@Davian2K5

So truth is racism now? Have you visited the middle east lately?

I know alot of people don't understand.... but I understand that in this religion, having the phrases or depiction of god in any format is very offensive to them. Even the phrase as a tattoo is considered offensive. Nike once had a squiggle of a sort that looks more like a flame, it accidently came out alot like the arabic script for the word "Allah" and thus, they were offended by it. When it comes to Islam and Christianity, Christianity isn't against having God depicted in anything nor having the name used for phrases (hence the USD's: In God We Trust).
When it comes to Islam, you can't touch the subject at all, it is extremely taboo, and they aren't likely to change, if ever.
However, I didn't hear the phrase in the video... I guess I'd have to somehow pick it up from not understanding a language that I have extremely little knowledge in...
In any case, we don't see it as a big deal... they see it as extremely offensive...
I guess the best example I can give on how offensive it is, it is like if someone stepped on your country's flag, and pissed and soiled it with feces. Then proceeded to keep using it as a towel to soak up more stuff then spit on it then burn it as a final word.

Uhm, can someone explain why this is offensive. I am genuinely confused.

As something else I forgot to mention, it won't change gameplay, at all really... Legend of Zelda: OoT had some arabic sounding music and that is considered offensive since again, it was like the religious hyms that they make, and they took it out in later versions of Oot, but the original cartridges should still have the same music, while the later versions changed it.

See, even the religious songs they sing are a taboo to be portrayed in another way.

Well, this is hardly unprecedented.

Back in 1999, Nintendo reworked Ocarina of Time’s Fire Temple theme in response to a backlash from the Muslim community. The theme contained a Muslim chant in Arabic that translates to “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.”

Why anyone would find that offensive or upsetting is beyond me.


Andrew Eisen

Listening to CAIR is like listening to Phelps or Jack Chick

Someone told me once that Gorons were suppose to be Muslim, what with their honor codes and brotherhood and whatnot. I guess that makes sense given Andrew Eisen's comment.

While the atheist and tolerant sides of my would be glad this phrase was pulled, I don't see the big deal. It's very hard to make the phrase out. I had to watch the video three times to hear it. If any Muslim here can help explain the context, that would be a big help.

Having said this, let me just reiterate that CAIR is as concerned with civil liberites as a fox would be with the well-being of hens.

@B.Manta

Don't forget the whole fiasco with the Danish cartoon.

Warning: Ranting. The overly religious and easily offended need not apply.

Jesus Christ on a goddamn bloody stick. When in the hell did people become such sissies about EVERYTHING? It's a phrase, in another language, that happens to be related to a religion. In this game it's not even anti-Islamic. It's not even talking about islam! It's a sound bite tied to some small event. I'm fairly certain if we put in portions of the Lord's Prayer or the Lotus Sutra in there we wouldn't have the Catholics/Bhuddists up in arms.

I'm agnostic, and that's me, but why the hell should I, let alone others, be this politically correct because some dipstick somewhere MIGHT be offended because we used something from their religion in a manner that isn't at the HIGHEST point of Sanctity? It's days like these I hate religious people. No offense to current audience, but goddamn some religious people are such tightasses that you crap diamonds. -.-

Don't knock Islamic fundamentalists off their high horse, you might get a Jihad on you.

“Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home”

That was the original lyric? Fuck... that's really funny.

@Andrew Eisen

That actually sounds like something Disney would have changed before release even if no one had complained - I mean, it's Disney.

Capcom shouldn't need to take out such a phrase anyway, because most people won't probably get what is actually being said, and for the people that do, realize that the CAIR like any other Religious-Orentated rights group is full of it.

I'm sorry, but since I absolutely am a non-censorship whore, the bastards already complained that fricking enemy's that were black being gunned down by Leon, which were a fraction to most of the things he had to kill, and that this is actually one of the Wii games that I am looking froward to, it just seems pathetic to me, sorry.

They already took it out, so not much else to do =(.

@~the1jeffy

Ah, that makes more sense :)

I probably would have realized that to begin with, but I'm tired and need to ....zzzzzZZzZZZZZzzZZZzzzZZZzzzz..

Wa...!?! Oh, huh.... uh, what did I miss?

We are not the ones creating controversy here it's was them that spoke out.
Or rather a fringe group of a fringe group.

Lastly we will never get past "racism" and "insensitivity" if all people do is complain about trivial things like the Resident Evil 5 "controversy."

But I guess we can be thankful that this is America and not Capcom Arabia Studios or else it would of.... well it wouldn't be standing.

Maybe the Japanese just overestimate other cultures' senses of humor, considering that their own is fairly well-developed. Most of the funniest stuff I've seen is Japanese in origin - Paper Mario, anyone? Not to mention pretty much any Japanese game show.

This seems to be another case of Japan not really thinking about the way other cultures perceive themselves. They wouldn't be too happy if we used Buddha as a footrest.

@daniel3

The thing is, it's not an attempt to incorporate Islam into entertainment. Odds are that the sound guy didn't even know what the sound he was using meant. He used it because it sounded Arabian, exotic and tribal, not because he decided to try and incorporate Islam into an awesome Nintendo Wii game.

"Why would it be offensive to show foreign culture in a happy and positive light?"

The natives who said "Allahu akbar" in the trailer appeared to be drinking out of skulls. Happy and positive skulls, of course.

*shrug* You're free to disagree.

@Conejo
It's already been said, but yeah, Muslims aren't really any more special than other folks. They just happened to speak up about an issue they thought was important.

For the people who had a hard time hearing it in the video: that's because you don't hear it as much as Muslims do. I thought I was going to have to watch the video twelve times or something after reading some comments here, but it was loud and clear the very first time I heard it; instantly recognizable and it felt completely out of place. And again, an Islamic phrase is associated with fire. xD

As a postscript, I heartily encourage game companies to not listen to criticisms and publish their games in the way they feel is best. In other words if you have already approved parts of the game, and were honest about the content with the ratings boards, why spend money to change it? Our most successful media are those without compromise: The Daily Show, Southpark, and I dare say Alex Haley's Roots.

""Freedom: Good day to you sir! Please explain why human rights abuses overseas mean Capcom should sell a game that makes the Islamic call to prayer part of a creepy ritual? Thank you!"'

Because complaining about a meaningless videogame that hurts no one while your religion murders people on a daily basis is a tiny bit hypocritical don't you think?

@Mnementh2230:

Yeah, but any groups that have been found abusing the legal system and have confirmed links to terrorism (including the bombing of the WTC) should pretty much be discounted. If you don't give tolerance, you shouldn't get it back.

If some Islamic temple asked Capcom to change it, I'd be a heck of a lot happier. CAIR needs to be ignored and defanged.

Ahh jeez... and I KNOW there's going to be outrage over Phoenix Wright 3 now

Um... Perhaps the group was offended by the use of a core phrase of their religion as some sound effect to signify a "creepy-native-people" religious ritual? I mean, come on, if you're going to make your game all oogity-boogity, then try to find an effect that isn't tied to a real-world culture. It's like in old movies when they'd have the white people kidnapped by the scary natives, and then when they wanted to have a creepy ritual they'd intercut made-up Hollywood scenes with actual stock footage from African peoples. It's not the footage itself that's offensive, it's the context.

I'm Muslim, so let me give you the thought process behind it.

It's not the phrase that's offensive, obviously. We say it all the time. The issue is that the phrase is used entirely out of context. It's not being said by a Muslim, it's not really referencing God at all. It's there for the "exotic Arabian flavor." It's the same with what happened with OoT; a really important religious phrase was used out of context to do nothing more than build an atmosphere (nevermind the fact that it was associated with the hellish "Fire Temple" which I can understand a lot of Muslims taking issue with).

Muslims don't want "Allah Akbar" or any other important phrase to be reduced to nothing but a soundbyte that's used to make things sound "exotic." It's an important phrase with an important meaning, and they want to protect that.

I'm not saying that I agree with all of it. Personally I don't mind it all that much. But CAIR is actually a pretty good organization that does a lot of good work, and they're not a bunch of ignorant folks just from the Middle East.

I've been seeing a lot of ignorant stereotyping in this comment thread, and I have to say that I'm kind of disappointed. Considering all of the silly, ridiculous stereotyping that gamers face every day, you'd think we'd try to be a little more understanding of different kinds of people. :\

@awol

i guess i can understand that

@almost everyone

i agree its no big deal (probably happens all the time we just never hear about it {not just in church matters i mean})

It's like Trent Reznor said:

your god is dead/and no one cares
if there is a hell/i'll see you there

Capcom, your god is dead.

forgive me if this has been said...

but in a bar setting, one should not speak of politics, religion, or race (i can't remember the exact quote...), and sadly, this has two of the three.

@~the1jeffy

I think that's the point... it's a holy phrase that is used "flippantly", insultingly, and in an almost barbaric context within in the game.

(And in case Rey is confused as to why I singled him out, I wasn't referring to the post 3 replies ago which hadn't been posted when I started my reply, I was referring to the "in the name of God" one earlier on the page. Completely unnecessary.)

Whatever. It wasn't that big of a deal, didn't seem to bother anyone except CAIR, they politely asked for a removal, and Capcom agreed. Story over. Coverage over.

@ DarkeSword


You gotta admit though, the Zelda OoT Fire Temple song sounded amazing. Got it on mah ipod.

@Mnementh2230:

CAIR? Reasonable?

"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran . . . should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth." - Omar Ahmad, CAIR chairman

This must be "Stupid Day". A day where all of the stupids come out from under their rocks to trying and create controversy where there is none. Truly ridiculous.

@Darksword

Thank you for your input. I can see where your coming from, and yes, upholding tradition is important.

And yes, CAIR is a wonderful organization.

It's so honest several of its members have been convicted of terrorism (Bassem Khafagi and Randall "Ismail" Royer, just to name a couple).

It's so tolerant it's cofounder Omar Ahmad has allegedly been quoted as saying "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran ... should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth."

Lastly, it's so accurate in guessing the number of Muslims in the U.S. that their results conflict with, I don't know, virtually all other estimates using more scientific methodology.

While I have nothing against Islam, I have to disagree with you about CAIR, regardless of how well they handled THIS controversy.

[...] According to this GamePolitics article, Capcom’s racial insensitivity isn’t focused solely on African villagers. Nay, the House of Mega Man is truly an equal opportunity offender (assuming you aren’t caucazoid). Unlike the Resident Evil 5 issue though, the matter of Capcom vs the most controversial religious group in our modern world seems to have been settled. [...]

@ Conejo - I was gonna say something, but EOTD took the words outa my mouth... or fingers as it were.

Seriously, I can see where you're coming from, but I have faith that common sense will prevail.

...

Ok, as an athiest, I was having a hard time understanding this one, but Darkesword cleared it up quite nicely. Thanks man.

Also, props to CAIR for handling their concerns appropriately. It's nice to see a counter-point "calm, reasonable muslim" to the "rioting, looting, and killing people over a Danish comic" we see on television quite often these days. Too bad they'll never get the same amount of press.

So this little comment is offensive but hacking off heads,oppressing women,and wanting to murder non Islamics isn't as long as it's in the name of God?

Freedom: I'm still unclear as to what one has to do with the other, unless the conclusion is "Islam is Bad, Muslims are Bad, and Capcom Should Insult Them".

Oh, just replace it all with all hail the spaghetti monster. That way nobody'll be upset.

...

Sometimes, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

Or, come to Gamepolitics, as it were.

People, things like this happen now and then- A few years back, the Sikh made a big stink about their inclusion in Hitman 2. They got all their people together (and for a group I'd never heard of before, they got an impressive number of people...), started banging on doors at Eidos. Metaphoricaly speaking, of course. Eidos apparently tried to play the issue off at first, but eventually conceded, apologised, and removed the content from the game. I think all they did was just remove the names involved.

Even that minor thing was still much, much more signifigant than... This apparent shitstorm, where I see some of the most flagrantly racist and intolerant commentary...

For the love of [insert diety here], it's just a game, people.

It's just a fucking game. Take this time to eat some dinner and kiss your family good night, instead of making a flame war here.

Freedom doesn't seem to know very much about Islam.

I'm with Davian here, to be honest, no big deal, they stated a preference for it to be removed and, I note, didn't wait till it had been out for nearly a year nor demand compensation for perceived 'damage'. Capcom did so and everyone is happy.

@ Vladimir

It's in the backgroun, about 20 seconds in. I only heard it the second time through, it's really hard to notice

that was at @zippy by the way.

You can't say "Allahu akbar", but you can say "Amen".

Pathetic.

???? When does it even get said in the video?

@anonymous

yeah i was gonna say if they said "praise god" in american the church would be patting them on the back. this makes no sense what so ever

I guess god is not so great after all huh?

:shrug:

Meh no big deal really, it's not like the phrase was actually important to the game. The game looks pretty weird though.

ya....and........how is this offensive?

what is mroe offensive is that PCnazis where black boots and march across the world bashing common sense everywhere they go.....

You know, CAIR aren't the only ones who caught this. In fact they probably noticed it when it was posted on GoNintendo a little over a week ago.

http://gonintendo.com/?p=21676

IF I were Capcom, I would have told CAIR that they don't listen to organizations that fund terrorism.

@Jeremy:
"...I know its probably hard not to flame a person whose only response on these boards are Muslims suck and Islam blah blah blah."

I've found that people who already hold such negative, ignorant opinions are vehemently fond of keeping them, so I generally don't even bother to argue. It ends up amounting to little more than a waste of time on my part.

@JC

The fire temple music was offensive to them, true. But they also got annoyed with the Guerdo's symbol, which was a cresent moon and star.

Ohma:

Well, it boils down to the fact that there were major differences between the content and style of this and the RE5 complaint. First off, this is actually somewhat offensive - allahu ackbar plays as primitive monkeys drink soup out of bowls shaped like human skulls? - although I agree it was probably accidental. By contrast, when you consider that:

- The past ten or so RE games contained almost exclusively white zombies

- The player character in one of those games was black, and no-one cared about a black character killing white zombies

- RE4 features almost exclusively Spanish zombies, and the basic reaction of Spanish people to the whole thing was "Hey, cool, Spanish zombies!"

- Zombie mythology does, in fact, *originate* from Vodou, which originates from Africa. So setting a zombie-themed game in Africa makes perfect sense anyway

RE5 really seems pretty tame by comparison.

You also have to look at the scale of things. CAIR are asking Capcom to alter a background tune. Crazy RE5 lady is asking Capcom to revamp the entire plot of the game - which realistically means changing most or all of the textures, and probably a significant part of the gameplay - pushing a release back by at least a year.

Let's also look at decorum. CAIR sends a private letter politely asking if Capcom could maybe see their way to making a change. Crazy RE5 lady denounces RE5 as KKK propaganda or worse (from her article: "Start them young… fearing, hating, and destroying Black people"). She also demonstrates pretty much every single misconception of video games that endangers the legal status medium (she says RE5 is marketed to children, and in her followup she calls us all crazy Columbine-shooter types).

Finally, when the crazy RE5 lady's website always capitalises "Black" and never capitalises "white", and says in comments that “Yes… I am more comfortable with the zombies being white. In fact, ALL zombies should be white from this day forth”, questions are pretty much bound to be asked about her racial objectivity.

Hence, I feel totally happy with CAIR's request and Capcom's response, while simultaneously calling the RE5 complainant crazy. Hope that helps explain things.

For the first few comments, I was starting to regret coming on GP today. Thanks to DarkeSworde for clearing up exactly why it's offensive in this context, and shame on everyone who just jumped to false conclusions immediately.

(I can't see the clip from here at work, but it's obvious from the descriptions here in the comments that the phrase was being used out of context, flippantly and isn't approaching a significant part of the game. It doesn't damage the playing experience to remove it, so why get worked up?)

While I am pleasantly surprised that this hasn't fallen to the depths that the last article did, I have to ask why?

The previous article, while being a critique of gaming in general, was still just someone's opinion on a *possible* interpretation of a video game trailer. This on the other hand, is about how a game was *altered* as a result of the efforts of a group fairly similar to a group that seemed to be oft demonized in the previous comments.

Now, while it would fit very nicely with the overall picture of gamer culture I've developed over the past several years, I still hesitate to boldly declare that it's because the previous article was written by a woman (though it *would* fit uncomfortably well with my prior bad experiences with...well online communities in general really).
There are other factors which could be likely as well, the RE series has a larger fanbase than this game, people are more hesitant to bash a religious group than an ethnic one, or even that the people who would be trolling these comments are still in the previous mess.

Still, the difference in the attitude between the comments on these articles it is very curious.

When it comes down to it I don't trust any of these groups that are supposed to prevent discrimination against just their people.(CAIR,JDL,ect...)

If people still believe that injustice is happening then we need one group working together to sort these issues out.For when we are united we something yous get the point.

Last thing we need is another Don Imus thing happening.

I think this was very well handeled. THe phrase in question is a very serious issue to muslims. They view it as one of the most holy words that can be used. Amen does not even come close. It would be like going into a church in the 1300s and yelling out "Jesus Christ its hot out there!" Chances are you would end up dead. So to them, it is a big deal. The fact that it was handeled without an overblown media frenzy is a plus. It was a simple problem with a simple solution. All's well that ends well.

@ Soga

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."
Marcus Aurelius

"Truth is what works."
William James

"There are various eyes. Even the Sphinx has eyes: and as a result there are various truths, and as a result there is no truth."
Friedrich Nietzsche

Well I follow two religious belief systems and I never find insult in to anyone using sound bytes of Buddhist chants or Christian hymnals. In fact I find it neat sometimes when they are used.

And though I find it annoying that once again a Muslim group is getting involved in censorship and the stifling of freedom of speech, I have to applaud them in the approach they took. No violence, no jihads, just a reasonable hey we find this offensive would you take it out and a thank you letter when it was done. Now granted the proverbial shit might have hit the fan if Capcom had said no but at least they took the most reasonable approach I have heard of in a long time that involved a Muslim group and something they didn’t like.

Now on to the comments

@Everyone who is having words with Freedom

I noticed that many people are insulting Freedom saying he has no knowledge of Islam and what not. I hate to say it but I understand most of Freedom’s viewpoints not because I want to believe that all Muslims believe in raping their daughters and cutting off body parts but because the only time we hear anything about the Muslim community is when a group does something insane like rioting because cartoons were drawn about your religious icons and leaders. We rarely hear about the events that put Muslims in a better light, we only hear about the atrocities that are being committed in the name of Islam.

The problem frankly stems from the fact that we basically have two groups of Islamic in this world. We have the educated reasonable understanding westernized Muslims, who usually understand that people once in awhile are going to do something they find offensive and if they can get them to stop great if not you don’t necessarily strap a bomb to your chest and try to kill them. Then we have the Middle Eastern Muslims, who vilify the west (like we do them), who are taught from the day they can speak about how it is great to die in the name of Islam; that being a martyr is a great thing; and that all westerners and Jews are their enemies. These people you can’t expect to reason with as much, you have to understand that they have been brainwashed since childhood to believe a certain thing.


@DarkeSword

Thank you for your insight, its nice to actually read some view points from a Muslim. Especially since the couple of times I have seen a Muslim issue involved a suppose Muslim insulting everyone because they were having a problem with what the Muslims were complaining about. I hope you can keep the calm responses I have seen coming, I know its probably hard not to flame a person whose only response on these boards are Muslims suck and Islam blah blah blah.
letter when it was done.

As for the people that cant hear it, its right before the guy makes it to the where the chest is on the pillar surronded by fire. It happens when the flue player stops and the little guys bow down.

i am a muslin,and this our call to prayer.we dont monkeys to be depicted as us ok.