The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says Capcom has removed an Islamic phrase from its upcoming game Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. The term "Allahu akbar," which means "God is Great" or "God is Greater," can be first heard at the 0:20 mark in the video after the break. The term, according to CAIR, is a "frequently repeated religious statement made by Muslims and is used often in daily Islamic prayers." From the video it's hard to tell the context the developers had in mind using the term.
Capcom says the phrase has been removed from the game and will no longer be heard in future videos released to the public. According to Gamasutra, in 2003 Microsoft Game Studios removed audio clips of the Koran being heard read in the background of the Xbox fighter Kakuto Chojin. CAIR says they were happy with Capcom's quick response to "address Muslim concerns."
Agreed. They knew what we were all about when they immigrated to our countries. If they aren't happy, THEY can leave. We'll stay just the way we have always been.
And what exactly, Joe Winders, are we "all about"?
My understanding of the situation is that Capcom unintentionally included culturally insensitive material in a game which they intend to sell as a commercial product. CAIR, a group devoted to defending the image and rights of Muslims, complained that the inclusion of a religious phrase in the context of this game is potentially offensive. Capcom decided that it is in their best interest to change the game in order to prevent offending some of their target audience and removed the phrase from the game. That sounds like the free market -- something that has become a fundamental American principle -- to me. If you, for some irrational reason, think Capcom should strive to offend Muslims, feel free to voice your complaints, though.
"They"? "We"? You aren't really that shallow in your thinking, are you? I mean, the *head* of ISNA is a non-immigrant white woman of European ancestory.
I'm Muslim too, and reading the article, I too thought that this was just some hypersensitive Muslim thing, but then I saw the video and busted out laughing, so I get why they did it.
If some weird monkey people have a certain religious undertone, it subconsciously degrades the image of that religion in the eyes of the viewers. Think about it, if you played a video games where the villains where black guys, you'd start to be weary of real black people whenever you met them.
I can't tell if these monkey people are good or bad though. Weird game.
Can we just accept that they're trying to sell a product to as many people as possible, and would rather not lose sales of their cute platformer because they just wanted a big chanty-sounding noise in the background?
I love the people who are so edgy and un-PC (oooooh!) that they're pissed that a sound sample got taken out of a wholly non-critical area of the game that really could do nothing *but* offend.
"How dare you in any way do anything that pleases anyone! We should all be comfortable hiding our misery - it's how my parents got through life, and it's how you'll get through life, too."
Hear hear Joe Winders. Muslims have yet to be civilized enough to laugh at themselves, let alone "Allah". All the grief they cause and crap they support will come back to bite them, probably sooner rather then later. I for one can't wait.
Listen up, dumb***, nearly all of your statements are nothing but stereotypes.
"makes me want to beat up a woman."--> Do you have any idea about Islam and what it is?? Look here, people who claim to be muslim, but do things like "beating up women", in fact are NOT muslim. They are just mindless people who take blame their acts on Islam, even when the Qur'an says NOTHING among the lines of "beat the crap out of women". And when it comes to terrorists, they believe that they are following the Qur'an, but usually terrorists follow some screwed up, alterd version of the Qur'an. So anyway, how about next time, before flaming something, you do a little research on it!
And if you believe that flaming one feligion means your an honestly religious person, you are sadly mistaken
Thats exactly it, these people are NOT acting on the Qur'an! The Qur'an doesnt say anything about "punishing non-believers". These people are acting on their own will, not because "the Qur'an told them to". In fact, the entire MEANING of Islam is Peace, i.e. THOSE CRAZY PEOPLE ARE NOT MUSLIM!!
Now really, i would appreciate it if you WOULDN'T miss my point next time.
Talesofyayness, I empathize with you. Yea, you and your point. However, I exhibit these images because they are so prevalent today. I don't know if you're muslim, and to be honest, I could'nt care less. However if you are, you need to fight against these mongrels, and the offal that are mucking with our hobby, twice as hard as the guys on the front lines are. I've met maybe 4 muslims my entire life, and I live in a populous part of FL. If muslims are keeping to themselves, not engaging the general public (aka putting on their best face) and are instead remaining insular, distant, and aloof (rather like gypsies) then you have no business beating the drum of muslim tolerance and kindness. Unless your version of kindness is simply not beheading the non-beleivers and or castrating your females.
Honestly, i feel where your coming from with this. Im honestly sorry and i REALLY didnt want to start an argument..All i was trying to say was that the way muslims are depicted in the media arent nearly close to the truth. Honestly i am VERY sorry if i offended anyone in the process...
Anyway, when it comes to the point of the video, i actually thought that it was HIGH-LARIOUS!!! :) (and i am muslim) Honestly, i think that sometimes people need to step back and realize what a joke is.
How in gods name did the council for Islamic relations even FIND this clip, and why did they watch it long enough to hear some guy vaguely say the word. If this were a movie, this wouldn't even be an issue. Capcom, I'm ashamed that you folded to the pressure.
Banana, I agree lol. I nearly missed it, they probably had it brought to their attention. Capcom went along because they were being respectful and I understand it. But CAIR seriously needs to lighten up and do something more productive with their time. It just makes the rest of us Muslims look like girly mans!
Just so ya'll know... Remember in the lyrics where it says "To the shores of Tripoli"? We were fighting pirates at that time at the creation of America. Pirates back then were predominately Muslim.
From:Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation By Joshua E. London John Wiley & Sons
"A fledgling republic without a navy, the United States seemed ripe for the picking. In 1783, Muslim pirates - the sea-faring terrorists of their day - began attacking American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean, and the following year, the Moroccans captured a brig called Betsey and enslaved its crew. Soon afterwards, the ruler of Algiers declared war on the US, a declaration backed up by marauding corsairs.
The situation worsened with each coming year, but for the life of them, the Americans could not figure out what they did to make themselves so hated. In May 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then both diplomats in Europe, met with Tripoli's ambassador to London. Why did the North Africans attack ships of a country that had done nothing to provoke such hostility, the two asked him."
So as you can see the whole idea of having that in was in relation to the pirate theme! This is typically a lesson that most people leave out due to our overt political-(in)correctness.
Actually the Quran is quite neutral on the subject of female abuse. Surah 4:34 (among others) states that a rebellious woman (one that does not subject themselves to the superior male) should be shunned from the bed and beaten. Violence as a whole is quite tolerated (ie: after X number of days in a sandstorm killing someone is not considered murder and is not punishable)and in some cases commanded (Jihad) in the Quran. If you've ever read the Quran, you might want to look again...
But even if the Quran explicitly commanded against the abuse of women, one cannot overlook the fact that women are most supressed and abused in Muslim nations. It is only in Muslim nations that FGM (female genitalia mutilation) occurs and it is no coincidence that in non-Muslim nations (such as Europe) where there are a minority of Muslims, Muslim men account for a huge percentage of rape cases. I know health care workers in the Middle East who face this female oppression on a daily basis. Fathers who MURDER their daughter because she was raped (which was obviously her- the VICTIM's fault) and disgraced the family. Wives who are beaten to death due to showing their face in public. Men who rape a woman and then kill the victim by inserting a pistol into their vagina- and get off scott free due to their not being enough male witnesses to testify against him despite the fact his semen was all over the crime scene. THese are just a FEW of the ottrocities that occur in the Muslim world.
Now I am not ridiculing the Muslim faith and I have friends from all over the Muslim world (Egypt, Israel, Lebanon and Pakistan to name a few) but if the Quran DOESN'T condone such practices then the Muslim nations are doing a piss poor job of teaching their law and scriptures to their citizens. The other explanation is that the Quran CAN be interpreted to condone such practices and if that is the case, it is a book and religion that should be under much criticism. If you really study the life of Mohammed, you might begin to consider the latter.
NOTE: All my information here is from print and word of mouth Muslim and/or non-profit health care sources. Part of my profession deals with these topics and I studied physical and cultural anthropology in college which also dealt with a lot of these topics. I don't claim to be wholly unbiased (as no one can), but I am educated in the matter and am not spouting off rubbish to incite a religious flame war here. If you wish to discuss this further, we can do so through email if you wish.
Horrible things happen all over the world; the examples you cite are also prevalent in Christian and Animist communities in the same regions. Why is faith responsible when a "Muslim" performs a criminal act and not responsible when a non-Muslim does?
Didn't you post earlier that it was wrong to look at the moral failings of Americans as an indicament of Christianity? Why, then, do you feel differently about the failings of those in "Muslim" countries?
The examples I cited are NOT prevelant in Christian or Animist societies. Though dependant on regional cultural practices, both Christian and Animist people groups tend to be much more supportive of females. Many Animist cultures even trace their lineage through the mother's side of the family rather than the father's and witches hold just as much respect as shamans. FGM especially is specifically tied to the Muslim culture. If you don't beleive me go read a college cultural anthropology textbook.
Faith isn't to blame if it's holy writings forbid the act in which a member of that religion has committed. However this isn't the case here. The Quran gives the ok to beat women and treat them as property rather than people, therefore when an Islamic man rapes a woman or beats her, some (not all) of the blame MUST rest on the religious teaching he was brought up with.
America ISN'T a religiously run government, Muslim nations ARE. In many Arab countries it is ILLEGAL to NOT be a Muslim. In America our moral problems are not due to Christianity, for Christianity FORBIDS homosexuality, drunkeness, premarital sex, divorce etc. etc. etc. But of course Christianity is NOT a legalized religion in the States, we have freedom of religion and separation of church and state. So it is very difficult to blame religion for the problems in American government. However it is NOT difficult to blame religion for the problems in Islamic governments- because they're ISLAMIC GOVERNMENTS.
Its all bull. People who are are afraid of offending some religious group should be given a jolt in their asses to wake them up. My parents who are muslims is not shy to make fun of other religion. It's all based on prejudices people! Affiliation to any kind of group is dangerous!
Just now noticed the goof on the last page where someone said the "Catholics" were pissed that one of their churches was shown in the game "Resistance: Fall of Man". You've gotten it wrong, it was the Church of England, and not the Catholics that were pissed over their church being shown in the game. Catholics wouldn't have gotten as angry ;P
I played Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure and I can see the outrage, I mean the game absolutely sucked. Any claims of censorship are ludicrous, this game is as far from art as you can get.
Too bad your facts aren't facts. FGM is predominant in Eastern Africa but in no way restricted to Muslims communities. And it's not me saying that but WHO: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/
Your facts about Islam and the treatment of Women are also quite erroneous. There are certainly issues with women's rights in quite a few Arab nations, but Arabs don't actually make up the majority of Muslims in the world.
Citing examples of countries that are predominately Muslim and have poor cultural practices like this isn't the same as citing examples of how Islam might be promoting these ideas. I expect if these habits were exhibited by Muslim communities around the world, you might have a point, but even then I doubt you'll find many religious authorities that would condone this behavior. There were reports of Catholic priests condoning the genocide in Rwanda, but I'm not foolish enough to believe that somehow the Catholic Church endorses genocide.
I'm actually quite shocked by the amount of hateful speech on this comment thread. There was no coercion or censorship here, simply an organization whose mission is to rid the world of misunderstandings between the "Muslims" of the world and "Americans" has indicated to Capcom that the use of the phrase may at worse be offensive and at best be a complete non sequitur. For whatever reasons Capcom agreed and removed a sound from their game. My assumption is that this sort of thing happens on a regular basis. Personally my enjoyment of any game isn't dependent on that games ability to offend or marginalize the concerns of any community.
