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[hoos30]

Asian or not? You decide GAF.

So fucking classic! DUDE, I'm crying over here. :lol

Anyway, since I was eight years old or so, I always wondered why anime artists depict their characters as caucasian.

So, these characters are supposed to be Japanese?

 

[MWS Natural]

So fucking classic! DUDE, I'm crying over here. :lol

Anyway, since I was eight years old or so, I always wondered why anime artists depict their characters as caucasian.

http://www.henshinonline.com/images/voyagerdvds_01.jpg[IMG]

So, these characters are supposed to be Japanese?[/QUOTE]
No, you are just "misinterpreting" them to be non-Japanese....obviously your eyes are the problem here.

 

[Brannon]

'Some other race' doesn't sound to official either.

Probably means 'some Puerto Rican guy'. He gets around everywhere.

 

[Micromegas]

my opinion is that it's the most dumbfucking question I've heard in weeks

It's probably not the dumbest, but it's up there. Top 5 anyway. Lots of dumb threads to choose from the last couple weeks.

 

[Brannon]

That's seriously fucking stupid what N'Gai says.

When I first saw the RE5 trailer I wasn't like "ZOMG I get to shoot black people?! Day one confirmed!" It was more like "Holy shit a new RE and it looks fucking incredible."

The game obviously takes place in Africa. Does it make sense that there would be a bunch of pasty white people walking around, or actually have the native people in the game? It has nothing to do with race and has everything to do with setting. If you really want to be hard on a game that takes advantage of the Black race look at the new 50 Cent game. Yeah, nothing like having stereotypical black thugs going around killing Iraqis to rap music!

HEY! They took his diamond-encrusted skull! That's dissin' man, they needs da be capped!

 

[MrHicks]

wow @ many of those famous final fantasy characters that are supposed to be asian
i had no fucking clue all these years

mind=fucked

 

[Xenon]

So fucking classic! DUDE, I'm crying over here. :lol

Anyway, since I was eight years old or so, I always wondered why anime artists depict their characters as caucasian.

So, these characters are supposed to be Japanese?

Because after WWII, America helped rebuild Japan and the Japanese were facinated with the culture especially animated movies. They loved how expressive the Disney characters could be with larger eyes. I guess it just evolved from there. Its just what their used to seeing. Besides its not like their are many blue haired people walking around. So its not like they are trying to copy caucasians.

 

[Slavik81]

Yeah, I'm gonna duck out of this one. I'll try anyway. I don't wanna be "the guy who focuses on race" cause when it comes down to it, I'm a gamer, and I have never not played a game because of the main character's race. I think that is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.

While it's important to me that more races are represented in media, it's not something I focus on while playing a game or watching a movie, or walking down the street. We are all human beings, so why should it matter that this character is black and this one is white? Exactly. It shouldn't matter at all, but it does. It matters because the guy from the movie 21 is white while the real guy that the movie was based on was Asian. It matters because you rarley see an Asian lead in any AAA American movie unless he's doing Kung-Fu or jumping from a roof. It matters because there are only 11 or so black leads in games out of millions and half of them are not even original game characters (Michael Jackson ect...). It matters because someone out there feels the need to make every character especially the main character, a certain race in order to cater to one particular group, or they feel they will risk sales. That is what's wrong with media and America.

So all you talking about, "there is no problem", "too many people focus on race" and "it's not an issue" can put that in you're pipe and smoke it. Because what you're really saying is, "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

I'm done.

I was actually just saying that people identify with their race far too much. Just because you have X colour skin does not make you person type X and enshrine you with personal traits A, B and C.

But on your topic, I can't say I find much odd about the current makeup of games. The group most lacking representation is first and second generation immigrants from South-Western Asia and Africa. There are more Filipino people in my province than black people and twice as many 'south asian'. But how often do you see a Filipino man or woman as the protagonist?

And why not? Well, for a start, besides Bioware, there's no major games developers here. Additionally, many of those immigrants are first or second generation and few of them have ever wanted to develop games for a living. But can you possibly imagine the diversity that would come from having games developed worldwide? If game development actually took off in locations other than North America, Europe and Japan?

That problem will solve itself in time. Gender differences are more concerning. I know plenty of women and not a single one is studying engineering. Want to know why games development is done by men? There are 3 women in my classes and 30 men. Why? Because that's the ratio of women to men who are interested in computer and electrical engineering. They simply don't care. And that right there is a societal problem. Which is also why I hate so much identification with the past. You ingrain stupid bullshit like 'women are nurses (the ratio is ~100:1) and 'men should be automechanics'.

It's fucking retarded and that's the sort of bullshit you bring on when you start following cultural identities instead of being your own person.

 

[Odrion]

Anyone remember when San Andreas was coming out and a bunch of people on GAF were banned because of racial comments?

Wish I had that saved. :[

 

[Slavik81]

Oh, and also the obligatory:

 

[Death_Born]

Oh, and also the obligatory:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/Slavik81/JapaneseAmerican.gif

Can't really see the difference, except for maybe the one on the left.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

yea but what is it, 99% of gaming characters are white.

If you are talking about Japan, they make the character look white, but they act and talk very Japanense. The whole idea of the "white" look in Anime is that the characters are race neutral and that they are Japanese.

Shit dialog like "Do angels cry" would never come from a character who acts and talks like an American.

 

[LoathsomeCorpse]

So, these characters are supposed to be Japanese?

Actually, yes -- all of them except the woman in the upper left and the blue-skinned dude. They're aliens.

 

[Jirotrom]

If you are talking about Japan, they make the character look white, but they act and talk very Japanense. The whole idea of the "white" look in Anime is that the characters are race neutral and that they are Japanese.

Shit dialog like "Do angels cry" would never come from a character who acts and talks like an American.

:lol :lol :lol dude... it was sarcasm I stated this right after.

 

[methane47]

If you are talking about Japan, they make the character look white, but they act and talk very Japanense. The whole idea of the "white" look in Anime is that the characters are race neutral and that they are Japanese.

Shit dialog like "Do angels cry" would never come from a character who acts and talks like an American.

:lol :lol

 

[Shogun]

Just cause I think N'Gai's article was interesting but the discussion of it on the site was pretty ridiculous ( I think N'Gai ended up implying Jim Sterling of destructoid was a racist. ) I figured why not full text it here?

Multiplayer: I wanted to ask you about the “Resident Evil 5″ trailer…

Croal: I looked at the “Resident Evil 5″ trailer and I was like, “Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game.” Because I wonder, and I haven’t sort of really dug into it that much, but I wonder what sort of advice Capcom gave them. 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, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn’t see it. So how could you have a conversation with people who don’t understand what you’re talking about and think that you’re sort of seeing race where nothing exists?

There was stuff like even before the point in the trailer where the crowd turned into zombies. There sort of being, in sort of post-modern parlance, they’re sort of “othered.” They’re hidden in shadows, you can barely see their eyes, and the perspective of the trailer is not even someone who’s coming to help the people. 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. They all have to be killed. And given the history, given the not so distant post-colonial history, you would say to yourself, why would you uncritically put up those images? 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. I don’t know how to explain it more clearly than that.
“The audience isn’t demanding much change. They like the games they’re playing.”

I think the audience isn’t demanding much change. They like the games they’re playing. They’re by and large comfortable with the amounts of stereotypes in their games. You know because another thing that you sort of have gamers run into in situations like this is that, “Oh it’s just a game.” [laughs] You know, if it’s just a game, then why do we care about how culturally relevant they are? I care about how culturally relevant they are. I take games as seriously as other art forms.

If there were a movie that had those images, I’d question it. I’d really want to know what’s going on in this movie. Like where is this coming from? So we hadn’t seen much of the game. It was just a trailer. If it had been me in that situation, I wouldn’t have put out a trailer like that. I think it’s very easy to misunderstand what that game is about based on that trailer. And while I would certainly withhold final judgment, if that’s all the game is, I’d be concerned about that.

Multiplayer: It’s funny how some people argue that it’s “just a game,” but also get really upset of any criticism of it…

Croal: Absolutely. It’s very difficult in this country, in many countries, to have a conversation about race. Everyone brings to it their own history, their own perspective. Some people are engaged in it, some people aren’t. I think some people are concerned because some people think there is a double standard. Some people say that when it’s images of only black people then people get concerned. Some people feel like their hobby is under attack; it’s being misinterpreted or misunderstood. 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.” Then you look at the music that was used in the trailers, that’s one of the things that was sort of funny in so that you had those people who were saying, “It’s not even Africa, it’s Haiti or somewhere in the Caribbean.” The music that they’re using in the trailer is very reminiscent of the music used in Black Hawk Down which was set in Africa — Somalia. That actually was one of the things that was most disturbing because it sort of had a feeling as like, “Wow, what research did this team do? Did they only watch Black Hawk Down and give it this kind of vibe?”

I don’t want to put down the Capcom team that’s working on it. I hope they did more research than that. But based on that trailer, it’s very difficult to tell. And Black Hawk Down was a very problematic film among a handful of critics and particularly among African-American viewers and African viewers when it came out because of the sort of narrow focus of its portrayal.

That’s the whole thing where only Chris Redfield appears to be human before they turn into zombies; the humanity of other people is in question. It’s like you barely see their faces, he doesn’t really interact with them, he sort of walks through this thing and it’s sort of, “Is he there? Is he not?” It’s a very strange thing, and it taps into sort of this very racist iconography. I think that’s the only way I’m describing it. I’m not saying that was their intent. But it seems that a lot of people who were up in arms about the trailer couldn’t see that and didn’t want to engage it.

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.
“This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can’t pretend otherwise.”

It’s like when you engage that kind of imagery you have to be careful with it. It would be like saying you were going to do some sort of zombie movie that appeared to be set in Europe in the 1940’s with skinny, emaciated, Hasidic-looking people. If you put up that imagery people would be saying, “Are you crazy?” Well, that’s what this stuff looks like. This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can’t pretend otherwise. That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood. If you’re going to tread, if you’re going to engage imagery that has that potential, the onus is on the creator to be aware of that because there will be repercussions in the marketplace.

I don’t know how Capcom feels about it. I think releasing that game is going to be very difficult. I think there are people and organizations who aren’t very understanding of games that if that imagery is brought to them they’re going to be like, “Wait, hold up. I don’t know how you could put that out.” Then you have to say, “Does Wal-Mart want to deal with that? Does Target want to deal with that?” I’m not saying that censorship is the answer. I’m saying that the same rights that allow Capcom to put the game out are the same rights that allow people to bring pressure on people who might release that game. This is why it is important to whoever works in the American office of a company like Capcom to be able to show this is the history, this is where this comes from, this is where we need to be more sensitive. I’m not sure they’ve done that yet.

 

[PantherLotus]

i think this requires an amano painting.

 

[zoukka]

Did you even read my post? I said that people misinterpret them as caucasians because of their appearance. I never said that they accurately looked asian. It's just how anime style has always been.

Nope.

 

[Desi]

If you are talking about Japan, they make the character look white, but they act and talk very Japanense. The whole idea of the "white" look in Anime is that the characters are race neutral and that they are Japanese.

Shit dialog like "Do angels cry" would never come from a character who acts and talks like an American.

hahaha. Also you can tell they are Japanese when they place their hands on their hips.

edit: Oh god I hope someone got the reference. Don't need to be flagged.

EDIT: It'll turn your stomach if you've played the game.

Does not change my respect on the character (since I already know her). Just makes her more sexually attractive. Wish I had a 360 mod to make that Orc chick that followed me around on Oblivion attractive....

 

[Acid08]

"That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood. If you’re going to tread, if you’re going to engage imagery that has that potential, the onus is on the creator to be aware of that because there will be repercussions in the marketplace."

Why should the color of their skin even matter? The game takes place in fucking AFRICA. Mostly black people live in AFRICA. Having Shane Bettenhausen attacking you in Africa wouldn't make any fucking sense. No one's trying to be racist, and no one's pointing anything out but N'Gai.

 

[Tain]

Wow. Would it kill you to read his responses?

 

[HylianScribe]

Brainstorming how to change the RE5 "racism" issue:

Before:

After:

Important: Watch the episode if you don't get it...
Edit: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/103581/

 

[Slavik81]

Does not change my respect on the character (since I already know her). Just makes her more sexually attractive.

She looks like she turns tricks at the corner on the east side of City 17...

 

[rollingstart]

I defiantly agree, but that isn't even excluding the Caucasians. We are just as stereotyped in gaming. There is no deep discussion about white peoples history either.

It's an issue I would agree, but not a racial one, that's a problem with gaming as a whole. It's the same for sex, there are so few strong female characters that aren't designed to be arousing, that's one of the reasons I love Alyx's character in HL2 so much, she's one of the very few female characters that display's depth of emotion and isn't just a piece of ass for the fratboy pubescent demographic. And I noticed the other day that it was unique, someone posted some picture of a mod for HL2 that made Alyx into some horrible slag character and it was disturbing. But it made me conclude that it's not the developers fault, it's the consumers. The gaming public isn't ready for real characters, hopefully soon they will be.

EDIT: It'll turn your stomach if you've played the game.

I remember seeing that mod and thinking it was so stupid how they made her a skank.

 

[StuBurns]

She looks like she turns tricks at the corner on the east side of City 17...

Indeed, but my point wasn't even about Alyx's character being altered to me, it was about the nature of the sick fucking moders that couldn't just leave her looking respectful and turned her into a uberwhore.

 

[Slavik81]

Indeed, but my point wasn't even about Alyx's character being altered to me, it was about the nature of the sick fucking moders that couldn't just leave her looking respectful and turned her into a uberwhore.

I was actually just confused by the 'more attractive' part. Admittedly, that's rather subjective...

 

[favouriteflavour]

I defiantly agree, but that isn't even excluding the Caucasians. We are just as stereotyped in gaming. There is no deep discussion about white peoples history either.

It's an issue I would agree, but not a racial one, that's a problem with gaming as a whole. It's the same for sex, there are so few strong female characters that aren't designed to be arousing, that's one of the reasons I love Alyx's character in HL2 so much, she's one of the very few female characters that display's depth of emotion and isn't just a piece of ass for the fratboy pubescent demographic. And I noticed the other day that it was unique, someone posted some picture of a mod for HL2 that made Alyx into some horrible slag character and it was disturbing. But it made me conclude that it's not the developers fault, it's the consumers. The gaming public isn't ready for real characters, hopefully soon they will be.

EDIT: It'll turn your stomach if you've played the game.

Man the great thing about Alyx's character design was that she looked like a real person dammit. She wasnt some over sexualised fantasy with tits everywhere. Its as if they didnt understand the character at all.

 

[Ironballs]

http://kotaku.com/378535/clearly-no-one-black-worked-on-this-game

Reading the comments here makes me very disappointed. Its sad to see how few people have even a remote understanding of race relations.

And people wonder why nobody outside of the enthusiast gamer population takes this medium seriously.

 

[DDayton]

When I saw the first post, the funny thing is that I was reminded of Mario Golf.

Why, you ask?

Mario Golf was available for both the N64 and the GBC, and supported the Transfer Pak. Progress in the portable version could be transferred to the console version, which allowed you to power up your golfer of choice.

Where this gets interesting is that there was golfer who changed a bit between the versions... "Kid". In one version of the game, he was black; in the other, white. I was never quite sure why his skin color changed between versions, but it was amusing.

Now I can't find any screenshots of the character, which is a pain.

 

[SolidSnakex]

http://kotaku.com/378535/clearly-no-one-black-worked-on-this-game

Reading the comments here makes me very disappointed. Its sad to see how few people have even a remote understanding of race relations.

And people wonder why nobody outside of the enthusiast gamer population takes this medium seriously.

Didn't movie fans react negatively when someone suggested that LoTR was racist? Those types of comments aren't limited to gaming.

 

[Dabanton]

http://kotaku.com/378535/clearly-no-one-black-worked-on-this-game

Reading the comments here makes me very disappointed. Its sad to see how few people have even a remote understanding of race relations.

And people wonder why nobody outside of the enthusiast gamer population takes this medium seriously.

What's the betting that the majority of posters there are young white males.

They never see racism anywhere. In their world it doesn't exist, funny that...

 

[KLoNe]

I think the lead in GTA:SA was the first black guy ever in gaming.

 

[Cowie]

Just cause I think N'Gai's article was interesting but the discussion of it on the site was pretty ridiculous ( I think N'Gai ended up implying Jim Sterling of destructoid was a racist. ) I figured why not full text it here?

Wow, i had been avoiding that because i was kind of brushing off the whole re5 is racist thing, but he really made some shocking points. I'd like to claim innocent ignorance on my part, but who knows =(. I didn't really think of it in those terms, but the whole manifest destiny thing makes this really touchy. The way they're depicted really does seem similar to the way we viewed all people in undeveloped countries, say, 100 years ago. The difference here is instead of saving their inhuman selves with capitalism and christ, we're "saving" their slightly more inhuman selves with bullets and a shitty knife. However, I do completely believe this is coincidental. I'm sure the japanese didn't even consider this -- xenophobic at worst, they're not blatant racists. It's just that the images RE5 gives off are.. well.. accidentally insensitive.

 

[a.wd]

Wow, i had been avoiding that because i was kind of brushing off the whole re5 is racist thing, but he really made some shocking points. I'd like to claim innocent ignorance on my part, but who knows =(. I didn't really think of it in those terms, but the whole manifest destiny thing makes this really touchy. The way they're depicted really does seem similar to the way we viewed all people in undeveloped countries, say, 100 years ago. The difference here is instead of saving their inhuman selves with capitalism and christ, we're "saving" their slightly more inhuman selves with bullets and a shitty knife. However, I do completely believe this is coincidental. I'm sure the japanese didn't even consider this -- xenophobic at worst, they're not blatant racists. It's just that the images RE5 gives off are.. well.. accidentally insensitive.

Is focusing on one game the way to answer the questions? Maybe a more macroscopic view of the industry and its tenets is a better way to look at it all. Partly because when introducing diversity and far reach within the industry output, we would probably have to deal with fantastic situations. IS that fair to say?

 

[ssoass]

I like how MGS4 makes the Middle Eastern guerrilla fighters the good guys.
Even if allegiance switching was still in I would always pick the side of the Middle Eastern dudes over the PMCs.

 

[Cowie]

Is focusing on one game the way to answer the questions? Maybe a more macroscopic view of the industry and its tenets is a better way to look at it all. Partly because when introducing diversity and far reach within the industry output, we would probably have to deal with fantastic situations. IS that fair to say?

oh, blaming one game is definitely not a reasonable approach. and if you were to pick one game, RE5 isn't the worst out there.

The problem with viewing the industry as a whole is just how far it stretches. With things like movies or television, you can sort of directly address 'american films', or something like that. Video games get lumped together. I'd say the mainstream perception of videogames really doesn't ( and doesn't care to) differentiate countries of origin. I'm not sure if there exists any kind of common thread between tom clancy 'suppress those brown rebels' games, racially/culturally insensitive games like RE5, and any game prominently featuring stereotypes -- all of which could be considered racist. But these games could be made and sold pretty much anywhere in the world. And the reasons these things didn't matter/weren't considered could vary as well.

 

[kamorra]

What's the betting that the majority of posters there are young white males.

They never see racism anywhere. In their world it doesn't exist, funny that...

And that's not stereotyping now? Nice.

btw
It would be great, no it would be fantastic if we had more people who live in worlds were racism doesn't exist.

 

[Teknoman]

I think the lead in GTA:SA was the first black guy ever in gaming.

Nope.

The black guy in the first Mercenaries game: According to the in game profile, he was basically the leader. Also skilled in multiple languages.

Dalton from Unreal II, the main player character, and basically a space sheriff of sorts.

The Paladin from Diablo II

Malcom and most of team Thunder Crash(?) from the Unreal Tournament series (he's even supposed to be the most skilled fighter in that universe)

And many more I dont really feel like listing atm.


EDIT: Im 100% sure that just like RE4's intelligent Spanish main bad guys, and Spanish good guy (Luis Sera), there will be pretty intelligent Black main bad guys (dictator looking dude in RE5 im guessing) and Black good guys to help Chris out. Capcom always puts Black people in non-stereotypical roles in their recent (32bit gen-HD gen) action games. RE5 wont be any different.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Black people don't play videogames.

SEGA fans. :\

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Anyone remember when San Andreas was coming out and a bunch of people on GAF were banned because of racial comments?

Wish I had that saved. :[

I remember it very well.

 

[Jirotrom]

Wow, i had been avoiding that because i was kind of brushing off the whole re5 is racist thing, but he really made some shocking points. I'd like to claim innocent ignorance on my part, but who knows =(. I didn't really think of it in those terms, but the whole manifest destiny thing makes this really touchy. The way they're depicted really does seem similar to the way we viewed all people in undeveloped countries, say, 100 years ago. The difference here is instead of saving their inhuman selves with capitalism and christ, we're "saving" their slightly more inhuman selves with bullets and a shitty knife. However, I do completely believe this is coincidental. I'm sure the japanese didn't even consider this -- xenophobic at worst, they're not blatant racists. It's just that the images RE5 gives off are.. well.. accidentally insensitive.

I read it yesterday and forgot to post on it, but yes... Croal makes some very strong points.

 

[revolverjgw]

Nope.

The black guy in the first Mercenaries game: According to the in game profile, he was basically the leader. Also skilled in multiple languages.

Dalton from Unreal II, the main player character, and basically a space sheriff of sorts.

The Paladin from Diablo II

Malcom and most of team Thunder Crash(?) from the Unreal Tournament series (he's even supposed to be the most skilled fighter in that universe)

And many more I dont really feel like listing atm.


EDIT: Im 100% sure that just like RE4's intelligent Spanish main bad guys, and Spanish good guy (Luis Sera), there will be pretty intelligent Black main bad guys (dictator looking dude in RE5 im guessing) and Black good guys to help Chris out. Capcom always puts Black people in non-stereotypical roles in their recent (32bit gen-HD gen) action games. RE5 wont be any different.

And your avatar reminds me of the black guy from Mother 2 who realized that it was wrong to kidnap people and that'd he try not to kidnap anyone.

 

[Teknoman]

The only thing I dont like is when gaming genres are stapled onto certain races. I mean...because i'm Black, people assume im either looking for the next sports game or GTA (I am looking forward to GTAIV...but I dont really like sports games) instead of the newest Megaten series game or something else of that nature.

But the same goes for any race when it comes to things like that. I've seen hispanic people go into a game store before, and the clerk automatically thought they would be intrested in the newest Fifa game, when they really wanted Guitar Hero.

And your avatar reminds me of the black guy from Mother 2 who realized that it was wrong to kidnap people and that'd he try not to kidnap anyone.

Was that the guy who looked like Mr. T? Heh I havent played in awhile.

EDIT: Him?

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

So fucking classic! DUDE, I'm crying over here. :lol

Anyway, since I was eight years old or so, I always wondered why anime artists depict their characters as caucasian.

So, these characters are supposed to be Japanese?

It's not limited to any ethnicity or race.

Perhaps I notice it more because I tend to run in the drawing circles; but I often see - for instance black artists who you wouldn't know are black judging from their self portraits. They don't include any sort of pencil shading, or African traits - then you see a photo of them in another thead; and you're like wait - you're not some pompous white guy with dreadlocks? WTF!

And on the other hand you have artists that take it so far in the other direction that it's just a few steps away from racist caricature. :\

Bah.

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

Nope.

The black guy in the first Mercenaries game: According to the in game profile, he was basically the leader. Also skilled in multiple languages.

Dalton from Unreal II, the main player character, and basically a space sheriff of sorts.

The Paladin from Diablo II

Malcom and most of team Thunder Crash(?) from the Unreal Tournament series (he's even supposed to be the most skilled fighter in that universe)

And many more I dont really feel like listing atm.

Shadowman was a black guy as well.

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Shadowman was a black guy as well.

And the lead for Urban Chaos was black AND female.
(double dibs; omg nooz)


More ontopic:

the latest Edge also features an interview with Ken Levine (Bioshock again..) in which 'race' is taken on from a voice-acting perspective. Aparantly, Bioshock's villian wasn't quite hate-worthy enough in one racial undertone and the voiceactor was switched to a more fitting one. (I'll edit if it gets posted on next-gen.biz)

Also, from the turok demo thread, the notion of Turok going from 'cartoonlike native american' to space marine with native american background.


For those still doubtful of race being actively used and thought about on the developer end.

I'm not sure how the consumer-end is influenced though. There is little available data on that part.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Also, from the turok demo thread, the notion of Turok going from 'cartoonlike native american' to space marine with native american background.


For those still doubtful of race being actively used and thought about on the developer end.

I'm not sure how the consumer-end is influenced though. There is little available data on that part.

GAF is just being coy.

I was there when people pooped their pants over San Andreas (I can't relate to the black experience, blah blah blah) or when folks mistook the character in GTA4 for some Middle Eastern fella. :lol

I'm probably less pissed about a crappy non-Turok FPS, and more pissed about developers not making a kick-ass third person action game featuring the Son of Stone. >:|

Indian V. Dinosaur, such an awesome formula.

 

[TheExodu5]

Well I won't lie but one of the reasons I didn't like GTA:SA so much was the whole thugster thing.

I am, however, excited to see how the whole Eastern European mob thing goes down in GTA4.

 

[The Take Out Bandit]

Gamepro Tip: You're playing a criminal in GTA.

Just funny watching folks twist in the wind rationalizing one criminal over the other.

 

[HylianScribe]

I know this article is just about the trailer, which is fine, but don't assert points about the game itself until you play it. The producer of the game is doing interviews which are posted in video format on Capcom's community blog, and I'm sure if this keeps us, they'll ask him about this and he'll explain things. Right now, it seems that the choice for the location and race of people is because they wanted the game to take place in Africa because it is more commonly referred to as the center of life, where life began apparently. Apparently the plot is going to be strongly tied to that concept. My other question is, though the imagery clearly can be interpreted as racist (and they can also not be, this is all perception here) at some points, I'd like to know how some others think the trailer could have been made differently to not be viewed as racist and/or if this is an outcry to the locale and population of the game as shown so far, would they rather the creators alter reality and history to appease upset members of the public? You can't please everyone, and sometimes people get offended, but where's the line and how do you know it's been crossed in this situation. If you have a problem with RE5 so far, you probably need to look elsewhere to see more prominent depictions of racism in the media.

Point is, I highly doubt the creators intended anything to be offensive and are aware of racism and what it is, especially in regards to persecution of African Americans. If they explain why they made this video, and the side that's livid with the trailer hears it, perhaps that will calm this down. Right now this is too one-sided, more of the story needs to be told, and it's too soon to blow this into such a big issue.

IMO, RE5 isn't out to oppress anyone, or cause injustice, or even promote injustice or prejudice (except to killer zombies who want to kill you, in which case, I think it is acceptable to fight back in reality - to protect your life if something is about to kill you). That is why Chris is not trying to "save" anyone but himself from what we know. I don't care who you are, you attack me with intent to kill or somebody I care about, I'm going to fight back. That's not racism or being insensitive. If there is a way to resolve it without that, that path should be taken. But when all other options have been exhausted, what do you do? Chris isn't killing people because of their race. I've never been to the locations depicted in the game, but typically game designers scout real locations and base their designs on real life imagery, so I do not think they arbitrarily assumed this region of Africa would look like this and wanted to create this imagery simply out of ignorance of the fact.

This is just blown way too out of proportion, IMO, and I think people just need to chill.

PS: I'm not CAPCOM defense force.