Jade is Latina, Asian, Black ... who knows?

She is everything! Ok? Now just give me a sequal of Beyond Good and Evil and I'll shut up. Is that just too much to ask for?

@ LongShot

I think what he meant was the term "African American" is often used incorrectly, since not all Black people in America are descendents from Africa.

I agree with you that it's terrible to identify people based on race/color, but really... it's just easier that way. Say, for example, I'm eating lunch with my friends and I see a group of four women at a table, three of them are white and one of them is black. If I find myself attracted to the black woman, I'll say to my friends "Hey that black chick is hot!" I don't mean any offense by that, it's just easier to point her out that way.

I mean, we could even reverse it. If there were four women at a table, three were black and one was white, and I was attracted to the white woman I'd say "Hey that white chick is hot!"

I know the race thing is a sensitive issue, but we really need to look at the context. Simply saying "Hey look at that black girl" isn't racist, it depends entirely on the context. If spoken with a negative tone obviously it would be racist. Also, spoken in certain places may be racist. If there was one black woman in a room full of white people, it certainly wouldn't be appropriate to say "Hey look at that black girl!"

"The day we stop talking about things like this and two black coaches in the super bowl is the day racism and stereotyping is over."

Ignoring a problem won't make it go away.

"If you find yourself identifying with a certain genetic lineage, you need to look in a mirror and realize you are an individual."

Isn't a person's genetic lineage one of the many things that makes a person unique? Besides, no matter how hard you try to be an individual, you're always, ALWAYS going to be shaped any number of different things, such as your gender, race, age, economic class standing, and so on. If you don't think these affect who you are as an individual, you really need to wake up to reality.

I'll side with Wikipedia before I listen to you try to convince me I'm NOT African American, which I am you MORON or I could be 'Multiracial' as Wikipedia says, but I'll choose African American. Thank you.

An African American (also Afro-American) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa. Many African Americans possess European, Native American and, to a lesser degree, Asian ancestry as well. In the United States the term is generally used for those of black African ancestry, and not, for example, to European colonial or Arab/Berber African ancestry, such as Moroccans or white South African-European ancestry.

The majority of African Americans are the descendants of enslaved Africans transported via slave ships following the sea route known as the Middle Passage from West and Central Africa to North America and the Caribbean from 1565 through 1807 during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Others have arrived in the United States through more recent immigration from the Caribbean, South and Central America and Africa. Black immigrants from African and European nations and predominantly black, non-Hispanic Caribbean countries such as Haiti (with its strong Afro-Latin, non-Anglo culture), the Bahamas and Jamaica, though often referred to by their national origins and not culturally defined as African American socially, are demographically classified with black and/or African American by the U.S. Census; however in general, the American assumption is that if a person is black, of predominant unmixed African ancestry, English-speaking and living in the United States, he or she is African American. Most Caribbean people of dark skin will identify with black since it has no connotation of culture, but they will not identify with African American. Most people in Latin America of African features and dark skin identify as black and are referred to as black until they encounter US census statistics that redefine their culture and racial categories to American standards. More recently, people of mixed-race or Multiracial background and of partial African descent (along with Multiracial people of various other mixtures) have lobbied the Federal Government for the addition of a new racial category, 'Multiracial', for a fair and honesty option when racially self-identifying.

Wikipedia is written by individuals like you and I. Either of us could go there and change what it says right now. My statements were never intended to be attacks against you personally. I disagree with calling black people African American b/c it is inaccurate in most cases. I know a girl from Ghana who agrees. She is black and an African American. Calling someone a moron doesn't help your cause.

Either way, it's refreshing to see lead female characters like Jade and Alyx that exist outside the stereotypes. Although I gotta give props to Eidos for cleaning up Lara Croft in the Legend game.

@ LongShotX

Does defining terminology really help the situation? America tried to 'fix' the 'race issue' by going with the 'politically correct' term 'african-american.' But what has that really solved?

Besides, I may be mistaken but I don't think anyone here is trying to convince you that you're not African-American.

In addition to the other comments, I would like to add that there are plenty of white people born in South Africa in particular. If a white person from South Africa came to live in an American country, they would then technically be African American but not black. I think it would actually be more fair to call them African Americans than it would be to call you an African American if you have never even been there. How then can black=African American if there are in fact white African Americans.

@LongshotX:

My skin may not be a perfect #FFFFFF, but "white" sounds an awful lot better than "sickly pale with slight yellow accents mixed with red or pink," and my skin is certainly closer to a pure white than that of any other race.

Also, why should I assume that every black person I meet is American/Canadian/whatever and still identifies with his or her (potentially) distant African heritage? I mean... what if I call a guy "African American" and he's actually Jamaican or Haitian or even African? Could be a wee bit awkward, and I could easily cause offence.

Incidentally, if we go by your system, I'm European Canadian, British Canadian, or English Canadian, depending on how specific you want to get. As a first generation Canadian, I even hold a British passport -- ie. European Canadian is a more accurate term for me than African American is for you -- but I still object to such terminology. It's unwieldy, and I don't want someone accidentally calling me an American or something for the sake of political correctness.

Why is White acceptable for Caucasians but people make a big deal about calling Black people Black? African American can only apply if the person actually fits that description and it gives no indication of race. There is a large population of non-Blacks in Africa and if they moved to the US they could technically be called African American, unless you think that Blacks are the only race that exists in Africa but you don't think that because you aren't an idiot. You could call me an Eurpean American but that wouldn't determine my race, now would it?

Your point about different skin tones in each race is moot. No Whites are actually white and no Blacks are actually black. Freckled people are in both categories and do not fit the White/Black description. You want a special name, then I do too. From now on all you non-freckled people are monochromes.

whatever race she is, that lipstick is hideous

LOL

This whole article is making think of the scene from "Domino" with Monique character on the Jerry Springer show. It's a video game and it all come down to 2 words. Who cares?

Personally, I think its up to the developer if they want to make a characters race clear or not.

But I think to debate a character (or persons) race purely on their looks is a little silly.

you should here some of the assumptions and comments made about my sister. who comes from the same two black parents as I do.

Anyone remember the character from Marc Ecko's Getting Up?
I remember reading that he was specifically designed to look like he could be any number of races, but not one in particular. It's probably just as likely that Jade was created in the same manner. "Make her look exotic" was probably part of the creative direction.
Although, Jade is a name I've only ever heard given to Asian characters in movies and books, so...

She's clearly Young Edgy Urban. Haven't you met anyone from that race?

"Jade is the kind of name uncreative males (writers, artists, game makers) give to their fictitious Asian female characters. In real life, it's a stripper name."

Actually, in this case I think it's because of the overwhelming connection that she has to the color green. Look at that photo and look at how much green she has on her: besides that, the reason she's so green is

*HUGE SPOILERS*

That she's an alien and they're all green too.

*END OF HUGE SPOILERS*

And no, I don't think she's meant to be Asian, because a) she has no accent and b) it's better from a designer standpoint when the player can read their own race into her.

Jade is based off the looks of the French voice over that played Jade, Emma de Caunes

http://postprodson.free.fr/polyssons/photos/emma_de_caunes.jpg

She is Latasiack. End of story.

you know, it really goes beyond just "black, asian, mexican" as far as presumptions are of concern. I mean, you could even throw in native american, inuit, south-east asian/pacific islander, a whole jumble of "she looks kinda tan, maybe she's "

Please.. this is insulting to gamers. We don't care if the female is black, Latin, white, Asian, whatever.. as long as she has huge knockers that bounce a lot. Really. That's all we care about.

Or so you'd think, if you worked at Tecmo.

I had come into the comments hoping to find discussion about how awesome BG&E is, but was slightly disappointed to find everyone discussing race. I suppose I shouldn't have expected less from the internet.

But, for the betterment of this nearly dead thread, I hereby request that every comment after this one be about how awesome BG&E is, and how every gamer should play it. It was on all 3 last-gen consoles, so you have no excuse!

I don't own an Xbox 360 and have no sudden urge to grab one, but a sequel to BG&E exclusive to 360 MIGHT change my mind. That's how good this game is.

shes alien.. shes from another planet. sorted.

PS/ Thanks for thebadly marked spoilers! not.

MacGruber can solve this...

MacGruber!!

Making life saving inventions out of household materials!!

MacGruber!

Gettin and out of ultra sticky situations, Mac GRUBER!!!!!

Damn this has gone stupid, as if it matters this has stopped being about games and on to a conversation about how to be pc correctly.

Anyway as a white englih male there are less games with people like me leading them than there are Afican americans but then you could say there any no black english leads in games, and at that point you should realise that it doesn't really matter just as long as your enjoying the game or start playing a game that lets you choose your skin tone. Either way just stop looking at race its the game designers that make them not you, if you want a game with a blackanese bisexual who's 5,3" with a skin tone scale of 6 then MAKE YOUR GOD DAMN GAME.

Of course we need to know what she is - how else can the liberals tell us that she's exhibiting racial stereotypes. Even if it's not obvious. Or true.

Sadly this post just gave Beyond Good and Evil more publicity then it's likely ever gotten.

I always figured she was Asian, given her features, martial arts capabilities and the fact that her name is Jade, which is a "cliche" Asian female's name.

I always assumed she was Latina, but that might be because you hear her name pronounced as "Yade" so often in the game.

Man, Secundo was awesome. "Alwite, Yade."

dudes, racial titles, are by default, racist. Black people are actually brownish, white people are actually tan pink, asian must have been in some language something meaning yellow though. Because asians are always right. You see the racism? it's wonderful.

good point Kyle, but black still does not equal African American.