I have to admit, I partially agree with Zippy, I have wondered if there is a level of pandering to history to be seen as a victim to forward an agenda.

I'd laugh really hard if there actually was a black person that worked on the game.

Its not racist imagery. It is a setting, it is exactly the same as the RE4 and the zombies being Spanish. How is it not? Is he implying that Spanish people are somehow not as important? Is that implication not racist in itself? Lets ignore that for now as there are more important things reflected in Croal's interview.

Croal just wants attention and he'll get it. This isn't a joke but he surely is. The game has yet to even be released and he is upset at the trailer. It is completely about the skin color of the zombies. He is trying to say it isn't but his comments clearly reflect that opinion.

He is basing his opinion on a trailer. How many times does one base their entire opinion of a game on a trailer only to end up with their foot in their mouth? I see this happening here.

__"I think, again, the point is not that Capcom can’t or shouldn’t make a zombie game set in what appears to be an impoverished country where the majority of residents are black. I’m not saying that. But what I am saying is that if I was Capcom, I wouldn’t have suggested to put out that trailer. I would have said, “You know what, this has tremendous capacity for being misunderstood, and we want to signal that this is not what you might think it is” — and they didn’t do that. That’s what I’m saying."__

Capcom can make the game but they just shouldn't advertise it? Double talk, trying to spin things, this reflects dishonesty. He absolutely was saying that and he is just attempting to cover it up so his opinion seems more reasonable. You see politicians do this every day, lets pay attention to the language Croal decides to use.

__"Again the portrayal of Africa, or the Caribbean, since we don’t know where it’s being set, as sort of this dark, dangerous continent filled with people who only want to do you harm goes back a long, long way. And based on the images put up on the trailer, what else are you supposed to take from it? Especially if you’re not familiar with the franchise?
“It’s very difficult in this country, in many countries, to have a conversation about race.”

Even if you are familiar with the franchise, if you are familiar with those images and their historical weight, you look at it and say, “Man, that’s kind of messed up.” "__

Just support for my comment above, he is saying one thing then also saying he isn't saying it. This tactic belongs in the political realm but is commonly taken and used in aspects of the media such as this. N'Gai Croal is not only jumping the gun but he is using this dishonest tactic in a foolish attempt to remain the "innocent" party. You can fool some people sometimes, but you can't fool all the people all of the time.

Lets take a closer look at this extended trailer and take a close look at the imagery, I will include time stamps to let you know what to look at and you can decide for yourself if you agree with me or not. I do have training in the arts but I always stress that experience in the arts means jack except when it comes to technique. Anyone can be critical of art if they just simply care enough to pay attention.

__"It’s like they’re all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It’s not even like one cute African — or Haitian or Caribbean — child could be saved. They’re all dangerous men, women and children."__

So this quote seems to be his main point of the entire article, it definitely set the mood early on so lets keep it in mind when we are watching this trailer.

0:00 - 0:46 into the trailer.

This seems like every day life for many people. I don't have the desire to kill anyone of these people yet. Maybe Croal does but I certainly have yet to have a desire to kill anyone walking down a street carrying a container on or people talking. I will grant that there is one character that seems to be up to no good. He shows up at 0:34. He doesn't look like he is happy and he doesn't seem to like you but so far thats the only threatening or dangerous imagery that the video has thus far.

0:47 - 0:55
Angry mob. These people do seem dangerous but they are focusing their anger onto someone. This implies they have a reason to be angry. Perhaps some political uprising? At this point it is unclear but clearly these people are angry and throwing stones.

0:55 - 1:31
No one dangerous here. Clearly the main character seems to be out of place because of his skin color but also because of his attire which seems to be made out of more of a quality material and seems to be cleaner. This was done, in my opinion, to show the audience that he is an outsider in this area. It works. I must stress that none of the people around this character presents themselves as dangerous or the need to be killed. Notice this is the halfway point and none of the citizens in the area depicted seemed like they should be killed or attacked.

1:32 - 1:38
Innocent person gets infected with some kind of zombie virus. Again lets look up at Croal's statement that it seems like they all need to be killed and notice that this is the first time it happens. There are 4 individuals present in this room. One is the main character which is an outsider to this place. Two are the first truly dangerous individuals in the trailer that are inflicting harm on an innocent person. The innocent person here seems to be in a lot of pain and is obviously an unwilling participant in the event.

1:39 - 1:50
The innocent person turns from being a normal human into being a zombie. This is a sudden change from being a formerly peaceful victim of some kind of attack to being a violent person(zombie) that needs to be killed. Yet the main character does not immediately gun down the zombie so this reflects the earlier desire to help the individual that was being attacked by the two other people. Also take note that from 0:00 through 1:48 the music and sound have been gradually building suspense for the viewer. And it isn't until the 1:49, when the zombified individual becomes violent, that the music changes from suspenseful to fast-paced action.

1:51 - 2:01
The fast action music starts and everyone in town is a zombie. The character is defending himself from the now violent zombies and always walking backward. The viewer has now seen a village where it seems like normal every day life(with the exception of the angry mob scene) go to a village out to kill this one individual. Clearly something has happened.

2:02
Aviators guy with a loud speaker. This makes things make more sense as loud speakers are commonly used during political protests. So clearly there is some kind of political situation going on and this explains the angry mob and also labels this person as being more important and probably more responsible for the zombies acting the way they do.

2:03 -2:31
Jittery, fast paced action-packed scenery of violence and struggle. The main character is gunning down zombies but also getting attacked by them. This is normal because if you're surrounded by zombies and have a weapon you are going to be slaughtering them or getting slaughtered by them. Its the core of the game really so this isn't surprising. I do think that this is the only portion of the game N'Gai Croal seemed to pay any attention to.

2:32 - 3:08
This is the end of the trailer. There really isn't any more interaction with the village beside that really quick clip at 2:34 which seems to be a death scene. This portion is meant to identify the game and the company and to also make the viewer want more(to buy the game).

3:08-3:12
I don't know what this is, it doesn't seem to belong at all in the video... I don't think it has anything to do with the actual trailer.

This trailer was powerful and well directed. The entire first half depicts many of the villagers as being normal people. Perhaps angry at some kind of political issue going on at the time, it is a bit unclear what that is but the point is something happens to them and they turn into zombies. It is clearly a Resident Evil story development plot and even if you are not familiar with the Resident Evil series you probably know what zombies are.

If you don't know what zombies are and you only watch 1:51 - 3:08 then obviously you are going to probably agree with N'Gai Croal. However if you know what zombies are and you see even 1:32-3:08 I would definitely find it hard to accept that you don't think something is wrong with those people. And if you have actually watched and payed attention to the entire thing it doesn't matter if you know what zombies are or not you see people go from normal life, to angry, to bloodied sickly looking brainwashed killers.

I'm sorry but I have a hard time believing that Mr. Croal even payed attention to the trailer. I'm not convinced in the slightest. Again I see this as him trying to get some attention from a hot topic that is easily twisted in his favor. Not impressive by any standard. It isn't even that good of an attempt to spin the issue. [FAIL]

ZippyDSMlee

your looking way to much into what I said, I just thought at the time that the game took place in Haiti, as most articles that I have read said that.
I withdrew my statement with another one a little while after the first, because I checked the link in Robert Lings Post.

I'd wager this wouldn't have even been an issue if they used a different soundtrack, the music gives an overall sense of menace and it sets the overall mood. I get the impression N'gai is reacting to the way they are portrayed not the fact they were portrayed.

PH
Africa actually, Ngai said Hatti in his article as discussion fodder.

@Rammsoldat

Fellow UK'er here too, Scotland in fact. I can see where N'gai is coming from and I think a lot of people are trivialising what he is saying, some just seem to be jumping on the bandwagon without even reading what he has to say.

Its open to interperation, for example:

Star Wars, notice how the Empire are all English, isn't it obvious George Lucas was dregdging up the UK's history to paint us as immoral Imperalist slavers. If they weren't sinister they were submissive. Meanwhile their personal army, Stormtroopers, were faceless drones sent into peril at the command of the Imperialist masters who sat in safety.

The rebellion however consists of young commited American freedom fighters. Echoing the war for independance.

Jabba the Hutt represents America at its worse, corrupt and corpulant but this is easily resolved by a few dedicated members of the rebellion, showing once again that the American spirit cannot be quashed.

The above is, of course, total bullshit. Is it racist because you didn't see Star Wars in the way I just described? No. Is it racist because you aren't aware of the regional and historical sensitivities of a foreign nation or culture. No.

"Also, ohma, any “point” you could have possibly made just now is completely overshadowed by the ignorant statement that gamers are mostly “of the sheltered, privileged, upper-middle-class, white, male, persuasion” "

Like I give a shit what you morons think of me any more.

Maybe he's talking about the black zombies chucking knives and spears?
Still, it's stupid.

@LujanD
You had me in stitches dude, really.

@ KayleL
"When ever I and many other people think of Africa, we think of the victims, not the criminals. They think of the kids with missing legs, mothers who die from birth, kids who are left alone because the parents die from malnutrition, children who are forced into war due to corrupted governments."

I'm not sure thinking of Africans as victims is any better than thinking of them as corrupt officials. You still only seem to see part of the picture, but think that you have the better half. I think we all have kneejerk images that come up in response to certain things, but perhaps it would be better to spend time thinking about the Africans who are neither.
Those in Accra, Cairo, Marrakech and Cape Town, for example, who live a life much like our own, granted without some of the luxuries, but not necessarily in poverty.

@ LujanD

"Now I’m intrigued, exactly what luxuries do you believe ‘they’ are missing?"

With the exception of Cape Town, really banging electro. There;s just no decent rave music in North and North West Africa.

Dude ted. You said.
It is set in Africa!!! So there are gonna be African Americans!!!??????
WTF????

Africans are Africans, not African Americans.
I think the depiction of the people was racist. I dont think they're not gonna be dropping N bombs or nothing like that but this game is certainly looking to be in the grey area.

There are no black people in Japan? That's like saying, of course there aren't any asian people working on Mass Effect, Bioware is a CANADIAN company.

Incidentally, Capcom is an international company, with headquarters in Japan and California.

Funny thing about racism, 5 times out of ten you wont see it unless you are racist......

Yeah, the North American Capcom office pretty does nothing but translate and contact a studio about voice acting. The only racial issue the Japanese ever run into, near as I can tell, is when depicting other eastern asian ethnicities such as the Chinese but in particular the Koreans.

On another note, my cousin's been to Haiti and the pictures he took compared to the scenes in the game (minus the whole military and zombie stuff of course) do kind of look dead-on for the background. I would get off Capcom's back.

@ Dick Ward

Think about this for a second.

You are being pursued by caucasian zombies hungry for your flesh, what do you do?
Shoot them, of course.

You are being pursued by Black zombies hungry for your flesh, what do you do?
Shoot them of course.

@Dick Ward

Sadly, some peoples (like someone we know too well) only sees what they want to see.

This is why I only trust balanced speech that presents both sides correctly. This speech looks like that person only saw the trailer and didn't bother looking for much more.

Resident Evil 2 had a black zombie you had to kill. Why are they getting up in arms just now?

I'd be interested to know exactly which parts of the preview looked racist to be honest. I can understand how the representation of Africa being peopled by a Volatile people who all live in derelict townships could be considered a poorly-considered image to portray, but I'd say that is more stereotyping than racism, and has been carried over from other Media.

I can understand a race that endured slavery and abuse in the Western World being somewhat uncomfortable at the concept of playing one white man wandering around in an all-black environment shooting them, take away the context and yes, it would be racist, so I think what N'Gai is saying is that he will save his final judgement until he knows how the story is presented.

It possibly also raises uncomfortable overtones because of the problems Africa has recently had with the AIDS epedemic.

Whilst Capcom is a Japanese company at heart, the game unknowingly touches on some very delicate imagery here in the West, and I think that I, like N'Gai, will be interested to see how Capcom present that imagery through the story, there's 3 different cultures 'interacting' here (Japanese writing a game about Westerners and Africans) and a lot of possibility for misunderstandings.

"What was not funny, but sort of interesting [about the controversy], was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"

Perhaps the reason that gamers can't see the racism is because we don't see black people in something and try to figure out how its racist. Our ability to see past the color of a zombie's skin and see them for what they are shows that we are growing as a people and people like this that make this an issue are only deterring humanity's evolution.

@sbryce

During conversations, I've learn to forget the color of the skin of the person I spoke too.

But there are some who clearly can't do that.

I truelly think N'Gai should delve deeper in the game, before even making a conclusion.

Take for instance GTA San Andreas. You, as a black male regularly shoot white cops. In fact, except for the motorcycle cops, every cop ingame is white. Now, if you have the game, you know that the "Bad guy" is also black.
The Resident Evil series have been full of caucasians antagonists and protagonists. Suddenly, the local is changed in RE5, which happens to be Africa. You know, where the VAST MAJORITY of all black people live.
That is not racist. It would be racist if its INTENT is to kill black people as a measure of white supremacy, but that has never been the case.

@ DoggySpew

He's not complaining that the zombies are black.

this whole controversie is bull!
really, this guy just wants attantion, that´s why.
nobody thought whether or not this trailer could offend someone, because it wasn´t meant to!

and by the way: what sense would it make to have a black gordon freeman? it doesn´t even matter which color he has,
because you never see him in the game...

@Dick Ward:

Blacks ARE a tiny minority in Japan, and even in North America, they're not common in the game industry, so I would be very surprised if there were any on the development team. That being said, however, I doubt there were many whites either. Japan is not exactly known for its multiculturalism.

Quick ps: Capcom announced earlier this week that the game is set in Africa, not Haiti. The original story can be found on MTV Multiplayer and Kotaku. The game's director, who clarifies the game's setting also says something along the lines that "We wanted to pick a setting where we could reveal the origin of the zomebie virus, and what better place than the continent that science tells us humanity originated on?"

The problem with racism is that it is damn hard to define and see in this day and age; it is a subtler question than yesteryear's white hood and burning cross indicators. Mr. Croal makes a really good point about the setting: there is no doubt that trailer makes use of "otherness" and classical racist images.
The problem, as it often is, is the nature of art. What is the game's message? We can't answer that question before playing the game, and even then probably not definitively, but we can consider the issue. Does it make a work "racist" if it uses classically racist images? Wouldn't then Uncle Tom's Cabin be racist, for portraying stereotypical "Negroes?"

Now, I'm not suggesting that RE5 is Uncle Tom's Cabin, or that it can't possibly be racist, but I'm suggesting that the work might have a idea that it it's trying to communicate that is best couched in this imagery.

And it is a further consideration to realize that this is a Japanese game. Is it fair to judge the work based on American sensibilities? It really is possible that the original concept designers didn't realize how thoroughly America is steeped in these questions of modern-day racism. Maybe they weren't aware of what these images and tones of "otherness" and fear mean to us when they're associates with Black men and women.

And... on the topic of the game itself, I really don't consider it racist. When I think of stereotypical zombies, I think of a ravenous, mindless horde shambling around and trying to eat brains.... which is exactly what we see here. When I think of stereotypical blacks I think of... I dunno... watermelon? KFC? Stealing stuff? I'm not too familiar with American racist stereotypes.

I think that people who see a stereotypical black man in a plain old zombie are the racist ones. Even if those people are black... if that's how they see their own race, I pity them.

@ PiB

He's the videogame blogger for Newsweek.

No, it's not because you're shooting black people. His concern is that the setting and actions are very stereotypical and portray a rascist view. It shows life in Africa or Haiti (wherever it actually takes place) in a way that shows no research on their part, simply an assumption.

I'm not saying he's right, I'm just explaining the view. Read the article if it's unclear.

Robert Ling
you forget the world is judged and put to fame over American sensibilities. *shudders*

But the way I see this going is that the media sensationalists and to a greater or equal degree black activist sensationalists that use black peoples standing in the nation to push their warped views on others and keep blacks in general in a state of victimization so they can stay in business, its being used as a means to further the cause of black victimization.

Yes I understand that line of thought is oxymoronic, and I can be quite the moron but my point is its being blown out of perportion for sensationalism and partly PCish activism.

PHOENIXZERO
Neither are "Americans" *rolls eyes*

Dick Ward
Dose it matter? its a fictional setting in a 3rd world country(or 2nd I forget) if they mix their 3rd/2nd world settings alil.

I don't think we've had enough footage to see if it's really sterotypical yet. I mean, if you show part of, say, Max Payne, you can make it look like the company was trying to make New York look like one big slum. For all we know this could be just a tiny part of the game, and the rest could take place in, say, a military base, or a hidden lab, or a million other things.

Imagine if you took only the Pueblo (Spelling, probably, sorry) from RE4. It'd look horribly racist, infering that all Spanish live in tiny little towns with no running water or electricity. I think we just need more gameplay footage. The next area could be a giant city, or an extravegant mansion.

@PiB

I don't remember saying that the game is rascist. I was explaining N'Gai's point. I haven't played the game, I know very little about African/Haitian culture so I don't know whether it is rascist. What I do know is that your interpretation of his argument is incorrect and you would benefit from reading the whole article before engaging in conversation. This is why I corrected you, not because I agree with mister Croal.

Dick Ward
while he is doing in a placid manner its still rather sensationalist, there would be no discussion here if they(the zombies) where a whiter shade of pale.

and I would bet if the main character was black it would have not garnered the media attention it has gained.

I'm serious when I say this. All this "THAT'S RACIST" bullshit has made me a racist.

I fucking hate anyone who does that, and guess what: Minorities do it like no tomorrow.

Now, I don't hate them because of their color or whatever. And I know not all of them are as pathetic as this. But a majority of all minorities are. And I hate them for that. So by proxy, yeah, I guess I'm a fucking racist. Who the fuck ISN'T these days? It's IMPOSSIBLE.

Fuck I hate these people.

@Pinworm

There's a big difference in hating minorities and hating extremists. I only hate the latter and it doesn't matter if they are American, African or whatever.

@Pinworm

Majority?

That's just like saying the majority of Christians are dickheads like Jack Thompson. When in reality, this isn't true. It only seems like that because those fools are just the most vocal. You'd be surprised to see how little "minorities" are like this.

"What was not funny, but sort of interesting [about the controversy], was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"

Which by no means tells they are racists, unless they are enough racist to see that kind of behaviour from black people completely normal for them, which I doubt.
Wouldn't an utopia be just like that, a place where someone points out your skin color would be as random as pointing out your hair color?

I do understand though, that it might be good to consciously make a note about the race of the zombies... Not that I think seeing a crowd of black zombies attacking in a video game is gonna make yourself xenophobic towards black people, but stereotypes are suprisingly easy to create... Though I think that making you see all blacks as savages that attack you with hatchets and pitchforks on sight might take more than one game. :/
I wouldn't be too worried.

"It’s not as simple as saying, “Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in ‘Resident Evil 4,’ and now ‘black zombies and that’s why people are getting upset.” The imagery is not the same. It doesn’t carry the same history, it doesn’t carry the same weight…"

Right, because non of the Spanish speaking population never faces racism and people living on countryside don't have any offensive stereotypes on them? This was sarcasm by the way.

@Dick Ward
"I’ve not played the game, so I’m not able to judge, and I find it funny how many people are willing to defend RE. I’m not saying it’s a rascist game, I’m just curious how everyone else knows it isn’t?"

Because jumping the gun easily provokes an exact opposite reaction, even from person who would be normally balanced in his/her opinion.
We don't know what this game is about, and even if it doesn't make some deep points about the situation of Africa, the possibly racist imaginary is more likely the result of a naive design of a people living in homogenous nation (and by that I don't mean xenophobic country, but a country that doesn't have such an overblown political correctness) rather than a statement against a race.
If a Japanese game gives a bad image of Koreans or Chinese, then it's probably straight out racism... This just seems rather naive design.

And while Capcom doesn't make the best possible stories, I think they have enough sense to add few black good guys too, as in RE4 there was good Spanish guys... It's not much, but don't expect any deep thoughts on Africa's situation from their storywriters.

Besides, from what I gathered, they made the game take place in Africa because they thought it would be both a nice change of scenery and it would be fitting if the origins of the virus were in the same place as humanity's.

Pinworm, what if they're making a legitimate complaint? Sure the race card is thrown around a lot, but does that mean it's never valid?

@ Xeli

The problem in the above article is not that black people are the bad guys. The problem stated is that the depiction of Africa is stereotypical and provokes a negative image.

Well..we should do what we did for the first few games, and kill white people, but instead of a white main character, let's make him black. I bet that's not racist. Then again, I guess it was racist that Kenneth was the first to die in the original resident evil. Then, it was probably racist that the black police officer was the only black zombie in resident evil 2 (though, I'm not sure if it is racist that he is the only black zombie or the fact you kill him)...

I'd hit them with a blunt object. I'm not a very good shot :p

I'm not sure what your point is though, as no one is complaining that black zombies are getting shot.

@ Pinworm

People bitch about it because it is a problem. Because people who are not rascist may not realise that the product is and take information from it that is false. Misinformation is very dangerous. It's the same reason that I bitch about psychics advising people on medical procedures, or people shelling out money for 'dietary suppliments'. I'm sure you do the same when people say that games make people kill.

@Pinworm

The number seems alarming because they scream the loudest. Even if they cry wolf quite a lot of time, it's often the VERY same peoples. Come to think of it, if one person out of an hundred of a population was screaming on issues for days non stop, neighbours would think that the entire group of 100 persons would be whining.

It looks like there are many of them because the ones who's alright with it won't complain.

@ Zippy

This is not the reason that N'Gai beleives the game to be rascist. It's not because they're black. I'm not sure why you think he's trying to make a quick buck either, he's a videogame journalist that was asked a question and answered it. He works for Newsweek, I'm sure he's doing okay.

Did anyone read the above article? The game takes place in Haiti, Haiti is not in Africa, it is in the Caribbean.

@Marlow:

You should look farther then the article: In a recent interview with Jun Takeuchi, it was revealed that the game is placed in Africa, not Haiti.

Crap, forgot the link : http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32758.html

"Besides last I checked if still shifts from almost first world modern cities down to primtve hut based villages, so what if it focus on huts and small villages and outlaying areas…they are outlaying after all…… "



not to mention zombies arent too big on home improvement

@ Pinworm

No, I'm not going to trust Fox News. They don't know anything about videogames, they just assume things. They brought on a videogame journalist and wouldn't let him talk. But that's not what's happening here.

What's happening here is a legitimate videogame journalist explaining his concern with Resident Evil 5. He's not saying don't but it, he's not saying that the game will make you a rascist, he's just raising the question.

@Dick Ward

Your lack of trust for Fox News and how they don't know anything is my point.

I don't trust the racist card because it's used so often when it does not apply. That lack of trust has caused me to generally hate anyone who uses it.

I know I know, there are situations where it applies. But they are few and far between. This is NOT one of them.

I did not see robert lings post, Nevermind

@Meggie and all others saying it's not the black zombies making it racist, but the.. huts.. or whatever

What exactly does that change?

Are they saying because we show huts instead of high tech houses in Africa that the game is racist?

Excuse me, but isn't Africa kind of.. NOT a nice place to live? I'm sure there are areas that are more.. er.. Better places to live, I guess. Urban.

But are there NOT areas that do poorly? Becuase if not, I might be thinking about asking for a refund on donations made to help the horrible areas in Africa.

But even if Africa wasn't all huts, and was a beautiful place. How is it racist to show the area as huts? It's just level designs. How is that at all racist? I really don't understand.

I mean, If they made a game that showed Canada (where I live) as living in Igloos, I wouldn't be offended. I'd probably laugh. Okay, I guess that Africa is no laughing matter, but it kind of shows the difference between us.

I mean, I'd just know it's wrong. I don't see how that would put a negative spin on Canadians, and I don't see how this puts a negative spin on Black people or Africans.

In fact, I would say it would give the 'mainstream white' audience more empathy towards Africas situation more than anything.

But I guess the fellow who wrote the article is right.. White people like me just can't see racism.

@TJLK - You sir, are made of win. You have THE definitive comment @ 1:59 pm on this non-controversy that I have read on any site anywhere. Period.

@ Karsten

Zombies in Resident Evil are people who have been infected with the
"T-Virus" that was developed by the Umbrella Corporation.

@ Zippy

If I made a zombie game featuring underfed Jewish zombies in the 1940s, I'm sure people would complain a bit. That's what he means by history.

Pinworm Says:
"@Meggie and all others saying it’s not the black zombies making it racist, but the.. huts.. or whatever"
I was clarifying the author's point, not claiming he was right. Perhaps to be clearer, that sentence should have read "Exactly, a lot of people are under the impression THE AUTHOR SAID it’s only the existance of black zombies that make the game racist (which others prior have argued that is does, so I understand the confusion)." Don't be so quick to think everyone is against you, nor that legit cases of racism are simply "bitching." I understand that the race card gets overused, but trying to remedy the situation by never addressing racism again isn't the answer.

Dick Ward -

People would complain but there wouldn't be anything racist about it if it was given in the context as the Resident Evil 5 trailer. There obviously is a story there and the comments by Croal reflected one of a person who didn't pay attention until halfway through the trailer. (Also one who is ignorant about what a Zombie or Resident Evil is)

man i feel sorry N’Gai Croal and man do i feel ashamed to be a gamer, all the guys trying to do is point out something as obvious as daylight and now he has to face an army of middle class whiteboys who seem to think that their more oppressed than blacks during slavery just because a black person points out that somethings kinda racist

@ Dick Ward, re 2:07 PM comment - While that may be what Croal meant, it doesn't make it true, accurate or even worthy of this much discussion.

Imagine it: a RE game where you find out Umbrella was around in Germany in the late 30s, and were actually the driving force behind Hitler's rise to power. Why? Because they needed bodies on which to experiment.

"Underfed Jewish zombies" as you called them would be, AS THEY ARE IN EVERY RE GAME, the victims. As the "hero" you would still have to kill them. They want to eat you. And, getting into a little more of the esoteric philosophy of this, it's actually humane to put a zombie down. It's the right moral choice IMHO.

It is entirely possible to create a RE storyline, set in concentration camps, that is not "racist" (we're all the same race, but I defer to the common misuse of the word).

At some point people need to stop crying foul at every opportunity. Croal seems to have seized on the opportunity to be at the center of a short-lived whirlwind by being deliberately provocative when he damn well ought to know better.

Clarification of my 2:16PM point: I meant to say that the Jewish zombies in this imaginary scenario would be, like the zombies in every RE game, the victims of Umbrella - a stand-in for man's inhumanity to man.

That point wasn't clear in my comment, sorry.

I don't think RE5 is a racist game at all. The protagonist (correct me) in the game looks like a Caucasian male, but look at Cloud Strife, or any other game/movie from Japan that doesn't have the traditional anime-style eyes. They look Caucasian, but they could very well just be Asian, or both!

Just notice this though.. only American's get upset about random stuff. I've yet to see anyone from Canada, Europe, or even AFRICA for that matter throw a piss fit over a game such as RE5.

I'm from America, I'm black. I'm not at all offended by this game. I don't really care if they're black African zombies. It's just a game to me, entertainment. Jeez America, pull your mothers tit out of your mouth and grow some balls. You're acting like children!

Bryan
Is cool justing pointing out where Haiti was brought into the discussion.

WTF are you talking about, seriously, i know those words but you're post make no sense, ill give you a response when you figure out how to form coherent thoughts

Dick Ward

you missed the point of my question altogether. It was to suggest that the Devs themselves are not racist, but the media that they draw inspiration from have those sort of undertones to them, not to mention that the location will most likely make sense in the Context of the Story as RE4's did.

ZippyDSMlee
location does matter, Haiti is a small island Nation with a very distinct culture and history, Africa is a Continent with many nations and hundreds of tribal cultures, having it set in africa runs a real risk of people labeling all Africans, unless they make up a location, that just happens to be in africa, like I'm pretty sure There is no midwest town of Silent Hill or Racoon City or the spanish town in RE4 that I do not recall. In any event they all made sense in the context of the story as I am sure RE5's will.

@destijlcat - His comment made perfect sense. Questioning why Croal played the race card is NOT inherently racist. You implied that it is. ZippyDSMlee is simply saying that being skeptical about Croal's assertions of racism is NOT racist in and of itself.

ZippyDSMlee made a thoughtful, coherent point and you decided to make it an insultfest instead of a discussion. That has been your goal all along, I know - to insult anyone who doesn't believe Croal's point 100% without question. That much is obvious from your contributions in thsi thread.

The fact is you made this a personal attack when it need not be one, and you tried to imply a level of stupidity and lack of writing skill in ZippyDSMlee that simply isn't true.

You owe him/her an apology, although I doubt you'll be a big enough person to offer it.

destijlcat
Which might be difficult since I am learning disabled and have a hell of a time piecing words together.

it might help if you said what post it is you can not comprehend, I will be happyz to rewrite it for uuuu. *lick*

lets go with the last one at April 12th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

this means the remaining survivors of an area filled with zombies shoot first and ask questions later, which can make them savage like, I understand the savagery comment was about the zombies...but they are zombies after all.... hell the Dead movies misprotrays zombies completely I don't hear much whining about that.

N'Gai is the most racist asshole I've heard spew shit from his mouth since... since... I can't even think of anything. He's so set in his racist way he can't see that it's a goddamn game, made by the JAPANESE, set it HAITI... and has NOTHING to do with race.

They're FUCKING ZOMBIES! By claiming that the game is racist, he is doing nothing by confirming that he views black people as different than non-blacks. Until he can remove the RACIST goggles that he views the world through, he'll view EVERYTHING as racist... just like he does. Asshole.

DeusPayne/ronnoc

Ya the trick to his augment is it looks racist thus "what will the neighborer's think".

Hes padded the context of the visuals with his own line of thought to sensationalize and make money off his article.

sensationalism sales it would seem :P

One final thing..... FREE SPEECH. Even on the off chance the JAPANESE developers were being racist... who cares? I can say "nigger" "cracker" "chink" "spic" in books, movies, and TV, so why are the games different? We live in a tollerant society that is based on the fact that fiction DOES NOT equal reality. We have entertainment for a reason. We have the 1st amendment for a reason. If we went and complained about everything that anyone was ever offended by.... nothing would ever get done. I'm offended by the 9/11 movie, and the lies it spreads, but that doesn't stop it from being protected by the 1st amendment. I'm offended by the "BRATZ" dolls, and what they stand for, but I'd never complain about it as if they should be banned. FREEDOM. It's what the USofA stands for, and if N'Gai doesn't understand that, he can move to china, and feel free to attempt to control people's thoughts.

Meant to end my post with this: That being said if a Japanese company is being openly racist on purpose, it does not excuse them, but in this case I would argue it was more ignorance. Also this is probably why we never see much black representation in gaming, it's time bomb.

ZippyDSMlee
Yeah I know I already aknowledged that it is in africa and that it will most likely make sense in the context of the story. Are you reading all my posts or just the first sentence and then writing a Knee-jerk reaction.

destijlcat
wow so burring the race card yourself to defend your argument is somehow "pure" compared to asking why he is taking the video out of context, because he wishes to protect the masses from something they do not understand because all they see is a white guy shooting Africans?!?!.


GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!

@Dick Ward

Well that depends, Dicky, are those underfed Jewish zombies of the 1940s located in a concentration camp? Nazis, perhaps, testing a way to make an army of zombies. Suddenly, that isn't racist and seems historically correct. However that is set in the past. If RE5 is set in the present, what historical context are you placing on what appears to be a poor African village? I mean, they exist, so it is possible that someone could be testing zombie juice on this poor village, and it fits in with a present context, what's racist? Not them being black, you said...can't be the poor village...not the white guy shooting the black people? I just don't know.

Bryan
no I been writing to your current posts as far as I can tell, and its hard to knee jerk facts, plus it dose not hurt to reiterate said facts when others think this is set in Hatti when its not.

Not our fault you're a racist, destijlcat ;)

Fallenone
Ya I just see N'Gai stretching things to beyond the line of sensationalism.

H
Wonderfully said, we are only equal when we behave like adults, when you nick pick and excuse things like children we shall never grow as humans and stay petty malignant things.
=====================================
BTW to thos that can stand my writing I am working on a book project for self,so9emthign I have been working maturating in my skull the last 2 or so decades,I know I can not "write" but it helps me comprehend writeing and a good exsue to get out the rusty story'z I haz laying in my head.
my DA page(book project directly linked in my name)
http://zippydsm.deviantart.com/
My YT page(for my UT mod vids)
http://www.youtube.com/user/ZippyDSM

be so kind as to throw me some rotten tomatoes(IE comments) :P

H
I agree

yeah h im the racist, i obviously woke up in bizzaro world yeah

@destijlcat - Yes, you are the racist here. You're the ONLY ONE using race as a weapon, and you're the only one making grand assumptions about individuals based on what you THINK their race is.

You are a racist, as commonly defined in today's world. You should be ashamed of it and you should be ashamed for making this into a personal flamewar instead of a thoughtful discussion, like Dick Ward (and others) has done.

@Dick: Thanks for not being like destijlcat! :) Good discussion, and enjoy your meal.

Wow, way to stir up some controversy when there wasn't any to begin with. Thanks N'Gai!

Then why Grand Theft Auto San Andreas hasn´t been pointed as a racist game? It has many negative stereotypical imaginary about black people.

LOL

I think a lot of people here need to read the article. N'Gai never claims the game or developers are racist. He claims the trailer uses racist imagery and never even implies this is intentional. He hasn't judged the game and in fact talked about seeing how the actual game handles it. Also note that he'c Canadian and his parents are from South America, so he wasn't brought up in black American culture.

Allow me to summarize many of the arguments here:
*There is no racism anymore in the US.
*If any black person thinks there's racism it's because they are a whiner who can't take responsibility for their own problems.
*Alternatively, they may just be tryign to stir the shit because they hate America.
*Therefore any claims of racism should be dismissed on their face and whoever makes them should be regarded with suspicion.

Come on, people. N'Gai is one of the most mainstream video game journalists we have and if you read the rest of the article, you'll see he's hardly a reactionary.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/07/black-professionals-in-games-n...

What is it with this bunker mentality that if anyone says anything that could be interpreted as an attack on gaming means all gamers must have their two minutes hate? Come on!

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=18133

"It’s not as simple as saying, “Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in ‘Resident Evil 4,’ and now ‘black zombies and that’s why people are getting upset.” The imagery is not the same. It doesn’t carry the same history, it doesn’t carry the same weight"


So I think what the author here is saying is that its okay to shoot spanish zombies, but not black zombies, because of history. See its okay to shoot white zombies, spanish zombies, japanese zombies, what have you. But not black zombies... because of history. That is because the author here wants black zombies to be treated unequally to zombies of other races. You know why.

Because the author is racist.

Adam, can I draw your attention to this article on Eurogamer entitled "Resi 5 Boss Explains African Setting"

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=131570

"Well, I'm not a scientist, so I don't know how things might change in the future, but we thought we would use Africa, which is now called the birthplace of humanity, as the model."

What if someone made a video game adaption of Bamboozled? N'Gai's head might explode.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Resident Evil 0-3 had a lot of white zombies. RE 4 had spanish zombies. Now RE 5 is going to have black zombies. How the fuck is this one racist? If the game is set in an area of the world with mostly Spanish people then naturally the zombies will be spanish. If its set in Africa then naturally the majority of the zombies will be black. Theres nothing racist about it!

This is racist? Try telling the real-life African warlords, their child armies, the militias, and Haitian partisans that their very existence is 'racist'. If the protagonist were a U.S. or U.N. soldier and the villains were simply bloodthirsty mindless drug-crazed militants instead of mindless zombies would it be racist then? Shouldn't that be considered WORSE? "Dovetailed with classic racist imagery"? Imagery that carries history? Like what, 40 years of sporadic BBC coverage? This may be hard for people of African descent in the U.S. and Canada to understand, but Haiti and portions of Africa aren't exactly thriving civilizations; people still live in filthy huts and the populations, driven by decades of poverty, a lack of education, and ethnic strife, are prone to riots, genocides, and generally being savage and inhumane to their fellow humans. Would it have been okay if the protagonist were a black man mowing down black zombies? Is black-on-black violence automatically more acceptable? And where were the cries of 'racism' in regards to films like Last King of Scotland, Lord of War, or even the opening scene of Hitman?

I really like N'Gai, but the guy has a history of dewlling or race and wearing his ethnicity on his sleeve. This isn't very suprising.

And despite what he says, the very issue is that there ARE black zombies. The very fact that NOBODY complained about RE4 where stereotypical poor white Euorpean peasants were the zombies.

I doubt the Japanese developers were aware of the full extent of the poor racial relations there are in America. However, as an international company, I am suprised nobody at Capcom stepped in and warned them.

The time is not right for equal zombie opportunity. The time may never be right.

Ok, so... Every country has to base their race relations on America?

RE5 is being developed in Japan, they don't have the same history as America. It's like that Black/White PSP deal. Not every country has a history of enslaving africans. (One could almost say it's racist to expect Japan to treat black people better than the spanish since Japan's history with both is pretty much equal.) If this game was developed in America, I could understand the complaints. But different countries have different histories when it comes to anything.

Its a zombie-shooter, for gods sake. Why are people putting so much into it?

Erik, I posted this above but i'll repost it.

The producer for RE5 has already stated to Famitsu magazine its set in Africa.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=131570

By stating that I have to consider the historical context of a people or an image N'gai is actually promoting racism.

Equality means just that everyone is equal.

Does racism still exist? Certainly. However this hunting for it is a step backwards, saying that something shouldn't be done because of the history is a step backwards. N'Gai seams to have an issue with the setting, unless he has a survey of the whole continent that can state with 100% accuracy that nobody lives in a village like that in Africa then even the setting ceases to be racist and is just an image of reality. An unpleasant reality to be sure but reality none the less.

I've never heard of this guy before and will avoid him in the future.

I just started watching Star Wars again. I noticed that, like, 20 white people were killed in the first 5 minutes (funny, I don't see parents rioting about this movie being played prime time Saturday, considering how violent it is and with incestuous overtones).

See, I don't know anything about Black Hawk Down. I never saw it. You know what, maybe the music being 'reminiscent' is a 'coincidence'. Maybe it doesn't have racist overtones because I'm not going out looking for them. Perhaps Coco Puffs and Frosted Flakes aren't racist either (stand up comedian pointed out his father thought they were racist because you'd have to be coo coo to like Coco Puffs).

In isn't the fact that first there were American zombies, then there were Spanish zombies and now there are African zombies. In RE4, the Spanish zombies were portrayed as slobs, disgusting in their eating habits and with disgusting beds (when you examined the tables, pots, or beds, it was actually pointed out). But that wasn't said to be portraying Spaniards in a negative light.

I'm a white male, but I have an African-American god-mother (who taught me how to tie my shoes). I was raised in an area that had a 50/50 white/black population (no Spanish or Asian {wound up marrying an Asian}). I didn't actually believe racism existed until I moved away. I always thought it was like witch trials, it was something that happened a long time ago. Then I moved to the big city. Here there is a 85/15 black/white ratio, with every other group mixed together. In my office, it's particularly evident. And yet, I've never had any problems.

You know what, if it comes out for the Wii with similar controls as RE4, I'm getting it. Totally.

So let me get this straight. In Mr. Croal's version of the zombie apocalypse all African undead have somehow bonded together to build a city of exemplary quality, quite obviously called "Brainopolis", and for the developers from Japan to make this game in a setting much more reflecting the likely aftermath of said apocalypse is racist?

"was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"

Yeah - I can't see invisible horses wearing top hats either. Probably because they aren't there. He's acting as if it was the intention of the developers to be racist. Like they purposefully got together and said (in Engrish) "We hatu bracks" and then they made this game based upon a movie about events that actually bloody happened.

I mean how accurate does he want the entire game to be? There are soulless mutated beasts trying to eat me - I'm not going to just politely ask them to move out of my way if they're a different colour. I'm an equal opportunity zombie massacre.

@Buncha Kneejerks:

Well, I think the gaming community does tend to overreact over that sort of thing, but this is still a wee bit different because the game does not characterize black PEOPLE in a negative/stereotypical manner; it characterizes black ZOMBIES that way. If regular black people were portrayed as innately violent, ravenous, mindless beasts, then yeah, it would be racist, but in this case we have pretty standard zombies who just happen to be black.

The only racists are the ones that try to export their hate of white people to Japan and tell Japanese that because some of their ancestors were slaves, the Japanese can't have black people die in their games unless they are in the KKK(which by the way hates Asian people too)...

Sarcasm
So Japanese, be more responsible, the next time you make a game in a country that is predominantly black, make sure there are only white people in it... In fact show that everyone in Africa is white, well maybe there are some black dictators but make sure noone kills them in your games...
There racism solved...
/sarcasm

Seriously what the hell?!?!!?

BOO N'gai.
Stop being so damn sensitive, this is about killing zombies, fool.

You can't have white zombies in Africa.

@Marius: You can in South Africa.

Anyway, so what? If we had a zombie writing about games, I'm sure they'd always be ranting about House of the Dead or Resident Evil or whatever.

If we had a duck writing, it'd still be on the duck hunt issue, and praising that freakin' dog.

The problem is a history from England and the United States, not Japan. And since people are hardly being forced to play the game, one could only expect that there will be people who enjoy it because they ARE racist.

Weren't the first resident evils filled with heroes and villains who were so white that HDR effects would burn out the screen?

N'gai Croal just lost my respect.

@ Buncha Kneejerks

but you barley see any of them pre-zombie in the game. Yes you see em lookin shifty but the first spanish guy you see in RE4 is lookin shifty until he atacks you.

These arent the standard resi zombies we're dealing with here.

Stu
ya but it might make he rapper/gangster games more funy to play...have them white boys with clear speech patterns try and do the gangster...oh the horror....!

SpiralGray
because sensationalism sales it seems ^^

Buncha Kneejerks
And if we were the mindless masses he writes his articles for we would be apt to believe it, sadly we question his "style" of "question".

AB
the problem is you don;t need that much info you just have to know they are zombies,N'gai is whining that the zombie virus is making the African hattians look bad...........

I wish these people screaming racism would provide examples. And give reason for why its racist.

I swear in the united states its practically impossible to address any issue regarding race without being called a racist. Obama maybe have been one of the exception recently but I digress.

So how does the using the music of the region when shoot black zombies makes it racist? please explain.

Is it any different that what happen on resident evil 4? didnt they use spanish music?

Ok then how would u make Un-racist then?

I have learned that no matter how you portray race in media there will always be someone in the background shooting racist. Have a black person act white. Have white person act black, Have a mexican act asian. blah blah blah. The fact is the medium presenting race cannot incorporate all the complexity of race and therefore will always represent its self as being racist.

YOU KNOW WHAT LETS JUST MAKE IT SO THAT WE ALWAYS ATTACE LITTLE GREEN MEN AS OUR VILLIANS IN GAMES. THAT WAY THE ISSUE OF RACE WILL NEVER BE BROUGHT UP.

Hell lets do that in our movies as well. Because I can list of tons of times where movies can be considered racist and heavy use of sterotypes.

"The problem is that the trailer shows little to no humanity in *any* of the black characters. They have no lines of dialogue. Their faces are often hidden in shadow. Their movements are slowed down in slow-motion. They look menacingly at the camera. The protagonist doesn’t interact with them. And everything I’ve just described takes place before the protagonist is attacked, before the gameplay footage begins. In my reading of the trailer, the black extras are already being portrayed as zombies, as something less than human, before all hell breaks loose."

See...I'm going to have to say that it wouldn't make as much sense or suspense if a black guy walked up all smiling and cheerful saying "Hey Chris! Wonderful day today!" Besides, do you think all nations or groups smile when a single white American walks down their street with a badge and a gun? Capcom is trying to give the native citizens (which of course would be black, given the location) a more shadowy feel, like something big is going on in the background. It's supposed to build up for the first attack, it's not supposed to be racist at all!

Actually thats not racism... they are not degrading the black people, or insulting them in anyway... they are just killing black zombies, which I expect any person to do.

Now if you wan't to bring up a case of zombism, then go ahead and write up an article Scooter.

there is racist imagry in the trailor. i saw it. those black people were trying to lynch that poor white guy probably because he was white.

it's all how you look at things. any conflict or argument between two people of different race can be misinterperated as racism. would it be racism if it was a back guy killing white zombies?

"The imagery is not the same. It doesn’t carry the same history, it doesn’t carry the same weight…"
Oh, cool, because of history, black people receive a higher moral consideration than everyone else. Makes perfect sense. Spaniards carry less "weight" than Africans; they're not as "sacred".

Protip: Made in Japan

Sorry for the double post, but the last 'you' in my post refers to N'Gai. (Edit Button!)

The problem is that N'Gai apparently has no idea what Resident Evil is about.

It should be obvious to anyone that the people in this game will basically be similar to what the Ganados were in RE4 and zombies before them were, basically infected monsters who are either under control by some manipulative force or who knows what. They've lost their humanity through, probably, no fault of their own but are still a threat to you. And even if their is a cure for it, like the Ganados and zombies they are so far gone that there is nothing that could be done for them.

[...] wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptEarlier this week GamePolitics covered the opening installments of MTV Multiplayer’s multipart feature on Black Professionals in Games. And while Newsweek’s popular video game writer N’Gai Croal was the focus of the series’ opening article, MTV Multiplayer decided to devote a second installment to his perspective on whether or not there is racism in the controversial trailer for Capcom’s upcoming Resident Evil 5. GamePolitics readers will likley recall last year’s flap over the trailer which shows RE5’s white protagonist mowing down scores of zombies, all black. The game is set in Haiti. Croal was very clear in his view that the RE5 trailer contains racist imagery: I was like, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” …The point isn’t that you can’t have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery. What was not funny, but sort of interesting [about the controversy], was that there were so many gamers who […] [...]

Frankly I'm getting sick of people debating the RE:5 trailer. It's gone round in circles again and again. Some folk like N'Gai have claimed it causes offence and cited history and oppression which has been overlooked, and then the backlash from the others who claim it has nothing racist in it and that it's hyper-reactionary to accuse anything that has black people being killed by a white man of being racist.
I wish folk would just accept that it's a trailer that carries no more inherent racism than exists within the eyes of the person watching it. Yes you can link it to historical precedent, if you make some connections and a few leaps.
But that's at the expense of knowing what it's all about. It's a few shots of what is no doubt a 10 hour + game (I hope) with no more to show us other than the basic location, how good the graphics are and that it follows the same gameplay style as RE: 4.

Beyond that any surmisions are simply speculation, and frankly I expect more of N'Gai than this hyperbolic reactionism.

Finally let me say this. If part of what I said is proven true, and that is that Croal is basing his being offended on old movies, then that means that not in 100 years, not in 1000 years will this trailer ever be deemed okay. Because all that will mean is that in the year 3008, when a trailer like this comes out, some will say "Well I was offended because back in 1950 movies were made using the stereotype of Africa being a place filled with aggressive, angry Africans."

I find it odd that this person thinks that it is bad that not many gamers noticed the racism. We didn't notice it because we weren't focused on race, we were focused on the game, the story, the trailer, how it will play, etc. Wouldn't we be racist if we only focused on the race of our enemies?

Since I don't have time to read through all the comments at the moment, I will try to sum this up as best I can.

1. CAPCOM is a Japanese company which might explain the lack of Black people who worked on the game
2. The zombies are black because it's set in Haiti. This RE is supposed to be about the origin of Zombies. Haiti has an extremely poor economy and is a majority black. I'm curious what other color they should have been given the settings. The reason the protagonist is white is because every protagonist in the RE series is white (I can't remember off the top of my head who's in this game)
3. It's a TRAILER.
4. I am a visible minority in a predominantly white neighborhood (I am a Japanese male). I don't find this racist at all due to actually knowing about the story. If the black zombies had been waiving fried chicken at the white guy as they lined up to get their wellfare check, obviously it would be a different story. But the fact of the matter here is that people are making a mountain out of a molehill.

Morgan Freeman said it best

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10482634/

(on the subject of black history month (something he hates))

"Freeman notes there is no "white history month," and says the only way to get rid of racism is to "stop talking about it."

The actor says he believes the labels "black" and "white" are an obstacle to beating racism."

Ok...I must just be obtuse, but I don't see it. So the villiagers look spooky before they are zombified....its is a HORROR game for crying out loud. They are supposed to be spooky. Just like every horror movie, the townspeople (usually white rednecks by the way) are spooky before you find out they are sadistic murderers and canibals or whatever.

You can't take one trailer out of context and declare it racist. People have already mentioned all the white zombies that were killed in past RE games, but what about the story of Umbrella...where all the bad guys who created the virus were white? So its ok to say that evil white scientists create a virus that wipe out civilizations, but its not ok for that virus to hit a poor ethnic minority viliage? As long as it was Middle Class Americans it was fine though?

Bottom line: You can only be offended if you want to be.

I can't find a "positive" usage of an Italian in a video game. Everybody I have to look at are over-the-top stereotypes like Mario, and thugs in the GTA, Godfather, and other crime games. Am I offended?

No, because I choose not to be. Nobody is saying I'm like that. That's just one story they are telling for artistic reasons or because it is a popular genre (and mafia stories are popular, even among Italians).

Sticks and stones people....children don't see color and can learn to ignore things that might be careless or insulting. That grownups can't is very, very sad.

“Freeman notes there is no “white history month,”

Yeah there is, it's called "every month of the year." The only reason there isn't a white history month is because whites are the majority in America. There's no reason to have a special month devoted to white accomplishments because it isn't necessary.

The reason black history month exists is because blacks are a minority, and there was a time when their accomplishments would be ignored or swept aside...remember, blacks weren't exactly treated equally even after slavery was outlawed.

The same thing was brought up in the article about the Black College Football game. You can't marginalize a minority, so saying there shouldn't be a black history month because there isn't a white history month, is missing the point of why black history month exists in the first place.

I also kind of wish people's reading comprehension would kick in, because it makes gamers look like total idiots to keep saying this game is set in Haiti when the company has CLEARLY said it is set in Africa.

@Ohma

I think you would be surprised at the diverse online gaming community, but that is besides the point.

Yes most people are thinking of it in a simple way. But the same argument can be said about Croal's decision to be offended. He is not basing it on a real life experience. He is not even basing it on something created today. He is basing it on movies made in the 1950s. In other words, he isn't basing this visual on something of today, but a previous idea of what is deemed racist. This transference is questionable, and to say that it makes him feel uneasy, makes me worried for not only the innocence of the game, but the inability to make a game with this style of visual EVER. What is to stop a person 100 years from now referencing the 1950s version of Africa for this trailer?

There are certain things that need to be held, and certain things need to be removed from the world of racism. This is one of those things that needs to be removed.

@Buncha Kneejerks

Thats probably because gamers are still in the middle of their fight for "equality" if thats what you have to call it, id rather not compare it to the civil rights movement for obvious reasons, but the point is.. gamers, as a group, are being actively persecuted and pretty much being called juvenile delinquints and cop killers in the mainstream media, and black people.. well.. aren't.
Quite the contrary.

Anyways, the part where he said this: "What was not funny, but sort of interesting [about the controversy], was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"


very much reminds me of a particular south park that I think matches this perfectly. Where chef was angry about the town flag being racist because it portrayed white people lynching a black man, (the main difference between this and that is that in the south park, the "flag" in our case the game, was clearly racist and in our case I think any half-way intelligent person can recognize that the game ISN'T at all, racist...)anyways, chef was appalled that the kids were arguing in favor of keeping the flag, only to realize at the end that they didn't even NOTICE it was whites hanging a black, they just thought it was depicting killing. Chef realized the children didn't notice it because they were the only ones who truly were not racist and considered everyone equal, regardless of their skin color.

Anyways, I think it matches up well to Mr. Croal, because as someone said above, sometimes it DOES take a racist to see a racist.

And in this case our "racist" isn't even seeing a racist, he's just a blind, foolish, hate mongering man.

Also, ohma, any "point" you could have possibly made just now is completely overshadowed by the ignorant statement that gamers are mostly "of the sheltered, privileged, upper-middle-class, white, male, persuasion"

@kaemmerite

The point is that if we ever even thought about a white history month people would be screaming racism like it's no tomorrow.

Buncha Kneejerks, that article doesn't do anything. I was just trying to say that by having the zombies be black the game developers are staying true to the culture. The game is set in Haiti, the majority of the population in Haiti is black, therefore the zombies should be black. Honestly, if the hero of the story was black and not white would we even be having this debate?

Sorry, but I really hate this politically correct Bullshit. No one bitched about the hispanic zombies, PETA wasn't up in arms about the shooting of zombie dogs, and there weren't nurse strikes over the zombie medical workers that were trapped and slaughtered. Being black doesn't give people a pass to sling the race card about when they don't get there way or something makes them uncomfortable.

It's set in Africa or Haiti, both largely black communities that are poverty striken. If they had made the area all luxery estates and all the zombies people woul still bitch just as loud about the lack of black zombies. Get a freaking grip.

Here's a challenge to anyone who honestly thinks that the portrayal of black zombies in RE5 employs racist imagery:

Draw a black zombie that does not invoke any racist stereotypes.

Seriously, try it. It has to look like a zombie, though, so don't cheat and draw a regular black guy standing there. Oh, and it can't just look like a Caucasian with unusually dark skin -- I want to see African facial features.

I’m complaining to Capcom about this immediately!

By the time this game comes out I want to see the zombies dressed in decent clean clothes, and each created with deep meaningful personalities.

They also must take out the barbaric pointy object throwing, black zombie’s are above that… they use guns. Actually, this simply enforces the violent gangster stereotype so do away with all weapons and have them perhaps engage in healthy debates instead, or even have them go into long explanations of how even though they’re zombies that they have feelings too.

Oh, and if the protagonist tries to kill a black zombie, make it so he’s arrested by the zombie police immediately and loses the game for being a dirty racist. It’s okay if he kills white zombies though -- that’s politically correct. I also want a more pleasant depiction of Haiti. And "black zombie” is so derogatory. How about, “Revived Person of Haitian Descent”? That's a lot better.

Finally, “Resident Evil” implies that the people living in the setting of the game are malicious in some way, so I believe a name change is in order.

“Politically Correct Chris goes to Haiti” anyone?

After that, I’d be more than happy to play your Horror!

Ohma Says:
"Like I give a shit what you morons think of me any more."
If that were true you wouldn't post, you would rather try and insist your one sided point of view is better than everyone else's......

The argument is that Ngai is looking through the eyes of the 2nd and 3rd world "non white" children/people and lighting up the race card because he is suspending the reality of what he knows so he can say ZOMG "WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORERS THINK"!

If he didn't focus on it I would have let it slide because there is a ounce of truth to what he says,however since hes trying to get 10tons of flesh out of that ounce I refuse to let him get away with it.

Truth and fact have no room for slight of words and over stretching in my book.
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AND FOR THE LAST FCKING TIME PEOPLE THE GAME IS SET IN AFRICA(unless of course the scene in the vid takes place in hatti,which I dont think it dose....)

Well, I just read the full article on Croal's comments about the RE5 trailer, then I rewatched the trailer myself. Here are my thoughts:

The first time I watched the trailer, I responded in typical gamer fashion.

"Holy crap, there are a ton more zombies on the screen this time."
"They move a whole lot faster this time around."
"Super punch ftw!"

I am very excited for the gameplay potential hinted at by the trailer, which was probably the intent for MOST game trailers.

Croal complains of the feeling of "otherness" in the begining of the trailer, before everyone starts turning into zombies. When rewatching the trailer, the only part that I felt came close to his description was the scene with the guy who suddenly looks up into the camera. His skin is so dark that at first, all you can see is his eyes in the shadow. This hit me more as creepy than racist. Oh, there is also up close shot on the angry mob, but I would be rather surprised to find "even like one cute African — or Haitian or Caribbean — child" in an angry mob.

The trailer tries hard to link back to RE4 with the idea of an outsider coming into the village and being met with zombie resistance. That is most evident in the zoom out shot of Chris in the empty village. Every scene of the village before this simply shows people going about their business, walking around, talking to neighbours.

If anything seemed strange to me, its that everyone seemed to naturally accept this white foreigner in their town as if he WAS NOT the only white guy for miles. No odd stares, no eyeing suspiciously, nothing, as if it was perfectly natural to see a buff white guy walking through town. THAT seemed unnatural to me because I think that every eye there would naturally be drawn to this person who was so different from everyone else.

When rewatching this trailer looking for racial overtones, I was struck by the image of two black men forcing down a third black man, and then turning him into a zombie. It was not an outsider who was doing this to him, but other members of his own town. And instead of standing with him to face the outsider, they ran to let this newly created zombie to fight on his own. I decided to do a quick google search and came up with some interesting statistics.

White on black crime brought up 1,060,000 page results.
Black on black crime brough up 6,500,000 page results.
And then there was the statistics showing how much more prevalent black on black crime is over white on black crime at the "Homicide trends in the US: Trends by race" page:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm

Relevance? Croal's issue with the trailer seems to be the white guy shooting black zombies and his perceived sense of "otherness" while he ignores the black on black attack the opens up the zombie portion of the trailer.


And you cannot say that the "no one complained about shooting spanish zombies" is not the same point. If this game had a black protagonist and was set in a poor whitetrash trailerpark community and instead of showing blacks in shadows looking creepy, it showed some white neonazi eyeing our hero with malice, there would be no cry of stereotypes and racism.

Croal is simply oversensitive regarding the negative portrayal of his race in media. I think it is best summed up in his own words:

"What was not funny, but sort of interesting [about the controversy], was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"

We couldn't see it because we stopped thinking in terms of black vs white. Think about trying to follow or lead, eh?

Tell me, where are you getting your facts? Source your claims or your claims are irrelevant.

When you state broad generalities about race with nothing to back it up, then you are being racist.

And I believe that Indians are usually grouped under the "Asian" category in terms of race due to its regional location.

@EMalachi-

Under the discredited typological method, Indians and Australian Aboriginals were classified as Caucasoid.

People who call "racism" are often racists or say racists things themselves.

Also why is it bad for a Target,Wal Mart, or Gamestop to sell this game but a music store can sell CD's with rappers talking about killing whites and other rappers?

i didnt see the racism in the trailer. i understand their is a white man killing black zombies, but what do you think the colour of the zombies skins would be if the game is set in Haiti?

Replace Chris Redfield with a Haitian dude (or dudette) who survives the outbreak. Case closed.

It's not like story telling was the primordial (nor the best) side to this franchise. They have time to change things around...

So the moral of the story is to not have black characters in ANY games, for fear of offending someone. If a black person complains about not having any black characters in games, refer them back to this thread.

Now I haven't played the game, but neither has N'gai, so I guess we're even.

Some people could say the stereotyping of the frail white girl (president's daughter) could be racist, but reality is no one cared and no one got hurt. People will be more offended if they think they should be. Stop stirring up trouble, N'Gai.

Some people just want to play the race card every damn chance they get. If the game was set in Hati (a predominantly black nation) black people will be involved.

I have "killed" thousands of virtual white people. I never felt like "Hey, enough with the white guys getting killed already..."

Its a damn video game. Now if the game was a bunch of white guys in hoods kickin in the door of a black family and killing all of them, I would see his point.

I guess it boils down to intentional, hateful racism vs oversensitive everything is perceived as racist racism. Is it racist that the NBA is mostly black?

People also need to recognize that when dealing with zombies, they are no longer what they once were, they are their own entity. Zombies. And we all know that Zombies must die.

They iz bein' rassiss! a game iz sayin' we iz crimnal animalistic thugz, oh lordy! call de naacp!

@ SteveUK

I fear that you're right.

* White guy vs black zombies = white oppression of black people = racisim

* Black guy vs white zombies = negative sterotyping of black people as wanting to murder/commit crimes against white peope = racism

* Black guy vs black zombies = callous racial stereotyping glorifying black on black violence = racism.

It seems from this logic that you are not allowed to feature black people in a game for fear of misrepresentation. Apparently, the only way this can be fixed is for a majority black development team to make videogames focussing on black people. But woe betide them if they were to make a game about black people from a lower social strata than themselves, as then they would be accused of patronising or disowning black people from less well-off backgrounds.

This is an absurd situation.

The point is this - one needs to distinguish between cases when racism is intended and cases when it is simply inferred. Maybe Capcom really do all think black people are fearsome, I don't know... but I seriously doubt it.

If we all have to start worrying about how stuff could be interpreted rather than how we mean it to be interpreted, then we open up all forms of works of creativity/art to the censors stamp.

Btw, with regards to N'gai's analogy - speaking as a Jewish person, I for one would LOVE to play a zombie game based in a concentration camp. If nothing else, it'd make for an excellent sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein (eh, with a name like "Wolfenstein" the castle is probably Jewish anyway;))

I never played RE4. I played RE2 for about an hour once. I'm a white liberal North Dakotan. I don't see the racist imagery in the trailer, which I just watched for the first time. I thought the shot of the Haitian kid in the shadows with the glinty eyes was probably toeing the line, but the trailer did a really good job of evoking the creepy feel of an impending zombie attack.

Croal's got a point about the de-humanization of the pre-zombie Haitians - one was definitely walking really weird as the main character guy walked past. But Croal never mentioned specifics. He only talked in vague terms about the racist imagery in the trailer. More specific examples and context would be very helpful to understand what he's seeing in the trailer that the rest of us are missing.

One thing is definitely that the trailer didn't show any good Haitians. None of the pre-zombie people seemed all that friendly (which is partly why the trailer felt so creepy and impending doom-ish), but hopefully the finished game will have some positive depictions of Haitians.

Thank you but no thank you for your comment.

Toll

What I thought was funny about this whole thing was his comments about how, "They just don't see the racism."

No, we don't. We can see how someone looking for racism because that's, by and large how they feed themselves, complaining about racism, would find it when looking at this trailer.

Most of us though are young people, our median age is somewhere in the mid to late 20's. We were raised in a generation where everyone was equal, and you were told that at least once a week in a school lesson. I personally think it's fantastic that the response of this generation to a game about killing zombies in Haiti was, "Looks good, and this setting might be cool," not an ethusiastic OR despairing, "omg a game about a white guy mowing down black people."

It's kinda like that south park where they don't see the racism inherent in the town flag because all people are equal.

This is a joke right?

Last I looked, the majority of people that are native to deserts are born with a dark complexion.

In my honest opinion, to state otherwise would do nothing more than give off the idea that the person making the statement is completely ignorant on simple facts of the world.

If this is the case, I don't think he needs to be making any kind of statements like this, ever.

In the trailer, you don't see the main character shooting random villagers. You see him fighting for his life.

I don't care what skin color you are, no matter what the circumstances may be, if I feel that you or any other individuals threatens my life, I am going to defend myself even if that means I have to kill someone.

How anyone could see this as something racially negative is completely beyond my comprehension. Any person that sees this as racially negative needs to buy a plane ticket, fly out to a desert, take photos of the native people in the desert, and start counting heads to see what race is the majority of that area.

Honestly, I don't see how people like Croal can sit there and bring back the views of oppression without punished in some sort of fashion. Oppression is died a long time ago. Just look at the "programs" and "special exceptions" that the government and people of this country allow because at one point several hundred years ago "african-americans" were slaves.

I don't know if you know this but your race was not the only slaves in the world yet the only race that I see that reminds us almost every day that you were is your race.

For the record, I am not racist. I accept everyone's opinions and views as long as they have enough common sense to understand or the willingness to understand facts on what they are making an opinion on and will not only accept their own opinion despite how much it contradicts fact.

If the setting for the trailer was any place that would have a much more diverse population, then I could see his point but a village in the desert?

I guess this means that we should go back and label every war game since the history of video games as "racist" if it has one surviving (enter race here) against an army of (enter race here).

Wait a minute, why am I making this suggestion. This should be the subject of Croal's next article. "Every game with a main character having to kill people in their native lands in order to survive is racist."

Why do I not see him criticizing every rambo game in existence? Why don't I see an article by Croal stating "Every Rambo game ever made is racist because Rambo kills Vietnamese people."?

Why don't I see an article from him stating "Every Wolfenstein game ever made is racist because it shows an American killing Germans."?

The list goes on. Just take a look at any war simulation. Going by the trailer he is using to fuel his article, any game where if there is one person of any race left to fight against an army of another race should be deemed racist.

Well, that pretty much says that the Battlefield series, the Call of Duty series, the Medal of Honor Series, and any other game that depicts the possibility that such a scenario to what is stated above should be deemed racist.

Please, Croal, the next time you are going to make or even think about a statement about something being racist, put all the facts in front of you on a table.

Let's do it with this trailer.

The trailer takes place IN A DESERT. The skin complexion of the majority of human beings that are native to deserts IS DARK. Could it be possible that a village in a desert, be it a fictional or non-fictional scenario, be made up of people with very dark skin? YES.

Remember these simple questions:
1. Where is it located?
2. What race/skin color is the majority?
3. Is it possible that this isn't racist?
4. Should I open my mouth about it?

Just when you thought tihs issue was dead and buried, it returns as a zombie.

"was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it…"

Perhaps you should take a look at it again just to make sure you're not seeing things that aren't actually there.

Really though this whole controversy is frankly the most absurd PC bullshit I've ever heard in my life.

A game set in Africa where the majority of the people are white. What did he expect Africa to be full of? Did Coral do any research on Africa? People are so sensitive these days.

"The fact that they “just don’t see the racism” is a good thing.''

Ignorance is bliss FTMFW

If thye really think that this will stop Resident Evil 5 from being sold, they should really come to their senses. Resident Evil is a very popular game, and given that it will be the first for a Microsoft system, many people will be anticipating it. I know I am.

MarkyS,
“Those in Accra, Cairo, Marrakech and Cape Town, for example, who live a life much like our own, granted without some of the luxuries”

Now I’m intrigued, exactly what luxuries do you believe ‘they’ are missing?

There a false info in that article, that is the story take place in Haiti...
In a recent video interview of the creator Jun Takeuchi, he says thet the setup is in Africa the 'Birth place of humanity'. (http://www.gametrailers.com/player/32758.html at 2:30).

And if your actuely interrested not juste in the controversy but in the game itself, its a pretty good video.

@ Iliad

1. Hypothetically speaking: On the top of a hill there is a school. This school consists of 599 white students and 1 black student. What is going to hurt more, the 599 white students being racist against the 1 black student or the 1 black student being racist against the 599 white students? As with any sort of bullying it is all about majority and minority. The difference with race is that there is usually a very clear line on who's being targeted and who is not.

2. Ok, I guess I didn't make myself perfectly clear. When I said we I meant 'we' as in 'all of us', not just whites. I didn't mean 'pay for it' as in 'the whites have to pay back', but more like 'mankind is paying for it's mistakes'. If the Europeans and Americans of the reneissance had been respectful to the Africans, would we then have ever had to make a distinction between whites and blacks in the first place? Would we ever have had this conversation?