evolves and starts to drip-feed fresh things to discover and see, you’ll have the urge to check up on your toe bean-boasting critters on a daily basis more than ever before. Animal Crossing: New Horizons has perfected the gameplay loop the series is famed for, and somehow manages to keep its steady pace relevant in a world where there are plenty of genre rivals. Prepare yourself for spending many a year to come with Tom Nook and co.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch (original model) and Nintendo Switch Lite.
Copenhagen, 22.10.2024 – COBOD International, the global leader in 3D construction printing technology, proudly introduces the BOD3 3D Construction Printer for 3D printing of real concrete. Equipped with an extendable ground-based track system, the BOD3 advances the construction process by eliminating printer downtime between multiple buildings on the same site, setting anew benchmark for productivity and efficiency. The BOD3 is the most advanced solution for high-volume low-rise construction and a very effective alternative to conventional construction methods.
The heart and key feature of the new BOD3 3D printer is the advanced extendable ground-based track system. This system enables limitless extension along the Y-axes (length), expanding the printable area to cover 2 or 3 buildings, and reducing setup time to a single installation for multi-building projects. It’s a game-changer, allowing continuous, uninterrupted printing across large sites, increasing efficiency for high volume and mass production at an unmatchable scale.
Render of COBOD BOD3 3D Construction Printer.
The BOD3, COBOD’s third printer model, is the outstanding achievement of years of dedicated research, development, and close collaboration with customers. It is a vital advancement in automated construction technology, directly addressing the urgent global demand for faster, smarter, more efficient and sustainable building solutions. Like every COBOD 3D printer, the BOD3’s modular design offers customization, allowing it to easily adapt to any customer’s size wishes in addition to complying with the various sizes of construction sites anywhere in the world.
The BOD3 follows COBOD’s vision to build smarter through automation. Its operational stand combines the control and monitoring of both the 3D printer and supplementary equipment in one user-friendly system. The Advanced Hose Management System (AHMS) transports 3D printable material from the materials delivery system to the printhead via hoses secured within E-chains, minimizing physical labor and optimizing material flow. With the addition of the dual dosing system for additives, operators can better control the concrete and adapt it to onsite environmental conditions. By introducing additives directly at the printhead, the system reduces drying time between layers, speeding up the overall construction process. Designed for easy operation and precision, the BOD3 can be operated by a small, trained, and certified team, reducing the costs of projects.
Incorporating the innovative Universal X-Carriage, the BOD3 is ready for future COBOD advancements and technologies, like the introduction of additional tools for the printer aimed at insulating, painting, sanding, etc. This ensures long-term versatility and performance that will keep the BOD3 at the forefront of the industry for years to come.
Universal X-Carriage with Printhead.
Already deployed to the global market, the BOD3 is currently active in Indonesia, by Modula Tiga Dimensi, Angola, by Power2Build, andBahrain, by Ab’aad 3D. The customers report faster project execution with near-zero downtime between individual buildings on the same site. The projects showcase the BOD3’s ability to speed up construction and print with real concrete, with 99% locally sourced materials and 1% of innovative D.fab, a co-developed solution by COBOD and Cemex to make concrete 3D printable.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen, Founder and General Manager of COBOD, commented on the BOD3: “The global housing crisis demands a more efficient construction solution that is faster, more efficient, and scalable. The BOD3 is our answer to this challenge. Drawing on years of research and expertise, we’ve designed the BOD3 with innovative features, making it our most cost-effective and efficient model yet for multiple low-rise buildings. Its design supports high-volume, linear production of houses, enabling mass production without compromising quality. The fact that six units have already been sold before its official launch speaks volumes about the BOD3’s market demand and the trust our customers place in our technology.”
Michael Holm, Chief Innovation Officer at COBOD, states, “The advanced ground-based track system was developed as a response to our customers’ needs to increase efficiency and productivity. Now the 3D construction printer can be easily extended, and multiple consecutive structures can be printed with minimal repositioning and zero downtime between projects, making 3D construction printing more efficient than ever before.”
The BOD3 is now available for purchase worldwide; for more information, please visit our website, www.cobod.com, or contact us at info@cobod.com.
COBOD stands as the global leader in supplying 3D printers for the construction sector, with over 80 printers distributed across North and Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Driven by a mission to revolutionize construction through multifunctional robots based on 3D printing, COBOD envisions automating half of the construction processes to achieve faster, cost-effective, sustainable results with enhanced design versatility.
From residential, commercial, and public buildings, COBOD’s 3D printers have been instrumental in erecting 1- to 3-story structures across all six inhabited continents. The innovative technology also extends to fabricate large-scale data centers, wind turbine towers, tanks, and more.
Embracing an open-source material approach, COBOD collaborates with global partners, including customers, academia, and suppliers. The company, backed by prominent shareholders such as General Electric, CEMEX, Holcim, and PERI, operates from its main office in Copenhagen, Denmark, and regional competence centers in Miami, Florida, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. COBOD’s dynamic team comprises over 100 professionals from 25 diverse nationalities.
ABOUT MODULA TIGA DIMENSI
PT Modula Tiga Dimensi is a joint venture between Bakrie & Brothers (BNBR) and COBOD. BNBR focuses on offering and providing solutions for housing backlog problems currently encountered by the country.
Teaming up with COBOD International, the company is now set to adopt the latest 3D printing construction technology and is ready to offer the Indonesian market a new and better solution to housing obstructions.
ABOUT POWER2BUILD
Reshaping the construction sector and adapting it to urgent human needs.
Power2Build is a technology company for the construction industry, prepared to establish partnerships with private, public, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) so that they can make the transition to Build 4.0 through 3DCP.
We offer our clients value-added services and high-quality projects, always with a multidisciplinary approach that brings together the necessary experience to deal with complex issues.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence‘s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.
Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.
Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?
A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.
Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?
A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.
The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.
Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.
Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?
A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.
Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?
A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.
Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?
A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.
Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.
The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.
Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?
A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.
The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-in-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.
“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”
A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.
After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.
Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.
