Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube
Home Blog Page 9054

RBA is all but certain to ease, money marts show

THE RESERVE Bank of Australia may cut rates today. — WIKIPEDIA.ORG

AUSTRALIA’S CENTRAL BANK is all-but certain to cut interest rates Tuesday, money markets show, after a key manufacturing gauge in top trading partner China slumped.

Traders are pricing in a 25- basis-point cut by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Philip Lowe and his board as a done deal and see a slight chance of a 50-basis-point reduction. At the close of business in Australia Friday, markets were pricing in just a 15% chance of a cut and most economists were predicting no change.

JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Sally Auld switched Monday to calling an easing. “The bank will be responding foremost to protect against the higher chance of global recession,” she said of the RBA. “Officials’ commentary in recent months has highlighted that global developments could be an important driver of policy outcomes.”

Aussie 3-year yield crashes under RBA rate to signal easing pressure

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. also sees Mr. Lowe cutting 25 basis points Tuesday and following up with another quarter-point cut in April. That would bring the cash rate to its effective lower bound of 0.25%.

Others that switched to an easing Tuesday included AMP Capital Investors Ltd., National Australia Bank Ltd., Royal Bank of Canada, Westpac Banking Corp., Citigroup, Inc. and Societe Generale.

In response to the market upheavals, Mr. Lowe will chair a meeting by telephone Monday of the Council of Financial Regulators to discuss the situation. The body includes Australia’s main financial regulatory agencies and the Treasury.

China could be heading for a worse-than-expected first-quarter contraction after the manufacturing sector reported activity at a record low in February due to the coronavirus outbreak. Global equities suffered their sharpest declines since the 2008 financial crisis last week, while commodities plunged.

Investors are looking to the Federal Reserve and other major central banks — even with their limited ammunition — to contain the fallout from the outbreak. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in a statement on Friday said the US central bank is ready to cut rates as the epidemic “poses evolving risks” to the American economy.

The weakness in China is reverberating Down Under. From education to tourism to agriculture and resources, the viral epidemic will set back Australia’s economy. It is the most China-reliant economy in the developed world with about a third of its exports going there.

Mr. Lowe could prove a reluctant cutter. One argument may be that monetary policy can’t actually do much to revive growth in the current context — an approach set last week by the Bank of Korea.

Lee Ju-yeol, governor of South Korea’s central bank, surprised markets when he refrained from a knee-jerk cut. He said the appropriate response at this stage was targeted fiscal support for the companies most affected by the biggest virus outbreak outside China.

Australia’s government is also considering targeted stimulus for the worst-hit sectors — a move that may impair the budget’s return to surplus.

The virus shock comes after a horror summer of wildfires that engulfed an already drought-stricken east coast. The RBA cut three times last year — mirroring the Fed — to spur firms to invest and hire in order to speed up economic growth and inflation.

Since then the labor market has help up and companies’ investment intentions improved. But the biggest response has come in housing: data Monday showed the upswing in prices, which started mid-2019, has already recouped most of the losses of a near two-year swoon. Melbourne reached a record high, and Sydney isn’t far behind.

The economy’s traditional shock absorber, the currency, has fallen about 7% this year and is trading around its weakest level since 2009. — Bloomberg

Invisible Man emerges with $29 million opening weekend

LOS ANGELES — Universal and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man materialized at the top of box office charts after debuting to $29 million in North America over the weekend.

The Invisible Man is Universal’s latest attempt to remake its classic monster properties, an effort that flailed spectacularly with 2017’s The Mummy starring Tom Cruise. After that movie was commercially panned and became a box-office bust, the studio scrapped its plans to create an interconnected Dark Universe. Instead, Universal took the concept in a different direction and focused on creating standalone stories unique to each otherworldly creature. That approach seems to have paid off since The Invisible Man has been praised by critics and audiences. The Elisabeth Moss-led thriller cost $7 million to make, not including marketing fees, meaning it’s already a financial hit for the studio.

The Invisible Man also launched overseas, earning $20.2 million from 47 international territories. That brings its global opening weekend haul to an impressive $49.2 million.

Leigh Whannell wrote and directed The Invisible Man, a modern take on the novel by H.G. Wells. Moss has been widely heralded for her performance as Cecilia Kass, a woman being hunted by her violently abusive ex-boyfriend (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). When he dies by suicide, she has to prove her sanity and that she’s being stalked by someone that nobody can see.

“Leigh Whannell had an incredibly great vision. It allowed us to broaden the audience and make for a really engaging story,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “Our partners as Blumhouse don’t cut corners when it comes to quality. They consistently deliver hit after hit.”

Elsewhere, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog slid to the No. 2 spot after two consecutive weeks as box office champ. The family friendly film added $16 million in its third weekend in theaters, boosting its domestic tally to a solid $128 million. Sonic has been a global box office success, bringing in $137.2 million outside North America for a worldwide total of $265 million.

Heading into the weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog was battling with Disney and 20th Century’s The Call of the Wild for second place, though the former pulled ahead. The Call of the Wild, starring Harrison Ford, placed third with $13.2 million in its second frame. After two weeks in theaters, the film has made $45.9 million in North America and $79.3 million globally. However, it carries a massive $125 million price tag and stands to lose money for the studio.

Funimation’s anime movie My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising launched at No. 4, collecting $6.3 million from 1,260 venues over the weekend. The Japanese action adventure has made $9.6 million since debuting last Wednesday.

Sony’s Bad Boys for Life rounded out the top five, generating $4.3 million in its seventh weekend of release. The Will Smith and Martin Lawrence-led film has pocketed $197 million in the US and $406 million globally to date. — Reuters

Australia’s housing boom is back in full swing

AUSTRALIA’S housing boom is back in full swing with prices in Melbourne reaching a record high, and Sydney not far behind.

Property values in the eight state and territory capitals surged 1.2% last month, according to CoreLogic, Inc. data released Monday.

The upswing in prices, which started mid-2019, has already recouped most of the losses of a near two-year swoon as record-low interest rates and looser borrowing standards sent buyers flocking back to the market.

In Melbourne, Australia’s second-most populous city, home prices jumped 1.2% last month to surpass the previous peak reached in September 2017. Home values in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra and Hobart also hit new highs.

Sydney posted the biggest monthly gain, with home values climbing 1.7%. At current rates of growth, prices are on track to recoup all of their 15% peak-to-trough decline and reach a new record by the end of May, CoreLogic said.

“The primary factors driving this rebound remain in place and include an extremely low cost of debt and improved borrowing capacity,” said Tim Lawless, head of research at CoreLogic. “However, considering the sluggish pace of household income growth, housing affordability is eroding rapidly which is likely to see some parts of the market become less active.” — Bloomberg

Robinsons Land income up 6%

ROBINSONS Land Corp. (RLC) said its earnings in 2019 had increased by 6%, driven by the steady performance of its rental businesses.

In a statement issued Monday, the Gokongwei-led property developer said its net income reached P8.69 billion last year, higher than the P8.22 billion it posted in 2018.

Consolidated revenues also increased by P1.02 billion to P30.58 billion in 2019.

It said the company’s investment portfolio had contributed 69% of its consolidated revenues or P21.14 billion, which increased by 15% or P2.78 billion. The growth was sustained by the stable performance of its various rental businesses.

The company added that 31% or P9.49 billion of the consolidated revenues was contributed by its development portfolio. The amount was down P1.76 billion down from 2018.

The malls division provided bulk of the listed firm’s revenues at P13.25 billion, 11% higher year-on-year.

The company attributed this to higher rental income and the opening of Robinsons Galleria South in San Pedro, Laguna and the expansion of Magnolia, which now has public eatery.

RLC now has a total of 52 malls covering a total leasable space of 1.57 million square meters (sq.m.).

For the office division, revenues went up by 24% to P5.32 billion, as its leasable space increased 13% to 592,000 sq.m. last year.

The company also attributed its growth in this segment to its newly completed buildings such as Robinsons Cybergate Magnolia in Magnolia Complex, Luisita 2 in Tarlac, and Giga Tower in Bridgetowne.

RLC’s hotels and resorts division grew 23% to P2.43 billion last year.

“Notable new additions to its portfolio are: Summit Greenhills, and its first foray into the international luxury-resort category, and Dusit Thani Mactan Cebu which brings its total to 3,129 room keys,” it said.

The residential segment grew its revenues by 5% to P9.13 billion.

It said its net pre-sales had increased by 31% to P20.06 billion, driven by the sale of the company’s existing inventory and its project launches last year.

As for its industrial and integrated developments division (IDD), it said the total warehouse revenues grew 2% to P138 million last year. The company’s IDD has a total leasable space of 77,000 sq.m.

It added that its commercial lot sales amounted to P321 million last year.

RLC said it spent P25.40 billion in capital expenditures last year, which went to the development of malls, offices, hotels, warehouse facilities, and the acquisition of land.

On Monday, shares in RLC rose by 2.11% to P21.75 each. — Arjay L. Balinbin

Negative yields seen as outbreak spurs recession bets

THE SWIRL of fresh coronavirus cases and signs of the severity of the hit on the global economy have seasoned strategists warning that US growth could come to a halt this year and some Treasury yields may drop below zero — possibly as early as this week.

The warnings come as a rout in equities and rate-cut expectations sent long-term Treasury yields to unprecedented lows. Over the weekend, China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index plunged to the lowest on record amid a surge in coronavirus cases and new fatalities — including the first in the US — around the world.

Rates derivatives traders were already putting on wagers last week targeting the Federal Reserve slashing rates to zero by mid-year. These bets are likely to intensify as some investors now see the risk of the US economy screeching to a halt or even slipping into a recession by the end of the year. Scott Minerd, the chief investment officer of Guggenheim Partners, said such expectations will push Treasury yields below zero for the first time.

“The shorter-term securities are going to be negative,” said Mr. Minerd who oversees about $215 billion. “This could happen this week.” He said the 10-year Treasury note yield could drop to as low as zero though it would be hard to drop below that.

“Even if you have the 10-year note yield at 25 basis points, you are going to have the majority of the curve at negative rates,” he said.

NEGATIVE YIELDING
The stock of global negative-yielding investment-grade debt has jumped back up to over $14 trillion from just under $11 trillion in mid-January. However, most of that is concentrated in Europe where the European Central Bank has slashed its benchmark rate below zero. Negative rates have been long seen as an anathema in the US.

With the economic impact of the virus outbreak rippling from China to Europe and the Americas, a slew of Wall Street economists have turned more pessimistic and penciled in Fed rate cuts.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.’s economists on Sunday bumped up how much they expect the Fed to ease in 2020, after adjusting their forecast just last week. They now expect the central bank to cut by 50 basis points this month, followed by another 50 basis points (bps) in the second quarter, Jan Hatzius and Daan Struyven wrote in a note. On Friday, they predicted a 25 bps at the March policy meeting followed by 50 additional basis points through June.

FED READY
The 2-year Treasury note yield dropped as much as 17 bps to 0.74% on Monday, extending one of its most precipitous declines in the past decade as traders ramped up expectations for a rate cut at the March 17-18 policy meeting. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in rare unscheduled remarks Friday that it would act if needed. Since then, the US reported its fatality and Washington’s governor declared a state of emergency.

“It’s hard to imagine that the global recession of 2020 hasn’t already commenced,” said Jack Malvey, a debt veteran and former chief global fixed-income strategist at Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. “A decent part of the US yield curve should end up in negative territory. The question really is only how far out the curve,” said Mr. Malvey, who is now counselor at the Center for Financial Stability, Inc. He predicted negative rates are likely at least in the 3-year maturity point.

Skittish investors are also continuing with their flight into haven currencies. The Japanese yen gained 3.5% last week.

JPMorgan Asset Management has been de-risking portfolios by adding “high quality” duration and havens such as the yen and Swiss franc, according to Chief Investment Officer Bob Michele. “Recession risk rises to become inevitable the longer these uncertainties persist,” he said in a note.

The news about the virus getting worse is destabilizing for markets, said Shaun Osborne, chief foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia.

“There is probably a bit more of a shake-out to come overall,” he said. “Yields should fall further and the haven currencies to keep appreciating.” — Bloomberg

DMCI Homes finishes Bacoor development

DMCI PROJECT DEVELOPERS, Inc. said it has completed the four buildings of Alea Residences, its first condominium development in Bacoor City, Cavite.

The company, which operates under the DMCI Homes brand, finished Budi — the last building of Alea Residences — in February. This was consistent with the timeline set by DMCI Homes when it launched the project in 2016.

The first three buildings Darma, Raja, and Surya have been turned over to unit owners last year.

“The completion of the mid-rise resort-inspired development brings to Cavite a total of 563 new ready for occupancy (RFO) residential condominium units,” DMCI Homes said.

Sitting on a 1.5-hectare property, Alea Residences is located along Las Piñas-Talaba Diversion Road in Barangay Zapote 2.

With its Balinese-inspired architecture, Alea Residences features resort-inspired amenities, gardens, swimming pools, activity lawn, play area, and picnic areas. Indoor amenities include a lounge, game area, fitness gym and audio-visual room.

Berlinale winner explores moral dilemmas of Iran’s capital punishment

BERLIN — A drama film shot in secret to evade government censorship that highlights the moral dilemmas faced by those caught in the web of Iran’s capital punishment machine won the Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear award on Saturday.

There Is No Evil explores the moral dilemmas thrust on those who carry out executions and the consequences of defiance for them and those around them.

Director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film shows that there are costs to both bravery and cowardice, was not allowed to leave Iran to pick up the award: he faces propaganda charges over his earlier films.

His daughter Baran, who stars in one chapter of the four-part film, picked up the award on his behalf in the German capital and later held up before the cameras a smartphone on which the director addressed a news conference by video call.

“This film is about people taking responsibility,” he said. “I wanted to talk about people who push responsibility away from themselves and say that the decision is taken by higher powers. But they can actually say no, and that’s their strength.”

Each of the film’s chapters depicts a man chosen to carry out an execution: some refuse, some obey. But whatever path they choose, the consequences, good and bad, for them and their loved ones, echo down the decades.

Shot indoors, at night, or in remote rural locations to avoid catching authorities’ attention, the film carried risks for cast and crew who had themselves taken a decision to “put their lives in danger to make this film,” said producer Farzad Pak.

The jury president, British actor Jeremy Irons, hailed the way the film showed “the web an authoritarian regime weaves among ordinary people, drawing them towards inhumanity,” noting that the film’s lessons about individual responsibility went far beyond Iran.

Rights groups say Iran executed at least 227 people in 2019. Capital crimes include “insulting the Prophet,” same-sex relations, adultery and non-violent drug offences, according to Human Rights Watch.

Asked about suggestions circulating on Iranian social media that the film was being favored for its political message, producer Kaveh Farnam said: “Every time that an independent Iranian film wins an award the regime says that it’s all worthless, they say that we’re exploiting the situation in the west.”

The second-place Silver Bear went to Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always, the story of two teenagers from the rural United States defying anti-abortion activists, poverty, physical and mental harassment, and expensive healthcare to obtain a pregnancy termination.

Korea’s Hong Sangsoo won a best director Silver Bear for The Woman Who Ran, a miniature about female friendship, loneliness, men who intrude, and a cat who, filmed washing itself and yawning, left audiences in stitches of laughter. — Reuters

SMC unit maintains no billing statement received from by PSALM

SAN MIGUEL CORP. (SMC) said on Monday it was standing by its statement that its unit South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) had not received monthly billing statements from state-led Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) that indicate an alleged deficiency claim amounting to P23.94 billion.

The conglomerate was responding to PSALM’s earlier statement that SPPC could not feign ignorance of its payables because it received monthly billings.

In the statement, SPPC said it is updated in its payments to the government agency based on monthly billing statements that it sends, using SPPC’s legal position on, and computation of, generation payments.

It said the same monthly billing statements neither include nor substantiate the deficiency claim amounting to P23.94 billion as of December 2019.

SPPC said it learned of the alleged deficiency from news articles quoting PSALM.

SPPC also maintained that it is not “delinquent”as claimed by PSALM. To date, the company said it had made P314.6 billion in payments, consisting of P73.9 billion in regular, fixed monthly payments and P240.7 billion in generation charges.

SPPC and PSALM have a pending court dispute concerning differences in computing generation payments

While PSALM is basing generation payments on the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) prices, SPPC believes that selling its capacity there would have put the company in violation of provisions of their contract approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and designed specifically to protect consumers from volatile and higher electricity prices in the WESM.

SMC also said that the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals (CA) have already ruled that a regional trial court has jurisdiction over the pending dispute between the conglomerate’s unit and a state agency.

SMC was responding to Leyte Rep. Vicente S.E. Veloso III, who earlier questioned the Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court’s (RTC) jurisdiction over the case, saying power-related issues should be handled by the ERC not the lower court.

The dispute between SPPC and PSALM centers on the computation of generation charges under the Ilijan power contract.

SMC cited the Mandaluyong-RTC’s order of Sept. 24, 2018, where it ruled that the lower court has jurisdiction over the case, which was questioned by PSALM through a petition for certiorari that was filed with the CA.

On Aug. 23, 2019, the CA dismissed PSALM’s petition, it said. PSALM has filed a motion for reconsideration of the dismissal of its petition.

SMC said on Sept. 28, 2015, the Mandaluyong RTC issued a writ of preliminary injunction prohibiting PSALM from terminating the independent power producer administrator agreement while the case is pending.

The listed diversified company further narrated that PSALM questioned the injunction with the CA through a petition for certiorari only to be denied by the CA. The agency then appealed the CA decision before the Supreme Court.

It said through a resolution issued on March 4, 2019, the High Court denied the appeal “because PSALM failed to sufficiently show that the Court of Appeals committed any reversible error in its decision.”

On Aug. 5, 2019, the Supreme Court’s resolution became final and executory.

In the same release, SPPC said Section 43(u) of Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA) on the original and exclusive quasi-judicial jurisdiction of the ERC is clarified by Rule 3, Section 4(n) of the EPIRA implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

The IRR provides that the ERC has original and exclusive quasi-judicial jurisdiction over disputes between or among energy sector participants, only if such disputes relate to the ERC’s powers, functions and responsibilities provided for in the EPIRA and the EPIRA-IRR.

It said as indicated in the EPIRA and the EPIRA-IRR, the issue between SPPC and PSALM is outside of the powers, functions and responsibilities of the ERC.

A promising start

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan
Xbox One

THERE’S A huge lack of scary titles currently out on the market. Aside from the release of a few choice offerings such as the remake of Resident Evil 2 last year, the gaming landscape seems to have largely eschewed the genre; not many developers appear willing to try their hand at creating the next horror classic. Thankfully, Supermassive Games is not among them. From its humble beginnings making downloadable add-ons for the Sony PlayStation 3 platformer Little Big Planet in 2009, the independent company based in Surrey, England has come a long way; now, it’s recognized as an award-winning creator of content that pushes the envelope.

Indeed, Supermassive Games has continually sought to challenge itself. In 2015, it came up with the surprise hit Until Dawn. The gaming equivalent of a slasher film gained critical praise for a unique capacity to combine engrossing storytelling with immersive gameplay. The product likewise spurred the developer to take the concept further, partnering with Bandai Namco in its intent to explore the boundaries of interactive horror. The result of the collaboration: a collection of eight standalone installments slated for release six months from the last.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan is the first of the eight titles to hit store shelves. Released on the PS4, the Microsoft Xbox One, and the personal computer via Steam last August, it’s a grim tale focusing on the legend of the missing Indonesian ghost ship Ourang Medan, and of the five adventurous divers forced to survive within after having been taken captive by pirates in search of treasure. Throughout the interactive narrative, gamers are compelled to take control of the characters and make choices based on logic or emotion, or both, with the consequences of the choices accordingly changing the flow of the story.

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan relies on a simple premise to push forward, but structures the plot as to produce multiple endings based on the gamers’ decisions. The characters themselves evolve based on the aforesaid decisions, with developments then affecting interpersonal ties. Once in a while, it employs formulaic elements and comes up with stilted dialogue. For the most part, however, it succeeds in building up tension and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty critical to immersive survival horror. For all its cliched beats, it invariably feels in touch with what its audience wants, and manages to hammer home the point that all actions have reactions with aplomb.

As with Until Dawn, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan, there is causality to every single choice. From the outset, the story takes shape in accordance with the decisions of gamers, down to what words they opt to have their characters say in a given conversation. Some decisions can prove beneficial as a whole, while others may be fatal. An untimely (and sometimes unfair) demise isn’t uncommon, and the story doesn’t stop with the death. Rather, the loss is acknowledged, and the narrative continues to be shaped — until, that is, all characters are dead, or the mystery of Ourang Medan is solved.

Standard quick-time events and exploration segments pad the gameplay, and while they feel a bit intrusive at times, they admittedly help frame the story. In this regard, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan benefits from its excellent rendering on the Xbox One. It runs crisply and smoothly, with little to no stuttering — a technical feat considering that the environments look unnervingly lifelike. The music and voice tracks are likewise spot on, helping provide an appropriately suffocating atmosphere, especially as it ramps up to its climax.

To be sure, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan isn’t without its flaws. Along with good points, it has also borrowed some of Until Dawn’s bad ones. For instance, it forces gamers to empathize with largely unlikable characters; the investment of time and effort can be undervalued given the borderline-abhorrent personalities involved. Moreover, occasionally stiff and awkward motion-capture movements — while amounting to nitpicks in the grand scheme of things — draw gamers out of the otherwise-immersive experience.

Given the narrative structure, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan works best with cooperative play, which has gamers spending much of it separately in the leadup to the denouement. In this regard, the destination becomes less important compared to the journey. Of the various endings, the worst ones reveal nothing of value about the overarching story, while the best one comes off more like a sucker-punch twist than a truly satisfying payoff to five hours or so of gameplay. Admittedly, its replay elements — repeating it to make different choices and see different outcomes — form part of the main attraction. Because it fails to give a satisfying conclusion even at its finest, though, it winds up being betrayed by the extremely high expectations it had set for itself.

On the whole, The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan gives the series a promising start. It offers a superior multiple-player run-through, its flawed story notwithstanding. It could have been much, much better, however, were its endings, and its characters, a little more fun, a little more interesting, and a little less random. Which, in a nutshell, makes it more of a promise than a fulfillment of one. Knowing Supermassive Games, better titles lie ahead.

THE GOOD:

• Good premise with great buildup and great atmosphere

• Choose Your Own Adventure type of survival horror, with the story integrating gamer actions well

• Outstanding cooperative gameplay

THE BAD:

• Unsatisfying endings

• Unlikable characters.

• Occasionally stiff movements

• Quick-Time Events feel like padding sometimes

RATING: 7.5/10

POSTSCRIPT: Italian videogame artist Chris Darril wore many hats in bringing Remothered: Tormented Fathers to fruition, and his labor of love paid dividends by way of critical and commercial success following its release on the personal computer (via Steam) in early January 2018. In creating, writing, and directing Stormind Games’ entry to the survival horror genre, he set out to pay homage to Clock Tower, industry veteran Hifumi Kono’s highly acclaimed classic adventure series. And, for the most part, he managed to do so with aplomb. Positive reviews, even from his peers, became the norm, leading to the eventual release of ports on the Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4.

Not coincidentally, Stormind Games likewise ventured to put out a Nintendo Switch version of Remothered: Tormented Fathers. Collaborating with Tokyo-based publisher DICO, it managed to find its creation on the Japanese eShop in the middle of last year, well before its scheduled release for the hybrid console’s North American, European, and Australian markets. The availability was sudden and met with little fanfare, but those who looked forward to it wasted no time purchasing it at its affordable ¥2,400 price point.

As things turned out, there was ample reason for the delay in the release of Remothered: Tormented Fathers beyond the Land of the Rising Sun. For all the enthusiasm that greeted its arrival on digital retail, it proved far from ready. Suffering from optimization problems, it was quickly pulled from the Japanese eShop and subjected to technical fine-tuning in order to, per Stormind Games itself, “meet the developer’s award-winning pedigree… We are committed to providing an immersive and gripping experience for the player. The extra time for the project will help us reach that goal.”

Significantly, Remothered: Tormented Fathers would have another false start, so to speak. Stormind Games moved the official release date yet anew to early September, although only after it issued a patch close to two months after did it feel like the product was truly ready for public consumption. And, in retrospect, it was right to think the way it did. Not for nothing are there essentially two sets of reviews of and for it: one before the patch was available for download, and one after the application of said patch addressed programming missteps.

The storied past notwithstanding, Remothered: Tormented Fathers — or, to be more precise, its latest iteration — cannot but be deemed worthy of gamers’ time. It certainly sets up its much-improved gameplay well with a story designed to get gray cells working overtime. Even the title prompts introspection; the official website discloses it to be an amalgamation of “REM” (for rapid eye movement), “moth,” “mother,” “other,” and “red” in obvious reference to its survival horror predilections. And the narrative, which starts with 35-year-old Rosemary Reed visiting the home of Dr. Richard Felton under false pretenses in order to investigate the disappearance of Celeste, the latter’s daughter, is chockful of twists and turns reminiscent of Silent Hill offerings.

Darril has envivioned Remothered to be a trilogy, so it’s no shock to find Tormented Fathers replete with unanswered questions. That said, the manner in which the story develops, and the puzzles gamers have to solve en route to unfolding it, figures to keep them engrossed from the get-go. Unfortunately, it remains technically challenged on the Switch, unable to keep steady frame rates and susceptible to stuttering. It’s passable at best whether played with the console docked or in handheld mode, suffering from soft tones and occasional artifacting, as well as from input lags.

The good news is that Remothered: Tormented Fathers rewards patient gamers with a satisfying denouement, the inevitable sequel notwithstanding. Make no mistake; it’s a challenge to negotiate on the Switch — and the excellent rendition of cutscenes serve only to underscore the wanting visuals. Parenthetically, the audio mix is lacking at best; spatial feedback and aural fidelity and balance are poor to nonexistent. No doubt, hardware limitations contribute to the hurdles Stormind Games had to go through in porting it. That said, it winds up riding too much on its haunting atmosphere to deliver a gripping narrative worthy of the time of even jaded gamers.

All things considered, Remothered: Tormented Fathers can fairly be adjudged a good release that had the potential to be much, much better. For fans of the genre, the hope is that Stormind Games learns from its missteps and delivers on a superior sequel. Meanwhile, those not able to play on any platform but the Switch are left to look at the bright side and consider it positively in its entirety. The rest may want to look elsewhere. (7/10)

THE LAST WORD: The one-and-a-half-hour preview of Baldur’s Gate 3 that developer Larian Studios gave at PAX East in Seattle, Washington over the weekend has gamers pursing their lips in anticipation. The two decades of silence from the intellectual property certainly adds to the hype, but the demo has proven nothing short of spectacular. Even as the role-playing game will keep familiar Dungeons & Dragons elements, it figures to likewise benefit from the Ghent, Belgium-based company’s previous works, among them the Divinity series.

China gives relief to shield trillions of yuan in bad debt

CHINA’S financial regulators will allow the nation’s lenders to delay recognizing bad loans from smaller businesses reeling from the deadly coronavirus outbreak, giving temporary reprieve to trillions of yuan of debt.

Qualified small- and medium-sized businesses nationwide with principal or interest due between Jan. 25 and June 30 can apply for a delay to the end of the second quarter, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory said in a joint statement with the central bank on Sunday. In Hubei province, the center of the outbreak, the waiver applies to all companies, including large firms, according to the statement.

Chinese banks are taking extraordinary steps to avoid recognizing bad loans, seeking to protect themselves and cash-strapped borrowers from the economic fallout of the epidemic, as Bloomberg News reported last week. Regulators told lenders not to downgrade loans with missed payments or report delinquencies to the country’s centralized credit-scoring system before the end of June, according to the statement.

The push by banks and regulators to ease the wave of debt going bad is part of a broader effort by President Xi Jinping’s government to shore up the Chinese economy, which some forecasters predict may suffer a rare quarter-on-quarter contraction to start 2020. Gross domestic product (GDP) may shrink by 2.5% in the first quarter, Nomura Holdings Inc. economists led by Lu Ting said in a report on Saturday, after the country’s manufacturing sector reported record-low activity in February.

In addition to pumping billions of yuan into the banking system to make it easier for lenders to extend credit, authorities have cut interest rates, reduced taxes and pledged to adopt more “proactive” fiscal policies.

S&P Global estimated last month that a prolonged health emergency could cause China’s non-performing loan ratio to more than triple to about 6.3%, amounting to an increase of 5.6 trillion yuan ($800 billion) in bad debt. With the loosening bad loan recognition standards, the ratings agency expected “questionable” loans to may peak at 11.5% of the GDP in the aftermath of the epidemic.

Banks sit on record amount of nonperforming loans as economy slows

Shares of Chinese banks rallied. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and China Construction Bank Corp. both gained as much as 1.9% as of 10:36 a.m. in Hong Kong.

Still, the banking regulator said lenders need to categorize loans as nonperforming should the borrower fail to repay after resuming operations for a certain period of time, according to the statement. It also urged banks to cut the average financing costs to small businesses in Hubei province by more than 1 percentage point this year. — Bloomberg

Stylish living spaces at Amalfi

FILINVEST LAND, Inc. (FLI) unveiled a new model unit for its premiere residential mid-rise condominium Amalfi in Cebu City.

The model unit gives visitors a taste of what to expect when living at the Amalfi. The unit features a “modern glam” and European-minimalist aesthetic, with a combination wood, metal and glass elements.

The Amalfi is located within the master planned township City di Mare at South Road Properties (SRP), a joint venture project of FLI and the Cebu City government.

Under the Prestige by Filinvest brand, Amalfi offers two-bedroom and three-bedroom units.

“We are proud to launch the new three-bedroom unit that redefines luxurious condo living here at Amalfi. With an extensive 112 square meters (sq.m.) floor area, it offers more space for families to flourish,” Tristan Las Marias, Filinvest executive vice-president — chief strategy officer and cluster head for Visayas and Mindanao, said in a statement.

Amalfi now has three buildings, with the first two at the foot of the central amenity with direct views of the Olympic-size swimming pool and clubhouse. The third building faces the Amalfi Courtyard.

Nestlé Philippines says coffee project boosts farmers’ yield and income

FOOD and beverage maker Nestlé Philippines, Inc. said on Monday that its project aimed at increasing the yield and income of coffee farmers turned in positive results last year.

Dubbed Project Coffee+, the initiative resulted in an increase in the average farmer yield to 477 kilograms (kg.) per hectare (ha.) in 2019, or more than double the 235 kg./ha. recorded in 2018, the local unit of the multinational group said in a briefing.

The average net coffee income for every farm was at P39,129 for 2019, or more than twice the P18,363 the earlier year, translating in an increase in the average net farm income of farmers to P90,211 last year.

Farmers based in Bukidnon and Sultan Kudarat participate in training, particularly in agronomic practices, to increase income and yield.

Angel A. Bautista, Nestlé Philippines’ corporate affairs executive, said that the company continues to teach farmers on how to increase their yield, among others.

“Ang goal pataasin ang yield, pataasin ang income, maging entrepreneurial ang farmers, (The goal is to increase the yield, raise the income, and make the farmers become entrepreneurial),” she said.

The project is a component of “Nescafe Plan,” Nestlé Philippines’ long-term program that intends to promote sustainable farming and to help farmers increase their production and gain higher income from coffee farming.

It centers on improving the economic viability of smallholder coffee farmers through intensive education and agricultural training.

During the briefing, Nestlé Philippines also presented that coffee production declined by 3.5% annually in recent years, while consumption rose by 8.8%.

Because of the widening gap between production and consumption, coffee manufacturers are forced to import coffee beans from Vietnam and Indonesia.

Amid the decreasing coffee production, Nestlé Philippines believes that the local coffee industry can reach self-sufficiency in the near future.

The three highest coffee producing regions in the country are all in Mindanao, which accounted for 68% of produced coffee in the Philippines.

The regions of Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani, plus General Santos City), Davao Region, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao contributed 37%, 16%, and 15% of green coffee beans produced respectively.

Nestlé Philippines’ Project Coffee+ also aims to increase the yield of coffee farmers to one metric ton per hectare from 2018 to 2020. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave

1...9,0539,0549,055...13,486Page 9,054 of 13,486
© 2024 BusinessWorld Publishing.
All rights reserved.
Read our privacy guidelines
Facebook Instagram Linkedin Twitter Youtube