Recettear: An Item Shop Tale

In any role-playing game, as the main character, you are bound to get a load of items. Some items you keep as they are useful, but the vast majority of the items are useless crap which you sell to any shop around you. In Recettear: An Item Shop Tale, you are the shop owner!

In this twist of a game, you are Recette. An optimistic, slightly clueless girl (yeah, this game is from Japan), Recette woke up one day to find a fairy, Tear, in her house. Tear then proceed to tell Recette that her missing adventurer father took a massive loan payments from a bank and Tear is there to repossess the house. However there is still some time before the payment is due so Tear recommend that Recette's house be turned in an item shop as a way for her to raises the necessary funds to repay the loan.

Now I love games that twist convention like this, but a friend thought the game sounded dull. I mean don't most shop owners just sit and wait for customers to come in? Not so in Recettear.

In Recettear, each day is broken up into four periods, and you need to decide how best to spend each period of time. Opening the shop brings in customers, exiting the shop opens up access to other shops in town that'll sell weapons, armor, and upgrades that can potentially help you turn a profit. However each action takes up one period of the day.

You will also meet up with various adventurers and become friends with them, though these meetings also mostly takes up one period of the day. Meeting them is important as you need them to go on dungeon crawls. As Recette and Tear can't directly attack, adventurers you meet throughout the game will clear the dungeon and Recette and Tear can pick up the treasure that enemies drop . The problem is that each dungeon crawl takes up two period of the day so you need to balance the time need for the dungeon crawl with the needs of keeping your shop open for business.

In short, Recettear: An Item Shop Tale isn't just a game about buying low and selling high; it is also a time management game with combat thrown in for good measure. And it is anything but easy.

Outside all the things you need to learn (news bulletins, trendy items, merchant bonus, levels of Recette and her adventurers friends, special orders, haggling with customers), there's also a high degree of difficulty in repaying the weekly loan. Initially it's a small sum, but by the later weeks of the month, you need to cough out 200,000 and 500,000! Should you fail, the game will restart at the first week, though with your characters keeping their levels. How anyone can beat the game in the first play-through is beyond me! I know; I tried.  

The game may be hard but it also deceptively simple. I think this is mainly due to the cutesy anime look and the great sense of humor of the game. Recette is the likeable dolt kept in line by the responsible Tear and the interaction between this odd couple is funny as hell. The story may be pretty simple but the conversations between the duo and the supporting cast are top notch.

Also once you complete the game, Recettear: An Item Shop Tale unlock many game modes like a survival mode, and an endless mode where you can continue on selling and adventuring without the debt repayment structure.

Of course the game is not perfect. Although there's a good variety of adventurers for you to choose from, it's hard to choose anyone but Louie the Swordsman. The first adventurer  you get, he's really the only one you really need. Although the rest of the adventurers has some good abilities, when you first get them their levels would be way below Louie, so there's no incentive to use them.

Also the dungeons and the combat can become repetitive in the later stages and many times I would rushed through them just to get to the boss. I mean there's only so many times you can kill a bouncing jelly before you get tired of it. A greater variety of monsters would have served the game better.

However all the things you can do in the game makes Recettear a game with great value of money. The gameplay is incredibly addictive and honestly if there's a sequel, I'll probably get it. Recettear: An Item Shop Tale is that good.

Too Much Of A Good Thing?

I am all for innovation. Really I am. I like it when game developers try something new and different. I mean who want to play the 20th WoW (World of Warcraft) clone? New is good...usually.

However there is such a thing as being too different. Pearl Abyss may have stumbled into this. Developer of the new MMORPG "Black Desert", the team at Pearl Abyss decided to do away with traditional MMORPG dungeons. Not only that, they also will forgo the traditional tank, DPS, and support roles in favor of formations.

Calling it "collaboration gameplay", players will need to form formations to play the game. For example, if the players forms and stay in a circle, they will be rewarded with higher defense bonuses while a straight-line formation leads to high damage output from the front-line player.

Now the concept of correct positioning in order to get bonuses is not new, but that in a game with the lack of the trinity, plus the lack of traditional dungeons? A good bold attempt to make the mold, but "Black Desert" will either be a great game or a total disaster. 

Comics this week

Deadly Class #3- After the disappointing sophomore issue, I was worried for this series. I worried for nothing as writer Rick Remender and artist Wes Craig right the ship in #3. Although the whole issue focused on the boys’ mission to kill a homeless man, any homeless man, this was an issue with very little action. Shockingly, the issue was better for it. The lack of action made the interaction between Marcus and Willie all the more important and the character development of the two was superb. Remender got us to know the 2 characters, their likes and dislikes, and how they became the way they are. And the ending…shockingly brutal, but in a way that made a lot of sense. In short, this was an excellent issue.

Red Lantern #29- It’s meet the parents time for Guy Gardener as the Reds has to handle the problem of a Red ring on Supergirl. Supergirl has been one of the characters that had it rough since the New 52 started because tried as they might, DC hasn’t been able to find a niche for her. Writer Charles Soule now try his hand at her by putting her in the Red Lanterns. However at the same time, he tried to show the fallout for the Reds by having an meeting between Guy and Superman. It meant this was an issue of 2 halves. The issue did a fine job showing the how comfortable Supergirl is with the Reds and what a good fit she would be in the team but the meeting between Guy and Superman was awkward. The problem was that Soule’s Superman looks and sounds a lot older than the New 52 Superman. His Superman seems to be the version before the New 52. The New 52 Superman is young, in his early twenties, and just coming into his own; the Superman in this issue looks and sounds like an experience veteran. Luckily he’s just a guest-star, so here’s hoping it’ll be back to business next issue.  

Waterless Songkran

For those who do not know, Songkran is a festival made famous in Thailand because during the festival, everyone sprays water on everyone else. In Singapore, we celebrate Songkran by hosting a “Water Conservation and Water Heritage Exhibition”.

I’ll be honest. I have no idea Singapore had a “Celebrate Songkran 2014” festival planned and after hearing this news, I wish I had continued my ignorance. What in the world was the Singapore Tourism Board thinking when they decide to hold a foreign festival in Singapore and then cancelled the most fundamental part of the festival?

I’m all for conserving water but what’s a Songkran festival without water? That’s like chicken rice without the chicken! Water conservation and the Songkran festival do not go together. If Singapore want to conserve water, then just cancel the Songkran. After all, who want to eat chicken rice without the chicken?  

The Spider-Verse!

Marvel has announced their latest event, a series called Spider-Verse! Writer Dan Slott and artist artist Olivier Coipel are in charge of the event that will feature every Spider-Man in history…and then some.

That means Peter Parker will team up with the likes of Scarlet Spider, Iron Spider, Ultimate Spider-Man (Miles Morales), symbiote Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara), the Amazing Bag-Man, and even Spider-Ham.

If there’s any doubt on my constant complain that there are too many Spiderman, X-Men and Avengers series on the stand, this settles it! I mean just look at the poster!

There’s so many Spider-whatever that they can do an event just by themselves! Mind you, I can't see Zombie Spider-Man in this poster so there's actually more of them than what's here. Still think there's no oversaturation of Spider-men?

Heads Must Roll

It took them about 2 weeks but finally someone in Malaysia said it. Heads must roll in Malaysian for the disappearance of MH370.

In case you didn’t know, Flight MH370 flew over northern Malaysia as an unidentified aircraft but there was no action by the Malaysian air force. Worse was the fact that Malaysian air force chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud denied that the Beijing-bound plane had turned back from its flight path. Only 4 days after the disappearance did Malaysian air force chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud change course and admitted that the aircraft was plotted on military radar at 2:15am, 320km northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia’s west coast.

Since the MH370 was only spotted in Penang, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim now ask the one question everyone in the world is asking; how in the world did the plane flew over Kelantan, Perlis, Kedah and Penang and no one detected it? That’s a very good question.

MH370 was last deducted off Malaysia’s east coast state of Kelantan, and the Malaysian air force only picked it up in Penang, on the west coast of Malaysia? How is that possible? To call it incompetence is an understatement! Mr. Anwar Ibrahim has demanded that Malaysian Defense Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, resignation if he fails to explain the military’s delayed response to radar detection.

That is a good first step. Malaysia needs to answer for the disappearance of Flight MH370 and heads must roll.  

Comics this week

Ms. Marvel #2- The new Ms. Marvel has proven itself in this second issue that it's more than a marketing tools for Marvel. A lot of the news had been on the fact that the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, was a teenage Muslim girl named Kamala Khan but writer G. Willow Wilson has went beyond that. Not only did she make Kamala an interesting character, she also made Kamala a window into racism, heroism and family. The scene where Kamala turned into a blond-haired, boots-wearing superhero and realized how very uncomfortable she was as that character is brilliant. Special praise has to be given to artist Adrian Alphona who managed to capture her confusion and sadness beautifully. The writing and plotting in this issue was great, but his work made it special. That's how good this issue was. However, the problem with this title is that since #1, Marvel has released another Ms. Marvel #1,only this series star Carol Denver. You cannot have 2 Ms. Marvel titles on the stand showing 2 different characters using the same name, specially they are from the same time period. Marvel need to chose a new name for Kamala Khan, and they need to do it in a hurry.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Ever since the 2022 World Cup was given to Qatar, there have been endless questions of “why”? The latest is by the British newspaper Daily Telegraph which claim there are documents showing that the former FIFA vice president, Mohammed Bin Hammam, paying his fellow former FIFA vice president Jack Warner and his family more than £1m for voting for Qatar.

There’s 2 problems with that.

First is the fact that Warner didn’t vote for Qatar. Warner is the former head of the North American and Caribbean Football Confederation (Concacaf) and he informed his own people he voted for fellow Concacaf country America for the 2022 World Cup. The numbers backed him up. In the final round of votes for the 2022 World Cup, Qatar beat USA 14 votes to eight and almost no one could see how America could get 8 votes without the support of Warner, American Chuck Blazer and Rafael Salguero of Guatemala.

Second is the simple fact that the votes are done! Qatar won the vote and all the whining in the world (mostly in the U.K) is not going to change that. I agree it is a stupid decision, but the decision was made and now FIFA has to live with it. The selection process for the World Cups needs to be changed but Qatar in 2022 is a done deal. Qatar has even started work already! 

Like it or not, the 2022 World Cup is going to be held in Qatar; live with it! 

The Real "Starbuck"

Holy crap!

That’s my reaction when I read the story of Ed Houben (europe’s-most-vile-man). Mr. Houben has fathered…98 children! What’s more; he’s no playboy!

Mr Houben is a "charitable sperm donor" who helps single women and couples with fertility problems and has been donating his sperm since 2002. Only now, he does it the "traditional way" and free of charge!

Now I don’t know if you can really call it free of charge when he’s sleeping with all these women but “Wow”! He is a real life “Starbuck” (see Vince Vaughn latest comedy “Delivery Man” if you don’t know what I’m talking about)! 98 children is a lot of kids. So much so that he has to keep an up-to-date list of all his children on his computer to reduce the risk that they might unwittingly interbreed.

It just shows that sometimes real life is as funny as reel life. I mean when “Starbuck” and it’s remake “Delivery Man” came out, critics called the premise ludicrous! Those critics never heard of Mr. Ed Houben; the real “Starbuck”. 

Yes, We Are Miserable

"Does Singapore deserve its 'miserable' tag?" BBC journalist, Charlotte Ashton, definitely think so when she wrote an op-ed on the BBC’s website which has went viral in Singapore.

As a true blue, born-and-bred Singaporean I will ask this; “Is the sky blue?” Or maybe I should ask, “Is that even a question?” Come on, who in Singapore was surprised by Mrs. Ashton’s account of crouching on the floor of an MRT train with no one to help her? This is Singapore! You expect someone on the street to stop and waste their time to help a complete stranger; even if she was pregnant?  

If Mrs. Ashton expected that, she is sadly mistaken. It may be a culture shock to her, but as a true blue, born-and-bred proud Singaporean, I can safely say what happened to her is expected and very normal. So yes; Singapore truly deserve our ranking as the world’s most miserable country. 

Hand Thing Over

Unlike most Singaporeans who like to have a harmless laugh at our northern neighbor, I'm a Singaporean who gives them a benefit of a doubt. However the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and its subsequent mishandling has been nothing short of laughable...if it wasn't such a tragedy.  

Over a week after it disappeared, not only has the Malaysians not found the plane, the search area has gotten bigger and bigger. First they say the last contact with the plane was in the Gulf of Thailand when it was headed towards Vietnam. Then days later, they say it may have went down in the Strait of Malacca after flying across Malaysia. For the geographically challenged, Gulf of Thailand is east of Malaysia, the Strait of Malacca is west of Malaysia.

Not only do they have no idea where the plane crashed, now they're saying it might not have crashed. According to satellite evidence, which the Malaysian only released a week after the plane's disappearance, they now say the Boeing 777 could have continued flying for a further seven hours after its last radar contact! Now the search area now goes from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean, over both land and sea.

Needless to say, China has been less than impressed with Malaysia's performance. With loud criticism coming from the world, acting Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has been under the cosh and has been nothing short of terrible. Even the likable Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been under pressure for his government's performance. So perhaps it is the time to seriously consider if it would be better if some other country like China or the U.S take over the search operations from the Malaysians. 

The Malaysians will not like it but they had their chance and with around 25 countries now involved in the search operation, there are countries with more experience than they have in looking for a missing airliner. The Malaysians need to hand things over to someone else. 

Comics this week

Astro City #10- I know fans of Samaritan, the Confessor and Winged Victory will disagree but I'm glad this story arc is over. Writer Kurt Busiek tried his best but this arc just didn't work as well as his earlier 1-2 issues short stories. Those were great, this is just good.

Green Lantern #29-Ever since he took over as leader of the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordon’s reign has been nothing short of an absolute total disaster. It’s so bad that even Hal had noticed it. His move to assemble a council is a good step by writer Robert Venditti as it open up new possibilities for his supporting cast and also gives Hal someone to sound off on. I especially like the grudging acceptance of Hal that the Guardians he so despise may not have it as easy as he thought. This isn’t the greatest of issues but it does set up a lot of possibilities for the future.

Superman/Wonder Woman #6- Give writer Charles Soule credit; not only did he manage to have a good handle on Superman and Wonder Woman, he now manage to give them a kick ass confrontation with Zod. As good as the action is (thanks to artist Tony Daniel), the main storyline of this series so far has been the question of whether Superman and Wonder Woman works as a couple. On that question, the answer in this issue has been a resounding "Yes"! The only problem I have with this issue is the fact that many action scenes had to be skipped as Soule and Daniel tried to cram too many things in too little pages. Outside that, this issue is great. 

Pure And Virginal Singaporean Women

Not since…well forever has checking out women been so wrong. That’s according to Singapore’s premier feminist group AWARE who is leading the charge against an advertisement from SAFRA.

The SAFRA poster shows 2 men checking out a woman who is exercising in a SAFRA club and after the success of getting rid of the song “Purple Light”, AWARE is now campaigning against this advertisement from the official clubhouse of the Singapore Armed Forces. My reaction to this campaign is the same as the one I had with the “Purple Light” saga; are these women living in another world?

Either that or none of the women in AWARE has ever step foot in a gym before in their life. As a guy who used to go to the gym, I can safely tell you checking out other people in the gym is part-and-parcel of the culture. Men check out men; men check out women; women check out men; women check out women; everyone does it. Not only that, it happen in every gym in the world.

Beside that is the simple question of since when is checking out a girl sexist? That’s my biggest problem. From the advertisement, those 2 guys were at a distance away from the woman and are doing nothing but looking. It seem that as far as AWARE is concerned, just looking is enough.

That’s right, nowadays you don’t need to catcall or whistle, just using your eyes is enough to be sexist. Women in Singapore are so virginal and pure, just looking is an offence big enough to have most of the blogsphere in Singapore in an uproar.

Comedy Amid Tragedy

                                                  The two mystery passengers

The mystery of flight MH370 grows deeper everyday as the disappearance of the plane has baffled experts. As sad as it is, there’s still elements of comedy in the whole episode. I mean what else can you call it when the Malaysians can't even tell for sure if the plane was northeast or west of the country when it disappeared?

However the biggest laugh I had was the 2 mystery passengers on MH370? 2 passengers on the flight were using stolen passports and Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Razak had publicly said the two suspects looked like Italian footballer Mario Balotelli.

By now, it has been confirmed the 2 mystery passengers were asylum seekers trying to enter Germany and Denmark via China and had no terrorist links. The Malaysian authorities also released the photos of the 2 mystery passengers.

They should not have done that because it made them look like total idiots. Does Datuk Azharuddin even knows what Mario Balotelli looks like? Balotelli is a big, strong, black man with a mohawk. No offence to these 2 mystery passengers (who are probably dead) but big and strong are not how I would describe them. And don’t even get me started on the Mohawk!

In what world does these 2 look anywhere remotely like Mario Balotelli? In a sad episode like a missing plane, it’s good to know the Malaysians have not lost their sense of humor. 

                                                           Mario Balotelli

New HDB Rules

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s speech in Parliament on the changes of HDB resale flats has many property owners in an uproar. The rules has been changed so that HDB will only accept valuation requests from resale flat buyers or their appointed salesperson, after buyers have been granted an Option to Purchase (OTP) by the sellers.

Basically, the HDB expect the buyer and seller to come to an agreement first before going to the HDB. Also price negotiations for HDB resale flats will now be based on recent transaction prices instead of Cash-Over-Valuation (COV) figures.

Many property owners are unhappy about this as this move would probably force property prices down and Singaporeans who have recently bought their flats with the view to sell their flat for a profit after the 5 years minimum occupancy period would find that their property is not worth as much as they had hoped. I’m not a property owner so I’m on the other side of the equation.

I’m all for this move by the Mr. Khaw. There are 2 main reasons for this;

-          Property prices have remain stubbornly high despite all the cooling measures and a move like this will force it down

-          Property prices have remain stubbornly high despite all the cooling measures because property owners in Singapore have the assumption that Singapore property prices will never come down.

If you bought a property to resell after 5 years, it is call an investment and there is no such thing as a sure-thing. The moment you bought a property with a view to flip it after 5 years, you are taking a risk. Don’t complain if the risk didn’t play out.

In fact, I think the moves by Mr. Khaw didn’t go far enough. Under the new rules, the buyer and seller need to request for a valuation from the HDB after coming to an agreement. That doesn’t make sense to me. I know they did this as a way to stop the prices from going down too much but why would the buyer and seller need to go to the HDB after coming to an agreement already?

To me, it seems that the HDB are trying to have it both ways. They want the price to go down but also want a way to prevent it from going down too much. Too bad they didn’t think of this when prices were going up. 

Singapore; World's Costliest City

Recently, Singapore toppled Tokyo as the world's costliest city, a result that surprised no one in Singapore. I mean with flats costing a million dollars and even the smallest new cars costing near to S$100,000, everyone saw it coming.

That haven't stop the Singapore government from trying to downplay the "title" though. Chief among them is Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam who said that the "title" is mostly due to expatriates working in Singapore and the strengthening Singapore dollars for past 5 years. 

He has been roundly slammed for his comments and while not looking forward to kicking someone who's down, I have to totally agree with the comments against him. That is an insane comment to make from a finance minister.

I mean does property price change just because you are a foreigner? Does the COE prices changes due to your nationality? Foreigners or Singaporeans, we all live in Singapore and there's no difference in the price of your groceries just because you are a foreigner. If there is, then Singapore really is in trouble!

That is because you are admitting that there is a class system in the country. Prices for foreigners are higher because they can pay, while prices for Singapore are lower because they can't, You are saying Singaporeans are useless and not worth the high salaries you pay foreigners. Is that really what the Singapore government think of Singaporeans?

You can't say cost in Singapore is high because "the basket of goods and services evaluated by the EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit) included imported cheese, filet mignon, "Burberry-type raincoats", the four best seats in a theatre and three-course dinners for four in high-end restaurants." Is the Finance Minister saying Singaporeans can't go to high-end restaurants to eat or to the theatre to watch a show?

Like I said earlier, that is insane. Singapore is the world's costliest city. That's a fact. The Singapore government need stop trying to find silly excuses for it and just accept it. It's something everyone else in Singapore already does.

Comics this week

Forever Evil #6- I think anyone who have even a passing knowledge of the Crime Syndicate knew who their prisoner was. As expected, the identity of the prisoner was Alexander Luthor...only this Luthor was much more brutal than any version of the past. I dig it. I also dig the confrontation between Johnny Quick and Captain Cold. Not only was the winner unexpected, writer Geoff Johns made it fun. Too bad he mishandled Batman so badly but I guess you can't have everything. Overall, this is still a very good issue.

Earth 2 #21- After last issue's great character moment for Red Tornado, writer Tom Taylor seem to be setting up the finale of his story as the World Army fall back in the face of Superman. We see the forces of the World Army (or what's left of it), Batman and Aquawoman came into contact with each other for the first time and also see what happened to Sloan, Mister Terrific and Mister Miracle. To be honest, even considering that this is a setup issue, this issue is not the best as there were just too many moving parts. However I can give Taylor a pass on this as the last few issues has been great. Looking forward to see how he finish the story.  

Moon Knight #1-I had been a fan of writer Warren Ellis since "Hellstrom: Prince of Lies" (yes, I am old), so  when I read that he was the new writer for Moon Knight, I thought the series is going to be great. Moon Knight and Ellis seem a great fit and this debut issue did not disappoint. This issue was a brilliant reintroduction to Marc Spector as Ellis worked his magic on the insane Marvel hero. The chief change Ellis did was that he tweaked the character's state of mind. Instead of an insane hero fighting the good fight, this Moon Knight is a man struggling tooth and nail to hold on to his sanity while his mind and body were invaded by an Egyptian god. It is a brilliant move that has a well of potential behind it. Add to this is the strange but strangely good art of Delcan Shalvey. Shalvey's work is dark but at the same time, it doesn't feel that way. His Moon Knight walked and posed through the issue with aplomb and at the end...you looked through Spector's eyes and see the ghosts and madness in his mind. Scary and good; that's the best way to describe this excellent debut issue. 

The Final Batman: Arkham Game

It’s no secret that there are a lot of fans for Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham series. The 3 games in the series (Asylum, City, Origin) has been commercial hits so it’s no surprise that a fourth Batman: Arkham game is in the works.

What is surprising is that the game, Batman: Arkham Knight, will be the last game in the Arkham series! I have to give Rocksteady pops for this. In an era where almost everyone is milking the last drop they can get from any franchise they can get their hands on; we have a company that decided to quit while they’re ahead.

I don’t have any loyalty to any companies but for this, Rocksteady made me a fan of theirs. Hopefully, Batman: Arkham Knight will be a fitting finale to the Batman: Arkham series. Rocksteady and the series deserved it.

Boring Oscar Show

Historical drama "12 Years a Slave" won Best Picture at the 86th Academy Awards. So basically for the second year in a row, the "Best Picture" is given to a movie with American history behind it while the more entertaining, better film did not win.

It wasn't a total loss for "Gravity" as the space drama won 7 Oscars (the most for the night) including Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron. In a boring night without too many shocks, almost everything went according to script. As widely expected, Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for "Dallas Buyers Club", Cate Blanchett was named Best Actress for "Blue Jasmine", Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor for "Dallas Buyers Club", and Lupita Nyong'o won Best Supporting Actress for "12 Years a Slave".

Now I can understand why "12 Years a Slave" won Best Picture but by then I was hoping for some/any surprises. The whole show was so boring that even host Ellen DeGeneres and her selfie (is it still a selfie if it was taken by Bradley Cooper?) that took down Twitter couldn't save it.

In short; expected wins = boring show. 

Man, What A Defection!

Without a shot being fired, Russia has now taken over the Ukrainian region of Crimea. Facing that, the new Ukrainian government did what all governments did. They mobilized their army, called up reservists, and appoint a new Chief of Navy, Denys Berezovsky.

Who promptly defect to Crimea...aka Russia!

Wow! If there's any doubts Ukraine is a country divided, this really put that to the grave. The navy chief defects? Seriously? The new Ukrainian government appoint the man on Friday and he pledging allegiance to pro-Russian Crimea on Sunday? Wow!

If the West is going to back this Ukrainian government, then they better sent some serious help to them quickly. Thus their performance is not convincing (to say the least).