Im black and I experience racism from ppl all the time, I have learned to deal with it. White ppl like to rationalize that it isn't that much of a problem,(I guess it helps them sleep at night). I agree with the alot of the comments made above. We as blacks are a bit overly sensitive about the issue, but I think whites are also a bit insensitive about it too. Remember you were not on the receiving end of organized racism. And even though legal segragation ended in the late 60's early 70's. Racist attitudes in every sense of the word still exist in our great county.

Why don't we find offense in BET TV? I doubt Humanity will ever leave this issue (racism) behind them.

Parents are the one who buys these games and supervise them. Dipshits. And what kid is really going to hate blacks from this? I bet all the black kids that played RE2 (lol white zombies) never had any racial distress. So why does it work in reverse? They're now judging us because were white. Why do they have the right? If someone wants to bitch at me my email is techno_jes@hotmail.com

Go ahead. I looooove hatemail.

WOW this is STUPID!!!!!!!!!

so what if a white man wrote the song "read a book" i wonder how everyone would react.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN2VqFPNS8w

i also wonder if this Kym person would pat her self on the back if chris redfield was a black person

p.s. and i was at this black look website and i quote comment mrs. kym made

Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth.

SO not cool

http://www.blacklooks.org/2007/07/resident_evil_5.html

There have been African-American supporting characters, including STARS member Kenneth Sullivan. More recently we've seen Federal communications expert Ingrid Hunnigan in RE4, who got a surprised reaction not because she was female or African-American, but because of her age.

I can now see where the knee-jerk reaction would be "there is a greater purpose behind this," and I'm -quite- sorry for that. Resident Evil is survival/horror and not everyone's cup of tea; furthermore, knowledge of the series gives context to a lot of the unease I've seen. However, it's a pity that people who speak up about things that seem disturbing to them get such sharp hostility equally centered on race.

I hope we can discuss things like portrayals of peoples in video games in a calmer forum someday, and I hope that RE5 thoroughly puts people's misgivings to rest and is much enjoyed by those disturbed who give it a try.

http://askthisblackwoman.com/2007/08/01/more-on-resident-evil-5.aspx

"More on Resident Evil 5
Posted by Black Woman at August 1, 2007 11:52 AM and is filed under In the News,Racism
Last night I posted a short piece on the new video game Resident Evil 5. I linked an article in the Village Voice by Bonnie Ruberg, a self-proclaimed white person, who questioned the possibility of racially problematic images (racist?) in the game. I also posted the piece at Blacklooks. Never before have I received more hateful comments by angry gamers who called me everything from a "nigger" to a "black hooker" for agreeing with Ruberg that these images of Black people (Black zombies) are problematic.



The response from gamers around the world was shocking. While I think we could have an intellectual debate about racist imagery in video games, there is no debating the blatant racism from many of Resident Evil 5's supporters. Their comments were hostile and violent...much like the game itself. The ability to post comments, both on ATBW and Blacklooks, had to be disabled. Here's a direct quote from a gamer who disagreed with my post: "Get back into the cotton fields, you filthy nigger."

I am not the first or the only person to question the imagery in Resident Evil 5. Check out this post by blogger Jason Ellis at microscopiq. Ellis' post is an interesting look at the images of Black people throughout modern time.

I confess I don't know much about video games, gamers, etc. I don't play video games, but I occasionally play solitaire on my gf's PC. However, given the response from gamers... I think we should all be very afraid. Many of these folks seem like the type who would try to reenact scenes from Resident Evil 5. Can you say Columbine?"

i mean truly give it a break this game is awesome!! i downloaded the trailer on my xbox360 and i am def. going to reserve the game.
i would feel sorry if im the son of Kym because i wont be able to have this game. luckily my parents could see that this game is just a game and that only people that are mental in the head are going to reinact ?spl? everything that chris does.

so i throw this question to Kym (the person who started this)= where were you when San Andreas came out. oo wait now i remember the character is a black man that is part of a gang and kills people everyday, so it must be ok.

this is the new trailer. the game play is a masterpiece.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/22801.html

If anyone is interested, here is Kym's website. http://www.kymplatt.com/

She sounds like some hippie racist. This girl cares the hell out of me.

this is stupid...

That's not good. I like Resident Evil series but black people as zombies ? Scary. That's like racist or something, jeez. Not good at all.

i knew this was going to happen

some how i just knew

but this game is NOT INTENDEND

"I confess I don't know much about video games, gamers, etc. I don't play video games, but I occasionally play solitaire on my gf's PC. However, given the response from gamers... I think we should all be very afraid. Many of these folks seem like the type who would try to reenact scenes from Resident Evil 5. Can you say Columbine?"

Such a tolerant blogger to say this of gamers.

Source: http://askthisblackwoman.com/2007/08/01/more-on-resident-evil-5.aspx

You guys all sound pretty racist to me. There's no intelligent thought behind most of these comments, I'm guessing most of you are very young else god save us all.

The reason that people are offended about this is because it is a white person killing black people. Any oher version of resi has been white on white with maybe a token black involved. Anyone who thinks that the many years of oppression has no bearing on the injustice we feel today, obviously has no idea what it is like to be oppressed.

I'm not actually bothered about resi5, even as a black person I can see that this is just nonsense, but I'm not about to call anyone who is seriously offended by this stupid. We all have our own perceptions and they should be respected even if we do not agree with them.

Think about it, how many of you would buy a game depicting a yardie rasta gunning down the white suburban folk of Essex, regardless of how rabid they may or may not be. Actually that sounds like fun....

Wait wtf... she was born in Ohio and moved to NYC? The few shreds of innocence I thought she may have had just went away. She has all the resources she needs to delve into the situation and decided to take the loud, moronic way through this. And here I thought she lived in South Africa and was a part of their struggle... Eff that, she can go away now.

An openly-lesbian female in south Africa? You must be new to this planet.

@Ezza

Remember the stupid Haitian controversy over GTA: Vice City. Remember how Take 2 balked and took out the references like "I'm gonna kill all you god damn Haitians"? That's the reason to get pissed at this bitch right there, cause stupid shit like this hurts the games immensely. Plus it's not like she's particularly virtuoso herself.

"I occasionally play solitaire on my gf’s PC." -Kym Platt, Gaming Expert

"this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people." -Kym Platt, Marketing Consultant, Capcom of America

"Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth." -Kym Platt, White Zombie Supremacist

You can't be this fucking stupid on the internet and expect not to get fucked with.

"But the point isn’t to smack one more label on mainstream video games (violent, sexist, racist). The point is that—for this white girl, at least—the Resident Evil 5 trailer is strangely disturbing."
http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/runninscared/archives/2007/07/zombies_...

Now I bet the white girl is racist too.

so killing a white man is good, but not a black man? wtf... this world is crazy... get over it.

@ Shoomduck

"This is what happens when Africans start using the Internet. They just don’t understand entertainment, fiction and video games (obviously) and all that other stuff."

Do you suck at jokes or do you just suck at making comments that aren't completely fucking asinine?

"As for all the complaining about black people complaining, when is society going to understand that black bloggers (you could replace “black blogger” with “Jesse Jackson” or “Spike Lee”) don’t speak for all of us? People are taking what appears to be a vocal minority and interpreting their viewpoint as that of some sort of fictitious monolithic black mass. Think before you rant."

People react to them because they're the only ones speaking out about it. Just like the game industry, when only the clueless are the only ones who are talking, you have to listen to them.

It's stupid, but it's not like we've seen it before.

@ Terrible

thats one game, i was sayin they barely appear as a main character or someone in the limelight, but i wouldnt expect your dumbass to understand that cuz it looks like u cant even read

You know, I find it ironic. In GTA: San Andreas, you play as a black man and go around killing people, yet you didn't see white people complaining. In Resident Evil 4, you played as a white man killing off tons of Spaniards, yet you didn't see Spaniards complaining.

Now, of course, you're in Africa, killing zombies... and leave it to the black people to complain. Seriously, people, get over it.

this lady is very stupid and ignorant ......if shes so intent on the supposed white ppl killing the blacks in RE5 then why dont whites asians hispanics protest against blacks because of frickin CJ in San Andreas and his group of black thugs who go and kill ppl just like that at least RE5 has a purpose and thats to kill zombies/las plagas/umbrella.........i love GTA though.....take your anger out on video games not ppl....

People seriously, it's just a GAME
Now even saying that it's somekind of conspiracy against black people, is racist in itself, I don't see people bitching about the masses of white people who get shot in almost every game


Simply put, your point of view is retarted

I would like to say that the first time I saw the trailer for this game it had never crossed my mind that it was really black people that are being killed, despite the insistence that they are being portrayed this way. This is for multiple reasons:

Reason 1: I played RE4, and noticed how similar the Ganados looked to human beings. It was a new direction to take the zombie virus, and I thought that it was pretty cool. I realized that the African villagers attacking (yes, attacking - Chris Redfield is not kicking the door of an African village down and going rambo on a bunch of innocent children) Redfield were zombies, and I knew that they were the same as the Plagas in RE4, only in a different locale. All I could really think was, "Wow! How did the zombie virus get HERE?" instead of "Wow! He's killing BLACK PEOPLE!". In other words, I knew that the people in question were not people, but zombies, ad were being presented as such.

Reason 2: Normal people do not gang up and attack people just because. This is a Resident Evil game, not GTA. They're obviously zombies, and everything from their gait to their bared teeth shows them this way. In no way would I consider these infected villagers (just like in RE4) real people.

Reason 3: It is a video game. This point has been made, but it is also a video game about zombies. These people are simulated. It is no attempt at brainwashing. It is a game, nothing more, about killing zombies. The fact that they are African is because the game takes place in Africa.

Overall, I was shocked to hear that this game was being considered racist, or influencing racism, as this had never occurred to me. Zombies are zombies. Another thing that I would like to add is that I am fifteen. Although my generation is portrayed as impressionable, insenstive, soda-guzzling, acne-covered apathetics, I would like to take this chance to say that neither I nor anyone that I know would have remotely considered this game showing or influencing bigotry out of virtue of sheer common sense, and essentially anyone that identifies this game as such probably shouldn't be permitted to purchase these games in the first place.

[...] Kym Platt reacted to the release of Resident Evil 5, the latest in a series of games from Capcom where the protagonist kills zombies. The zombies in this case are roaming through Africa, and they are dark-skinned, being shot by a white protagonist. Platt found this disturbing and posted her reactions to the trailer of the game. GamePolitics.com mentioned Platt’s critique, and received over 800 comments in response, some supportive, some critical, and some offensive. Platt has responded to these comments on her personal blog, and Sokari has responded on Black Looks. [...]

For people who have never played or have never known anything about the Resident Evil saga, it's all fiction and personally, it hasn't have any influential effect on me to play any of the prior games. It might appear that 'a white man in miltary clothes is killing black people'; however -and I think the RE followers will agree with me- there is a desire from the audience to get a more realistic game every time, I think that's why zombies are more normal-human-like this time.
As in any other case, further knowledge and research is required in order to make a fair evaluation. I would suggest everyone to go through the whole story of Resident Evil before making any judgement. The fact that the zombies look every time more normal is part of the evolution of the story. Besides, there hasn't been any RE prior game that deals with masses becoming zombies other than people with white skin. I am not white but latino and I would not find any problem if the next Resident Evil story dealt with latin people as zombies. My advice consists of a responsibility call for parents and people in general, since these kinds of games are for certain ages, which is clearly stated in the game's rating.

All i can say about this is welcome to the internet whoever wrote the Blog. Here on the net there is no race, no age. Instead there is how each of us act and what each of us do. Its a meritocracy. The crowd has judged you and found you unworthy. So realize that a lot of us don't give a shit about whether the zombies are black, white or alien. Instead we just want to play a game series that has a tendency to be really really good.

The one thing that bothers me more than even calling RE5 racist is the fact that the blogger says the game is marketed to children. It is surely going to be rated M for Mature, meaning it is not intended for anyone under seventeen. So, it's not intended for children.

Ya do know that this is a game made by a Japanese company right?
Do you honestly think that Capcom gives a zombified rats ass about American morals? Hell no.
"Zombie stories originated in the Afro-Caribbean Vodoun belief system, so for a series that relies on zombies as its main antagonists, exploring the voodoo origins of zombie mythology seems only natural, and in order to do that you are going to end up exploring villages that just don't happen to have many Caucasians in them"~MIKE FAHEY.

So GTFO and shut the hell up about all this racist shit! The game looks awesome and i cant wait to kill me somes zombies!

Just make the main character black and you can kill all the afri.. err zombies you want without having people bitch and whine. Either that, or give the gamer skins to choose for the character that you are playing. Personally, I would rather see the zombies look like Paki's or Indians. I would choose an asian guy as the skin, kill everyone, then nade myself. Just for fun... ya know...

IT'S ONLY A GAME.....Why black people seem to see racism everywhere ???
I don't know if you remember ...but in the game '' dead rising'' there's a lot of white people who are zombies !!! So what ??? The games is suppose to take place in Africa...DO YOU SEE A LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE IN AFRICA....i don't think so !!! If the game would have take place in China...would the black community had say the same thing about the game ??? Sorry but i think that you use the word racism to easily !!! At this point, from the black community point of view ...we should all say that the ''Fruit of the Loom'' companie is racist...'cause they produce more white underpants that black underpants...
Please remember that it's only a game ...Nevermind who's community are the zombie's...play and smash them ...white zombies ...green zombies...yellow zombies...red zombies...black zombies...Who cares !!! IT'S A GAME !!! That's it....stop seeing racism everywhere...Thank you !

niggers should shut the fuck up already, all they fucking do is complain... NAACP should be national advancement for black ass niggers because when any race besides niggers cry out, theyre busy, but when coons cry out theyre all about it!! fuck that, you niggers should shut the fuck up and make something of yourself, hell even mexicans work more than you lazy mother fuckers do.

Everyone knows black people are scarier and totally make for better zombies. Can't wait to get me some darkies!

All jokes aside, black people shoot black people all the time, why can't we even shoot undead black people?

alot of people are complaining that you can't tell that the black people in this game are cannibalistic mutants that are trying to kill you. probably because they are like that in real life anyway...

[b]alot of people are complaining that you can’t tell that the black people in this game are cannibalistic mutants that are trying to kill you. probably because they are like that in real life anyway…[/b]

It's just a game, they should stop this hypocrisy, this woman who make the blog, it's a just a dirty bitch who want to promote her self.

- It's always the same, when we kill whites peoples it's not a problem, but when we kill black, that's a problem !

- I'm not agree with thoses are saying that there os no black men in video games, "unreal II, all Unreal tournaments, a lot of sports games, games with rapers. Don't forget that a all of games are created in occidentals country, where there is most of whites men so if you create or play a game it's normal to want a caracter who is looks like to you ( but if you don't want to play with a game only because the hero is not white maybe you are racist...)

- If in a video game, we can kill whites peoples without problems
so we also can kill black peoples in video games too

- Treating black peoples apart to the others because of theirs colors, that is racism !

So, all who loves great video games like the RE series, Unite and fight the stupidity, for the liberty to play games that you want !

Hey, everyone, especially @Ariel

There is another white-looking (maybe hispanic?) person in the trailer, they show about 1 second of him talking to an African person in the full E3 trailer. I bet there will be people of other races there too, villains and good guys alike.

What a heaping steaming pile of bullcrap.

Perhaps she wants reality.

The hero should therefore be Black African.

That way, it represents what is going on in Africa in the present day, not representing stereotypical racism or appearing to represent past events of the English invading Africa.

:: shrugs ::

Whatever. It's fiction. If someone has a problem telling the difference between a fictional story and the real world, they need to seek psychological help.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

A white man shooting Haitians that don't look like, nor act like, zombies is a major issue because it has happened in real life to African-Americans on a scale no other nationality can compare. Google the May 31, 2001 Tulsa race riot killings and educate yourself. Resident Evil 5 is act imitating history that should never be repeated.

Black, White, Yellow, Red, Brown or Albino.. it makes no difference. Their brains are all grey, when you blow their undead heads off. :)

Wow, it took longer for this to show up than I expected. The second I saw the RE5 trailer i knew someone was going to point out the whole racial angle but i had figured a week after E3 tops.

What a load of crap!

Movie makers and game developers should just stay away from Africa as a place setting for any of their projects because they might offend somebody.

You would think this person would have sued Jerry Bruckheimer for making Blackhawk Down. How was that NOT a setting where predominantly white folk were shooting black folk?

My bad...poor choice of words.

@ Mr_Tinkle
that comment was aimed at the people who think like that. I know not everyone does thinks that.

@Da1rocky

"the only thing I’m pissed about is why the hell is everyone assuming thats all black people think like this lady. Like the first comment. (Too many to read the rest, sorry)"

well, if you had read the rest of the comments you would see that not everyone is assuming all black people think like that, in fact you've just picked up on one comment and made your own assumption there

@Dan

Also remember that racism is not a solution to racism. If a group is being discriminated against, the worst thin they can do is take it out on someone else, which unfortunately I see quite a bit of.

Something Kit did have a point about. "Whites" are not in charge. A small, fairly insular group of whites are running things, of which the 'average' white person has about the same chance of breaking into as the average 'black' person... read: very very little. But people looking from the outside tend to just think 'white is white! all whites are in on it'. No.... we are treated just as badly. outgroup is outgroup.

And if you want to talk history... during the era of slavery, there were groups treated MUCH worse then the black slaves. A good example would be the Irish, who were basically considered 'cheaper then slaves' and usually ended up being locked into companies by debt anyway. In other words they were treated in a very similar structural manner, with the difference being they were considered 'disposable'.

As we can see in "Shaun of the dead" movie by E.Wright / S. Pegg there isn't much difference between a zombie and a brainless man, that could be the point. In any case being "zombiefied" could be seen as an insult especially if only one ethnic community is involved but, sure, that's a little cheap. No one sees the good ol' Chris Redfield as a contemporary incarnation of the ancient colonialistic spirit. But it seems this point of view isn't the only one possible.

The only thing that disturbes me a little is the setting of this last episode of the saga: subsaharian Africa, actually one of the bloodies and darkests spots in recent history.

Talking about RE4, yes they were white men, but they were also ispanic people shown in some feudal pre-WWI landscape that's really far from actual Spain. But you know, it's just a game and also a great one.

I'll love any of the REs by CAPCOM but, considering that today the VG is mediatically overexposed i'll be a little more careful as a producer and/or designer. There's plenty of people out there willing to brawl ethically and politically on VGs. It's always wiser not to get involved with 'em.

greetings, M from Milan, Italy
(& i hope my english is understandable)

Why is it automatically "racist" when anyone other than white people are depicted? Honestly these fucking people need a bullet. The world just doesn't need to put up with crap like this. If it's okay to shoot white zombies/people then why the fuck isn't it okay to shoot black zombies/people? If you ask me these stupid paranoid black people are ones who are racist. GTA SA is a prime example, nobody complained that you had a black character primarily killing white people, but if it was the other way around & you had a white character primarily killing black people then it would've automatically been deemed racist.

GET OVER IT.

Did you not see two of the black people eating out another black person? That shows that there somewhat of a zombie. In Resident Evil 4 there was a white guy gunning down Spaniards and in previous Resident Evil games there where white people and all types of people. They wanted to change it up a bit by setting the scenario in Africa, whats so wrong with that? Obviously if its Resident Evil game its gonna contain some type of virus/zombie effect on the people in it. So why would you look at it as racism? It is a guy trying to defend himself by a bunch of people whaling machetes and etc at him. I am not trying to say that I don't see where your coming from, yes black people had it way harder back then than anyone else and you guys should have a right to argue about it. I am not trying to start a fight or be racist here, I am Hispanic and I take a lot of crap from people that i meet over the internet because if you Hispanic all of the sudden your a wetback or border hopper as people say. Everyone has their right to speak there mind, I agree with that. This is game and just let it be game. As much as I hate to say it but racism will never end in this world but we gotta live with it as much as we hate it.

Black this, White that... Blah, Blah, Blah.

They are Zombies! RE1-4 had white zombies. This one has black zombies. Does it matter? No! They are zombies! Zombies are not people and they should be put down regardless of the race they happened to be in life. What does this person want? The game is set in Africa. I think it would be pretty stupid to have an all white cast (zombies included) in an area that is known to be the location for one race. What's next? French zombies in Tokyo? Russian zombies in Brazil? Japanese zombies in India?

In fact, if you look at it. Zombies are the ultimate in equality. They dont care about race or religion. They don't care what country you are from. They are equal opertunity eaters and are all equaly (un)dead.

So what if they are African zombies? The race card is the only card too eager to be played in any given situation. A zombie is a zombie and there is only one way to deal with it. Kill it for good. Hell, it is a Resident Evil game, so the chances are that you are going to have to end up trying to save some local anyway. Zombies are never about race. Zombies are a story of humantiy. Watch any of Romero's zombie films and you will see that point being abundently clear.

@Hitler's Heir:

You really need to get better at trolling ;)

We had a proper neonazi visit before, and he wrote lengthy and pretentious posts where here pretended to be smarter than he actually was. He actually seemed to enjoy a proper flamewar... it was fun.

"Erik do you really think all the bad effects of slavery are in the past?"


No, but I know I didn't cause them.

I also know that racism of blacks against whites isn't any more tolerable than the other direction around. "From this point forward ALL zombies should be white" indeed.

First off, i doubt it is marketed to children.

And why was this not a problem when it was white people getting zombi-fied?

@Dan:

The effects might still be there -- I'm a Canadian living in Vancouver, so I don't even see black people often enough to draw conclusions -- but those responsible are not. I'm certainly not going to feel guilty purely because my skin happens to be as pale as that of the perpetrators. If I did, I'd be almost obligated to feel overwhelming pride for all the good things whites have done... and while I strongly support any person's right to feel pride in his or her race, it CAN get out of hand.

Someones manging to see problems where they don't exist.

I watched the trailer a few days ago and was just very impressed by the detail and lighting. Can't say I saw noticed racism.

If you notice racism in a title like this, the irony is that you may be somewhat racist yourself.

Black Looks is just another racist website run by racist, self-righteous authors. Anyone who agrees with their opinion on RE5, as well as everything else they write about, is also a racist.

Race issues will NEVER end as long as people exist that bring up race issues.

How long before the "Reverends" Al and Jesse pick this up?

Intentional or not, the imagery in those trailers is pretty blatant nd in-your-face. It's understandable if someone gets upset over it.

But then again, RE5 is not scheduled for release until sometime in 2009. There will be plenty of time for tweaks, tinkering, and possibly some revised racial variety in the antagonists.

One more (brief) note: the game will most likely NOT be marketed to children and young adults. And I doubt very seriously that the intent of RE5 is to train kids to hate blacks.

@The Central Scrutinizer -- aka: Wolfeman
Oh I know, I suppose it didn't come off well in the bleakness of text. Got into a debate about the fact there are indeed white people of African decent (and black people of non-African decent), a touch of sarcasm that did not come out well apparently, and I apologize.

agree that there is some uneasiness...

1st... in Capcom's defense, no one has seen the whole game... maybe in the story, the main character is trying to save the African Village or something like that... maybe there are some black africans portrayed in a more positive way.... maybe other levels take place in different locations with enemies that look different... maybe somehow the game sheds some light on the poverty level Africans face... no one knows what's in the whole game yet

another point to consider is that Resident Evil is about feeling helpless and afraid, and feeling as though you're being hunted by the enemies... so, you could look at from the perspective of playing as a white person being persecuted by the Africans in a setting where you're the minority and not really getting any fair treatment.... so it could be like a little juxtaposition if they were able to communicate this (i'm a little biased because i'm a resident evil fan)

if it turns out that the game is mostly the white guy blowing up the black "zombies" in Africa... then i would agree that it's in bad taste and racially insensitive.... maybe if Capcom changed the main character to be (and look) black and maybe made him to be from Africa himself in the story, that would help...

But, I think we should wait to see what's in the game before passing judgement... they've never had anything racially insensitive in their games before

ps
don't see how it's being marketed to children more than any other age demographic (they also haven't really done too much marketing yet)

Some of you are making stupid comparisons between white and black people, and saying that it shouldn't be any different. The reason they're offended is because those same black village people have been under tyranny from the British military in the past. There IS a valid complaint here, however...

This is not a logical way to achieve equality. Asking that only white people be zombies in videogames is going to maintain and procure the sensitivities and disillusionments between people of different skin tone. Equality is not something you can force, or demand. It is something you develop through tolerance of ideas, and eventual change in those ideas. Intolerance, even towards possible hints at racism, will not eliminate racism, and instead invites it. This is true of all intolerance.

@Minshi, there are hundreds of thousands of white Africans that would take exception with your statement of no white folks in Africa...

@GP readers/posters

Sometimes Zombies REALLY need to die... no matter where they are hanging out or what color they happen to be... however, I think that the purpose of a game, any game, is to allow for imaginative fun and if people in great number are offended, then the game had missed its goal. [imho]

I also had a negative "gut reaction" to the screenshots I saw of RE5 from a few weeks ago and I see now that my gut is always right! [thank you Stephen Colbert]

That being said, a game trailer can never be considered the complete insight into the plot of a game and it might be nice to give the developers the benefit of the doubt since they do not have a track record for racist overtones.

This is absolutely ridiculuous. It is racist if they don't put black people in a game and it is racist of they do. Saying its purpose is to teach kids to hate and even kill black people?! That is pure idiocy! I didn't hear anyone saying RE4 was training kids to kill spaniards! What about RE1-3 training kids to kill white people? Absurd and insulting on so many levels.

Resident Evil 1-3, set in Racoon City, Midwest US with all the zombies of white American decent, oh perfectly fine.

Resident Evil 4, taking out of the US setting and going to Europe, into a Spanish village (or at least Spanish speaking), and killing of the infested locals? Well, they are Europian.

Set it in a African village where the local people are black, and it is racist. Alternatives... alternatives. I got a few.

We can still set it in Africa, and change all the African people to white. I am sure that is a real great way of making them happy. Of course, as any one knows, a white person from Africa is not African.

Well we could stop trying to set games in Africa. Pretend Africa and villages and cities where black people are the majority do not exist. Yea, that is perfect, lets pretend these people do not exist whenever we make violent video games. Can't discriminate if your never represented in games.

Or we could make the main character Japanese, or Hispanic, or black, would that be better somehow, if the main character was not white? Because only if the protagonist is white can it be racist, and any other race would only have the village and its inhabitance in context, where a white protagonist has to be racist?

And of course, this game marketed to children, despite the rest of the Resident Evil games being rated M, for Mature, to be the parents decision of 17- if it is suitable.

I have no idea what else to say, except, those who complain, complain and then say what would be a better solution. (Unless your trying to take a single incident to go against all M and potentially M rated games.)

Where was this bitching when in the prior Resident Evil games when you were killing zombified white people or zombie Spaniards? Sorry, but equality means taking the bad with the good.

To be fair, the Ganados in RE4 are more obvious in terms of "zombie-like appearances" There were subtle hints that gave the player the impression that the villagers in the game are possesed.

In here, it's not very obvious. They DON'T look like Zombies or Las Plagas infected humans. To the untrained eye or those who never played RE, it looks like a white guy gunning down hordes of Africans. That's the main issue here. You need to take a VERY good look to realise those Africans are infected with T-Virus/Las Plages etc.

I think all Capcom needs to do is tweak the models and skins to make it more obvious, that they're fighting zombies. That change is all is needed.

Also I forgot to add: They aren't "supposed to be zombies" they fucking ARE zombies. The only person making them out to be "savages" is the blog writer herself, and for that she should be ashamed.

@NHL
"Well it also seems a bit wrong about the “marketed towards children and young adults” part but that’s just me."

It is wrong because the game is marketed to young adults and adults, not children. And this is clearly a case of the creators looking to use a continent they haven't used yet, not some conspiracy by the white man to keep the black man down.

..Hooray for hyper-sensitivity and paranoia. Yup, them big video game corporations are all giant racists that are just out to put the black man down.

As much as I would love to go into a tirade on the subject of white/black racism and hatred, fact of the matter is that you don't get to blame everyone else for your problems. You have to stand on your own two legs and get past the juvenile idea that the big bad government men are out to keep you down through video games.

Seriously, nation, I thought we had finally gotten rid of the stereotypical angsty African American who still thinks like this.

in RE5 the Las Plagas dont look so 'Zombiish', maybe Capcom should work on that.
However I saw this coming, miles apart.

Disclaimer: I'm pasty white, blue-eyed, and not particularly guilty about the sins of my distant ancestors.

Since the vast majority of zombie games/movies are set in a white suburban setting with MAYBE a token black guy or two, this game looks refreshingly different. Sure, it MIGHT be a bit racist, but judging by the trailer, the only reason the black guys are getting shot is because they're... well... zombies. If it was a black guy shooting white zombies, I'd be like "hey, cool, he's shooting zombies," same with any other racial pairing.

On the zomg-gamers-are-racists issue, I'm actually a bit disappointed that our friends at Stormfront haven't been around. I liked the last guy who trolled here... I think he used a nickname associated with the SS, but I'm too lazy to go searching through the archives. He was fun to argue with, but then he got banned :(

Denial, Evasion Won't Solve Racism:

By Tim Wise

Published in the Lexington Herald-Leader, November 10, 2003

Although I'm not psychic, I know what many readers are thinking right now. "Oh no, here we go again, someone else complaining about racism. Why do we have to talk about this? Isn't it time we moved on?" Well, no actually.

No matter how uncomfortable the topic, especially for those who are white like me, talking about racism and then actually doing something about it are the only ways to make the subject go away. It won't disappear just because we choose not to mention it. Indeed, the problem is not talking about racism but racism itself: a stain on our national psyche that has yet to be wiped clean, no matter that its most blatant manifestations -- slavery, Indian removal, Asian exclusion and segregation -- are many years past.

Contrary to popular belief, race is not merely a card played by those who wish to stir up resentment. Instead it is a real and persistent determiner of who has what and why in this country. To extend the metaphor of the card game, race too often determines who the dealer is, and who's getting dealt.

Past racism continues to have an effect in the present. Since whites were able to own property, procure loans, hold jobs and attend schools all of which were off-limits to people of color, the wealth accumulated by those previously privileged whites, elevated by law above all non-whites, has been passed down. Today, the typical white family has twelve times the net worth of the typical black family. In large measure this is due to the head start whites have been afforded in the race to accumulate assets.

The problem is not just the residue of the past, however. For people of color, there are many reminders that even in 2003 they are often viewed as second-class citizens. Consider the recent study by researchers at the University of Chicago and MIT, which found that job-seekers with "white-sounding names" were 50 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than those with "black-sounding names" even when their qualifications were identical.

Consider that blacks, Latinos and Asian Pacific Americans with the same education and experience as whites, will earn, on average, between 10-30 percent less, and that blacks with a college degree are more likely to be unemployed than whites who dropped out of high school. So much for "reverse discrimination."

Consider the data from the Department of Justice, indicating that blacks are twice as likely as whites to have their cars pulled over and searched for drugs, even though whites, when searched, are twice as likely to have drugs on us. Or consider that although blacks and Latinos combined are only 23 percent of drug users, they are 90 percent of persons incarcerated annually for a drug offense. Whites, on the other hand, are 72 percent of drug users, but less than ten percent of those incarcerated for drugs.

Consider the studies on housing, which indicate that at least 2 million cases of discrimination occur annually against people of color looking to rent or purchase a home. Even when credit history, income and collateral are the same, whites are 56 percent more likely to secure a mortgage than their equally qualified black and brown counterparts according to the Boston Federal Reserve Bank.

Or consider our racially selective response to terrorism. Since 9/11 most Americans seem to support racially-profiling anyone who looks Arab, but they applied no such profile to white men after Oklahoma City. What's more, I dare say that if 19 members of the Irish Republican Army had hijacked those planes, or if 19 white supremacists had done so, we would not be rounding up white men, or applying a generalized suspicion to them in airports across the country, as we are with Arab and Muslim males presently.

Again, I know some are tired of hearing about these things. But however tired they must be of hearing it, people of color are a lot more tired of living it; and until whites join with our black and brown brothers and sisters to put an end to the kind of racial inequity described above, we'll continue to be confronted with the uneasy conversations, as well we should be. And so long as this kind of inequity is allowed to stand, the promise of America will remain unfulfilled and hollow.

On august 1, Denis posted about a stupid black women who complianed about the trailer for Resident Evil 5, and unlesahed a monster he could not control. Now we have over 700 posts steaming with redundancy, flame wars and stupidy from both blacks and whites.

And it's still growing.

Now as the forum reaches critical mass, it threatens to crash the site (well not really) and plunge Gp forever into a realm of whiny morons who fight and bicker over nothing, unless Dennis can somehow kill the monster he created and save gamepolitics from the plunge of idiocy.

To make a long story short,

this thread is getting nowhere fast (very fast), so why is it still here?

We white people have the luxury of looking at things from a non-racial perspective because we are the dominant race in a society built by and for us.

[...] De nieuwste Resident Evil 5 heeft weer eens wat stof op doen waaien in gamesland. Het was natuurlijk wel te voorspellen dat iemand over de E3 trailer zou vallen. Deze trailer laat zien dat het nieuwste deel zich afspeelt in een dorpje in Afrika. In Afrika wonen voornamelijk donkere mensen, de zombies voldoen dan ook aan dit signalement. [...]

@Ariel

Chris Redfield is there because the US government decided it needed special forces of some sort to clean up after the mess Umbrella Corp. left. Chris by virtue of not getting kill previously by T-Virus monsters apparently got recruited. Since when you're facing possessed, zombified people and monsters, experience not getting killed by them really helps. As does having an operative that values the mission slightly more than his own life.

I presume he's special forces, and not supposed to be some secret and undercover agent. Making it his job to go someplace, do something, and leave. Blending in and not getting noticed doesn't really factor into to it.

He's used rather than some new character because Capcom really would rather build on existing characters than make new ones.

@Mase

Being racist, as you are being, isn't really helping the issue much. If anything you are just adding more fuel to the fire.

they are just retarded!!! do you exspect any white people to be living in a POS village in aids/hiv infested africa...HELL NO!!!! its not racist its realistic.who else would there be to shoot in a village/city in africa? the 14 yr olds with guns who are black or the dogs.. o wait there is no dogs the hiv people eat them!!! its not racist go try to sue some other company you racist colored person who wants more $$ than what walefare is giving her..

jesus christ, did you all not see the guy in the beginning changing into a zombie or whatever. people are always going to complain about something, just like how they complained about 300 about the guy's being white, and the persians being depicted as savages......i'm pretty sure that the spartans were not black or anything like that. but whatever....and its just a freaking trailer the game is not even out yet, so we dont know if they dont give us any hints of them being possessed or not yet. and i personally cannot wait to get this game, be it racist or not, which its not. we'll see how "racist" it is when it comes out and it sells.

"Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" - Avenue Q.

That's all I've got to say - a little humor goes a long way.

imeant to say i agree with chris not ohma

CLOSE THE BLOG IT'S ALL OVER

First of all, I want to say that I know this is a completely Japanese game, and the Americans are not to blame. Also, I think that as game, RE4 was awesome (although I had some issues with it too) and RE5 seems even better.

Having said that, I believe there are a few wrong things with the trailer.

There is a scene where the town residents appear closer in camera, and look menacing, with bad and hostile attitude. Yeah, those two could be part of the “bad guys” "zombiefying" people with a virus, but that's not for sure, and even if that was the case, how on Earth, could anyone unfamiliar with the RE games discern that?

Also, BEFORE the "zombiefying" there seems to be some kind of lynching. It is unclear if the mob is supporting it, o protesting against it, but either way, it depicts a place without much of a law, hence, the idea of "inhuman savages”.

Anyway, my biggest problem is with the whole Chris Redfield thing. I mean, why is he there? I know, he's been a protagonist of the series, but anyway, I don’t see why is he there. In the US, it was only natural for him to be there, but why is he in Africa?

If they have to send an American guy, instead of the African (I will use “african” in generic form because we don’t know what African country this is) police or military, is most probably because it is a secret assignment. None can know about it. Not even the American or African population or even governments know what is he doing there, and that’s the reason why the Africans didn’t send their own police.

Yeah, secret and undercover, my ass. It seems he’s TRYING TO BE NOTICED. Just look at the trendy clothes and shoes he’s wearing (did I also mention that he seems to be the only white guy around?). Look at the “badge” in his shoulder, look at his gear. The guy not only looks completely different from anyone else we've seen in the trailer so far, he also looks “COOL”, and even ARROGANT. He’s not coming from a poor country and he doesn’t need to hide that fact.

Either way: he’s the most stupid undercover agent in history and the population is also extremely stupid not to realize that, or he’s not undercover at all, and he has permission to go around with this uniform and gear in a foreing country.

But if that was the case, the operation is not secret, or is it? And if isn’t secret, why would they need a foreign police, military or whatever he is? Aren’t there any Africans up to the task? Well, it seems not, or maybe Capcom thinks most Americans (the primary market for the game) wouldn’t feel that much identified with the character, and that thought also seems completely absurd to me, and it risks appearing as racist.

Go figure.

Anyway, once we have the whole facts about the game, will be able to judge it, but I can perfectly understand why some people would be upset.

Im black I feel they LOL sike nah game rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!

The culture part's been said before, and refreshed by EOTD, but:

The problem with all the arguments that this is just one more setting for the RE series is that they're not taking the image of videogames and the videogame community into account, and they're not considering the inadvertent insensitivity to cultural issues and identity of a culture that hasn't much dealt with these things. Obviously my experiences in Japan and in studying its culture and history are not definitive, but certain trends and generalizations can be presented as examples.

In the end, it doesn't matter that we the gamers understand (or believe, however you look at it) this isn't meant to further racist stereotypes, but only a storyline that has gone through myriad zombies of predominantly paler racial origins. The non-gamers are the ones who target videogames as culturally denigrating and lacking merit, and this will become just one more huge ball of fodder as it stands. Do we really want to give the uncultured one more reason to attack videogames as a bane of society?

That said, I'll say it again: Japan has a very, very, very racist culture. Not so much intentionally in regards to blacks, as American culture once was (and still is to disturbing extents), but due to homogeny and homogeneity. In other words, because there is basically only one race in Japan, and it has always been thus historically, and wars with outside nations entrenched a superiority complex over other races, Japan and other similarly non-diverse nations tend to view everyone else as inferior; and Japan in particular teaches its superiority as a race and a nation.

Unfortunately, Japan in particular also generally considers blacks sub-human (in huge part because of American television and movie depictions). I say "unfortunately" because, as others have already noted, in all their cultural products--such as videogames--there is in general some level of racism whenever blacks are depicted; often severe, and not necessarily as innocent as some of us may think but certainly in ignorance of sensitivity to such issues.

Japanese culture, experienced up close, is too often snide and derogatory toward blacks, and tends to consider them similarly to the animals slave-owners deemed them, as less than all other races. It is far too likely this newest product does in fact portray the Africans (even when not zombified) in a negative (stereotypical) light, however unintentionally or unknowingly, and the anti-gamers will jump on that like a feeding frenzy.

The racism in games is only one evidence of this cultural understanding deficit common in Japan and other such insular regions (including backwoods and other areas in the U.S.), but it is a huge problem. If you've ever seen what happens when people of different origins who aren't pale and blond hit Japan, you'll understand. The people in Japan are very kind, well-meaning, and generous toward strangers, no matter color, and many of them are educated or simply generous enough not to believe the hype that blacks are less than other people.

But the culture as a whole is full of racist pretentions and predispositions; there is a hierarchy of race at which their own culture is on top but the blond-haired-blue-eyed hero stereotype is somewhat revered, striven toward; and blacks are basically at the bottom, below even Koreans who are frequently hated as (literally) smaller-brained enemies. Some individuals see past this or are willing to suspend the learned racial categorizing, but many simply believe those to be truth even though they won't flaunt that belief (too concerned with social harmony to openly disrupt it) and instead speak of it under their breath.

But even those who do see past the racial stereotypes run into the same problems all people face: we don't understand people who aren't like us, so we may consider media or other people's experiences as the definitive source for portraying these unknowns. And Japanese culture can seriously buy into the Aryan (blue-eyed, blond-haired or even red-haired, but always white) superiority subtly and blatantly portrayed in (particularly American) media.

No matter how much we as gamers see the ridiculousness of claims this is a racist product, if there are no cultural experts working with the Japanese company making this game, there will most likely be ample ammunition for the videogame critics in this game's innocently-stereotypical depictions of blacks.

Well, The fun part is, imagine how hard they'l be to see at night! Like African Ninjas!

Two comments.

1. The African woman's blog should be treated just like any other comments made about video games from people that don't know anything about them, disregard them. I liken her comments to those that claim that video games cause kids to shoot up schools; misguided and misplaced. No part of this woman's blog has any merit.

2. It's funny how topics about race, regardless of the forum or topic, always amount to a bunch of name calling. Making blanket statements ("all black people", "these people") don't get you anywhere. And if you need to insert the word "I'm not racist" into your comments you need to reevaluate your thought process. Race is a myth, and the sooner that we stop evaluating each other by these "standards" the better off we will be. There is only one kind of race and seems by some the comments here that some of you are stuck in last place.

@Chris

Yes dear, I'm sure, you can run along and play with your Freeper/Stormfront friends now.

Way too many comments to read through but....

RE4 was set in a "Spanish" location with a bunch of Hispanic zombies yelling Spanish while trying to kill Leon the White Guy.

Did you see an uproar from the Hispanic community about this? No. Just some food for thought.

It is a setting for a game... shall we give Chris a deep tan and a Hawaiian shirt? Will that mellow this out a bit more?

Not racist:
BET
Black Caucus
United Negro College Fund

Racist:
Spike (It has some connection to Spike Lee for some people, which means it's makeing fun of blacks. Therefore, racist.)
White Caucus
Any fund that would be whites only.

Welcome to the world of double standards. This whole mess about RE5 is thanks to the PC aholes on capital hill.

@EOTD
Sensationalism sells, but in this case I think our side is sending the wrong sensationalist message. The sheer number of posts bespeaks to some serious underlying hatred, not toward blacks so much as censorship. I think after the Manhunt 2 ban people are on edge and this bitch lit the match.

@Everyone Else
As of right now, Black Looks no longer comes up. I think you guys finally sent her to bandwidth hell*.

*See earlier post

you are living proof Ohma. You have selective hearing/reading to twist words.

And it's pathetic.

Thanks for ruining the black people's image even moreso.

White people are racist no matter what they do because black people are fucking pathetic. I'm racist no matter what I say about black people because I'm white, but blacks can say whatever the fuck they want and it's not racist and somehow 'justified'.

Find something else to bitch about you idiots, this has grown old a long time ago.

Her comments are now open! Go post a comment an pray that she doesn't delete it. http://askthisblackwoman.com/2007/08/01/more-on-resident-evil-5.aspx

@Chris

Yup, must be those damn racist blacks. Not your own latent racial bias showing through when you dismiss an entire ethnic group as "pathetic" at *all*.

Fucking-A, I suppose you wonder why women never give you their number when you use the line "are you an angel, or do you just have a great ass?" too?

I heard about this issue, and I gave it some thought this morning. Why is the Resident Evil series accused of being racist now? In my opinion, this is a joke for publicity. The first four Resident Evils pit a gunman against white zombies, but now that he's fighting black zombies, it's racist!? The plot takes place in Africa, so there's not much else to be done. While in America, caucasian zombies are fought. In Latin America, hispanic zombies are fought, etc. Why should Africa get the benefit when the story takes place amongst its natives? If you take this complaint seriously, than Resident Evil 4 must be racist as well! "No fair, he's killing white people. That makes caucasians look inhuman and evil..."

this totally lame saying its racist my a$sssS . This is zombie game. resident evil 4 has zombies talking in spanish no one said it was racist. Blacks takes stuff more serious. like white people can't say black, nigger? black people acting if they were white instead? This is still a zombie game, couldn't you people tell the difference. in trailer dude in black skin had his eyes turn yellow red color. tell you all something happened by t- virus or etc virus has has gone into his body making him into zombie wanting to eat people. zombies have to die because they are undead or not human anymore. was it easy for Micheal jackson turn white easily? what if character has african friend helping chris, that friendship. there was friend hispanic friend helping chris in resident evil 4. one more why people not living Africa anymore because of aids epidemic not related to the game at all. why aren't african amerians at least trying to vacation to Africa someday to get back to there family roots or traditions. this game is horror game for adults who can handle killing giant spiders, freaking scary monster, giant grasshoppers. a giant killer fish. good bye

@ Zigs

You know, you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that any of the people spouting racist trash on here are actually racist. Chances are they're just idiots looking to rile up as many people as they can - just like Platt.

Better yet... here - here's the one you ought to look at.

link

if this woman is concerned about the killing of blacks, why isn't she on a soapbox about blacks slaughtering each other in many african nations? or, is she only concerned with whites killing blacks?(even if it is only a video game). this smells of sensationalism and reverse racism towards whites since she never complained about whites killing whites in RE4.

Wow!

Well, Eric Greene has nothing to complain about now. His article looks barely touched in comparison.

And now we know what issue will get even the lurking gamers out into the sunlight to make comments.

Wow! Over 400 comments in one day. And, so far, not even 1 by you-know-who.

Nightwng2000
NW2K Software

"I mean, c’mon now, this is just a game, why didn’t anyone complain bout killing spanish people when it came to RE4??"

Who complains about one Caucasian shooting another?

Power - My dumb ass listed more than one game. lol.

"Featuring eyes that shine with a hybrid of madness and lucidity, the townsfolk don't appear to be along the lines of the rotting, shambling undead found in earlier Resident Evils. The emphasis on the next generation of the not-zombies' mental clarity is stressed by villagers rallying around an apparent leader speaking to the masses through a megaphone."
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/804/804424p1.html

Chris Redfield is not shooting zombies.

@ monolithic.

Unfortunately that was no joke, it's reality.

@LiK SHoT:

They're just trolls. It's fun feeding them from time to time, but if they really bother you, just ignore them and they'll go away.

this is why i hate black people... they are ignorant and more racist then any white person i have ever known.

if a black person shoots a white person its fine, flip it around and we have a problem.

RE4 has you killing Spanish people so is that a racist problem too?

I'm so sick of black people playing the race card at the drop of a hat. The game is in f*cking Africa. If they were all white zombies, this b*tch would be complaining that a game based in Africa didn't have enough black people in it. It's a GAME. Get over yourselves! Whitey is not keeping you down. There is nobody standing at your door with a shotgun making sure you don't get an education and a real job. It's this kind of groupism and self-imposed oppression that not only keeps the black community from moving on, but actually CREATES resentment in members of other races. I realize that this woman does not speak for all black people (thank god), but it's kind of sad that she thinks she's actually doing her race a favor.

@ Power - the "black people vs. niggas" thing is a (rather poorly mis)quote from a Chris Rock routine. So the poster was being dumb, but maybe not quite as dumb as you're giving him credit for.

yeah, aids, oppression, the man, the IMF, all of these things are bad, but when I heard that Africa had been infected by the t-virus or plagas virus, it really hit hard. i mean, that sucks big time. I ask myself what i can do, and all i can think of is to give my prayers to these poor people. What gets me the most is that Capcom has trivialized the horrible actions of umbrella, even to the point of racism. It is horrible that they would portray white people in such a way as to show them as killers. I half expect a white guy to come and shoot me in the head the next time i'm walking around the street looking tired. I know there must be some kind of soul in a white man, but this game is making me think that maybe they are merciless killers. In fact, we should do something about it.....

Cynical I completely agree with you. I could not have said it better myslef.

Agreed Simplicity

It's very annoying that this sort of attitude crops up so often in the gaming community, be it about race, gender, or sexual preference, there seems to be a hair trigger for many game enthusiasts (hopefully because most of them online are very young and don't have the expirence in life to relly empathise with others) to go off in a tirade about "reverse descrimination", or how "that bitch just doesn't get gamers", or that so and so charactor "sucks because he's a fag".

It is very...annoying...to say the least. (especially if you happen to fall into one of those oft-derided groups)

@LiK SHoT:
Uh...what's that supposed to mean?

Darrel said "I think the biggest problem here is that it’s not very noticeble to the untrained eye that the black folks in that game are zombies/Las Plagas infected.

In RE4, there were subtle hints that gave the player the idea that the villagers you fight are inhuman and sort of zombie like and creepy.

In RE5, it doesn’t give that impression. It says “Black dudes vs white guy” instead of “Zombies vs a guy.” I think all Capcom needs to do is make the zombies a bit more obvious, because to anyone who NEVER played RE before, it looks more like a white guy gunning down hordes of Africans. "

I don't know if you know this or not but the game isn't out yet. You had "subtle hints" in RE4 because you were playing it, your watching the trailer now and they don't have time to try and slowly show you that people are infected with las plagas. They need to get to the point quick. Second thing is, did any white people complain when the zombies and las plagas were white in EVERY OTHER RESIDENT EVIL game? No. Why is it a big deal now then? Should there be no black people in a game set in Africa then? That would probably get you even more upset. This is a total non issue that everyone is making their cause for no reason. BREAKING NEWS: People in Africa are black. So the setting is in Africa and the people are African and the game is about zombies, I don't know if you can put 2 and 2 together but that means that the zombies will be black in this game.

Gorram other posters getting in the way of my insult to Me...

@power

Grand theft auto San Andreas has a black protagonist.

Ms. Ruberg puts together a much more coherent argument as to the complexities of the race issue in the upcoming Resident Evil game. She both gives some form of credibility on the issue in that she has played the games before and gives concession that the context of the game might provide that the game isn't entirely about the blatant destruction of Africans. I'd make an interjection as to what the nature of the game is, but without sufficient storyline to determine the context of the game defending the story at this time is pointless.

It is in my opinion however, that a zombie is no longer nor should be considered a human being, thus the race of a zombie is irrelevant.

Well wtf is it supposed to be? A white man gunning down white people in AFRICA? Or a black man gunning down white people in AFRICA? Shit, why don't we just make it a black person gunning down hordes of Mexicans in China.

"all i said is that there are barely next to no black main characters in games. it always seems that ppl of colour are not as important when it comes to gaming"


What about the Erudites in Everquest? Or Barret in Final Fantasy VII?

Alyx from Half-Life 2 isn't a playable character but she is a rather prominent character, and her father Eli Vance is one of the top scientists.

Let live that was one of the most ignorant comments ive ever heard. stfu and get educated. No one brought up the racial epithet but you found it neccessary to define it (also ur definition is entirely wrong and retarted, grow up).

Verpiss dich, Geh Einhandsegeln:
you are exactly the reason why this is happening.

your mom also bitches about black zombies

Great way to play the race card.

Stop caring about race so much.

your mom is a black zombie

So typical from blacks, so typical. Black people are the most racist people on the entire planet besides da juden.

Things like this anger me so much. I hate to tell them but that is what most of Africa looks like, most of Africa is not in the 21st century yet. If it was a black person doing the killing would they still be making the same argument?? I highly doubt it.

And these games are NOT marked towards children. On the box of all the Resident Evil it clearly states 'M' for mature audiences. So children should not be allowed to access the game.

I do believe that the purpose of a company is to make money not inspire "fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."

If this group were to have its way then what would change the white man to a black man, would the horde of people be Caucasian, Asian, or Mexican, instead of black....but then wouldn't that be racism, towards those groups?

When the video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" came out I did not hear an out cry from this group when it allowed for the mass killing of people. So apparently it is only racism when African Americans are being "victimized" by a white male.

Ummm, who cares? In the long run, it's all racism towards the Undead! "All I wanted was a snack, and now I have to hide from crosses and other holy relics, and of course I can't be seen in the day for fear of my life, so now my social life is completely nocturnal! I just wanted a little nip!" - Count Vlad Dracul.

It's sad people have nothing better to complain about.

to the German speaking posters,
you are exactly the reason why this is happening.

This is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

I mean really, it's damn video game.

Shush.

Fellas, fellas... I know how to settle this predicament. Just make the protagonist black and the zombie villagers white.

Funny how there were more then 4 other RE games out already and no one ever complained about how its going to give people a sense of fear and hate towards anyone else!

and i dont think the game is marketed towards kids! M ratings are not for kids! what a dumbass!

tell this bitch to stop being a baby and suck it up!
people like her make me sick!

your mom is a racist

This game isn't being marketed towards children or young adults. It's not even rated yet, but once development is done I'm sure they'll stamp it with an MA rating which means no one under the age of 17 will be able to buy it. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT before you go off and rant about instilling racist ideals onto our children.

I hope eventually this society become colorblind. However, when crazy people see victimization in everything like they're doing with RE5, that just holds us back in the past.

Lets stop thinking everything is racist and progress into the 21st century. Leave the race-baiting behind.

your mom is one of the top scientists

I feel sorry for the people at this blog. They're too blinded by their own pride in their never ending search for hate that they don't realize that they're the ones (a la Al Sharpton) that are responsible for perpetuating racism. Let's face it, you can't look for ill-will and hate without knowing it well enough to find it, and if you know it that well....

It would die if we'd leave it alone so that it COULD die. Let it die Kym. Every time you stir the pot, you are personally responsible for unearthing the proud few ignorant racists out there.

We must truely let go of the past for racism to parish. If we keep bringing it up at inopportune times, we just simply further the schism between races.

It's a problem of the historical past, and imagery. If white people had been enslaved, murdered and raped systematically by black people for a two hundred year(give or take some) period, i would say a game with black character subjugating white ones was a dangerous propogation of racist imagery, however, that's not the case so i have to go the other way. Your subconcious is a fertile place, and combined image/sound/motion medias have a way of accessing it that few other things can even begin to touch. If you think the raw imagery of a white man slaughtering black folx DOESNT get into your brain, you're joking yourself in a serious way. I think in this case it's paramount to consider the CONTEXT of the images. White people are currently slaughtering, dressed in military garb, white people opressed africans for two centuries, these two facts are not to be disregarded in presenting material. Tastefulness is a virtue unless applied to truth. A game about zombie killing is not an examination of truth. I'd apply some tastefulness(making those zombies more zombielike would be better). How about a story driven zombie game set in Haiti. THAT would be cool, and could involve like, a real interesting plot as well.

Oddly enough, from her myspace gems post, and this sin't her quote but from a post on Nigeria:

"You call them African Zombies, we call them voters."

There's the problem.

Hello, i am a racist. I would like to play this game. I hope it comes out soon.

Ummmm are you really that brain dead? seriously? it takes place in africa sooo of course the game will have black zombies numb nuts.

So basically, no zombie games should ever be set in Africa. Or if they are, then they should be set in Egypt or Libya. That way, you're just killing Arabic zombies and aren't being racist against black people.

Resident Evil 4 had a white character killing other whites. Resident Evil 5 should have a Haitian character killings other Haitians.

At least this site doesn't have people shouting outright racist comments at each other and pretending to be each other with the logins and making fun of each other. Personally, Racism is in the eye of the beholder in most situations, but calling some else "Spick" "Cracker" or "Nigger"
Is just downright ignorant.
Look on the digg about the 2 heatsinks for the elite, you'll see what I mean.
I'm the guy getting all worked up about people making racist comments.
I don't however feel like Resident Evil 5 has any implications of racism.
They happen to be in Africa, those are simply the people who live there and are infected.
Fuck!!!

People take offense when none is meant, and turn around and act like idiots and offend other on purpose.
What is up with this world?
Grow up.

tell me about it. i've been killing spaniards nonstop since resident evil 4 came out.