More Resident Evil 5 racism claims

By Robert Purchese Published 11 April, 2008

Newsweek writer wades in.

New suggestions that Resident Evil 5 features racist imagery have emerged.

Newsweek games writer N'Gai Croal has hit out at the E3 2007 trailer for the game in an interview with MTV Multiplayer, stating, "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game."

He continued, "It's like when you engage that kind of imagery you have to be careful with it. It would be like saying you were going to do some sort of zombie movie that appeared to be set in Europe in the 1940s with skinny, emaciated, Hasidic-looking people.

"If you put up that imagery people would be saying, 'Are you crazy?' Well, that's what this stuff looks like. This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can't pretend otherwise.

"That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood. If you're going to engage imagery that has that potential, the onus is on the creator to be aware of that because there will be repercussions in the marketplace."

The Resident Evil 5 trailer shows protagonist Chris Redfield in a small, poor and dusty village. He is the only white character portrayed in the three minute trailer. The zombies he proceeds to try to kill are black.

"The point isn't that you can't have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery," Croal said.

"That's the whole thing where only Chris Redfield appears to be human before they turn into zombies; the humanity of other people is in question. It's like you barely see their faces, he doesn't really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it's sort of, 'Is he there? Is he not?'

"It's a very strange thing, and it taps into sort of this very racist iconography. I think that's the only way I'm describing it. I'm not saying that was their intent. But it seems that a lot of people who were up in arms about the trailer couldn't see that and didn't want to engage it.

"I think, again, the point is not that Capcom can't or shouldn't make a zombie game set in what appears to be an impoverished country where the majority of residents are black. I'm not saying that.

"But what I am saying is that if I was Capcom, I wouldn't have suggested to put out that trailer. I would have said, 'You know what, this has tremendous capacity for being misunderstood, and we want to signal that this is not what you might think it is' - and they didn't do that."

Initial reaction to the Resident Evil 5 trailer was mixed, with some people expressing unease at the content, while others dismissed suggestions of any racist connotations.

The game is set for release on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms later this year.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (192) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DUFFKING #1 4 years ago

    Now lets replace the white lead character with a black lead character, and all the black zombies with white zombies and see how all the racism claims MAGICALLY DISAPPEAR

  • Physically_Insane #2 4 years ago

    It's set in Africa FFS. It has to have black people in it.

  • ecureuil #3 4 years ago

    I pretty much agree. I've read N'Gai Croal in Edge, and he always he comes across as an intelligent guy that knows what he's talking about.

  • bdc #4 4 years ago

    Africa


    Black People


    What is the fucking problem? The only racists, are the ones with the acquity to percieve so at the forefront of their minds before everything else.

  • GrandTheftApu #5 4 years ago

    "But what I am saying is that if I was Capcom, I wouldn't have suggested to put out that trailer. I would have said, 'You know what, this has tremendous capacity for being misunderstood, and we want to signal that this is not what you might think it is' - and they didn't do that."

    Don't think he would be ideally suited to a career in marketing.

  • Eurytus #6 4 years ago

    He continued, "It's like when you engage that kind of imagery you have to be careful with it. It would be like saying you were going to do some sort of zombie movie that appeared to be set in Europe in the 1940s with skinny, emaciated, Hasidic-looking people.




    Er no its not. Its actually like if you set in in Europe in the 1940's with European looking people.

    What was he expecting to be depicted in an African village?

    The Welsh?

  • KingOfSpain #7 4 years ago

    I normally agree with N'Gai, hes a good guy and writes a lot of good stuff. However, this is a load of crap.

    Maybe its a US culture thing. Maybe we don't have the same cultural touchstones on race as they do. Maybe the race relations debate in the 60s and 70s has a lot to do with their outlook and we have never had the same issues. He is looking for racism where there isn't any.

    Anyway, its all a crock of shit!

  • mischief #8 4 years ago

    Zombies are originally an aspect of the Voodoo religion. Voodoo is widely practised in Haiti with its roots in West Africa....
    Racist?
    Authentic more like.
    I think the trailer looks brutal. I am itching to play it.

  • oceanmotion #9 4 years ago

    It's just good direction in the trailer. Kinda like a Bourne film. Matt Damon walking through a city , were everybody looks dodgy no matter what they look like because they could be harmful to him. Croal is looking for racism when it's not there. It's a village, which I've seen many of in news, docs, travel shows without the obvious Zombie infections. The character is on his own, has to aware of everyone. Then the shit hits the fan and off you go Zombie killing. Nothing wrong with that.

  • japstersam #10 4 years ago

    whaaat the hell is this all about?
    the world has gone mental on racism, its set in africa so it has africans, no-one would say it was racist if it was set in england and had english people in it....?
    thats insane

  • brooksy07 #11 4 years ago

    Agreed with DUFFKING.

  • bad09 #12 4 years ago

    FFS!!! Sod it just leave out any country with mainly coloured people, and just have no blacks in games whatsoever. That way they can't bloody whinge! Would white people moan if the lead guy was black and the infected were white? No.

    Personally I think Capcom should be commended for moving away from the western world and setting their game somewhere new and interesting and showing gamers the more of the world, the fact the infected are black has no bearing other than it's the country the game is set.

    I never even thought about racism in the trailer until twats like this guy started. In fact I remember watching videos from blacks guys on you tube when all this crap started saying they themselves didn't even think it was racist.

    GET A GRIP AND LOOK WHERE THE GAME IS SET!!!!

  • Physically_Insane #13 4 years ago

    Nobody complained that RE4 was racist towards the Spanish.

  • ccfb #14 4 years ago

    Like my mum said when I lost something in the house, "You'll only find it if you go looking for it."

  • Turambar #15 4 years ago

    Nothing like a fake scandal to bump up the page views eh.

  • UltimateWarrior #16 4 years ago

    A lot of you are missing the point. He's not jumping on some racism bandwagon. He's basically saying that in this current climate where racism is still an issue for many, many people worldwide it was ill advised to have a single white man shooting lots of black people. It's easy to dismiss this when we know the background. We know that Chris Redfield is the hero of the series. We know that thsoe black people are zombies. We know that he must be in Africa for a reason. But taken on face value it's a trailer showing a white guy shooting lots of black people and it isn't even made blatantly cleare that they're zombies. Is the guy with a mega phone leading the attack? Is he a zombie? Can zombies still talk? Is he warning Chris? None of this is clear and thus it could easily offend many people who don't know or don't bother to find out the background. That's just the way things are nowadays. We've seen it with MPS and the press that people will jump to conlusions far too easily and this trailer gives people the opportunity to do just that. It's not a criticism of the game or Capcom. It's simply a jutsifiable point that the trailer is ill advised. That's "ill advised" not "blatantly racist."

  • HolyJebus #17 4 years ago

    This is some load of bollix. I completely agree that Capcom should be commended for setting a game in Africa for a change. Yesterday we had complaints about all black people in games being stereotypes and now today, when the black people in the game are either normal African villagers or zombies there's complaints that this is racism. Is everyone losing there fupping minds.

  • zuljin #18 4 years ago

    Guys, (especially first two posts), he's not saying its racist because you shoot black people, or because it has black people in it.

    Visit the original article, its worth a read, although personally I do disagree with what he's saying.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 11:49

  • brooksy07 #19 4 years ago

    Its a GAME. FFS

  • skx #20 4 years ago

    No offer about his intellect, but this time he is so NOT right! He is emotional driven. In the end Capcom, just wanted to give the audition a new fresh and cool look of Resident Evil Zombie Action. As they alway tried to do.

    And the Trailer is absolute brilliant. Its only function is to reactivate Resident Evil 4 Memorys/Experiences for the audition because it shows the same gameplay mechanics, speed, dramatic etc...

    The problem is, if those black people like Ngai would see them self as equal as a white man, they would never complain, because why should they? There is the Problem, in your minds.

  • hayisforhorses #21 4 years ago

    I remember the first time i saw the trailer, and instant reaction was a sharp intake of breath with that little snakey noise that you make when someone makes a joke that you really shouldnt laugh at. I feel kind of dissapointed and disgusted at the medias response because my initial reaction was right i knew people would take a trailer out of context of the final game and story and go apeshit.

    Resident evil is on its umpteenth incarnation counting all the offshoots. Shouldnt we know the score by now, as should N'gai its about zombies, viruses and infections the only reservation i have which may lead me to agree with these comments is the move away from the traditional zombie image. It would be slightly easier to take if the zombies were half eaten rotted out corspses ala Resi 1-3 but they dont in fact they look pretty normal in the images weve been shown.

  • mischief #22 4 years ago

    Interesting point made by ultimatewarrior but to hold back content that "could easily offend many people who don't know or don't bother to find out the background" does not justify restraint.
    It's like when people complain about content in films without actually watching them first.

  • steninja #23 4 years ago

    I can see what N'Gai is saying, it will always definitely be percieved the wrong way. Maybe they should have thought about the trailer before releasing it. But personally, i don't percieve it as racist or racism.

    Maybeeee, ohhhh..... Capcom knew exactly what the public would think and it would generate publicity. Publicity is publicity, gamers were always gonna buy Resi5 but now it's reaching a wider audience. CONSPIRACY!!?? ooohhhhhh

  • gman7714 #24 4 years ago

    @ UltimateWarrior

    Agreed - A nice, non-cynical, non defensive, intelligent post.

  • Xerx3s #25 4 years ago

    Why wasn't this an issue when it was set in white America. Or southern Europe? Apparently it's only racism when it's in Africa which makes these hypocrites the biggest racists of them all.

    Most of Africa is very poor, what should the makers do? Display Africa as super wealthy just because it's more pleasant? The nineties called, they want their left wing extremists with their politically correct bs back.

    Not only is this guy a racist, he is worse. He is scared of the political correct idiots. I thought we left that behind us when we went into the new millennium.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 12:00

  • Skooch #26 4 years ago

    This guys a 'tard.

  • hayisforhorses #27 4 years ago

    Thank god zombies arent real they would be hella upset by the whole series

  • Darren #28 4 years ago

    I'm curious... if a group of black developers made a game where you killed white zombies, would that be classed as rascist? LOL

    Seriously though, I think people read too much into these things, a person is still a person regardless of the skin colour yet had the zombies been white no-one would have complained even if some of the development team had been black. Strikes me as odd. I think the people who have the problem in the first place are the ones who think "Wow, I'm killing a black person, how rascist is that?". Personally, I don't even notice skin colour in games, all I see are people so there's no distinction for me between killing Japanese in, say, Dynasty Warriors 6 or killing nasty "foriegn" terrorists in Call of Duty 4, they're still people (albeit make believe ones!!!).

    Anyway, going back to Resident Evil 5, I presume that not every zombie you kill will be black, if that was the case then the game could be considered rascist. What about the earlier games which I'm sure featured both zombies both black and white? How do we know that the final version of Resident Evil 5 won't feature people of all different colours? I always assumed the trailer was designed to highlight a very different kind of game, one set in bright daylight and one that was intended to show that it was Africa, thus, explaining why Chris Redfield was killing black zombies in a village. Had they been white it wouldn't have been so obvious...

  • r3n #29 4 years ago

    "The point isn't that you can't have black zombies."

    Why the fuck not? So it's OK for practically every other zombie film and game to be predominately populated with white zombies, but as soon as you change the setting to Africa, it's racist? What a load of bollocks. How many white people do you expect to see roaming a village in the middle of Africa?

    I didn't even think about race when I watched the trailer and if anyone's racist it's this guy for assuming other people think the same way as him. He can fuck right off.

  • bad09 #30 4 years ago

    UltimateWarrior does make a valid point but the way this guy describes the trailer blatantly shows he also thinks it's imagery is racist.

    But are Capcom to blame if people choose to make judgments on imagery rather than in it's proper context in relation to the actual story (like the women who originally started this racism thing off).

  • krudster #31 4 years ago

    Really? In my experience the desire for political correctness just keeps on growing.

  • HertzaHaeon #32 4 years ago

    I can't believe so many can't even respect a differing opinion. Croal has some good arguments, and what's more, he can see it from a point of view most of you can't. Prejudice and xenophobia aren't rational or obvious, so you can't just claim you're magically free of centuries of racial thinking. Yes, it's been much, much worse, but that means that what remains is subtle and not necessarily obvious. Can't you at least be intellectually honest and admit there are more valid ways than one to look at this?

    The Spanish in RE4 are not the same thing. The Spanish haven't been racially persecuted and enslaved. There's simply no equivalent historical baggage or symbolism. The same goes for reversing race roles in the game.

    The game is not racist because the zombies are black. It's perfectly logical that they are. Nothing about the setup is racist at face value and when you only look at it as a game, with nothing to do with anything else in the world. But that's not how it works. The game doesn't exist in a vacuum, and you can't just proclaim that a white man killing blacks isn't symbolical because there's a watertight barrier between the game and reality. There isn't. When viewed as part of our wider culture, there are some very valid points to make about how the game's imagery relates to real world events that still are very much alive and relevant.

    I'm definiely not supporting Jack Thompson-like bashing of games, but this isn't like that. Games can't be above all criticism, unlike other culture. If you want games to be accepted as worthwhile culture, these are the discussions we must be able to have about them - preferably without reducing every argument to "OMG THEY WANT TAKE TAEK OUR GAMES AWAY" or "FFS IT'S JUST A GAME". I think you'll find that in most cases, if you show some respect for your opponent's point of view, he will show some for yours as well. The white perspective isn't invalid, but you make it so by disrespecting all differing perspectives and reducing the issue to absolute black and white, if you'll pardon the expression.

  • kissthestick #33 4 years ago

    i cant wait to shoot some niggas!

    (is black btw :) )

  • penguin_overlord #34 4 years ago

    I said this would happen. When that video popped up a few weeks ago, I said that the press would pick up on this.

  • crazyhorse174 #35 4 years ago

    Has nobody mentioned yet that the game is developed by a JAPANESE company in JAPAN where people aren't white!?

  • HolyJebus #36 4 years ago

    Ok this is getting out of hand. I don't think N'Gai is a racist or a "tard". UltimateWarrior makes a very intelligent and valid point.... however I would argue that this trailer is made for fans of the series, just as any trailer to any sequel is. For example if you were to look at a preview to something like the tv show The Wire, you would see that most of the characters are black and most of them are dealing drugs and whatnot. The main cop is a white guy who is out to clean up the streets. If you just saw clips of this show without actually watching it fully you could come to the same conclusion, that this is just the usual racist tv show with black guys as the bad guys and a white hero to save the day. Of course the tv show isn't like that at all, but from a trailer you could make that false assumption. It's not the creator's of the shows fault that everyone doesn't watch their show. I think this whole argument is completely ridiculous and stories like this being spread across the world as news are just going to fuel racism not prevent it. The end.

  • menage #37 4 years ago

    The problem is that all the black people in the trailer already look evil before they turn into zombies. Saw anyone smiling, kids playing, etc? NO. I have to agree on this one. RE4 saw you stranded in a cabin with one lunatic zombie and it went from there. This time he enters a whole city with presumably evil inhabitants. And they all look fucking scary, criminal.

  • bicky316 #38 4 years ago

    Darren: I'm curious... if a group of black developers made a game where you killed white zombies, would that be classed as rascist? LOL

    What about a group of black developers making a game where the main character was white and you shot black zombies (i.e. like RE5), would that be racist?

    /confused

  • MBar #39 4 years ago

    Sorry ... What?

  • PlugMonkey #40 4 years ago

    Hertz: I can respect his opinion, but it seems misinformed. His main complaint seems to be that the line between the living black citizens and the violent undead enemies is ambiguous, which he seems to attribute to racism. But that aspect is exactly the same as the Spanish villagers in RE4. It's not 'zombies' anymore, they completely blurred the line. The violent 'living' black villagers are just at an early stage of exposure.

    This isn't a race thing. It's a 28 Days Later thing.

    The way he talks about the subject, without even mentioning RE4, he gives the impression of not having played it and to be judging the game on the old zombie lore of the earlier games.

  • WiseNail #41 4 years ago

    The enemies in most games are predominately / all white skinned, so isn't Capcom being less racist having a game where the majority of the villains are black people?

    Surely it's better to be a core part of the game, rather than being given some sort of token side kick role. It's a bit like when the BBC try not to be racist by giving black actors on Eastenders roles as doctors, coppers and road sweepers, whilst saving all the meaty interesting stuff for white, bald, thug like looking blokes who go on to get all of the popularity and acclaim.

  • doriangray #42 4 years ago

    Great post HertzaHaeon, said everything i wanted to say but more eloquently.

  • doubler #43 4 years ago

    i dont think the game is intending on being racist its just the setting
    i think the main problem is that the main character is not black or even mixed. yes you will get some people claiming that it is promoting black on black crime but it would suit the story better.
    the main issue with media in general is the fact they protray white as being right and any thing else is just a mare tag along or an enemy. its also worrying that a country like japan follow this template with thier games and anime

  • Schiraman #44 4 years ago

    As far as I can see pretty much everyone in this thread is failing to actually read what the guy said. He's not saying it's racist to have black zombies, he's saying that the way that black people are depicted in the trailer *before any of the actual zombies ever turn up* is falling back on racist imagery in order to create an atmosphere of fear.

    "The point isn't that you can't have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery,"

    I think maybe people need to look into that aspect of it before they just dismiss his claims. He's not bashing games. He's not saying it's inherently racist to feature black people as villains. He's saying the imagery employed in the trailer is rather questionable - and I think he's absolutely right.

  • 7creature #45 4 years ago

    Of course, EVERYBODY knows, that Africa is full of happy, fat people full of love and understanding. That's why everybody just loves Africa.

    Why, oh, why are those silly Japanese developers so blind to the reality of our world? We should laugh at their pathetic and rasistic attempt to smudge that great picture.

    Seriously - yes, it is only a game and I guess just like RE4 it will be set in completely imaginary world, not corresponded with our reality much - I would like to see some unpleasant African realities in this game, the more people to really see it the better. African issues are not exactly the ones you see in headlines often. So I think in case this game will spur some serious controversy and media attention, it will be good thing.

    Similar to last Rambo film (and I think nobody can accuse Rambo movies from some deep messages or intelectual political agenda :-)) can show some issues in Burma (no matter how simplified) to a broad spectrum of people, many of whom never even heard/remember from school about that country.

  • bionutz #46 4 years ago

    Africa and so on, like the others just said.
    [Edit]: And about the racism issue, I think confrontation is better than political correctness nowadays.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 12:53

  • Stormflood #47 4 years ago

    As a zombie, it offends me greatly.

  • AliRay #48 4 years ago

    Translation of Croal's point:

    "WOOOOH! I'm in the zone, baby!!"

  • Eurytus #49 4 years ago

    "As far as I can see pretty much everyone in this thread is failing to actually read what the guy said. He's not saying it's racist to have black zombies, he's saying that the way that black people are depicted in the trailer *before any of the actual zombies ever turn up* is falling back on racist imagery in order to create an atmosphere of fear. "



    What racist imagery?
    Depicting Chris feeling uncomfortable in an environment where he stands out? Depicting people looking at him with suspicion? Depicting him being a fish out of water?

    These are all common set ups of any horror film where someone is in a place they do not know and where people do not know them. Whether it be the Yorkshire Moors in American Werewolf in London, the backwoods of America or Innsmouth.

    That does not mean it is racist.

  • ISmoke #50 4 years ago

    Right - just to point it out (not that i need to but for this argument i will) I'm black - and last time i checked. everyone in Africa was black, Now. Unless in RE5 this crazy as virus turns all the black people into white zombies, It aint gonna' work. Leave the subject alone, Black people live in Africa - It's only right there is gonna' be black f*cking Zomies. Damn.

  • dieseljunkie #51 4 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:42:38 15-12-2011

  • captainrentboy #52 4 years ago

    Just rewatched that trailer, and honestly I can't see the problem. You know why I can't see a problem? Because it's set in fooking Africa, the fact that the vast majority of Zombies will no doubt be black is to be kind of expected.
    Now if the game was set in Cornwall, and you were still shooting hundreds of Black folk, that could be a problem. But as it stands I see nothing wrong.
    And as a few have said, if you're sitting their watching it, only seeing racist controversy, chances are, deep down, you're probably slightly racist yourself.

  • bad09 #53 4 years ago

    HertzaHaeon makes a very valid point on centuries of racial thinking but what should we do? Dwell on the mistakes our ancestors made and separate black people from everything as not to upset them, or try to move on from the mistakes of the past that were not made by the people of today anyway.

    Sure in America it is still a little raw but they really have come a long way in 40 years since the civil rights movement, hell their next president could well be a black man! (Go Obama!!)

    Besides it's not like slavery was solely enforced on black people anyway. Look at the workhouse factories of China or low paid immigrant workers in most of the western world and you will see slavery is alive and well today just a little bit more dignified.

  • Physically_Insane #54 4 years ago

    @Stormflood

    LOL

  • Schiraman #55 4 years ago

    @Eurytus

    It's hard to pin down something so vague as 'racist imagery' and if you want someone to try and defiine it exactly, I'm not your man. All I can say is that when I watched the trailer I could really see what N'Gai meant about the general way the black characters are portrayed.

    Whether or not people agree with that angle, that's the point people need to address - maybe there is 'racist imagery' and maybe there isn't, but it's got fuck all to do with the fact there are black zombies and its set in Africa, he never suggested either of those things were racist.

    I think we're so used to people bashing games for one thing and another that we're becoming over-defensive as a hobby. People need to stop overreacting to these criticisms, and actually read what the guy has to say.

  • r3n #56 4 years ago

    oh well, having actually read the article after my first post (a bit backwards), I do kind of agree with what he's saying - that Capcom should take care with a game like this, as there are people out there who will take it the wrong way. I'm pretty confident that there is no racism considered when making the game or putting out the trailer, however, it's still open to different interpretation, especially by those hate mongers who love to pick on computer games as the root of all evil in society. Just think, if some white trash nut kills a black person and it turns out that he'd been playing the game - whether or not it had any influence on what he did - the media would have a field day. So it's important that if Capcom do what they're going to do (which I fully support as you shouldn't not make games in Africa just because of the race issue), then they should take care

  • asharkman #57 4 years ago

    I dont see the problem at all. It's exactly the same as res 4 except he's in a different poor country and the people are black.
    Hardly racism to me.
    If the main character was black and the people were white would that be called racist?
    Or what if he was a she and all the other characters were men or vice versa would that be sexist?

  • HertzaHaeon #58 4 years ago

    crazyhorse174:
    Unfortunately, the game being Japanese doesn't help. Racism is quite common in Japan and they generally have no clues about the racist imagery and symbols.

    PlugMonkey:
    Maybe he's overlooking some details, sure, but then again, we all are until we've actually played RE5. We don't know what it's really like or if Capcom will react to the criticism. But the imagery of the trailer is, like I said, not disconnected from the world and history as we'd like it to be. You can't just equate all races and say their histories and the symbolism pertaining to them are the same. They're not. I'd like to live in a world where a zombie is just a zombie, regardless of color,and a game is just a game, but as long as things as racism, sexism and homophobia are around there will always be these negative connections to real world events. Ignoring them isn't a solution.

    WiseNail:
    No, I'd say that having the poor choice between gangsta stereotypes and mindless zombies isn't really an improvement. If there were more positive, varied black roles to give some contrast and alternatives, it would make things much better and maybe make the black zombies less of an issue.

    But the problem is that the black zombie horde isn't just like a white one, but with darker skin. There are historical views of blacks as mindless, brutal thugs that come uncomfortably close to zombies. Compare the black zombie mob to the stereotypical black mob, high on drugs, out to kill white people and rape white women. These images can pop up in your head regardless of Capcom's intentions with the zombies.

  • miiiguel #59 4 years ago

    HertzaHaeon, dont' agree with you arguments. You fight racism by droping the "over protective" BS. And believe me I know what I'm talking about, I have a multi-racial family.

    X3rxes, there isn't any extreme-left (aka marxist-leninist or maoist) anymore, nowdays left is "caviar left".
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 12:55

  • mikew1985 #60 4 years ago

    Next game where an Englishman can shoot an Irishman I will see to it that it's banned! racist filth that, and after 800 years of oppression... sounds silly doesn't it?

    I can appreciate his difference of opinion but really it does seem a bit silly really, i think he over contextualises it.
    Edited by 2 at 11/04/08 @ 12:56

  • bad09 #61 4 years ago

    "Speaking personally I find all forms of discrimination both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE equal divisive and unpalatable"

    VERY well said Arbiter.

  • mikeck #62 4 years ago

    I think the main crux of the point he was addressing is that there are people out there who will look at this trailer and claim it's racist. All he was doing was pointing that out, and stating that Capcom may have considered toning down the trailer to avoid such negative conotations.

    I can see the headlines in the Daily Mail now...over sensationalised clap-trap about how games are not only violent, but now they're promoting racism. I think all the sane people here will appreciate that's not true, but because of the highlighted problems with games coming from the press and news media, companies need to be a bit more clever about how they promote their products.

    Ultimately, I think there was nothing wrong with the trailer, and I think the points saying that Capcom should maybe have reconsidered releasing it are valid, but only because of how some sections of the media will report this trailer.

  • Darren #63 4 years ago

    @Schiraman - I can see what you're trying to say but I don't agree with that. If you watched the trailer and thought it was racist then fine. However, I watched it and never even considered the racist implications because the people were black and it was set in a poor village; I just saw that it was clearly meant to be set in Africa and that was all. It was only later when I read someone commenting on how it could be considered racist that I even gave it a first nevermind a second thought! LOL

    Mind you, I remember Golliwogs and the Black & White minstrels when I was younger and both of those were banned due to political correctness. Until then I never even considered that black people might have been offended by them, I didn't even consider the connection at all in fact, so it all seemed fairly ridiculous to me, still does actually. I do think though that political correctness has gone a bit too far at times and instead of eliminating racism, it just makes you all the more conscious of it to the point where you have to be very careful what you actually say. My dad worked as a prison custody officer and he said that the black prisoners he escorted often called each other "niggas" yet if a white person used the word it would be deemed racist (I was reminded of it by an earlier comment here). Daft really.

  • andywilkie35 #64 4 years ago

    unbelievalbly stupid, capcom are setting a game in africa so they have african people walking about, big deal.

    i'm bored of this whole racism issue with Resi 5 and what that guy said about Gears of War. surely films and music are as much to blame as games?

  • PedroTheLion #65 4 years ago

    This is the type of stuff only Americans would find racist, those blokes are batshit insane they are!

  • beep #66 4 years ago

    This world needs to be invaded by purple aliens so the stupid humans can unite (if only for a little while) and find something else to moan about.

  • HertzaHaeon #67 4 years ago

    7creature:
    That Africa is full of starved, unhappy and hateful people is another prejudice. It's an overly simplistic view of a great, complex continent. Parts of it are more miserable than any other places in the world, but other parts are really nice or are developing in the right direction.

    bad09:
    I don't know how to handle this best, but I'm quite sure that one way of finding out is to take criticism like this seriously. If someone had listened to criticism about black stereotypes in games before, people would have positive alternatives to these images and perhaps they wouldn't be so bad. But we're so in love with some racial stereotypes and so blind to others that it's hard to get past.

    asharkman:
    You can't just switch the roles around and think everything would be perfectly equal. Racism and sexism aren't equal, and although they go both ways, there are clearly one weak side that suffers from prejudice much more than the other.

  • bad09 #68 4 years ago

    @ beep

    Oh so now all purple aliens invade planets do they? RACIST!!!! :)

    @ HertzaHaeon

    But are we in love with stereotypes? I never buy the arguments against stereotypes, Some may not like it but I honestly believe most stereotypes (not just black people) do base themselves in some reality. A example I'll give you is as it's related to this race thing, the stereotype of the young black male talking all street, acting all tough and (for lack of a better word) "ghetto". Sure not EVERY black male acts like that, of course not, but like it or not the reality (coming from someone who lives in a very much black community) is that A LOT do. So is it really wrong to have someone talking like many black people do? I don't think so

    While I do agree perhaps the media (not just games) need less stereotypical images I see nothing wrong in portraying people in a way many do actually act.

    Edited by 3 at 11/04/08 @ 13:16

  • HertzaHaeon #69 4 years ago

    miiiguel:
    Having a multiracial background doesn't make you magically immune to racist thinking. And I'm not overly protective. All I want is that we take racism seriously, even when it's not immediately obvious to us. Racism is largely not obvious today, which makes it more sinister. It can still be there even if you don't see it.

  • nick_f Verified Senior Producer, Microsoft #70 4 years ago

    Wow, this is what happens when you try to make a subtle, nuanced point on the internet.

    I don't think the RE5 trailer is "racist" but I get N'Gai's point. And you can't deny he's right about the point he makes given the unfortunate reaction to the trailer in some parts.

    Look here for another perspective:
    [link url=http:// multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/08/black-professionals-in-ga mes-tomb-raider-producer-morgan-gray-on-diversity-resident-e vil-5-and-the-problem-with-cole-train/
    ]http://mu ltiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/0...[/link]

    "Absolutely not racist. Zombies in Haiti? Hmm. I think they’re gonna be brown. If we were going to do a zombie game in China: wow, a lot of Chinese zombies. I think it’s just the “Here’s the bunch of people that are primitive,” which is actually the elephant in the room, and the racist perceptions. … But it takes place in Haiti, home of the zombie, right? No one complained — where was the outcry for the poor Spanish villagers in Resident Evil 4?"

  • miiiguel #71 4 years ago

    Hertza, I'm not claiming that I have a special degree to understand all racial issues. What I do have is the feeling of day to day life.
    That said, I also kinda..., understand the issue within America. Segregation was abolish not so long ago. They're sensitive about it. In Europe, these things don't make any sense, imo.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 13:18

  • Mind_Open #72 4 years ago

    This is stupid. Its just a game. All resident evil games had zombies, and every single one was white. Maybe im wrong, but i didnt see anyone complaining about that. Oh i know, the caracters were all white. Grow up people.

    Maybe if the roll leader was black everything would be ok.

    Well.....we dont even know what the history is about.

    Relax.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 13:22

  • 7creature #73 4 years ago

    HertzaHaeon: I am not arguing with that, but RE5 trailer obviously isn't set in those lucky areas. Africa has issues. I would dare to say bigger ones than the whole rest of the world (at least from the materialistic point of view).

    Btw regarding this race/nationality/whatever issues, I wonder for example how did Russians liked Operation Flashpoint - that was pretty uncomfortable game from my point of view (basically all you did was killing evil Russians all the time).

    Hmm, yes, Japan has its own history and (legion of) skeletons in the closets, but which country doesn't?

    I think political correctness is the real plague of present period...

  • UltimateWarrior #74 4 years ago

    Just a slightly pedantic point point but isn't Haiti in the Carribean and not Africa? Thus the assumption that all black nations must be African is a bit racist. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

  • Rodafowa #75 4 years ago

    HertzaHaeon's pretty much said all I felt needed saying. Thanks, man.

  • ccfb #76 4 years ago

    "last time i checked. everyone in Africa was black"

    Check AGAIN.

  • Beek4257 #77 4 years ago

    I could be reading this the wrong way, but I think N'Gai meant to say that one of the problems with the trailer was, that it gave viewers no context. Gamers don't need context, because - as this forum proofs - they already know RE's background. When posting trailers on the web, you're releasing it to the world, not just gamers.

    I can understand that, as a man of color, N'Gai might have felt offended that Capcom didn't provide a trailer making the context perceptible to non-gamers, bearing in mind that a non-gamer might very well not even notice the shift from regular folk to zombies. It isn't that obvious in the footage from trailer, at least not to people who have never pl;ayed a RE game, I guess.

  • mischief #78 4 years ago

    "a non-gamer might very well not even notice the shift from regular folk to zombies"

    the bleeding bulging eyes wasn't a hint then?

  • Beek4257 #79 4 years ago

    Bad hangover?

  • longtimer #80 4 years ago

    "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game."?

    Wow, clearly nobody white helped you write that article.

    How about you go over to africa and take a stroll around some of the poor villages and see how many white people you meet? Dicker.

  • Muddtallica #81 4 years ago

    A lot of this has already been said very eloquently by the likes of HertzaHaeon and UltimateWarrior, but there still seems to be a lot of misunderstanding here, so I'm just going to reiterate the key point that many have missed:

    N'Gai Croal is NOT saying that Resident Evil 5 is racist, nor is he stating that there is anything wrong with using black zombies, especially not in a game set in Africa.

    His point is that Capcom need to be careful about the way they handle this material. This is a highly sensitive subject that is open to misinterpretation, so they must be extremely vigilant in ensuring that the game and its marketing do not unintentionally communicate a message or subtext that will be viewed as offensive.

    That being so, I can't honestly see how you can have a problem with Croal's point. This reminds me a lot, to be honest, over the controversy over Bully; no, the game wasn't the brutal schoolyard delinquency simulation that the press tried to paint it as, but when you provocatively title the game "Bully" and feature your protagonist, a skinheaded and quintessentially thuggish-looking teen, in all your promotional screenshots and artwork, can you blame people for jumping to conclusions? The games industry is under enough scrutiny as it is at the minute; why make the vultures' jobs easier by offending people through simple, avoidable thoughtlessness?

  • Nithron #82 4 years ago

    Just think. If every one of these continuously complaining busybodies, the world over, started ploughing the apparently limitless free time that they currently spend complaining into something productive like actually helping victims of real racism... We'd be living in a fucking utopia by now.

  • BobsUncle #83 4 years ago

    The article states "It depicts a white protagonist going into an apparently poverty-stricken village (the location is unspecified)"

    You'd have to be a real fucking idiot to assume this wasn't Africa. Which is inhabited by mainly black people. I don't hear the Germans making a fuss every time MOH comes out.

    Basically he's complaining because it didn't say "Generic Village, Africa" in white letters along the bottom. In the manner we're used to seeing in films because Americans don't know where anywhere is outside of America.

  • PlugMonkey #84 4 years ago

    I'd like to live in a world where a zombie is just a zombie, regardless of color,and a game is just a game, but as long as things as racism, sexism and homophobia are around there will always be these negative connections to real world events. Ignoring them isn't a solution.

    So what would you suggest as a solution then? I think a company like Capcom feeling that they can't set a game in Africa is an even worse proposition. Don't we need to move forward? And as I said before (and this goes to Schiraman as well), the main thrust of his 'racism' is that:

    "the humanity of other people is in question. It's like you barely see their faces, he doesn't really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it's sort of, 'Is he there? Is he not?'"

    That isn't racism. Their humanity is literally in question. That's the whole point of the game. And so, as far as I see it, there is no racism in that trailer. The fact that yourself and Croal see fit to project historical racism onto it is in itself an interesting comment on the racism endemic in our society, but that doesn't make the game itself racist, nor in my opinion does it provide any solutions but only perpetuates the problem.

  • JaysonG #85 4 years ago

    Did anyone posting in at least the first 25 comments (other than ecureuil and Ultimate Warrior) actually read what he said?

    Why are you all being so defensive? Read what he is saying. He makes a very good point.

  • septimus #86 4 years ago

    I hate this shit. It doesn't matter what colour they are so STFU. If it was set in China, I'm betting the zombies would be, OMFG, Chinese! The humanity!

    Capcom should have set it areas where we could kill Zombie Eskimo's. The Eskimo's never complain, it'll be fine. /sarcasm
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 14:01

  • Ryze #87 4 years ago

    Someone should make a version with an Arab shooting Jewish zombies - just to show these emptyheads what N'gai means.

    He's not jumping on a racism bandwagon.
    Edited by 2 at 11/04/08 @ 14:02

  • bitesize #88 4 years ago


    ffs, i sometimes think people don't even read the articles, just the headlines then come in here to vent.

    if you're another one of the many who are coming in here to complain that this guy is a retard or that it's not racist it's just a game, take a deep breath, read the article again, then read the bolded bit in muddtallica's post above (good post man) if you're still having trouble understanding. then think about what you're posting...

  • Ryze #89 4 years ago

    How about one that shows Native Americans being slaughtered by settling Europeans?

    Chinese people slaughtering Tibetans?

    Or one that shows scousers being crushed in a crowd?

    How about a level in GTA IV where you come out of the, pub, pick up a member of teh royal family, then try to make it across town without the papparazzi taking too many pictures?

    Er... let's see.. a trailer showing footballers in an aircraft - you attempt to take off during a horrendous blizzard...

  • McFly55 #90 4 years ago

    FFS, we've only seen a few mins of footage, we havent a clue how the rest of this game plays out. So the imagery in the TRAILER can be interpreted as racism to the uninformed-theyre just as bad for crying racism before researching the series background.
    Resi 5 is blatantly not racist. Well racist against zombies but they dont seem to give a shite

  • bad09 #91 4 years ago

    To all the guys saying no one read it the article etc.

    This guys clearly says he sees no problem with black zombies themselves but he DOES read racism in the trailer which, as far a I'm concerned, created a scary atmosphere (which a horror game should) nothing more. Look at the comments below:

    "That's the whole thing where only Chris Redfield appears to be human before they turn into zombies; the humanity of other people is in question. It's like you barely see their faces, he doesn't really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it's sort of, 'Is he there? Is he not?'"

    and..

    "It's a very strange thing, and it taps into sort of this very racist iconography. I think that's the only way I'm describing it. I'm not saying that was their intent. But it seems that a lot of people who were up in arms about the trailer couldn't see that and didn't want to engage it."

    While he does admit that he may read it wrong in his interview these two comments alone highlight racism that wasn't there in the first place and would not of been picked up on if they were all white. Which in turn leads back to why everyone is on about the race issue. So I think you are being a bit harsh on everyone :)
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 14:31

  • Gaol #92 4 years ago

    We already went through all this in yesterdays comments thread and I ain't retreading all my decent arguments again. EG is just eking out the same story over two days. With that in mind I'll just vent today.

    Anyone who doesn't realize that this guy is spewing politically correct crackpot facism, and works for a magazine with more left wing liberal leanings than the fucking Guardian, is retarded.

    That is all.

  • bad09 #93 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    I think you are reading too much into it mate. All those "examples" are real life events. Last I heard Resident Evil is not based on any real event, and certainly not based on the oppression of black people in the past :)

  • Ryze #94 4 years ago

    For all you know - the games in question could have a perfectly logical, innocent reason for having the sequences I mention.

    That's the issue - society at large - especially older people - wont know what this is all about.

    They'll just see the slaying.

    It's offensive imagery to many - why couldn't there be an Arab shooting Jews in the next Res Evil?

    Because it's offensive imagery. It just so happens that most people here are too young / stupid to see why it's offensive to some people - or just discount such peoples' views as irrelevent.

  • buggrit #95 4 years ago

    N'Gai is a smart guy usually.
    This debate (which he's having a to-and-fro with Jim Sterling from Destructoid over) is retarded.
    OMG RASCISIsTIC BLACK ZOMBIEZ!!!!!!!!111!!1oneone

  • bad09 #96 4 years ago

    @Ryze

    "why couldn't there be an Arab shooting Jews in the next Res Evil? "

    To be fair that is a completely different issue which is a lot more complicated than the current racism issue we are talking about. But if the story justified it why not? So what if some find it offensive, Rock and Roll and rap music was/is offensive to some should we have stopped that?


    "Because it's offensive imagery. It just so happens that most people here are too young / stupid to see why it's offensive to some people"

    I think that's a bit unfair to the younger generation to be honest, besides there is absolutely nothing offensive in the Resi trailer, the offense is coming from people's own interpretation of the trailer which is completely different and goes back to the point above.

  • alimokrane #97 4 years ago

    Oh FFS, FFS, FFS ..........

  • Gaol #98 4 years ago

    "N'Gai is a smart guy usually. "

    Agree, his single page column has often been pretty insightful; he (and his magazine) should stick to videogames and leave politics well alone.

  • Ryze #99 4 years ago

    All he is saying - is that there is offensive imagery in the game.

    Most people throw the word 'racism' around too much.

    If GTA IV had a mission that just had a female VIP in the drunk driving section - who died - it'd be flagged up waaaay before it got to be in a trailer - even if it was completely unrelated to Di.

    Some people can only see their own perspective.

    Don't you think this imagery would be offensive to a 70 year old who had his grandparents telling him as a youth about terrible treatment, before growing up getting beaten up by skinheads and police?

    If the game is explained to them it'd probably be no problem - but that's the same as having a perfectly innocent German guy in the next Res Evil shooting Polish Jews or something.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 15:18

  • Ryze #100 4 years ago

    How is it a 'completely different issue', bad09?

  • bad09 #101 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    Well come on man, you are talking about very volatile middle eastern current events which even now could escalate to even bigger problems. That is a bit different to some being offended by some images of a white guy shooting black people (who are infected with a virus).

    You really can't feel they are the same, surely?

  • IronCladChicken #102 4 years ago

    I understand where the guy is coming from - But I disagree

  • JaysonG #103 4 years ago

    How indeed?

  • belziah #104 4 years ago

    So racism isnt extreme but the jewish-arab situation is?

    I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with Croal's argument but its interesting to note that when ever racism is mentioned in the gaming community its swept aside as an issue of no importance.

    Racism has as much social, historical and cultural importance as the jewish-arab conflict(in which it plays a significant role) and yet its trivialised and dismissed as if plays no role in society at wide today.

  • Ryze #105 4 years ago

    So it's irrelevant that in the first half of the 20th century - when most of your grand-parents were alive, that black Australian Aboriginals were considered subhuman by the law of the land.

    That's how serious the issue is. Do you read the news?
    Edited by 2 at 11/04/08 @ 15:53

  • bad09 #106 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    You seem to on some moral crusade which is spiraling way past the issue at hand. We are talking about people finding offense at the images which are not offensive (Resi trailer). We can talk about the mistakes each country has made over the centuries and whats wrong with the world today but that only detracts from the issue at hand. That people are finding offense in a trailer which shows no offensive imagery whatsoever, purely because the people portrayed are black.

    That is completely different to the route your argument is taking.

  • Ryze #107 4 years ago

    Don't you know that populations of Native Americans were killed by putting viruses into rivers and polluting their drinking water?

  • Ryze #108 4 years ago

    Imagery. Imagery - like the IMAGE of a person that looks like Jew being slaughtered by a person that looks like a Nazi or an Arab.

    That's all.

    Fuck the moral crusade mate - I don't care about what people think really - they can say fuck 'em all - but it's offensive to people for a good reason.

    My grandad was born and raised in Norfolk, and fought in WWII - he's as white / English as they get.

    I'll be buying Res Evil 5 on launch day - that's not the point - the trailer, when viewed by many who don't understand, will cause offence.

    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 16:11

  • Ryze #109 4 years ago

    Is this game in Africa, or Haiti (The Caribbean)?

  • Ryze #110 4 years ago

    @lavalant

    Read your own post - and cross reference it with what I said (not any old n*gger).

    You'll realize that you're talking shit - and you have a chip on your shoulder.

  • bad09 #111 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    "the trailer, when viewed by many who don't understand, will cause offense. "

    So what, personally if people find offense because they take something out of context (which is the whole point really) I have no sympathy.

    Although people are saying Africa I'm pretty sure it's set in Haiti.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 16:17

  • Ryze #112 4 years ago

    That's cool - and if it's socially acceptable these days to release the trailer (it obviously is) - then fine.

    It will still cause offence to a massive number of people, though. That's the issue here.

  • Ryze #113 4 years ago

    Also - read up on Haiti - there's some disgusting shit gone on there in recent years.

    They should really tread carefully rather than disregarding what's happened to those folks.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 16:24

  • Ryze #114 4 years ago

    Imagery - read up on imagery, and the offense that it can cause (to non-blacks as well)!

  • bad09 #115 4 years ago

    @ Ryze

    Socially acceptable?? Dude what exactly do you see in that trailer??

  • HertzaHaeon #116 4 years ago

    miiiguel:
    Europe has its own dark history with racism too. There's lots of neo nazi scum and everyday Johnny Xenophobes running around everywhere. You'd have to be blind and stupid not to have some relation to racism. But yeah, for blacks in the US especially it's a different story.

    7creature:
    Race is inescapable and immutable, but you can switch nationalites. It's not quite the same, even though you're right that there's some overlap. Certain nationalities do get negatively stereotyped in similar ways to certain races. I think that the root of all such problems is the still narrow roots of gaming culture - white, male, western.

    PlugMonkey:
    I would argue that making certain people out to be non-human and other is precisely what racism is. And sexism. And homophobia. I'm certainly not arguing that Capcom should be censored or that they should self-censor. I'd like games treated like any other culture in that respect. That means we're free to make it, but creators have to take responsibility for their creations and not ignore criticism. We as players should be open-minded and respectful of differing views. At the very least we should be aware of the problems and reflect on what it is we're playing. I don't think games are mindless entertainment, so they do deserve to be criticisized and thought about just as other forms of culture. In that honest reflection and discussion, perhaps we'll find a solution to racism. Ignoring race issues and pretending they don't exist will not lead to a solution. If you've listened to Senator Obama lately, I think he's doing a good job of explaining it.

  • Ryze #117 4 years ago

    @Arbiter

    Nah - I'm saying:

    'The trailer will cause massive offence while the trailer doesn't give enough context to it's events"

  • Camorrista #118 4 years ago

    In other news, a zombie shooter with all characters, good and bad, dressed as Hasidic Jews and with appropriate music would be instant buy for me :)

  • Ryze #119 4 years ago

    @HertzaHaeon

    When English bash the French or vice versa - it's racism

    When Nigerians bash teh Jamaicans and vice versa - it's racism

    People need to be more colourblind.

    The trailer is just a little insensitive and potentially offensive to SOME people.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 16:46

  • Ryze #120 4 years ago

    @Camorrista

    " In other news, a zombie shooter with all characters, good and bad, dressed as Hasidic Jews and with appropriate music would be instant buy for me :) "

    Sounds good mate - shall we pitch it to Capcom?

    ;-)

  • HertzaHaeon #121 4 years ago

    You people should seriously forget the zombie part of this argument. It's not relevant outside the game. What is relevant is the symbolism and historical connotations. They're pretty much subjective, so don't expect them to be the same for you as for Croal. And don't say they're just images. Symbols have meaning and you can't just wish it away. But if you have half a brain and a little empathy, you should be able to imagine this in a context that's relevant to you.

    Imagine perhaps a zombie outbreak in a Jewish community, with a German or Arab hero. Or an outbreak in a Palestinian village, with an Israeli soldier cleaning up. Or an outbreak in a Chinese village, with a Japanese hero. Or hey, imagine a terrorist on the London tube. Just as he's about to start mowing down Brittish people, they turn into zombies and he has to fight them with his homemade bombs and kalasjnikov.

    OK, so I jest a bit (apologies if anyone was offended, but it's to illustrate my point), but I'm sure you get the idea. If you don't, please realize that there are injustices and conflicts in the world that might seem old and irrelevant to you, but are anything but to the people affected.

  • BPotemkin #122 4 years ago

    'Going after -what is AT worst- an inadvertant controversy like this is just dumb.'

    But that's thing. A little 'inadvertant controversy' such as this contributes to the sustaining of those very racial stereotypes that lead to the 'very REAL racism' that you speak of. There's nothing in Croal's interview that comes off as kneejerk or even 'politically correct' (and I wish people would actually think before throwing that term around) so much as arguing that in today's post-modern discourse, you really can't shrug it off with a simple 'but, hah, Capcom's just being logical with their Ganados storyline!'

    Obviously, I don't think Capcom needs to censor it or change any elements. I'll still play it because - what else - it's Resident Evil 5 and the last iteration was a breakthrough for the series; but I wish gamers would at least approach their material with a little more forethought than thinking that games exist in some magical, cultural vacuum and thus not subject to outside criticism. As HertzaHeon wrote more eloquently than me (I?): 'At the very least we should be aware of the problems and reflect on what it is we're playing.'
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 16:53

  • HertzaHaeon #123 4 years ago

    Ryze:
    People should ideally become colorblind, yes. But we won't become colorblind by blinding ourselves to the issues. Pretending there aren't problems doesn't mean they'll go away. You can't deny there's a serious lack of positive, varied and non-stereotypical black characters to offset the kind of images that are complained about. Let's talk about why blacks are only portrayed as gangstas, hip hop artists or monsters, and maybe people will think about it when they encounter it. Maybe they'll realize there's still racism, and find ways to get past it. Then we can have black zombies that are just differently colored zombies, no complaints.

  • bad09 #124 4 years ago

    @ HertzaHaeon

    "Let's talk about why blacks are only portrayed as gangstas, hip hop artists or monsters, and maybe people will think about it when they encounter it."

    Sorry friend while I'll agree there is a lot of this stereotype in the media that is absolute rubbish and black people are not only portrayed as such. Perhaps you should change the media you consume?

  • Monkey_Chops #125 4 years ago

    Speaking as a black zombie, I have to disagree. There are lots of us around and Croal better face the truth or have his brains eaten. End of story.

  • cyber_nicco #126 4 years ago

    "I've read N'Gai Croal in Edge, and he always he comes across as an intelligent guy that knows what he's talking about."

    You must be kidding, this guy is an idiot. For God's sake, he's a Los Angleles Lakers fan.

    Sheesh!

  • cyber_nicco #127 4 years ago

    Night of the Living Dead, the movie that started it all, had a black protagonist and all white zombies...

    Payback's a bitch, N'Gai!

  • Gaol #128 4 years ago

    Fucking great film that. Especiallly the ending. Didn't Dawn of the Dead have a black lead?
    Edited by 2 at 11/04/08 @ 17:21

  • Ryze #129 4 years ago

    Sorry lavalant, but I only debate with people on forums who can read and show signs of intelligence.

  • Ryze #130 4 years ago

    I-m-a-g-e-r-y

    t-r-a-i-l-e-r

    c-o-n-t-e-x-t

    o-f-f-e-n-c-e

  • Ryze #131 4 years ago

    I'm not saying "The game is racist".

    You know when you argue with a bimbo, and she takes one word out of a sentence of yours and builds her own made up sentence - then argues against that?!

    lavalant reminds me of the bimbo.

  • PlugMonkey #132 4 years ago

    I would argue that making certain people out to be non-human and other is precisely what racism is.

    I think I get your meaning, but I would say if you are making certain people out to be non-human because of the colour of their skin, that would be racism. If you're making certain people out to be non-human because they've been infected with an alien parasite, that's fiction. And if you were to deliberately exclude certain races from your fiction, why wouldn't that be racist?

    I'm not saying this sort of inadvertent racism doesn't exist, only that if you put your mind to it you can read it into absolutely any situation, and not every situation involving white and black people is automatically a hotbed of racist undertones.

    And how can you possibly forget the 'zombie' part of this argument? The behaviour of the characters and the manner in which they are 'filmed' is entirely and solely caused by the 'zombie' aspect. What you're saying is that if we take the imagery and remove the context it appears racist, and that is absurd. How can you make any judgement on any sort of prejudice without a context? It all changes absolutely depending on the context in which it is placed.

  • Gaol #133 4 years ago

    @Ryze

    "If the game is explained to them it'd probably be no problem - but that's the same as having a perfectly innocent German guy in the next Res Evil shooting Polish Jews or something. "

    Your logic is seriously flawed, the situation you mention would need to be ridiculously contrived, so the example bears no bearing on the imagery you are mentioning. 'Polish Jew' and 'German' is a hell of a lot more specific than 'White guy in random African town'.

    That aside, you then admit that the imagery is only offensive when takien out of context. So is a lot of stuff, what about the black lead in San Andreas shooting innocent white civillians - oh wait a minute! That ain't offensive to us whites, that's casting aspersions on Black people and stereotyping them!

    Whichever way you cut it, you can't win against politically correct people like yourself because you have a grudge that dates way back and interpret everything according to your own particular creed - which is that the male white community is responsible for everything that is wrong with the world.

    I put it to you that you are, in fact, racist.

  • Ryze #134 4 years ago

    @lavalant

    Who are you even arguing against here? You obviously are arguing agains some big scary spectre of a composite n*gger that doesn't exist.

    Did someone black bully you recently or something?

    "Ryze, you can bring up the jews shooting arabs argument but it proves you have no argument if you have to bring up the most extreme case possible.

    There are many arab countries and states who wish to kill all jews so it would be pretty distasteful and blatantly offensive in the current climate.

    This is a game set in Africa, now we could pander to brainwashed politically correct fools like yourself and pretend that pretty much 100% of the population in the small remote villages are not black, we could also pretend that even though chris redfield is a popular character in the resi series and is white, we could change his colour but doing all that would just pander to people like yourself who seek out racsism everywhere even where none exists and use it as an excuse to push through your own facists and distorted views....the fact this white man killing black zombies had to be pointed out to most gamers and the developers proves that they were so NOT racist it took tits like yourself to bring it to their attention, now who's the more racist. "


    So... the next game could be set in Israel, then. No? Jesus man - talk about a guy with some personal issues!

  • Ryze #135 4 years ago

    @Gaol

    Again,

    T-H-E

    T-R-A-I-L-E-R

    .

    If there was a GTA: SA trailer of CJ just shooting white people with no context - damn right there'd be an uproar!

    You've been so sheltered! Do you not know about Charlton Heston & Ice-T, Jack Thompson & 2 Live Crew, Bob Dole & 2Pac... all of the controversy about 'Cop Killer', 'Nasty as They Wanna Be' and '2Pacalypse Now', and the offence that they caused?

    Ice-T even said 'Cop Killer - FUCK POLICE BRUTALITY', but that made no difference!

  • TrevSkyline #136 4 years ago

    Let's all have 50 black, 50 white, 50 Asian, 50 French, 50 English, ect, ect, ect ZOMBIES.

    That should keep the "PC" brigade happy - why is Race an issue here? It's not, it is just some idiot playing the "look at me" Race card.

    PATHETIC.

  • Ryze #137 4 years ago

    Sorry mate - the grudge is in your imaginitive little mind. I'm too busy making dough.

    I've been spending all day trying to make Vista work with a big premiership football team's many systems and peripherals.

    It's been interesting.

  • Ryze #138 4 years ago

    ...and no, it still doesn't work.

    regedit...

  • Ryze #139 4 years ago

    Yawn... fuck being PC - I hate everybody.

    That doesn't mean I have to be insensitive about what some elderly Jews have lived through.

    All of you 'PC brigade' people should go find some Tibetans to insult.

    You'll probably feel better about yourselves afterwards.

  • DjFlex52 #140 4 years ago

    @Ryze

    You might as well give up, Ryze.
    Ignorant people are usually content to stay ignorant until it touches them deep inside.

  • Sigma0 #141 4 years ago

    @Ryze-

    Hey I agree with most of what you said but I was just wondering why is it that you feel there is no context in the trailer? To me, the scene [spolier alert] in which you see the first black character become a zombie and attack Redfield, followed by everyone attacking Redfield and him shooting at them, seems to give enough context.

  • Feanor #142 4 years ago

    "The fact is that (as he ultimately concedes) all Capcom have in fact done is applied the Ganado concept of RE4 to an African setting - if you recall that particular Spanish village was populated exclusively by scary unsympathetic characters too"

    +1.

    I have heard N'Gai discuss this subject of 1upYours before, and he didn't make much sense to me then, either, even though I like his stuff a lot.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 18:50

  • Ryze #143 4 years ago

    Bear in mind that N'Gai's is still a yank.

    He's going to have some distorted views due to his perspective living over there.

    /pretends that my statements weren't racist

  • Machetazo #144 4 years ago

    HertzaHaeon: "But that's not how it works. The game doesn't exist in a vacuum, and you can't just proclaim that a white man killing blacks isn't symbolical because there's a watertight barrier between the game and reality. There isn't. When viewed as part of our wider culture, there are some very valid points to make about how the game's imagery relates to real world events that still are very much alive and relevant."

    Would there be an outcry if the trailer were broadcast on national TV? Is it liable to cause widespread offense, or incite racism? You want to say that the imagery featured should be considered in terms of its impact in the wider world, and there are always going to be those that get their back up about the slightest thing (to no degree am I suggesting N Gai to be one of these) but how does gaming move forward to tell more diverse stories, if we say that X is unacceptable, because it happens to recall in some way, tragic episode Y, even in the event where it makes no commentary, nor expresses any opinion on it?

    We're aware that Final Fantasy Versus XIII will be set within a modern relevant setting - should the Square-Enix team working on that, be concerned about factoring in possible connections to real events that could occur, or should they just be concerned with telling the story they intend to, in the most entertaining manner, leaving the interpretation to the player? After all, books work in a similar way, and can conjure just as strong imagery and immersion as visual media, just as vivid worlds, but they rely on the creative freedom of the author to twist those compelling yarns.

    If the point N Gai was trying to get at, was that the "imagery" found in the trailer brought to mind past oppression, then as a commentator of a creative industry, he should also realise and note, that that is his interpretation of the material, which I respect his right to share.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 18:53

  • Gaol #145 4 years ago

    @Ryze

    Again,

    T-H-E

    T-R-A-I-L-E-R

    Sorry, can't see any racist imagery in tha trailer. It's just good old Chris Redfields back to shooting zombies but in a different setting. Any aspersions to anything racialy motivated are wholly a figment of your fascistic imagination.

  • Ryze #146 4 years ago

    Yawn - YOU are not supposed to see it. You brainless dick!

    If I showed a video of someone who looked just like your gran and mum and sister getting anally fisted - you wouldn't like it, but If I was insensitive - I wouldn't care.

    What a tosser.

  • DjFlex52 #147 4 years ago

    Sorry, can't see any racist imagery in tha trailer. It's just good old Chris Redfields back to shooting zombies but in a different setting. Any aspersions to anything racialy motivated are wholly a figment of your fascistic imagination.

    @Gaol

    Ignorance is bliss.
    Before the Africans ever turn to zombies, they show one African in the dark where only his eyes are visible...straight from the "coon" cartoons of the 1930's

  • Gaol #148 4 years ago

    "Yawn - YOU are not supposed to see it. You brainless dick!

    If I showed a video of someone who looked just like your gran and mum and sister getting anally fisted - you wouldn't like it, but If I was insensitive - I wouldn't care.

    What a tosser. "

    Thanks for keeping things civilized.

    By the way it is possible, as you say, to be subjectively offended by anything at all; but where there is no motive, intent or objective evidence of racial hatred then surely no racism exists in the media. The imagery might cause offense to particular segments of society; it might be based on uneducated views of a particular minority group; that doesn't make it racist per se.

    Society should not censor something because x% of people might subjectively find it offensive because of an unrelated prior experience. You would end up censoring everything.

  • LR100 #149 4 years ago

    People forget that racism works both ways, why am I not allowed to get upset, as a white person, if I am opressed by another "race"? What if the bigwigs suddenly took out the black folk of this supposed African village and replaced them all with white people. I wonder if black people would be up in arms about it? Would they start shouting "Why can't black people be zombies too? Are we not good enough?", so you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. People will get offended at being included, people will get offended at being left out.

    The day we stop saying "you cant put that in, because it'll offend people of a certain race/religion/gender/sexual orientation!", we'll have no more segregation and separation. Calling racism on everything just creates a bigger divide.

    As for the game, I don't see anything racist about it. A well known character in the series just so happens to be white travels to somewhere that just so happens to be heavily populated by black people. The fact that they start turning into zombies is NOT arbituary, it's the whole plot. The game is NOT about a white man shooting black people, it is a game about a guy, just a guy, shooting people who have been infected and turn into zombies. It's not actively saying SHOOT PEOPLE WHO AREN'T WHITE! It's not promoting racism.

    N'gais' comment is fair in the respect that there will be people who will get offended. I feel sorry for them, they clearly feel insecure. It'll get into the papers for sure and there will be a massive, pointless outcry and much sensationalism. Thats just the modern world unfortunately. I see no problems in this setting, Capcom clearly haven't, most people here don't seem to have a problem with the setting and I actually think the games environment looks stunning.

  • DjFlex52 #150 4 years ago

    Society should not censor something because x% of people might subjectively find it offensive because of an unrelated prior experience. You would end up censoring everything.

    @Gaol

    People dying because of the color of their skin is subjectively offensive?
    You're talking out of your ASS!

  • Ryze #151 4 years ago

    Exactly - it hasn't been censored - that is correct.

    Same as the Danish Prophet Mohammed cartoons. Censorship isn't the way to handle it.

    It's about just being aware that it's quite crude to trample all over open wounds. NO ONE AT CAPCOM IS AT FAULT - N'GAI SAID:

    "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game."

    That makes me chuckle, personally.

  • Ryze #152 4 years ago

    They're just ignorant. Like you.

  • Gaol #153 4 years ago

    @DjFlex52

    I remember that scene well, it's extremely atmospheric and the fact that the character in question is hard to see but seems to be staring straight at me is pretty disconcerting, which is probably the intended effect. It'd certainly be difficult to achieve the same effect with a white protagonist.

    It isn't racist at all. You have associated it with a cartoon you've seen, which may well have been written by someone with much more offensive views. It only becomes offensive when viewed from the standpointy of someone who is saying 'how could this be interpreted in a racist fashion' and uses subjective associations as evidence.

  • Ryze #154 4 years ago

    Yeah, and in the video of your mum - she had said off camera 5 minutes before that she likes it like that.

    /thread over
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 19:21

  • bad09 #155 4 years ago

    @ DjFlex52

    First calling people ignorant because they don't agree with someones point is just as ignorant IMO.

    second "Before the Africans ever turn to zombies, they show one African in the dark where only his eyes are visible...straight from the "coon" cartoons of the 1930's"

    You seriously read too much into it. For me and probably most people that image was spooky (you know for effect and mood) that's all the fact he was black didn't matter at all, therefore is it not possible that it is your own interpretation that is racist, not the imagery itself.

  • Gaol #156 4 years ago

    People dying because of the color of their skin is subjectively offensive?
    You're talking out of your ASS!

    I have no idea where this comes from. No one in the trailer is being shot because they are black. You have misunderstod my comment. If 1% of society finds adverts for peanut butter offensive because of a previous allergic reaction should they be banned? If 2% of society finds the trailer imagery disturbing because of previous experiences should it also be banned, even though it causes no threat or incitement?

    I would say, no it should not. Politically correct fascists such as yourself would say yes, because the people in question are likely to all be black.

  • Ryze #157 4 years ago

    Nope, not censorship.

    A lot of people like anal fisting, and it'd be a big hit in your home town - why censor the foursome?

  • Climhazzard #158 4 years ago

    i couldnt give a damn either way i just wanna play the game, maybe we should slate resi 4 for mass murder????idiots

  • LR100 #159 4 years ago

    I agree with Gaol. I shouldn't have to pussyfoot around because a small amount of peopl get upset by something. Everyone has the right to be offended at something they don't like, but I guess I just never get offended. Before anyone calls me ignorant and insensitive to other peoples views, I have ginger hair and a stupid surname which has lead to much ribbing over the years I have existed, I know what it's like to be singled out by people!

    I hate it when things are banned and censored because they might upset people. If I want to see something, I should be able to. If I want to see a film where a redhead is persecuted, I should be able to see it, without it being banned because a few other redheads didnt like it.

    Resi Evil 5 should not be banned, censored or changed just because some people might think it's racist.

  • Ryze #160 4 years ago

    I'd be surprised if it was 2%

  • DjFlex52 #161 4 years ago

    First calling people ignorant because they don't agree with someones point is just as ignorant IMO.

    @bad09

    I didn't call him ignorant because he disagreed with me. I called him ignorant because of his disregard for racism and its history as a connection to this game.
    I grew up in Chinatown where as a kid I watched chinese kungfu movies where 90% of the time the villians were mean & oppressive Japanese. I didn't see any Japanese people watching these movies...of course not. Why would they? And I wouldn't bring my Japanese friends to see those movies either.
    Resident Evil 5 is supposed to be a universal game not made for a certain demographic to enjoy

  • Gaol #162 4 years ago

    "A lot of people like anal fisting, and it'd be a big hit in your home town - why censor the foursome? "

    Great contribution to the debate there.

  • Ryze #163 4 years ago

    It definitely shouldn't be changed.

    It'd just be nice if they got some people from their audience to help with their marketing.

    The game is fine!

    The games industry has a massive image problem, and a massive marketing problem.

    Both the imageof gaming, and the way that games are marketed are hurting the industry and keeping it on the sidelines.

    Just like HipHop. It grew just like HipHop - at the same time - and the same shit is happening.

    It needs to just wake up and grow up a little, before FAMILIES begin to ban it individually, and the industry is harmed. I don't want every game to be bollocks Wii waggle because that's the only safe enough type of game to release.

    That's what's happened to HipHop have you heard this 50 Cent bullshit music recently?

  • DjFlex52 #164 4 years ago

    Noone is saying to ban the game. I'm not saying that. N'gai never said that either. We are only talking about the imagery in the trailer.

  • Gaol #165 4 years ago

    DJFlex52

    "Resident Evil 5 is supposed to be a universal game not made for a certain demographic to enjoy "

    Well at least we know the point at which we differ. RE5 is clearly aimed at males in there late teens to 30s - that is its target demographic, as evidenced by the main protagonists throughout the series, its marketing, pretty much everything. I don't think media targeted at this particular demographic is inherently a bad thing. Why should it be?

    Best example I can think of for a developer which makes a conscious decision to make games 'universal' is Nintendo. And what fucking great games they are too.

  • bad09 #166 4 years ago

    @ DjFlex52

    Well I feel racial history bears no connection either, it's a fictional story with no REAL reference to real world events. Am I ignorant?

    OK so because you are no longer killing white zombies it's not universal? We've had US, Europe, Some island somewhere and now Africa, sounds pretty universal to me.....

    you didn't comment on my second point I'm curious for you view on that one :)

  • Gaol #167 4 years ago

    "It needs to just wake up and grow up a little, before FAMILIES begin to ban it individually, and the industry is harmed. I don't want every game to be bollocks Wii waggle because that's the only safe enough type of game to release.

    That's what's happened to HipHop have you heard this 50 Cent bullshit music recently? "

    With views like that you should be agreeing with everything I say. Censor everything to the point where nobody can take offense and we will all be playing this:

    [link url=http://www.zoorace.com
    ]http://www.zoorace.com
    [/link]

    Edit: must learn to sticky
    Edited by 3 at 11/04/08 @ 19:50

  • BeachGaara #168 4 years ago

    So whats thier problem? That poor black people are being depicted in dusty lame African villages? I guess I should watch the news. I didn't know they all live in gold castles flying around in jet cars with the cure for cancer and and mind powers.

    If there's any history to the images it's accurate history.

    There's always going to be racism if crap like this hangs around.

  • Ryze #169 4 years ago

    Aaaah this feels like RE4 with respawning zombies...
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 20:19

  • DjFlex52 #170 4 years ago

    You seriously read too much into it. For me and probably most people that image was spooky (you know for effect and mood) that's all the fact he was black didn't matter at all, therefore is it not possible that it is your own interpretation that is racist, not the imagery itself.

    @bad09

    I guess it was also spooky in all the movies that depicted the same imagery...nope. It was because he was black that the image mattered at all. My interpretation can't be racist since I didn't invent the image. I didn't read too much. I saw what I saw.

    ps..sorry for taking so long to answer...too many phonecalls :)

    edit: Ultimately, it's in the eye of the beholder.
    Edited by 1 at 11/04/08 @ 20:31

  • HertzaHaeon #171 4 years ago

    bad09:
    There's simply not a lot of positive and varied black characters in games - definitely not in any proportion to how many black people play games. There's a mass of stereotypical characters, however. The same goes for female characters. It's not just my opinion - a lot of people share this view.

    PlugMonkey:
    I'm arguing that the zombies are only relevant inside the game's world itself, which is not the same as being irrelevant altogether. But when viewed from a broader perspective, they're not just zombies. They're a depiction of human beings, made by human beings, and as such they carry some symbolism. Like I've written before, the imagery hasn't been created in a vacuum and carries more meaning than the pixels that it's made of. I think Croal is arguing that this symbolism is potentially dehumanizing them, in a way that correlates with historical racist dehumanization of blacks. It's a relevant point that deserves to be taken seriously.

    Machetazo:
    I don't have a good answer to how gaming can move forward and use imagery like this sensibly, like other forms of culture obviously can. Partly I think it's because gaming is viewed as mindless entertainment for a narrow audience, but that's not just prejudice. Every kneejerk loudmouth gamer in here contributes to that image. I think that wider participation in playing in creating games by a more diverse audience will be a good step towards a better general view of games as culture. Like I wrote before, I think that having more positive alternatives for black or female characters will likely lessen the impact of stereotypes.

    And yes, how we experience games is highly subjective. I don't think a good game creator uses that as an excuse to shrug off criticism, however. In a perfect world, games could use subjectivity to explore difficulty issues, but until we get gaming to that point, game creators should at least consider what they create and respect their audiences. Besides, if you're telling a completely imaginary story that has no rational reasons to be a certain way over another, why willingly pick one that will be seen as racist? Just for the heck of it, like Uwe Boll? :) Political correctness is boring and stupid, sure, but in-your-face controversy just for the sake of it most often is too.

    LR100:
    Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. If you've been sexually abused, for example, bottling it up or having people ignore you will only make things worse. Even if you yourself can live with having been raped as a child, why is everyone who doesn't share your outlook overly senstive and easily offended? Besides, if you can believe that people overuse the accusation of racism, can't you for one moment try to imagine that perhaps it's underused sometimes too? Perhaps there are things that you're blind to and unable to understand because you lack the right experiences, but others see and are very much affected by it?

  • sneetch #172 4 years ago

    @DJFlex52
    Ignorance is bliss.
    Before the Africans ever turn to zombies, they show one African in the dark where only his eyes are visible...straight from the "coon" cartoons of the 1930's

    Well, that is pretty much all down to interpretation, isn't it? That and your gamma/contrast/brightness settings. ;)

    I mean that I could see more than just his eyes, I saw a man in the shadows, his face and body, his expression wasn't too friendly and that and the music sets an eerie tone, but I definitely saw more than his eyes. Now, I've never seen on of those cartoons so I couldn't comment on them (and from the little you've mentioned I don't think I missed much), but this... I don't see anything "worse" than resi 4.

    We all bring our own attitudes and past experience with us every where we go. In order to understand things and put them in context all humans will draw comparisons between the things we see with those past experiences. So, just because a scene reminds you of a previous, racist scene, it doesn't make the motivation behind it the same.

    I appreciate that this is a very touchy subject for some, so I'd like to say that I'm not trying to antagonise anyone (especially not you) with this. I just wanted to make a somewhat rambling point. :)

  • DjFlex52 #173 4 years ago

    Well, that is pretty much all down to interpretation, isn't it? That and your gamma/contrast/brightness settings. ;)

    I mean that I could see more than just his eyes, I saw a man in the shadows, his face and body, his expression wasn't too friendly and that and the music sets an eerie tone, but I definitely saw more than his eyes. Now, I've never seen on of those cartoons so I couldn't comment on them (and from the little you've mentioned I don't think I missed much), but this... I don't see anything "worse" than resi 4.

    @sneetch

    So you are saying that these images of blacks just popped into the dev artist's head with no relation to past derogatory & demeaning depictions of blacks in film, tv, games or books for the last 50 years? I don't think so.
    There was no expression...just eyes and shadows.

  • Saii #174 4 years ago

    The trailer for the coming Resident Evil 5 game has caused a wave of mixed reactions and clashes of opinion. The primary issue here has been the topic of potential racism with imagery of a single White protagonist shooting hordes of impoverished African villagers.

    The "racism" is only there if you want it to be. There's possibly an air of too much political correctness or maybe people just want to have a scandal. I imagine part of the problem is that you, as the protagonist, are playing the only White Character and that can make things worse in terms of imagery. Lord knows we do need more Black protagonists in videogames. From a narrative perspective, an African from outside this village coming in would make more sense but since this is RE everything has to link back to Racoon City.

    My own personal take on the matter and reactions is a bit mish-mash, so bare with me:

    The first zombies were originally Afro-Caribbean, related to beliefs of Voodoo. For a Zombie-Centric franchise looking for a change of scene moving to the source seems a sound idea. Of course, this is only a trailer so maybe we'll see some more balance like another non-zombie town with friendly Africans.

    From both sides, this can be a sensitive subject. Take a look at the videogame-fan perspective for starters. The fans are very fond of their culture and have suffered attacks from outside parties due to ignorance and their own self-interests for years. This feeling of persecution makes the hardened videogame fan feel very defensive about potential attacks and accusations - the idea of "racism" being the threat in this case. Now hold on to that thought and flip around to the perspective of an race of people who've suffered far greater prejudice- including exploitation, slavery and death - for not only decades but centuries.

    I might as well also point out that the footage in the trailer bares an uncanny resemblance to, for example, murder simulator games used as white supremacists' propaganda to indoctrinate their children. In those games, what the trailer could have been depicting is reality (yes, software like that does exist). Imagine if there was a trailer for what looked like a terrorism simulator or propaganda; people would be very upset. It's all quite harrowing really if your think of it like that.
    - Despite the actual intentions, the face there is a similarity to genuinely malicious stuff creates an undesirable link.

    Lastly, from what I've seen, most of the concerns raised have been only that. A little Flag of "uh oh, there is potential for trouble". Especially early on, these are good things for the creators and the industry as a whole. Resident Evil isn't under attack. Nobody's taking videogames away today. Relax.

  • J.C #175 4 years ago

    Agreed with DUFFKING.

  • Gaol #176 4 years ago

    "Take a look at the videogame-fan perspective for starters. The fans are very fond of their culture and have suffered attacks from outside parties due to ignorance and their own self-interests for years. This feeling of persecution makes the hardened videogame fan feel very defensive about potential attacks and accusations - the idea of "racism" being the threat in this case."

    That's an interesting post Saii. I certainly feel very defensive of what I reckon is one of the few electronic mediums that hasn't yet been subjected to the politically correct thought police, and which doesn't always take itself too seriously.

    I have no interest in the medium 'growing up' and becoming more 'culturally accepted', which translates to me as dumbed down, mainstream, and censored. It rankles me to hear a hardcore gamer justify their Wii purchase because their granny likes it.. thats all well and good but do you like it?

  • teknohead #177 4 years ago

    I'm looking forward to shooting some blackies.

  • VMerken #178 4 years ago

    N'Gai Croal, I do not see a lot of racism in defending oneself against unfortunate souls which transformed into ****virus creatures**** (or are fully controlled by parasites) and who now, ****robbed of their humanity****, will stop at nothing to eat you.

    Oh, and it's a game in a fictional setting.

    Oh, and there haven't been a lot of black protagonists in this game. There were a few, but they unfortunately died due to virus creature attacks.

    There is no racism here, only a team of devs fleshing out the story of a series which has been going on for over ten years now. You had all that time to react and comment on the fact that all protagonists have been caucasian (or asian). Or that the plot told us that the progenitor virus came from Africa. So why the vitriol now? Opportunism?

  • Ryze #179 4 years ago

    Oh no! Is this the part where I'm supposed to crumble in depression due to a lack of self esteem?!?

    Think about your own 'losses' before assuming mine, Arsepick.

  • Ryze #180 4 years ago

    Oh - sorry - I'm beneath society because I'm not nice and polite to YOU.

    Uppity prick.

  • YourMessageHere #181 4 years ago

    Another news story with a misleading headline. This guy *doesn't say it's racist*. He says it *could be construed as racist*, which is a different thing altogether, and the differences of opinion in this thread are proof enough of that being true.

  • Ryze #182 4 years ago

    Cool - that's your opinion. NEXT!

    /awaits next fool with chip on shoulder

  • JaysonG #183 4 years ago

    Still don't understand why it's so hard to see that the imagery shown in the trailer when viewed with no prior knowledge of the RE series could be viewed as potentially offensive.

  • Ryze #184 4 years ago

    It's very obvious that decisions and creativity have all taken place in Japan.

    The Euro / America / Asia / Africa culture divide is very apparent in the way that this has come about - and how it's being debated.

    /takes 'rags' outfit out of massive wardrobe

    /heads back to poor village called 'Africa' (in Golf TDI)

    /bangs bongo drums and starves self while chanting in vowel sounds

  • Quak #185 4 years ago

    This really is ridiculous. Ok so you're in Africa and shooting black people there is racist. Perhaps we should remove all the black people and populate Africa with whites? But oh no! Then we'd be accused of being racist for re-writing history and facts by wiping black people off the face of the earth like they never existed.

    Perhaps we should replace all the whites in 1940s Europe with blacks in all WWII games as well so that they are not racist against whites?

    Oops, no point, because shooting whites is ok.

  • Quak #186 4 years ago

    Latest news:

    BBC News accused of being racist for showing black people in Zimbabwe.

  • Ryze #187 4 years ago

    doh!

  • Squld #188 4 years ago

    Well then. I take offence every time I accidentally switch the channel to MTV and see some black guy shaking his dick at me with his hands cramped in weird ways while saying something about his rims and his hoes. But do I complain to MTV? No, I just switch on my PS2 and play some Resident Evil.

  • 7creature #189 4 years ago

    Ryze: Heh, you rock :-D Reminds me of "Falling Down". It is always entertaining to watch a man fighting the neverending horde of zombies - I guess everybody would snap sooner or later :-)))

  • Ryze #190 4 years ago

    @7creature

    It's a doity jaauuub, but somebaudy's gotta do it.

  • anomagnus #191 4 years ago

    what a pile of intellectual wank

    this game will sell like hotcakes, i'll blast zombies till the cows come home, and if it wasnt for this rubbish controversy i wouldn't even have paid attention to the color of the skin

  • lowerclassbrats #192 3 years ago

    Life sucks when people actively look for reasons to get butt hurt. I didn't hear any crying when we were slaughtering zombie Spaniards by the ton in RE4. I suppose traversing through life righteously indignant gives the mediocre mind a sense of purpose.

    Oddly enough it is the moronic white who feels the need to defend the "defenseless" minority. There is no larger a culprit to setting back race relations than the well meaning ultra p.c. self hating white. The game takes place in Africa you dunderheads. Capcom has even placated these simpletons by throwing in some caucasians and an unidentifiable slightly darker than white but notably lighter than black race of zombie.