Some of my best developers are black, says Resi Evil 5 producer Comments by Ellie Gibson

@ Rash'

Seriously, they are zombies. And the game is being made by a japanese company.
And I always like how Europeans are portrait as the bad guys, while the black clans that were "conquered" were actively murdering eachother and selling the captives of war to the europeans as slaves.

Hell even the romans had slaves. We don't hear anyone whining about that now do we?

I just love how all these hypocrits jump to their guns when they see 1 trailer and don't know anything about the series nor the story. Do some research before you open your blabbermouth, anyone who did some research wouldn't have been crying racism.

I feel more insulted for Takeuchi as a result of you using this headline than I do for black people as a result of the Resi 5 trailers.

Crovax20, This is no longer about the series, my friend. It's social responsibility. Paying respect to history and moving forward in the right way. Gaming has as much a responsibility in that as any other form of communication. This whole fiasco should wake us all up to the immaturity of our love and seek to better it. Not defend it's failings.

@frostcircus What was actually said was that the promo stuff had racially offensive imagery. Given that it showed a white man blasting hordes of black men (for those not already familiar with the series, there was nothing to suggest they were zombies), it's really not the most radical interpretation of the text.

but part of peoples point is that they look just as "Zombiefied" as the Spanish "Zombies" in RE4, which again didn't look much like Zombies at all either, yet vids of someone running around shoot large numbers of Spanish towns folk didn't get the same reasponce.

How is society ever going to get over all this racisum if people constantly tip toe around avoiding anything that could be interpreted as racist.

You have a castof 10 character in a TV program and 2 of them are black because that's the average group composition in the area the characters are supposed to live. You then accouced of racisum because you have "token black people" .

You show a black geek being bullied by a white jock, and people assume it's racist when it's nothing more then the normal Jock bullies geek senario that's in lots of kids TV show, it just happens that the geek is black.

If people of all ethnicities would stop being complete tools and stop trying to play the race/gender/sexuality/religion/nationality card then society could move on alot quicker.

It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White!

He, He!

Cha'mone!!!!!!!!

Don't believe a word from Danwhitehead (or NGai).

Far from being 'reasonable', he's actually arguing because a certain person can interpret something in an offensive manner - even when the vast majority deem it inoffensive AND there is clearly no motive to offend AND the said material isn't directed at the person directly - then we should censor it.

Do you people think a practicing Muslim approves of porn? Should we then ban all porn?

Its a horrible fascistic train of thought.

Did anyone here see Black Hawk Down?

Right? Now shut up!!

I'm a black South African...and I was in high school around the end of apartheid. I remember being ostracized when I had occassion to go to 'white' areas. I remember the 'whites only' schools, buses, trains, beaches, cinemas, etc. while my friends and family were classified as second-class citizens. In my youth I was sworn at by pig ignorant white folks too many times to count, and I ain't gonna lie to you, it was shit.

I guess that the point I'm trying to make is that most of you don't have the first clue what it's like to be the victim of real, heavy-duty, institutional racism. Maybe one of your buddies laughed at your funny haircut when you were at school and that cut you up real bad, so now you think you understand. 'Suck it up,' you say. To hell with that. I was teargassed as at the age of 11. I know people who were beaten, stuck in detention for years, and one guy who ended up on death row, all because of the colour of their skin and the fact that they were willing to fight for freedom. Countless people died for it over the 400 years that white people held dominion over my country.

Now, to be honest, I have to admit that I don't give a good goddamn about the fact that the zombies are black, and I'll be getting Resi5 and enjoying it anyway...but I understand why some people do. And they have legitimate reasons for feeling that way.

@Rash' Until you can tell me the Spanish went through the torment, indignity and violation the europeans put the the black polution of Africa through, you won't convince me that people don't have the right to stand up and cry foul to Capcom's irresponsible trailer. The white population of this world have a lot to answer for so let's not get ahead of ourselves here. The sins of our fathers...

.... should be take by the father to his grave. No one has any right to persicute any body for any reason be that colour/religion/gender/sexuality or based on what their relatives have gone. The entireworld would be constantly at war other wise.

We've had Hitler and the Nazi's persicuting the Jews, the africans and the Gays. Yet I don't go around shouting abuse at any germans who look at me funny, cos i know that the "Germans" aren't responcible for what Hitler did.

You've had the persians, the mongals, the Romes. All doing their fair share persicuting people who didn't share their beliefs or origins. Just about ever group of people you can think of has at some time be used as slaves or killed on mass.

This are no exucises for any form of violence against anyone unless they themselves have brought you harm directly.

@ Nick_JC1

"Don't know why capcom are surprised, black people could find racism in a cup of coffee that has milk added to it."

Well this has got to be the dumbest fucking shite i've read on the site in many a year. As a black man, according to your pearl of wisodm i should be hugely offended by Capcom, how dare they have a white man shooting black people etc. But, shock of all shocks, they are zombies. In Africa. Which pretty much means they are gonna be black. Not so offensive, more circumstance. But i find what you wrote to be very offensive. So are you accusing me of finding every single reference to the colour black used by any not black as offensive? Blackboard, blackmarket, blackbird, i must find these all racist terms to fit into you little box.

Or how about you are just an offensive ignorant cunt.

I don't care what colour the zombies are, I just want a new RE5. Capcom must love this sensasationist hype, it's a big unit shifter. Column inches in newspapers never did GTA games and harm did they?

If you feel so upset by it then don't buy it / play it.

Moz, I agree. My initial statement was ill considered and I'll removed it. What bothers me is the number people here that feel people are being overly PC about the whole situation when they have every right to be tentative considering past perceptions and depictions of them. Capcom have been irresponsible and I'll be interested in seeing how the game pans out for myself. Let me conclude however that "the sins of our fathers" does not begin to explain the wrongs committed, so lets never forget and become ignorant of that.

Rash',Yes in the currently social climate maybe they probably should have presented the first look at the game differently. though I find it very sad and destressing that society is in it's current state, just hope that people can resolve their differences before it all escalates again.


edit: for missed words!

Yeah well Silak, Im a white South-African who was also in high-school around the end of apartheid. So, now its gone, and can you honestly sit there and tell me that South Africa today is better off than it used to be? Its gone down the toilet in the last 10 years, crime and corruption are out of control, infrastructure is falling apart, and there is a mass exodus of skilled whites at a level never before seen. Clearly on the slippery slope, just like all the other post-colonialism African 'success stories'. Zimbabwe used to be a powerhouse in the early 80's, look what mister Mugabe and his Zanu PF have reduced it to, and they have the audacity to blame Tony Blair and George Bush. Mind boggling. Same thing with Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenia, Angola etc, one success story after the other.

By the way, the biggest problem of apartheid South Africa used to be the millions of illegal immigrants that streamed over the border - unstoppable. Kind of makes you wonder why someone would try to get from their own 'paradise' countries into an evil country where the white man is going to oppress and humiliate them. I have never heard of Jews trying to get into Nazi-Germany.

Either way, mark my words, South Africa is the next Zimbabwe. End of story.

This game should be banned...blatant racism...and yeah that other game.. God of War its anti greek.....and don't get me going with that other game......Gears of War...totally racist.....aliens deserve equality...ban them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doesn't surprise me, does anyone else remember when people were accusing LocoRoco of being racist?

I believe that everyone is equal and deserves the same rights as anyone. To turn this all into an argument about africa and slave trade is ridiculous. However nowadays to be politically correct means that white people must accommodate for other peoples cultures at the expense of there own without compromise. Its so sad that we now live in a country were white men are scared to walk down the street without be accused of being a pedophile for smiling at a child, or racist because they don't have a single black friend, or sexist because they gave that job to a man.

If anything these people accusing Resi 5 of being racist, are the real racists because they are singling out black people as anything but another person.

Took them 3 months to recruit some black people.Nice.

Misquoting the guy for the sake of a click-driving feed item is stupid.

Dan Whitehead says it himself : "Careful, that sort of common sense has no place here."

@ Xensor - 'Blackboard, blackmarket, blackbird'

wait a minute.... the blackboard gets dominated by the white chalk ... the blackmarket is criminal and bad.... the blackbirds in that hitchcock film were... KILLER BIRDS!!

IT IS RACISM !!!!

jokes just jokes

@Arnold

It's funny that you should say that Arnold, considering that South Africa is enjoying the longest period of sustained economic growth since World War II, which began around the time of the accession of a black government in '94. Your awesome apartheid government, however, took the country to the brink of collapse (economically speaking), with a sustained recession throughout the Eighties. You're talking a lot of shit - I'm a qualified economist, so I know what I'm talking about.

I'll admit that things are no bed of roses (especially with regard to crime), but I will say that things are a hell of a lot better for the 43 million black people than they were under apartheid. Unfortunately for you and the 5 million other white folks, well, you've lost the government protection and preferential status that made life so easy for you for so long, and quite obviously that means that it sucks for you.

Too fucking bad. Cry me a river man...my parents were turfed out of their homes in the fifties because of group areas...my dad had to live in a shack with 4 other people and curtain down the middle after that. Despite that, my folks made it to UCT and became a chemical engineer and medical doctor respectively, but then were only paid half of what their white colleagues got until the nineties. You don't know what hardship is. Growing up on the rough Cape Flats, going to a shit ghetto school because that was the only option open to us, riots, you name it.

It really pisses me off when people like you complain about the good old days under apartheid. Dude...ain't no way it was better for anybody other than you and a few million other white folks. This country is better off than it has ever been...you just don't realise it, cos' it's not better for you. The facts don't lie - check World Bank/IMF/Reserve Bank data and you'll see.

And give me a break about Zim...my girfriend (and future wife) happens to be a white Zimbabwean who had to flee mad Bob Mugabe...

@sillak

I love your post.

Don't believe a word from Danwhitehead (or NGai).

Far from being 'reasonable', he's actually arguing because a certain person can interpret something in an offensive manner - even when the vast majority deem it inoffensive AND there is clearly no motive to offend AND the said material isn't directed at the person directly - then we should censor it.

Do you people think a practicing Muslim approves of porn? Should we then ban all porn?

Its a horrible fascistic train of thought.

It takes a special kind of self-centred idiocy to interpret "sensitivity to other people's experiences and points of view" as "facism".

Nobody's saying this should be censored. Nobody's saying it's intentionally racist. Nobody's saying that white / Spanish people can be zombies but black people can't. Nobody's saying there's not an in-game rationale for it. Nobody's saying it isn't just a game.

All people are saying is that the imagery it uses is troubling, that showing a white Westerner in a position to violently impose his will on cartoon black African savages has history and emotional baggage that showing a white Westerner shooting other white people just doesn't have. All people are saying is that this sort of game - 3rd person actioner - is in large part a power-fantasy, and that a game giving you THIS sort of power-fantasy is problematic.

People are saying it's a problem. People are saying we need to be aware of it. People are upset that games haven't grown up past this sort of cheap, dirty, cliched bollocks. That's all.

Don't worry, nobody's trying to take your toys away.

And my GOD, but isn't it just a little bit presumptuous for a bunch of white affluent young men to be looking at this and saying "I can't see any problem with this, so anyone who can is obviously just playing the race card (whatever that's meant to mean). It's PC gone madItellyer!"

Arnold and Sillak,

You both have vaild points, I just dont think that this forum to discuss these matters.

I love South Africa its just a pity that I cant live there anymore.

I believe that everyone is equal and deserves the same rights as anyone. To turn this all into an argument about africa and slave trade is ridiculous. However nowadays to be politically correct means that white people must accommodate for other peoples cultures at the expense of there own without compromise. Its so sad that we now live in a country were white men are scared to walk down the street without be accused of being a pedophile for smiling at a child, or racist because they don't have a single black friend, or sexist because they gave that job to a man.

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the young well-off white men?

Oh, and because I can't resist the opportunity to quote Inigo Montoya:

If anything these people accusing Resi 5 of being racist, are the real racists because they are singling out black people as anything but another person.

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you seem to think it means."

Am I allowed to agree with the sentiment that we should be mindful of potentially racist issues at the same time as thinking this furore over RE5 is just bollocks? The trailer uses common techniques to develop a sense of menace. Big whoop. You could replace any of the ethnic groups in the trailer with any other and the sense of menace would be undiminished in my opinion.

Mr. Croal must be loving the attention though. I have to assume that was the whole point of the original piece.

"Won't somebody PLEASE think of the young well-off white men?"

Well obviously you have a p.c and a couple of games consoles so I doubt your situation is much worse than mine. :)

Ah Zero Cool, I see your living up to your name

Zing!

where was the outcry for the filthy spanish peasants? Fact checking,? THE GAME FEATURED PESO FOR CHRIST'S SAKE! national currencies not a strong point of the Resi team.

amazing how so many people can miss a point by such a wide margin...

oh, and JSPOOLE, congrats on being the first person to make me resort to the ignore list. fanboy ranting i can handle, but i draw the line at right-wing bigoted fucks who hide behind the old 'political correctness gone mad' shield.

"Won't somebody PLEASE think of the young well-off white men?"

Well obviously you have a p.c and a couple of games consoles so I doubt your situation is much worse than mine. :)

Largely my point, fella.

I married a white woman so I could get the inside scoop on the 'special' honky meetings y'all have, oh and the tax incentives.

You're not a bigot JS, just dumb as 'pork fried' horseshit.

Please stay away. You do your country a disservice.

The question about it being racist or not was asked 10 min after the first trailer hit the net a while ago in a US forum I frequent.
Over there they are much more sensitive towards this than we Europeans are.

I think RE5 will get blasted in the US media and the developers cannot say they didn't see it coming based on all the negative outpur around the net.

Comments of supposed racism would be unfounded if it wasnt for the history of black segregation ending in large riots with white people shooting peaceful black protesters in the streets. What most of the people who are insulted by this are saying is that the pictures of hordes of black "people" (although they're zombies) being shot by a white guy in a uniform are a reminder of said times.
Although i dont think this was in any way intentional on the part of the developers, after hundreds of years of persecution you can forgive black people for being a little bit jumpy perhaps?

"All people are saying is that the imagery it uses is troubling, that showing a white Westerner in a position to violently impose his will on cartoon black African savages has history and emotional baggage that showing a white Westerner shooting other white people just doesn't have. All people are saying is that this sort of game - 3rd person actioner - is in large part a power-fantasy, and that a game giving you THIS sort of power-fantasy is problematic. "

No, it's you that's being egocentric. Just because you have this association in your mind, doesn't mean that me, the developers, or other players have the same bizarre connection between a ficticious African village full of zombies, and the historical 'violent impositions' you mention. None of us are living out KKK fantasies here, and the presumption that the average consumer can't make this distinction reeks fairly heavily of a fascistic view that the 'average joe' doesn't know whats good for him.

And it's such a loose and unfounded connection, that if you find the images offensive then your best recourse is to not buy the game or consume the media any further. Because it isn't directly aimed at you, and as you've said yourself, isn't worthy of censorship. And as for cliched, this is what.. the seventh or eight game in the franchise? And the first to cause such 'offense'. We don't even know if the portrayal of black people in the game is 'cliched'. If you want to call it 'uninspired', 'stereotypical' or 'predictable' after playing it then fair enough. But racist? You're having a laugh.

A detailed interview as to why N'Gai Croal and some found this offensive before: Link

This was based on the early trailer. Changes have been made since then, and I've seen an interview where N'Gai's views have changed.

I still think the worst thing about this thread/article is that the producer has been totally misquoted by Eurogamer.

Surely, having more white zombies in africa would be more insulting. Since it would be a reminder of what happened in the past. Surely having more blacks in their own rightful country would be a good thing, shows that they got their country back from our pig headed ancestors.

Personally I hope games set in Africa become the new WWII FPS... aww Jesus, not another one!

I'm pretty sure there was a little bit of an outcry with RE4 - some Spanish minister or something made a remark that he wasn't happy with it.

"I think RE5 will get blasted in the US media and the developers cannot say they didn't see it coming based on all the negative outpur around the net."

I doubt it. The E3 version of Resi 5 has many different races & colours of enemies. Plus a new playable character who is not white.

Africans are black! Surprise!

The games looks cool, let it be...

JSPOOLE

Link me to one game related article where the 'jumped up black people' are supporting Mugabe and whats happening in a country that you haven't got a fucking clue about.

Also, pray tell, the country's getting shitter than what? Tell us of this wonderous time when the streets were crime-free, when immigrants were mythical beings that only darkened foreign soils.

Why is it black people with an opinion are 'jumped up', as opposed to just expressing their view?

It suggests that in expressing said opinion they are stepping above their station in society?

Is this what you're suggesting?

And if so, what is your position on black people in society?

+10 to Rodafowa for quoting the great Inigo Montoya :D

*Throws JSPOOLE out the window*

@Arnold

"Im a white South-African who was also in high-school around the end of apartheid. So, now its gone, and can you honestly sit there and tell me that South Africa today is better off than it used to be? Its gone down the toilet in the last 10 years, crime and corruption are out of control, infrastructure is falling apart, and there is a mass exodus of skilled whites at a level never before seen. Clearly on the slippery slope, just like all the other post-colonialism African 'success stories'."


Your argument is flawed. Apartheid is not the same as colonial rule - make no mistake about how radically different the latter is from the former - point number one.

Point number two: People may have a more organized society under slavery, and persecution, and segregation but at what price? Shoud we then say that Hilter and the Nazis should have won WWII because they had an efficient rule and would have brought order to the world? because that, my friend, would be a hard argument to sustain.

People have the right to be free. It doesn't matter how they run [or ruin] their society thereafter or how they abuse that freedom - at least they are free in doing so. Perhaps if you were a black South-African - and so on the receiving end of apartheid - you may understand this better.

I know this is a games forum and I really do not think the skin color of the zombies will affect my decision to support Capcom's excellent franchise, but I decided to point out why your argument doesnt make a whole lot of sense.

Btw Sillak, your post was spot-on.

Yes, it's racist, can we all go home now?

I love the whole "I can't be racist because I know/work with black people" argument. Lost count of how many racist bosses have told me that.

To be honest, I think any racism pales into insignificance compared with setting a game about a nasty Zombie-creating virus in a country that has been blighted by AIDS, Ebola, Avian Flu, etc.. How thoroughly tasteless and insensitive.

I hope someone makes a game where you can kill politically correct assholes.

You think it's disrespectfull? Ever heard of moral subjectivity? Should we ban things that aren't considered "respectfull" by everyone, and in effect ban everything?

Well if buying this game means i'm racist or supporting racism, then pass me a white linen mask and a pick fork and show me the nearest black owned computer game shop.....

........my god, what has the world come to..........?

You know what? It aint hurting anyone. Literally no black people were killed in the making of this game. No green people were either. Or yellow and red stripey people. If you don't like this game, don't play it. What the hell is the problem?

You can talk about how troubling the imagery is, how much "history" is in the portrayal of black people as savages and whatever you like, but the fact of the matter is it's completely inconsequential. It's a game. Not even a footnote in history. In fifty years time when people look at the Virtual Reality Enabled Wikipedia Of The Future and look up "2009", or whenever this game will be released, it wont even be mentioned.

Honestly. The people complaining about this need to go and find something more important to do. There are real, actual problems in the world that need solving.

Like gay people being allowed actual positions in the Church. What the hell is the world coming to?