Newsweek's N'Gai Croal On The 'Resident Evil 5' Trailer: 'This Imagery Has A History'

decapitator - 627 days 16 hours ago

Need more RE5 news...come on Capcom.

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Dream Machine - 627 days 15 hours ago

I have a feeling most of you people didn't actually *read* the article? What he says is very well thought out and put together. Regardless of the thoughtless premise, the gameplay looks rubbish anyway. As soon as they got rid of zombies in RE4 and started using the shoulder-cam view instead of fixed camera, it lost all suspense and became super-generic.

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v1c1ous - 627 days 15 hours ago

by that african-american interest website run by that chick (who was making a mountain out of an anthill)

capcom, the next week, let out a press conference saying they promoted a company worker (who happened to be african american) to a higher position. i was laughing my butt off.

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PS360WII - 627 days 15 hours ago

The only ignorance here is saying RE5 is racist.

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King2008 - 627 days 15 hours ago

And I say bring on the zombies green, yellow, white, black red, or blue if you try to eat my brain i'm shooting you HAHAHA I crack myself up. This is stupid in my video game life I have shot more races than I can remember so this is nothing new. Just because you black dont make you immune to Umbrella newest virus so you turn I shot you in the head plain and simple.

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klashawnd - 627 days 14 hours ago

First off - if you didn't read the entire article, please do so. By some of the comments, I can tell you didn't take the time to read it.

Second, as a black man and a gamer, I agree with everything N'Gai said. Certain images carry a historical background that is mired in racism, sexism, etc. The first time I saw the RE5 trailer I was like "Oh sh1t that's f%cked up." My boy (who is white) was sitting there too and said to me "What's f%cked up?" I said "You don't think this trailer is messed up in any way?" He was like, "Nah, what's wrong with it?" Right there I knew there was going to be a problem.

See the problem with race in this country is that we all have different experiences that we base our views of race on. If you are white but grew up around all black people, your views towards blacks are going to be vastly different from someone who went to an all-white school, had all white friends and never really had to interact with black people. That person knows that there is no need to clutch your purse everytime a group of teenage black boys with baggy pants and oversized fitted caps walks past them on the street. Their life experiences give them a different view on race.

Anyway I digressed... back to the gaming aspect of this. AS A GAMER, I guess I should agree with most gamers and say "What's the point? It's just a game. Who cares what color the zombies are, they're still zombies. It wasn't a problem when the zombies were white or spanish, right?

I should be that way. But the fact that I was even a tad bit disturbed by a freaking video game says alot. I've seen sex in GTA, fatalities in Mortal Kombat, naked women in God of War, dismembered limbs in Ninja Gaiden ... I've seen it all. But when I saw RE5 I was disturbed. I saw that trailer and decided right then and there that RE5 would not be on my purchase list. And I'm sure there are going to be a TON of others with time on there hands and nothing to do all day but go on FOX News, MSNBC and CNN who are going to be feeling the same way and urging others to not buy the game.

Like N'Gai said, from a pure business standpoint, this is insanely stupid on Capcom's part. This isn't GTA or Manhunt. Retailers have an easy time overlooking violence (hey they sell movies right?), but racism? (well perceived racism...) There's just no way that's going to fly. No company or retailer likes mass protests. Once Al Sharpton (who I hate), Jesse Jackson (who I hate), Oprah (who I want to marry for her billions), Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and everyone else who is starved for attention starts hitting the airwaves condemning the game, Walmart is going to pull the game, Target is going to pull the game, K-Mart, Sears, etc... Noone wants to be associated with racism perceived or actual. It's not good for business.

Anyway I've written too much already. Just read the story, everything that I believe, N'Gai has already stated perfectly. Now go ahead and take away my bubbles and disagree me to oblivion.

We all can agree on marrying Oprah for her billions though, right?

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King2008 - 627 days 14 hours ago

but from a purely GAMER point of view, a polygon point of view if you hit me and I lose energy that means your not on my team and i'm gonna kill you. People are looking at these guys as black zombies when they should see them as the enemy plain and simple. I've killed so many terrorist in COD4 but was there an uproar about that? I know its not a sensitive as this issue but race is race people is people and if your in the game i'm killing you its that simple.....for me anyway.

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Iceman100x - 627 days 14 hours ago

"Hmm no one was making a buzz about spaniards being killed in RE4, but for some reason when black people are involved its a big deal."

Maybe because they wern't real people to begin with in a fictional part of the world, and if you don't understand why it's differnt with blk people then you have no clue.

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S1nnerman - 627 days 14 hours ago

That there is no point arguing with people who won't engage in constructive discussion (as seen in parts of this thread). As games develop and they 'push the envelope' and provide more visceral experiences, there is inevitably going to be a possibility that concerns around morality, influence, appropriateness of content arise.

To dismiss people who feel, for whatever reason, aggrieved/concerned/offended is a mistake. As gamers we do have a responsibility to stand up and be counted. We can't just dismiss people's concerns because we can't be bothered or we want to 'kill some zombies'. People are entitled to have their views and it's for us, collectively, to intelligently explain why they shouldn't be concerned - not rant like lunatics. It's so much better if people can articulate their views without then trading in personal insults ...

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sandip787 - 627 days 13 hours ago

i dont think anybody is asking one major question here. what about the white zombies? how do they feel? they got cut out of what of will be the biggest resi game ever. i feel bad for them.
if anything, its racist against white zombies.

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tplarkin7 - 627 days 13 hours ago

Change the main character to be a black man.

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bpmurr - 627 days 12 hours ago

I can understand why the trailer out of context could be upsetting to an older black American because of things they may gave suffered. However, at some point people have to get past things. It's almost like a never ending victim mentality and there are plenty race baiters (Rev. Wright) out there to keep it going. Heck if I listen that crap every Sunday I'd hate white people and be upset too! Sure there are racist people of all races but the bottom line is we are making progress and the fact this doesn't bother a lot of people black, white, asian, etc is a good thing.

Being white I didn't have a problem with characters of other races killing whites in games. The quicker blacks feel confortable and don't throw the race card out the better for all of us.

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proArchy - 627 days 12 hours ago

First of all the trailer places no sort of context of the infection or of the events that brought either Chris Redfield or the infection to the village. Without context we cannot surmise the purpose of these things. I see the point that all imagery has a history, and while i agree with that, all imagery also has an origin and an intended interpretation. It is doubtful that either the origin or intended interpretation of these images was of/from a racist mind. It is more likely that they are spawned from the mind of an artist trying to convey an overall feeling and atmosphere. Simply put, if the images of a impoverished village, people hiding in shadows (likely because its hot and they, living in an impoverished village, cannot afford air conditioning) disturb you, then the artist has done his job. You are supposed to get a feeling of unease from these images, it is afterall a horror story. You may actually end up getting more out of this game than the many others that felt nothing for these images. Making the audience feel a connection or sympathy for the "antagonists" in a story is an extremely difficult thing to do, and often adds an amazing layer of depth to character developement, and appreciation for the story in general.
Racist overtones can be applied to any number of songs, paintings, video games. Does that mean that the intended interpretation of these works was of a racist nature? Not at all. It does not exclude this as a possibility, but, in most cases, it is not a direct conclusion you can make. It may be a result of your own memory, or opinion of the subject matter that projects this racist cloud over these images, and in your mind MAKES them racist. I would very much like to learn more of the story and context in RE5 before i start pointing the racist stick at Capcom or their employees.

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videogamefreak1 - 627 days 12 hours ago

http://www.destructoid.com/...

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GUNS N SWORDS - 627 days 10 hours ago

i they were purple, it would look like an alien invasion and then the race of the chin-chins would be pissed off pretty bad.

i don't think capcom is trying to make it a racist game, but i'm going to hold my final judgement until the game is finished.

until then i think capcom should just spend more time fixing the game and prove negative viewers wrong, that it's a good game.

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stuntman_mike - 627 days 10 hours ago

in context of the game isnt most of the world turned into zombies so no matter where they set it there will be fear of some kind.

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XerockX - 627 days 8 hours ago

maybe they should just swap the texture maps for the characters.Make the zombies white and make chris black.Then no one would give a sh*t.

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gano - 627 days 8 hours ago

In the open zone a cat is sayin he/she is going to shoot up a whole bunch of n cats. Including house negros, for those who are not of color
are you sayin that africans have nothing to be mad about in things that's consider offense to them. Since when did you determine what's not. gta: san andreas was included but sold well. Not sayin the game re5
won't be good but in all honest on somethings never say what is and not
offensive to them YOUR (hate to say race) But class never felt that, ever. If anything this is showing you that some people still hurt from it, whether you like it or not.

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Chubear - 627 days 7 hours ago

People aren't stupid, they know exactly what kinda of imagery that trailer portrayed but they jsut dont' give a damn. They want RE5 and don't care about moral responsibilties or accountabilites.

That's their porrogative but a company like capcom should know better. I think they knew exactly what they were doing releasing that trailer but I'm not impressed at all.

All you people lieing saying you're black and aren't offended or see nothing wrong with the trailer aren't fooling anyone. I may not be African American but I don't have to be. I'd be a fool to act like there was nothing wrong with that trailer. There's no way in hell I'd play that game around any of my friends that are from any ethnic background.

If capcom released an RE6 where the protagonist was of destinc Arabian decent and was sent into a very Jewish setting village killing women and children I'd definitly raise an eyebrow the same way I wouldn't touch a game that depicts a black protagonist killing a villians that are all seemingly Swedish looking with fair hair and blue eyes.

If you say you see nothing wrong with the trailer then you're either lying and disregarding your moral compass just cause you're need to play the game is of higher priorty than begining accountable to certain morals or you're like 10yrs old and don't fully understand the history of racisim that exsists prominantly in our current society.

Each to his/her own but there's no way I'd touch that game if the content of it still remains anything close that trailer, no way.

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name - 627 days 1 hour ago

^ Exactly. They wouldn't tolerate an Arabic killing jews in a game at all. And I doubt anyones gonna actually read what these people had to say either. They don't WANT to understand why people are upset by it.

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