Manila Take Two: AirAsia Zest and NAIA Terminal 4

NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) Terminal 4

The first time I went to Manila years ago, AirAsia had yet to fly into Manila. The only way to go via AirAsia was to fly into Clark airport, which was 2 hours north of Manila. From Clark,  you had to take a 2 hour  bus ride to Manila city. This time around, I took AirAsia Zest straight to NAIA airport in Manila. AirAsia Zest lands at Terminal 4, which is a domestic terminal that is incredibly small. Only AirAsia Zest is using this terminal for international flights if I'm not mistaken, and this really downgrades the travelling experience for international travelers arriving into Manila for the first time. There is not a single souvenir shop in the terminal. So don't even think about duty free shopping. There is only one small stall calling itself the AirAsia Cafe.

When my plane landed, we taxied for a really long time on the runway before parking at Terminal 4. From here, we had to queue up for a bus that would drive us to the terminal which was less than 50m away. They did not let us walk to the terminal because there was a lotof vehicular traffic, so it was too dangerous. The fact that we had to take the bus(es) meant that the deplaning process was really slow. 

When I brought up this issue with my Filipino friends, they told me this was the major issue with NAIA airport. That they just kept adding terminals, but the number of runways did not change. Hence, the runways would always be the bottleneck. The Philippines economy is definitely growing, but one of the obstacles is the bad state of the transport infrastructure that is its main international airport. Just the amount of time it takes to get through the aiport results in high conversion costs for any business, and leaves visitors with a less than impressed after-thought in their minds.

Taxi Scam

It is also one of the furthest terminals from the city, and there seems to be a scam that the taxi drivers are running. The other passengers had told me that in going to the airport from the city,their taxi drivers had taken them to Terminal 1 at the start. When told to go to Terminal 4, they demanded extra payment as Terminal 4 was much further. There is no shuttle service (bus/train) from terminal to terminal. And walking from 1 terminal to the other is not convenient either, as you have to walk back to the main road before you can go to another terminal, so it is as good as going to another airport. 

So my word of advice is make sure you know which terminal your airline is at, and tell your taxi driver from the start which terminal you are going. If not, seems like they will take you to Terminal 1, and demand extra when you want to go to any of the other terminals later on.

Note: Not sure if this is an intentional scam by the taxi drivers, as this is only assumed by the other passengers. My thinking is that the taxi drivers should know that this mix-up happens all too often, and that they choose to remain silent to be able to exploit the situation.

AirAsia Zest

As for AirAsia Zest, I have to say, this is the worst AirAsia product on offer. On my flight to Manila, the plane was really old, and I am assuming that it was one of the planes inherited from Zest Air when AirAsia bought it over. For starters, the legroom was extremely tiny, even for AirAsia standards. Later on, I had realised that the plane did not even offer the HotSeat option, and that was when I realised this plane was probably not delivered new from Airbus, but a hand-me down from Zest Air. 

For my return flight, I had arrived at the check-in counter to find that my flight was to be delayed for 3 hours. The only compensation would be a free friend chicken meal from Jolibee. The reason for the delay was cited as due to turn around time.

Having gone through this, I can now understand why the Phillipines arm of Airasia is not doing well. I do not think many of the other passengers are willing to fly AirAsia Zest on the KL- Manila route trough Terminal 4 again.

Related: AirAsia Zest pushes upgrade of Terminal 4

Image source: habagatcentral.com (see related link)

Review: Valiant Hearts:The Great War

FINALLY A GOOD WORLD WAR 1 GAME
As a fan of WW2 history, I've always sought out quality games of the period, and the Call of Duty franchise had set the bar so high that it made most other games irrelevant. COD satisfied me much. As terrific as the thrilling action packed game-play of COD was, its educational value was almost on par, as it definitely exposed its players to the realities of life on the front-lines of WW2.

But what about WW1? This was an area that COD had never ventured into. And the other games about it were mediocre at best. And then I found this indie-game on a Steam sale; the reviews were overwhelmingly positive. 

NOT METAL SLUG
The reviewers informed me that despite the cutesy art-styles,Valiant Hearts was no WW1 rendition of Metal Slug, and that it was instead a side scroller involving puzzle-solving and semi-platforming. The key bashing action would mostly be limited to maneuvering and avoiding bombs/bullets. What they did promise me instead was an involving story of the period.

So ok. I came. I read. I bought. I played. I WRITE REVIEW NOW, because I just wanted to share that in playing this game, I was exposed to an engaging story that not only lived up to the hype of the other reviewers, but also really enabled me to immerse myself in the  atmosphere of the war.  

SO MANY FEELS
From multiple perspectives, I was at one time or another a conscript on the run, a volunteer from overseas enlisting for revenge, a POW trying to escape, a nurse trying to rescue her scientist father held against his will, an army dog aiding all of the above folks at various points, and a father and husband just trying to survive the war and return home.

This indie video game allowed me to relive the war far better than any book or movie of the period, and I think that says a lot given that this is not even an FPS, but a side-scroller. I was really able to empathize with the struggles of warfare in the trenches, and the daily issues faced by soldiers that are included but not limited to chlorine poison gas, accidentally digging onto enemy trenches, hidden dud bombs, being shelled by artillery, avoiding machine gun hails whilst moving from trench to trench, rat infestation, dysentery, etc.

Ironically, I did not fire a single shot the entire game; attacking enemies are limited to knocking them out with punches. But the violence is nevertheless present from the many attempts by the enemy to end your life. 

Running/avoiding gunfire/explosions itself is a puzzle in some cases, amongst the many other puzzles present throughout. 

when cuteness and violence come together

 

VEHICLE SCENES
Like how Asian songs find it absolutely vital to incorporate at least a string/half-sentence/word of English into their lyrics at some point, so too does this game incorporate vehicle scenes that are vital to war games. Whilst it has the expected side-scrolling action of driving a tank, what was unexpected are the Fast and Furious style car chase scenes that are interspersed throughout. Again, you are not the one doing the chasing but the running away from the enemy forces/authorities trying to catch you for desertion. 

Fast and Furious 1916

FITTING MUSIC
It is during these chase scenes also that I noticed how spot on the music is in eliciting the emotions of players. Chase scenes are supplemented by famous classical time pieces that capture the tension of the chase, very down to its lulls and spikes. Elsewhere, scenes of grief and tragedy are accompanied by notes of sorrow and melancholy. Long after I have stopped playing, the music still echoes whenever I think of the scenes I went through in the game. I may yet purchase the soundtrack from Amazon. Yep, it's on Amazon for purchase.Not only does the audio enhance the gameplay through its music, but it also complements the cuteness of the graphics through the characters verbal speech. Honestly. to call it a speech would be an overstatement; they just mumble phrases in their native language that are too difficult to hear, and yet somehow makes them all the more appealing.

The above aside, this game will appeal to many folks because of its cutesy graphics. I know, because I fell for it when browsing through the Steam online store. I was suckered in by the graphics, and I was subsequently thoroughly exposed to a game that had layers of enjoyment and depth that ran tenfold deeper. Clocking in at 5.3 hours of gameplay, this has been my most rewarding purchase off Steam alongside heavier and more expensive blockbuster titles like DragonAge and MassEffect.

 

 So cute I wish I could buy a model

Help our northern neighbours

Triple elements of water, earth and nuclear have been trying to wipe out Japan. Beat them back with generous $$$. Donate generously to charities of your own choosing. No need all, just 1 also can. 2 is better. 3 is betterer and you get the idea. See the list of legit charities at Yahoo! How you can help guide

MAS and AirAsia X should co-pilot efforts to achieve nation’s aspirations

The following is a piece written by the current MAS CEO (taken from the Star online), in defense of MAS against its battle with AirAsia. A good read with some very valid points that show us why MAS is still relevant today, despite almost everyone becoming AirAsia fans.

COMMENT
By TENGKU DATUK AZMIL ZAHRUDDIN

May 1,2010

AIRASIA X has been lobbying its cause aggressively in the media locally and abroad to fly to destinations operated by Malaysia Airlines (MAS).

On the surface, its argument appears logical: Open up Sydney, Seoul, etc., as that is best for the country.

There are two sides to any argument and I would like to take this opportunity to put forward the MAS point of view.

A bit of history: Under the domestic rationalisation exercise in March 2006, MAS was asked to give up the operations of the rural areas in Sabah/Sarawak and hand them over to AirAsia Bhd.

MAS was awarded 19 trunk routes to operate and AirAsia was granted both the trunk and non-trunk routes (about 96 routes). AirAsia subcontracted non-trunk routes to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Fly Asian Xpress Sdn Bhd (FAX).

FAX operated the service from September 2006 to September 2007. There were countless complaints about the unreliability of its services which severely and negatively impacted communities, tourism and businesses in Sabah and Sarawak.

The Government asked MAS to take back the rural air services and MAS’s wholly-owned subsdiary, MASwings, took over on Oct 1, 2007. During that one year of FAX’s operation, it was paid more than double what MASwings received for the same scope of services over the past two years.

FAX was subsequently renamed AirAsia X.

In just some three years of operations after dumping the rural air services, AirAsia X has obtained rights for nine routes: London, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Mumbai, New Delhi, Taipei, Beijing and Shanghai.

The MAS-AirAsia X rivalry can be addressed by having a clear aviation policy that offers real choices to consumers and ensures that all local airlines are given equal treatment.

Flight rights and hubs

Recently, AirAsia X announced it has been given rights to fly to Seoul. But to date, there has been no Government announcement. AirAsia X was recently also granted the rights to fly to Male and the rights were transferred to AirAsia.

Excluding the rights to fly to Seoul and Male – assuming this is official – 90% of AirAsia X’s routes overlap with those operated by MAS. On the other hand, only 17% of Tiger, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and SilkAir’s routes overlap.

We will stand up and be counted. Yes, MAS lobbies the Government. So do AirAsia and AirAsia X. As an airline, we have transformed and we are fighting for our rights, as are AirAsia and AirAsia X.

Let me outline our viewpoints and why we stand behind the facts – not blind accusations – that we presented to the Government:

What makes Suvarnabhumi and Changi great hubs is that these airports provide customers with many destination choices.

Some 93 airlines operate out of Suvarnabhumi to over 187 cities in 71 countries. About 85 carriers operate from Changi to more than 200 cities in 60 countries.

On the other hand, some 50 airlines operate from KL International Airport (KLIA) to 100 cities in 44 countries.

What makes Changi a good hub is the number of destinations it offers. This gives consumers greater choice. For example, someone who wants to fly to Moscow has to go via Changi as there are no airlines flying to Moscow directly from KLIA.

If someone from Melbourne wants to fly to Moscow, he is likely to go via, say Changi, and not KLIA. AirAsia X can fly 10 times a day to Melbourne and this passenger is still more likely to use Changi.

If AirAsia X is serious about providing customers “with choices”, it should fly to new destinations. There are 34 or more new destinations that currently do not have direct flights from KL. All these destinations are within the range of AirAsia X’s A330-300s.

AirAsia X has been lobbying the Malaysian Government saying that it deserves to get the rights to fly to any destination because it has bought so many aircraft.

Yet, it is not willing to consider any of these 34 cities because it claims that these cities do not make economic sense.

Amongst the 34 are Fukuoka and Nagoya in Japan, and Chongqing in China. All these routes are operated by both SIA and Cathay Pacific. SIA also operates to Ahmadabad in India and Cairo in Egypt.

One of the destinations which the Transport Ministry lists as being granted to AirAsia X is Paris/Orly. Interestingly, AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani told MalaysianInsider in an interview dated April 28, 2010: “It (the rights) has yet to land on my desk. Until it does, we cannot initiate detailed plans”.

If AirAsia X’s argument is that it does not have planes or the correct aircraft, note that it has two A340s, each of which has a 12-hour flying range. It can also operate the A330s with one stop in the Middle East.

In addition, AirAsia X has applied for and been granted the rights to fly to many cities which it is not exercising. These cities include Amritsar, Cheongju, Pusan, Tianjin, Xian, Bahrain, Sharjah, Berlin, Manchester, Dublin, Vienna and Moscow.

AirAsia X is not keen to operate to these new destinations as it is well aware that it takes years of investment to make a route profitable.

Case in point is Abu Dhabi. SIA flies to Abu Dhabi. Yet, AirAsia X pulled out from Abu Dhabi after just three months in operation, citing that the route is not profitable.

When MAS flies to a new route, we are likely to incur losses in the first year up to the first five years as we spend money to develop awareness in the new destination and expand the market. This is an investment we are prepared to make, as short-term losses can result in long-term profits. In the long run, it is good for the country and gives consumers more choice.

For example, for the past 20 years, we invested tens of millions (of ringgit). Even today, we invest some RM100mil annually in marketing costs alone in Australia.

If AirAsia X is really serious about “choices for the people”, it will fly to destinations where it has the rights to. But the reality is that AirAsia X is only interested in MAS’ routes. Is this then in the best interest of the country?

For the record, we have been competing with various global, full service carriers for the past 60 years and competition is not new to MAS. We welcome competition as it means that we have to constantly transform ourselves – which is what we have been doing intensely in the past four years.

Passenger numbers

Let us also set the record straight on the information that AirAsia X has been providing to the media to support its claim to fly to Sydney and Seoul.

Azran claimed in the same interview that “some 80,000 Malaysians were flying to Sydney indirect.”

PaxIS (passenger intelligence services) data (collated by the International Air Transport Association), which captures all full service airline transactions, shows that in 2009, only 2,848 passengers travelled from KL to Sydney via Singapore. In 2010, the number is reduced to only 2,359. It would be good if AirAsia X can substantiate its allegations.

For Seoul, Azran claimed: “We should see a reversal of the trend of negative growth in 2009 to a positive growth in 2011” on the assumption that AirAsia X were to fly to Seoul.

For the first three months of 2010, tourist arrivals from South Korea grew by 26% compared with the same period in 2009. MAS’ passenger growth was up 48%. The trend is already strongly positive.

Both MAS and AirAsia X bring in tourists to the country. Tourism studies indicate that there is a 12 times multiplier effect to the country.

This year, we expect to fly in 5.5 million passengers. We expect this to generate some RM12.7bil of tourism dollars for the country.

However, most of AirAsia X’s passengers are in transit. For example, AirAsia X has said that 80% of its Australian passengers on AirAsia X self-connect to other destinations after arriving in KL.

In other words, while AirAsia X increases traffic into the country, most of their passengers transit in KL to other destinations. Although this makes the arrivals figures look higher, these passengers may not spend much money in Malaysia. This means less economic value to the country.

However, if AirAsia X operates to new destinations and invests in promoting Malaysia, it will go a long way to attract tourists from different countries and boost tourism in Malaysia.

In July 2008, when we met the Transport Minister, we proposed a clear framework for the aviation sector.

This framework will involve airlines, airports as well as a range of services to airlines and airports, MRO (maintenance, repair and operation) and catering. The sector contributes about 4% to Malaysia’s gross domestic product. Beyond its direct contributions to the economy, the aviation sector is a key enabler of tourism and commerce.

It is never too late to start. Malaysia needs a clear aviation policy – one that offers real choices to consumers and that benefits the country. It must be a long-term, comprehensive and impartial policy that will ensure that the country and rakyat takes precedence.

One that will ensure that KLIA becomes a regional hub, on par with Changi and Suvarnabhumi and that all local airlines – MAS, Firefly, AirAsia and AirAsia X – are given equal treatment, with consideration given to what is best for the country.

At the time we made the proposal, AirAsia was not advocating this. I am glad that it now thinks that this is a good idea.

The winner should not be the one who shouts the loudest in the media. Nor lobby the hardest. We need to learn to compete and collaborate, and work with the Government to achieve the nation’s aspirations.

● Tengku Datuk Azmil Zahruddin is managing director/CEO of MAS.

Air Asia AMAZES Again

Remember when Tony Fernandes became the team principal of Lotus F1 and we thought it was impossible for him to do that and run Air Asia? Well he did it.

And now, apparently F1 isn't enough for Tony. He is now moving into F1's feeder series, GP2 with the establishment of a totally new team called Team Air Asia.

At this rate, it will only be a matter of time before Air Asia turns into a conglomerate.

I bet that's what Tony wants. For Air Asia and conglomerate to be used in the same sentence by everyone one day.

A Blessing

Hadn't been paying attention for like the previous 3 or 4 IT classes cause they were so boring and so Excel intensive. Then I find out that I have homework due like 2 days from now, and I'm thinking "Shit, I probably need the knowledge from the previous 3 to 4 classes to do it. How the hell do I do it now?"

So today, I almost decided not to go for IT class cause I had already not been following for a while I figured chances are I probably wouldn't be able to follow today's as well. But for some reason, I decided to go anyway, half an hour after it started. They were already in the middle of a solving a problem with Null Hyps, t-stats, etc. and true enough I couldn't follow. But then in the last 15 minutes, we did something new with regression analysis which I could follow easily.

Six hours, later as I begrudgingly, hesitantly pulled out the homework and read it, prepared for jargon, terms, and instructions that I wouldn't even know how to begin comprehending, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that all the homework needed me to do was REGRESSION. The last 15 minutes of today's class which I almost missed.

I though this homework would take me a few hours. Seems like only 1 at most now.

Hallelujah.

Told You So!

As was predicted...

The next trilogy in the Dune universe

Just discovered that The Heroes of Dune tetralogy is on hold to make way for a new trilogy, set 100 years after the Butlerian Jihad. GROAN. Blog post taken from kjablog.com (Kevin J Anderson's personal blog)

Brainstorming THE SISTERHOOD OF DUNE

Now that HELLHOLE is delivered and in production, Brian Herbert and I spent most of last week holed up together in intensive brainstorming for our next DUNE novel.

After writing two novels at the far end of the Dune timeline (HUNTERS and SANDWORMS) and two standalone “inquels” closely set within Frank Herbert’s original “Dune” trilogy (PAUL OF DUNE and THE WINDS OF DUNE), we’re going back to the exciting and unexplored territory of the first century after the end of the Butlerian Jihad — a trilogy that explores the formation of the major schools and political organizations that guide and shape the Dune universe.

Over the course of three novels, we’ll describe the formation of the Bene Gesserit, the Mentats, the Suk Doctors, the Spacing Guild and the Navigators, as well as the solidifying of the Corrino imperium. It’s a big story set against the great turmoil of continuing anti-technology fervor and the religious unrest of the C.E.T. The first novel is titled THE SISTERHOOD OF DUNE and will likely be published in early 2012. Anyone who’s attended our talks and signings knows that Brian and I have been planning this series for a long time.

We still have two more inquels to do, after WINDS and PAUL, but those are independent books, and we plan to go back to them later; right now, we found ourselves much more engrossed with this story in the early time period—and a large portion of our fan mail comes from readers asking when they’ll see more of Vorian Atreides.

We’ve written a detailed 84-chapter outline and are fine-tuning and fleshing it out right now. We should start writing our individual chapters by the end of the month.

The little Low Cost Carrier that could

As I predicted 5 years ago. Article taken from Bernama website.

AirAsia Flies More Passengers Than Mas Last Year

KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Bernama) -- Budget airline AirAsia overtook national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) last year in terms of overall passenger volume, the Dewan Rakyat was told Wednesday.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said AirAsia flew 15.23 million passengers last year compared to the 13.87 million recorded by MAS.

Of the AirAsia passengers, 7.2 million were international passengers while 8.03 million were domestic passengers, he said in a written reply to a question from Loke Siew Fook (DAP-Rasah).

Of the MAS passengers, 7.37 million were international passengers and 6.5 million, domestic passengers, he added.

-- BERNAMA

On a separate notes, AirAsia's other recent achievements include:

1) won Skytrax's Best Low Cost Carrier Award for the second year in a row. (that means it has beat the competition of Ryanair and Southwest)

2)broken into the Top 10 airlines by passengers carried at Singapore Changi Airport.

3)become the first airline in South East Asia to connect all ASEAN capitals especially Laos and Myanmar, thereby making it a de-facto airline of ASEAN that sports the motto of being "Truly ASEAN"

On the battlefront:

1) Air Asia is planning to list its Thai, Indonesian and long haul subsidiaries soon when market conditions are best.

2) Air Asia is still trying to start operations on its Vietnamese subsidiary after the Vietnamese government turned around and got hostile with foreign players in their airline industry, partly on the nudging of Vietnam Airlines who doesn't want to give up its monopoly on routes.

3) The ever elusive KL-Sydney route.

Air Asia and Lotus finally pair up.

Finally over the weekend, at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, Lotus sports Air Asia's sponsorship. As if we never saw that coming. Only a matter of time before we get an Air Asia plane in Lotus' livery.

Fourth time's the charm? Cause the third certainly wasn't

Some comments i've heard on Linkin Park's upcoming album:

"it's going to be more consistent than Minutes to Midnight"

"its going to be in between Hybrid Theory and Minutes to Midnight"

Personally I think that this fourth album will be A LOT better then Minutes to Midnight. Why? Because Minutes to Midnight sunk so low, it really is very difficult to go any lower. It can only go up from there. ( I reviewed it way back in the day. It's still somewhere in this blog's archives)

Also, head over to Linkinpark.com if you're interested in learning how you can be involved in making the first single of the album.

In any case, I'm looking forward to this fourth album so that it can erase the stain of disappointment left by Minutes to Midnight.

sorr leee....

why is the blog called southeastasean when there is nothing southeastasean about it?

I admit fail. I thought Kane would have kept you happy and satisfied, but he did not.

BUT

there is something big. something southeastasean coming up. and its pretty unique. and for me. a little bit nerve tingling.

k lar....no more suspense. i'm going to the land that time forgot. to southeastasean's north korea. to the place where tourists come to stand outside aung san su kyi's gate hoping to catch a glimpse of her as if she were some animal in a zoo.

i'm going to myanmar. and you are very welcome to join. at your own peril.

England misseth me

What do I miss most about Malaysia? Cheap movies. So come back, come Wednesday (cheap day), must go watch.

So wanted to see IP Man 2, due to the glamorous reviews of the show on everyone's FB status'. But at the ticket counter, turns out they were already selling Robin Hood! I was like what? Is it even out? Because if it was, I would have known of some friends who surely would have already seen it. (AMF this is you). Whatever. Have Robin Hood, must watch. Malaysian kiasuness says it's always better to watch a movie before everyone else.

So it was a good show. Great comeback by Ridley Scott from his disappointing Kingdom of Heaven. Im pretty sure if Russell Crowe was in that movie it would have been much better. Anyways, Robin Hood is great war action. Story is ok. Romance is not too sappy. LOTS of bow and arrow action. Don't know if it beat Ip man though. Have to see that to judge. But yes, not 2 days after coming home from England, here I was watching England all over again on the big screen. It's fated. England wants me home.

En Taro Starcraft 2

This is my longwinded story of how I got into Starcraft 2 beta for free.

OK. So usually I'm not one to get excited over betas, never participated in them, never bothered trying to. Then one day friend of mine says he got into SC2 beta. I non-chalantly ask him "how." He replies, you can get in just by pre-ordering the game from Gamestop.

Then I think, hmmm..I never buy from that site. But the SC2 release date is so far away. Many had even doubted it would come out this year (2010). So I thought it would be worth it to pre-order to get into the beta early, and play SC2 by up to a few months ahead of everyone else. Most pre-orders dont charge your credit card until the game ships, and you can always cancel your order until the day the game ships. Not for SC2 though, because of the fact that you get into the beta. They dont want people pre-ordering just to get into the beta and then cancelling their order thereafter.

Then yesterday it was announced. SC2 - JULY 27, 2010. I was like shit. So soon! I expected the game to come out in October or something. the delivery address I used was my dorm at ND. I won't be back till end of August! Some stranger is going to get my game!!! So I e-mailed them asking them to postpone delivery until a month later when I would be back. They said CANNOT. I should just go ahead and cancel and place a new order.

COOL. SO I CAN CANCEL MY ORDER (cost me an insanely high $65) and I still got to keep my beta! Now I need to find a cheaper site to purchase SC2 from.

This was my long-winded story of how I got into the SC2 beta. for FREE. Hopefully Kane is Real will make a return soon.

The only difference between him and us is he got caught

The following article is a respsonse to the news that Gordon Brown had called a woman he had earlier chatted with as 'bigtotted'. He did not realise his microphones were on, had been caught, and is now facing the fire. Here's something intelligent, thought-provoking, and not Command and Conquer for once. Enjoy and reflect upon it. Article was taken from Yahoo! News.


Comment: The attack on Brown is hypocritical
By Ian Dunt Wednesday April 28

Brown's 'bigot' gaffe may be unpleasant, but those attacking him should look in the mirror.

A short while ago Gordon Brown was caught making unguarded comments about Gillian Duffy, a voter he had chatted with, while campaigning in Rochdale. The media response is already fevered, not least of all because journalists hate talking about economics and the economy was the only other issue on the news agenda today.

The prime minister spoke pleasantly to Mrs Duffy, asking about her children and telling her how great her family was. It was after he got into his car that he branded her a bigot. Later, listening to the recording during a BBC Radio 2 interview, he looked utterly beaten and there's a danger the image will haunt him longer than the comments themselves.


You can see why he is so dejected. The gaffe is symbolic of the sense the public has that politicians are secretly sneering at them. They are all smiles at election times and then abject distaste behind closed doors, locked in their shiny, beautiful cars.

Duffy herself could not have been better picked: retired, widowed, working class and eloquent - she is perfect for the tabloids. Perhaps they created her out of stem cells.

But - and I imagine I'll get my fair share of hate mail for this - Brown had a point. This is what Duffy said about immigration: "All these eastern Europeans that are coming in - where are they flocking from?" Beyond the fact that she has answered her own question, this statement is profoundly problematic. This sort of talk about immigrants has become more and more acceptable, but we would do well to remind ourselves that it is not acceptable to use animal or geographic metaphors about immigrants. Talk of 'flocks' and 'swamps' serve to cement a sense of immigrants being 'the other'. They are not so different to us. They marry us, drink beer with us, work with us and live side by side with us.

Brown himself is actually as guilty as anyone of allowing the rhetoric of the far-right to corrupt the mainstream debate, by popularising that primitive and narrow-minded phrase 'British jobs for British workers'. But it is not tolerable for people to discuss immigrants in this way, and it reflects badly on the character of the person speaking.

But Brown's behaviour was undeserving of the criticism he has received for another, broader reason: he did what you do everyday.

We all have two faces: our social face and our private face. Nobody loves everyone in their office, or everyone in their extended family. We show our smiling social face in the day, ask people we are utterly uninterested in about their children, and then we go home and complain about how boring they are to our partner over dinner. That is normal human behaviour, not least of all in Britain, which is still more private than most other countries.

If we despise the robotic version of politicians which have invaded our TV screens, the pre-programmed Cabinet-level automatons who emit soundbites and vacuity, then we must accept that politicians will behave like humans. They are not moral paradigms and we must accept that behaviour we would tolerate in a friend or colleague should be tolerated from them as well. This disproportionate reaction to their all-too-human failings will just provide us with another generation of political robots.

The attack that's currently underway won't fade quickly, and it will frame perception of his performance in Thursday's TV debate, which he desperately needs to win. But Brown isn't particularly out of order - you've done the same thing yourself. Glass houses and all that.

Kane is Real Pt. 14: ;;;::..";;:.,::.....::.""";";",,,

;;;::..";;:.,::.....::.""";";",,,"";;;.....::. Command & Conquer 5:Return of the Scrin..::"";;....::"..:::.,,,"""";::: ;;;::..";;:., ;;;: :..";;:.,:: .....::."....',,, ,,"";";" ,,,"";;;. ....::...::"";;....::"..:::.,,,";;""";:::

.::"";;....::"..:::.,,,"""";:::

Kane is Real Pt. 13: No Bases is here to stay & ex-Westwood returns to its roots

The new RTS gameplay of C&C4 did not arrive without due reproach, but it seems that despite all the scalding criticism, this style of play is setting a new trend in the industry: NO base building or resource harvest, just build units freely till you reach your pop cap limit, which was about an average of 10 tanks. Also, to gain access to the most powerful units, you had to level up RPG style.

This style of gameplay was trashed by Adam Isgreen, former Westwood employee and now one of the leads at Petroglyph ( considered a heritage of Westwood due to the large number of ex-Westwood employees who went there). And they are making a new game. Guess what the concept is. It's basically the same as C&C4, except you don't build you just control a square of tanks. It's an online game. MMORTS. The trailer is cheesy. Yep no base building. Resource gathering? None. Just a squad. Tanks. Destroy. RTS. The new direction.

OR should I say Westwood is coming back to its roots? C&C Online Community Manager posted a question on the forums and on Facebook what does C&C mean to you? ( presumably so that the next C&C game will not pull a 360 on fans and shock them to bits again). Most replied MCV, FMV, base building, resource gathering, great story,etc. But now we know that for the folks at Westwood C&C was all about one thing: tanks, tanks , TANKS. Commanding and conquering TANKS. Thats why in the early games, infantry was so useless. Because you were meant to build tanks can you not see that dammnit? Tanks SQUISH infantry. SQUISH. SQUISH. Oh no I forgot to press X in time ( to scatter my infantry) SQUISH.

Looks like all along Adam Isgreen was just upset that he wasn't the first to show the world RTS without bases. After all, all you need is tanks.

Whatever, I've levelled up to the max and I'm still playing C&C4 daily.

Head over to End of Nations to check out the new Petroglyph game. CHEESY STUFF. But like C&C4, could have the potential to be lots of fun. Time will tell.

Tanks versus a huge tank. The core of Westwood's philosophy.

Tony does the impossible again

Brief updates. Too lazy to post links, so sorry. Hey, if you can't bother to look em up yourself you're just as lazy as me.

1. Air Asia X has secured rights to Seoul! Congrats Tony, once again, despite the odds, namely MAS and Korean Airlines and the Korean government, you did it. This should be a very very profitable route that will help to bolster AA-X's balance sheets. Number of flights given is estimated to be around 15 a week, the same number that MAS currently has.

2. Tony Fernandes was recently awarded France's highest honor for a non-French citizen. It's called something Frenchy, I didn't really care to notice. He was given the award for his contributions to Airbus by having Air Asia buy all 100 something of their planes from Airbus.

Where will AA go next??? Only Tony knows.

My one and only C&C Fan Art

Since the franchise is now dead for the immediate future, and we can expect nothing "redeeming" (ingat keyword ni) for a while, I though I would contribute to the database of C&C fandom out there. Here's a colorful, nostalgic wallpaper for us to remember the series by. Made by moa.


Chewahhh...tiru dan lekat je. Tak tau haram ke tak.

If you want something simpler, and just the very latest in the Tiberian universe, here's another one. Set as desktop background (centered), with black background. Alternatively, you can set as (tiled) for repetitive motif.

Kane is Real Pt12. Kane is Dead

and the rest of C&C along with him.

Forget the expansion pack, there is really serious doubt as to whether there is actually going to be one. I have just woken up.

I thought C&C4 was bad, but the final episode of Battlecast Primetime really hit it home on just how bad things are at EA LA.

Just as C&C pioneered the era of Real Time Strategy gaming back in 1995, Battlecast Primetime pioneered the concept of a community based monthly video for a computer game series. It's essentially a Sportscenter for C&C. And the show was really good. It started concurrent with C&C3 Tiberium Wars, and went on through the Kane's Wrath expansion pack and Red Alert 3. The dialogue was witty, and the contents were spectacular. There was plenty of humor, advertisements, and jokes. Content included game replays, interviews with designers, coverage of C&C events, etc. The show ran for over 2 years and with 25 episodes. The final episode just came out yesterday, and i is terrible. What is usually a 30 minute long show has now been reduced to a 10 minute showing of 10 replays. And even APOC, community manager for C&C has apologized on the official forums, stating that the budget has just become so bad that they were not able to deliver the 'epic' finale to the television series. Looks like epic finales just aren't EA's thing.

Sportscenter for C&C. This episode has the Ackerman Girl song.

So I guess the whole issue has been boiled down to money. The franchise just isn't making enough money to justify EA's spending. And now they're cutting back on everything. And there's a lot of inhouse politics going on as well. Remember the supposed Tiberium FPS that was cancelled?

Anyhow, Tiberium was cancelled. C&C4 was completed on a tight budget that restricted the developers to making a shitty campaign, the launch event that I went to was held in a tiny dingy internet cafe hidden right at the back of a dilapidated shopping mall in London, as opposed to the migdnight launch event of RA3 at Trafalgar Square, and now Battlecast Primetime ends with a fizzle instead of a bang. Do I even dare to dream of the possibility of an expansion pack that will redeem C&C4?

Let's see. Budget for expansion pack. $10. Maybe $15. Knowing this, EA would just make 2 new units, slap on an expansion pack title and sell it off anyway. That's what they're very good at. Churning out crap. So thankful they had the right mind to cancel Tiberium. I really don't know what to say if they release an expansion pack that makes C&C4 any worse off than it already is. If they can't make a good expansion pack that will redeem C&C4, then don't make any at all. I'd rather they not create a new all-time low for the series. It's achievements like this that only EA can do.

So I guess, the C&C franchise is dead for now. EA LA and the gaming industry are going through some difficult times. So hopefully, the series will be reborn in the future, with renewed direction and vigor and promising talent. Just like how it died off at Generals, and then came back to life years later with C&C3, which was EA LA's best RTS game.

Command & Conquer under EA Los Angeles. Bye :'(

"Only time will tell. Sooner or later.....time will tell." -Einstein, Red Alert 1 intro.

Kane is Real Pt. 11: C&C4: Incursion Wars

The Expansion, or more aptly, Redemption Pack.

There are 2 main complains about C&C4:
1) Total change in gameplay
2) Terrible ending to the Kane saga that left all questions unanswered.

From what I gather, the more serious issue that most fans are upset about, or at least what I can gather from the forums, is the unbefitting storyline ending. As someone, who likes the new gameplay, I agree too.

Thus, if EA is smart, and is reading all the fan complaints, they too will realize this. And assuming that they have not reduced the budget of further C&C projects to near zero, they should know that the unsatisfying, gap-filled story ending can be redeemed with a C&C4 expansion pack, in the same way that Kane's Wrath's campaign was interwoven with Tiberium Wars'.

Again, I propose that the expansion pack campaign be about events that happened during the Incursion Wars prior to C&C4 and also to events happening concurrently with C&C4. Primarily, the Incursion Wars was the period in which Kane and GDI were working together to build the Tiberium Control Network (TCN), and they were facing resistance from Nod splinter factions led by Gideon. Use such a backdrop to design missions that fill in the gaps in the C&C cannon. Why does Kane want to ascend? What happened to LEGION? How exactly does the Tiberium Control Network control Tiberium? etc. And remember, the box art should be purple, since we already have green, red, and blue cover arts.

And make sure not to repeat the problems of Kane's Wrath, which opened up more questions than answered them, creating such high expectations for the culmination of the series in C&C4, which answered none of them. And please EA, mission design has to be better. We know you can do better. Please do not reduce the budget for the campaign to zero.

It's not to late EA. The expansion pack is your second chance. FIX IT. Fans like me are a rarity and a blessing, we have not abandoned and boycotted C&C4 like the rest. Instead, we are appealing to you, through our blogs, and your forums, and other forums, to please for the love of Kane redeem the finale of Kane's story.

In C&C4, the Tacitus was used to save Earth. In the real world, the expansion pack is your Tacitus. Use it to save C&C4.

Kane is Real Pt.10: Westwood disowns C&C4.

Ok not Westwood, cause it doesn't really exist anymore, but a former developer of Westwood.

Alright, so apart from me, pretty much everyone else including Hitler doesn't like C&C4. (see previous post. Also make sure to lookup videos of Hitler phones Kane, Hitler phones Yuri, etc. Farny stuff!)

And now, one of the former developers of Westwood whom everyone loves, Adam Isgreen shares his thoughts on C&C4. He trashes it.

The problem I have is, he is trashing it before he has even finished it. And some of the complaints he makes are about things that are just wrong, that he doesn't know enough about.

And lastly, Mr former Westwood guy who worked on Tiberian Sun, your new games at your new Petroglyph Studios (Universe at War) tanked big time, so I'm pretty sure that if you were in charge of C&C4 you'd tank it as well.

Here's a snippet of his C&C4 review.

So all of that is very clever and all, and it’s a tight design loop of all the systems, but you know what? This feels like a downloadable RTS game, one I’d pay $20 dollars for on Steam.

...

I had a theory that this game didn’t start out as a core C&C title. After talking to various folks, turns out I’m not completely off base with that assumption, which explains a lot.

I applaud the EA folk for actually trying something new, but I don’t think that messing around with the finale in a franchise and story that’s 15 years in the making was the right moment to get experimental. You know what’s funny? If they’d taken everything they cut from this game and made that into a game, we’d be much closer to a classic C&C than what was produced.

I don’t personally see C&C4 as a core C&C game. But, if you treat it as a stand-alone multiplayer-centric game and have a group of friends you can play regularly with, go for it.

Read the rest of his article at his own blog. HERE

On the side note, I've been looking at some old videos of C&C3 gameplay. And I must admit, that is a really good C&C game. But I still maintain that while it was better, I am now enjoying C&C4 more. IT SUITS CASUAL PICK UP AND PLAY GAMERS LIKE ME. So bugger off Adam! Go play your own crappy Petroglyph games!

Kane is Real Pt.9: Hitlerious Stuff!

Want to know what Hitler thinks about C&C4? See for yourself in this famous scene that has become a internet parody sensation of just about anything.

Earlier on before the release of the game, there was a video in which Hitler was briefed on the changes of C&C4, and then he gets mad about the changes, namely, about there not being 'base building' and 'tiberium harvesting'. To me that original one was a whole lot funnier, but I do not have permission to put it here. So here is the link. Here.

The video below is his rage and madness AFTER finishing C&C4's terrible single-player campaign. Not as funny, but still worth the watch.



There are few others about other C&C4 issues including one where Hitler reacts to the news that he has been killed in Red Alert 1 by Einstein at the beginning of the games, and even one titled "Hitler phones Kane". And if you're not a C&C fan, then well, there are lots of other parodies of things you hate/love. Eg. Windows 7.

To give credit to the original film though, Der Untergang (Downfall) is a superb movie, probably my favorite German movie thus far with a very realistic, tense, and emotional portrayal of the last days of the war in Berlin. It's highly recommended if you're a history buff, war buff, or simply the artsy type for whom foreign-movies-that-you-can-only-understand-by-reading-subtitles make you feel sophisticated and intellectual.

Kane is Real Pt.8: Just a picture. Of my Desktop

A (hearing) tour down memory lane

I lied. I need to talk about CNC more. This is too important to not blog about. At the very least, its no longer just about "Kane is Real".

For all of you CNC fans out there, or simply any of you who've played any of the CNC games, I'm pretty sure that one of the most memorable things about the series was the quotes. Either by the units like the Tesla Trooper or the Kirov Airship, or from the actors and their dialogues in the FMV scenes.

Anyways, here's a site for all of us.

Wikiquote: Command and Conquer

All the best from the series of games. And a lot of them are really funny. Here's a select few of my favorites.

"At least I have job." - Flak Trooper

"The needs of the many are outweighed by the needs of the Yuri" - Worker

"There will be no more free will; only my will." - Yuri


It's all just text for others, but it's music in my ears. And surprisingly, there's lot's of quotes that I've never really noticed, but upon reading them, my subconcious tells me that yeah, that was in the game I just never really took notice of it! And now I want to go back and play it again!

Kane is Real Pt.7: I, the Heretic

Yes, yes, I too didn't expect it to carry this far. This is my last say about CNC4.

Those who know me well know that my favorite CNC game is Red Alert 2. But what about my second favorite? Ok here it is : Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twillight

Yup, I have come to like CNC4 more than CNC3. I still maintain that the campaign is the worst of any CNC game, but CNC4 has done for me what no other CNC game has, gotten me hooked onto its multiplayer.

An RTS becomes an RPG.

I think I finally get what all the fuss about ‘leveling up’ is that makes you RPG fans RPG fans. So in CNC4, you don’t get access to all the units straightaway. You have to level up and unlock stuff when you reach a new level. This is done by playing the game, any part of it – Campaign, Skirmish, online, whatever. Just play it, and you will level up. Even when you lose a match, you still gain the victory points accumulater in the game. The maximum level is 20. Like most other RTS games, I bought CNC4 for the campaign, which severely disappointed. By the time I had finished it though , I was only at Level 10. The other better half of the more advanced units eg.Avatar, Mammoth Tank, Temple of Nod, Ion Cannons were still unlocked. And so I dabbled in a little multiplayer just to see how the leveling up and unlocking system went.

So at first I tried the Player vs Computer online matches. Wow this is actually pretty fun. And then next I move on to the player vs player online matches. Ok against real people, even more fun! So I kept playing and leveling up, to reach my goal of unlocking all those powerful units at level 20.

So, in my quest to unlock those powerful units, I forced myself to play the game. And now, I am hooked. As I’ve said before, the multiplayer is easy to get into, and a lot of fun. Everything is about capturing those points on the map that generate the victory points needed to win the match. Essentially, this was an FPS like Battefield or Modern Warfare, except in the RTS world. Yup, you know how fun those games are.

I'm really not a fan of multiplayer RTS. I'm just not good at it.

However, its ok to be NOT good at CNC4. Multiplayer matches are not 1 on 1 like CNC3, Starcraft, Warcraft, and all, its always played in teams. So when you lose, you don’t feel like its your fault. The loss doesn’t hurt as much. And when your team losses cause of someone else, you just want to @$$F&*! that idiot. And when you win, then it just means that life is fair. That, coupled with my constant repetition of: this dumbed down RTS game is the easiest RTS to pick up and play. Just like in Modern Warfare, you still had fun, eventhough you team lost. In effect, I am spending the most time with CNC4 than with many other CNC games. With RA3, I uninstalled it the moment I finished the campaign. Thus, CNC4 is giving me the most bang for my buck. Oh wait, got it for free.

Now, I’m at Level 18 Nod and Level 13 GDI, still a long ways to go before I reach level 20. But you know what . I’m hooked. I don’t think I’ll stop at 20. I’ll probably only stop playing CNC4 when the CNC4 expansion comes out. That’s right, out of the frying pan and into the fire. Starcraft 2 you say? Probably not. I’ve seen the battlereports. Omg oh so competitive, every single unit counts, every single move counts, move a unit 1 cm in the wrong spot and that spells victory or defeat. That is traditional RTS at its finest competitiveness. It's not for casual me though. I’m pretty sure I will dabble a bit with the SC multiplayer, but without the leveling up incentive that CNC4 offers, I think I’ll fizzle out of the multiplayer pretty soon. Unless someone makes a DOTA for SC. Remember what made DOTA so fun? No base building! Yeah, NOW you see the point of CNC4.

But the Campaign is so undeserving of Kane’s finale!

Yes. Sadly, it is. Even, Sam Bass, the lead designer for the campaign admits it. And from what I hear, the budget for CNC4 was lacking. Guess the assholes at top management EA don’t appreciate CNC like us. It’s just another cog in their mass-producing factory of games.

The way I see it, CNC4 is a multiplayer emphasis game, like Battlefield and Counterstrike was for the FPS. For me, the canon of the Tiberium story practically ended with CNC3 and Kane’s Wrath. In CNC4, the crux of the story is simply, Kane ascended. Bye dude. Good thing I met you in London before you disappeared! In between, you have a wife. She cries. A lot.

So please expansion pack have some redeeming qualities. Give us a real Tiberium War. The Incursion War! Between Gideon and the GDI/Kane Alliance. It’s not too late.

So you really, really, REALLY love CNC4 huh. Even more than CNC3.

Yes, and in my feeble defense, I applaud EA for trying to do something new with the traditional CNC formula. And what they’ve done is pure heresy from the standpoint of a fanatical CNC fan, but the new, when judged for itself, isn’t completely bad. The game is pretty balanced, the units and the sides well thought out and tight. I’m seeing a little skewness of better units on the GDI side, but that could just be my opinion. Don’t think about the hype it was supposed to live up to; the finale of the Kane saga. Think of it as, just another CNC title, like Generals was: deviant but nevertheless a whole bundle of fun in the end.

And now, with the CNC4 gameplay being so different, doesn’t this mean that CNC3 will continue to be played? So now us fans have 2 great games with two different play styles to choose from! Kane’s Wrath lives on! Yes, I know, its like saying, I’m thankful the new Hobbit movie isn’t so good. That way the original LOTR movie can still be my favorite. Oh well, c’est la vie.

Also, I’ve begun to see how appropriate the Tiberian Twillight subtitle of CNC4 is. Why the surprise that there’s no more Tiberium? Doesn’t the word twilight mean the end of something or some period after all? So duh, no more Tiberium in Tiberium Twillight!

STFU? Alright, alright, I’m getting to the end.

From disappointing campaign, to wanting to level up a little, to wanting to reach level 20, and now to go beyond that. From a Nod player, I’m now appreciating GDI. From frontline offense class, I’ve moved onto critical support role for me team. Eventually, I’d like to play the offensive Defense style that’s becoming more and more popular now. From CNC4 critique, to CNC4 lover. I am a heretic.

But make no mistake EA, I, the heretic, have managed to appreciate the efforts and innovation that CNC4 has brought. But please, BRING BACK MY BASE in future CNC games. One game with crawlers is more than enough. Best wishes for Generals 2 and Red Alert 4.

I still don’t get all this nonsense. Why can't you blog about something relevant?

Hmm. You must be a – normal person. Alright I'll try to curb my enthusiasm and limit it only to EA's servers. No more CNC, for a while. In return, indulge me. Watch this short video from YouTube summarizing what CNC4 is about. Normal people do YouTube, right?

Yep, the campaign wasn't epic, but the music is.

---FIN---