Resident Evil 5 wasn't altered after racial kerfuffle

Black, white, brown, yellow...none of that matters when you become a fucking zombie. People should realize that a zombie is no longer a human being and doesn't give a damn about racism, only brains.

Remember, solanum doesn't segregate. Everybody is equal to a disease.

This reminds me of that South Park episode where all the adults think the kids are bad because they support something that is obviously racist to them, yet the kids never looked at it with color of skin on their minds at all so rather than being racist, they were actually being completely un-racist.

So apparently Capcom didn't feel the need to force in a bunch of clips of killing zombies of other ethnicities because they were just looking at it as killing zombies, not killing black zombies. So aren't the people crying "racist" the ones that are actually being racist by judging it based on skin color at all?

Interesting.

ignorance is strong in this one

It's official: It has been stated that this game is in fact NOT racial.

Go back to what you were doing we no longer need to discuss this or post or talk about it.

what really sucks is that if this game does indeed have Co-op is thatw e'll hear more of the retarded four year olds screaming "die n****er" over our headsets, and from what I hear MSofts onlne service is notorious for that.
Dont flame me, thats jyst what Ive been told

Its okay to sit there at a PC and say:

"Yeah, thats good, get rid of this racist crap"

But the central reason this caused an uproar in the first place is not just because of a white man shooting black zombies, but the fact that shooting like this already goes on in Africa, black on black violence, Mugabi and his reign of terror, etc etc, its kinda tasteless if you know what I mean, especially being fully aware of the poverty and other issues already in the country, it almost seemed as though Capcom was taking the piss. Its like making a game based on shooting zombie Jews or shooting Zombie Iraqis both during periods where there is already controversy.

Obviously Capcom didn't mean to offend anyone, and we know that, which is why they probably added that female african to neautilize the situation a bit like I assumed they would if they were smart, and as assumed, they did.

But on a positive note, I am overwhelmed with excitement for this game, it looks visually stunning and fun to play, can't wait for release.

THIS JUST IN

Canadian Football League game features Canadian's! Knee jerk reactionaries are outraged that American coaches are running Canadian players on the field.

"It's like people just forgot the War of 1812" one poster said today.

The CFL has no plans to change the games content in light of this news.



Yeah, you guys calling RE5 racist sound THIS stupid.

I don't know why joystiq keeps on bringing back up this race topic with RE5. Its the same discussion that goes in a loop.

Black person gets racially sensitive. White person gets offended that black people have a double standard on race issues (often using BET or Black colleges as their example). Then the black guy nitpicks the ignorant portions of the white rant (often defending black colleges as institutions that arent racist). Rinse and repeat, damn yall!!!!

*Eagerly awaits N'gai's take on this.*

Most of you people don't even understand what racism is. Black people and other minorities cannot be racist against white people because they lack the institutionalized power that whites have. Racism and other forms of oppression are not only about prejudice, they are also about power.

http://theangryblackwoman.wordpress.com/required-reading/

People...this game is not racists. Bottom line...it is a video game. You guys who have been defending games from the media and now are seeing this game as racist...you are hypocrites. Resident Evil has always been about a virus...the game is in Africa. Africans are then made into Zombies. It is that simple. By fueling the fire from this game it is you gamers who are making more excuses for the media to control games. The only reason this game has so much racist tension is because the people who view this game as racist have racist tendencies themselves. It is that simple. A lot of people, including myself, has viewed the trailers to this game and thought nothing of race what-so-ever until the subject was brought up. It if you guys that saw it and thought "Oh my god a white boy is killing all those black people, this is terrible," that are the racists out there. You guys obviously still feel resentment towards the "white man." I am going to level with you...we weren't those assholes from the past so deal with it. And there is plenty of racism that goes the opposite way. I know that there are plenty of people out there that hate us "white people." Guys racism will always be around as long as we keep seeing people as a different race. I personally don't care what color a person's skin it...it could be green for all I care...but until more people feel that way the truth is racism and hate will be here to stay. So for crying out load all you guys who scream racism take a step back and take a really good look at yourself...because I for one am not the racist here.

re5 is not racist. i cant wait to play it. like all of us. and since this game is made in japan and not in europe or america. we're all putting to much into it. but this part of wonderful american culture.

@animeman_59: Talk about taking someone's comments out of context. I repeat: racism = prejudice + power. If people do not have institutionalized power, they can certainly be prejudiced, but they cannot be racist. Is racism bad? Yes. I never said that it wasn't.

The article says "Arabs and Caucasians." From what I know of US Supreme Court policy, Arabs are considered part of the Caucasian race. People like Indians and Pakistanis, too.

Frankly, I'd kill any zombie, regardless of its race. In Britain, I suppose I'd be killing lots of British people (while reminiscing happily about 28 Days Later). In America, I'd be killing a lot of, well, a lot of people. In Japan, I suppose I'd be killing plenty of Japanese people. And in Africa, I'd end up killing a large number of Africans. If you're saying that the only decent thing to do is NOT kill them, because look like an ethnic minority in my home country, well, I might well use you as zombie bait in such a situation. Zombie sympathizers get no sympathy from me >:( .

Seriously, though. If this game was taking place in, say, Georgia, and it still had loads of black zombies, then yeah, I'd say that'd be pretty racist. Especially if Redfield went around sporting a Confederate flag shirt. In Africa, though? Race may still be a concern in some parts of Africa that are getting over apartheid and shit like that, but isn't the main problem down there tribal issues and suchlike? Like Darfur, for instance. If this game depicted some Janjaweed militia-type going around killing "non-Arab Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit ethnic groups" (Wikipedia), then it'd be, uh, tribalist I guess (not a word). And if we're going historical, if Chris Redfield was going around in absurd 1800s military regalia with a breach-loaded musket putting the African zombies on ships to sell them, then it'd be very, very racist. But until I see anything like the above examples in-game, I for one cannot call this particularly racist. As has been said before, many african-(insert country/planet name here)s portrayed as protagonists in video games have been more racist than what I've seen so far. If I'm not seeing some terrible enormity that Capcom has made here, please say so.

It's frustrating to see people arguing about how something is or is not racist when they don't even understand what racism is to begin with.

RE5 IS racist. The developres have even admitted it. They just don't understand what racism is and so don't understand that their being racist. This might be a newsflash to some people but MOST RACIST DON'T KNOW THEY'RE RACIST!

RE5s director is on record as saying that the whole design of the game is influenced by the concept of light vs. darkness and good vs. evil. He sited Black Hawk Down (Another racist film) as his inspiration.

Look, when you start trying to equte white people with purity and good, and black people with evil and darkness, you are being racist. How is that NOT racist? It was racist in the novel Heart of Darkness, it was racist in Frank Miller's 300, and it's racist in Resident Evil 5.

Wait, Arabs? Here we go again...

(sigh...)

this is probably the most depressing and frustrating kind of comment on this situation. When people are eager to bat down any mention of racism and not be able to back it up with any facts on the matter.

Please listen to me when I say this, racism is a much bigger problem than most young white americans thing. Most young american period, really. And this is why black people talk about it so much that white people get tired of hearing about it.

American racism was very much an export to other countries in the 19th century. From Mamy in "Gone With The Wind" to Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima, American racism penetrated the world. And where thing like afirmative action and civil rights faught hard to change that perspective in america, NO SUCH THING TOOK PLACE OVERSEAS. In Japan there was no need to redo racist artwork on a package of uncle bens rice featuring a racist black man. It would only cost more money, and there were no black people to complain. As a result racist visions of black people persist in Japan in a way they don't in America. If you don't believe me, look at dopey black faced red lipped Mr. Popo in Dragon Ball Z. Look at idiot rage-o-holic with the giant lips Balrog in SF2. Look at idiot rage-o-holic ebonics spitting violence loving Barrett in Final Fantasy VII.

Japan is MORE likely to have racist elements in it's games than the US is, and that's part of the reason they don't understand why RE5 is racist or how what they're doing is being taken as racist.

Racist = no.
Insensitive = probably.

Though, if you want to test japanese opinions on race, you should go and try to us some of the public baths outside tokyo. They might let you in if you are white. Maybe. Good luck if you are black or indian though...

@animeman_59: Institutionalized, systemic power whether it's held in the hands of blacks or whites or any other race is a bad thing because it oppresses other groups. Everyone wants a better life and to earn more money, but it shouldn't be at the expense of other people. I'm from the DC Metro area, so I do know what you're talking about, however the sort of institutionalized power in the examples you've given isn't the sort of systemic power that perpetuates the racism that still exists in the United States today. Even if minorities have power or position, that doesn't mean that they have the same power that whites have. People of colour in power are still discriminated against and are negatively impacted because of their race. It's more subtle in modern society because people are a little more sensitive to race issues, however just because we're living in an ostensibly modern age does not mean that racism does not exist. Part of what perpetuates racism is failure to see it for what it is, by white people and by people of colour who uphold the status quo. For people to say that others are racist for daring to notice and see race is pretty preposterous. Racism exists and to ignore it by claiming to be colour blind not only shows people are so privileged that they have the luxury of not noticing race issues, but it also also shows ignorance of the situation amongst races in society today. Furthermore those who have the privilege of not noticing race issues also have the privilege that their race does not at all affect them on a daily basis, simply because they are part of a majority group and don't have to think about race.

For an example of privilege in action, I encourage people to read this essay: http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598ge/Unpacking.html