Resident Evil 5 - racist or not?

[endo]

As Brats said it is the symbolism of what it might been seen to represent. For example you would not put 2 dead or alive girls fighting it out in a Mecca stage with their legs out & breasts bouncing around! That is religiously sensitive and white soldiers/conquerors in Africa is historically sensitive. Both are just games doing nothing wrong to the gamer but sometimes there are more people to think about then ourselves.

But outside of gamers, I can't see many people knowing/caring enough about the game to get worked up about it, aside from the usual suspects- lunatic Jack Thompson types and middle-class, white journos (The Village Voice, writing about games- since when did they give a toss?) who feel compelled to be outraged on behalf of whoever they perceive as being slighted.

I wonder how many people in Africa are currently discussing this, or have seen it and feel the game is potentially going to portray them in a stereotypical, negative light. Not many I bet.

[endo]

Also, if we're making such an issue about it then what are the general do-gooder public going to make of it?

Not much I reckon. The general "do-gooder public" know nothing about games and couldn't really care less about them. Hence kids playing GTA et al. because as far as the parents are concerned, games are for kids.

Manhunt 2 was banned by the censors based on what they saw as unacceptably violent content. There was no public outcry or media hysteria. I saw a couple of small articles after the game was banned, which just mentioned that it had been banned, no "ban this filth" type bollocks. I seriously can't see the general public getting into a flap over RE5.

['Press Start']

OK then, why don't Capcom take Res6 to the next level... They could go back in time to some little german chemical weapons lab in 1944, the Nazis are working on a super virus that will exterminate jews faster and cheaper than the gas they used... Obligatory outbreak in a concentration camp, player takes control of the only surviving Nazi foot soldier, run around shooting loads of zombie jews and then later on unlock a survival mode where you have to kill as many as you can in the alloted time.

Of course, that can't be considered racist as it is set in Nazi Germany, where exterminating jews was never considered racist.

Where do you draw the line between Nazi Germany and strifing Africa?

The...
comments really make me laugh, try telling that to the people that banned Manhunt2.

scarey, that is exactly what I was going to write! I settled for the Mecca comment instead!

[Gerry Helmet]

Well R5 isn't set on a boat where you play a slave trader overcome by zombie slaves.

[dataDave]

I tried having a laugh about Mecca with some kids I was teaching once. It turned out to be a bad idea in the end.

[jimmbob]

Somewhere around the middle of Italy?

So are we now comparing Biohazard to Nazi Germany?

I tried having a laugh about Mecca with some kids I was teaching once. It turned out to be a bad idea in the end.

That's the trouble with kids, they just don't understand Bingo.


Also is it still racist if the lead character was black? Still American, but a black American, is that OK?

[ItsThere]

I tried having a laugh about Mecca with some kids I was teaching once. It turned out to be a bad idea in the end.

Bingo is never funny David.
Dammit jimmbob. Beaten to it again!!!!

[jimmbob]

Bingo is never funny David.
Dammit jimmbob. Beaten to it again!!!!

LOLLERS, turns out Bingo is funny.

[dataDave]

Mecca. LOLz!

Also is it still racist if the lead character was black? Still American, but a black American, is that OK?

That would be fine. See the other thread regarding Chris Rock going on about being mugged by niggers.

[Lebowski]

if context and sensitivity in video games isn't in issue then why were certain flight sims pulled from sale around the time of the twin towers attacks, it wasn't as if they were crash sims it was just that like the resi evil vid they showed scenes that were a little to close to the bone.

[endo]

if context and sensitivity in video games isn't in issue then why were certain flight sims pulled from sale around the time of the twin towers attacks, it wasn't as if they were crash sims it was just that like the resi evil vid they showed scenes that were a little to close to the bone.

Like what, flying around not flying into buildings? Were many flight sims withdrawn from sale at that time? I didn't realise that was the case. Pretty pathetic though if true since I can't see how flying a plane in a videogame is close to the bone after 9/11 (unless of course the aim of the game was to fly into buildings). I do recall Propeller Arena not being released though as a result, but then that had specific plane combat scenes in cities. But still, a bit daft no? It's not like "murder simulator" FPS games were withdrawn from sale en masse after the Columbine massacre (or any other US gun atrocities).

[jimmbob]

Everything will always offend somebody, I'm thinking we need new clarification stickers for games. For instance if someone has never played the first 4 Resident Evils, and then decides to take a chance the fifth, there should be a sticker on the front along the lines of...

"To the uneducated eye, this game contains scenes of mild ethnic cleansing."

[Lebowski]

Like what, flying around not flying into buildings?

there was one flight sim in particular that they showed a lot on the news where you could crash a plain into the twin towers, my point being is the game was taken out of context pretty much in the same way resi is being taken out of context here

[buster_broon]

there was one flight sim in particular that they showed a lot on the news where you could crash a plain into the twin towers, my point being is the game was taken out of context pretty much in the same way resi is being taken out of context here

thing there was more to the story and it was the microsoft one

they believed the terrorists were using it as part of their training prior to the incident

[Dogg Thang]

Yes, and RE5 could train people to kill zombies. Not just any zombies - black zombies.