Race on the 360

Jaleel Boone from XboxFocus.com writes:

"Why are black video game characters so lame?

I know what you're thinking. "Why should it matter what the race of your character is?", or "I never have a problem with playing as other races, neither should you", or perhaps "Oh lord. The uppity colored boy is talking about race again. Black people? In my games?"

Clearly I don't believe there are any slave owners playing the Xbox 360 or reading this article, but hear me out. I'm just going to to go down a quick list of African-American characters on the Xbox 360 alone."

[Venomous Fire]

You know, I never really noticed it, but there is RARELY a black lead character who isnt a walking stereotype...

[n00bFRAGGER]

Yeah, they really are.

[NO_PUDding]

Well, you won't find many characters in games, that aren't stereotypes even if they are white.

Soldier or Space MArine, all muscley with soem special power.

And games just aren't diverse enoguh yet (or accpeted) to start strecthing.

And as soon as a black character is the main charcter for a game where you kill thigns, there is an outcry about it beign a stereotype of black crime.

And as soon as there's a game that has black enemies in it, it's instantly a racist attack (to some people).

So without sticking close to those rules, there isn't much room for any characterisation or multiculturalism within games at all.

I am caucasian but this subject really interests me. It amnnoys me that there are still some people that militant, but N'gai Croal for example said it was an outcry over nothing when it was brought up in Resident Evil 5.

[TheXgamerLive]

First off ALL races are treated like this, pay attention to your own and you'll see for yourself, second if or when a race ever changes it's perception in the world then I'm sure changes will show in ALL other aspects of life.

But it's unfortunate that it seems to most always be black people who complain about this when there's no need to preach to others b/c as I said, change the perception of the races or individuals in the country by being more positive and you'll see changes everywhere else too, even video games.

Showing pride in who you are isn't about pride in color it's about pride in who you are as an individual, going beyond color that's what makes one proud and seen as a positive individual, key word individual.

But sometimes the real truth just hurts.

p.s. Sports games whatever the sport may be has all races involved if that sport truly has other races involved in it.

p.s.s These are just and only video games, don't read into them or you'll be just like those fools who say this video game made my son go out and rob a bank and then kill all the hostages. No, your son was mentally unhealthy and needed medical treatment LONG before he played "blank blank" video game.

[SmokeyMcBear]

damn xgamer.. why you being all racist against black people.

[kevoncox]

Xgamer -
You talk like it's easy to change the perception of an entire race of people. It's an entire race. Think about how different an Irish American is from an Itialian American. Black Americans don't have that luxury. We are all lumped together. Worst of all, a lot people fear the unknown. They don't really know black people and only know what they see on TV. They veiw Rappers and Young athlethes as as the norm. They ignore the distiguish black Americans like Denzel Washington and Morgon Freeman and focus in on the Thrash they see on tv. It's not very easy to change that perception as it is based on fear.

[TheXgamerLive]

There's a big difference.

I don't think as a race black people need to change it's all wrong to think that way, as I was trying to say it's time all people look to who they are as an individual and just make sure your a good person and not a steriotypical person. Don't think of pride as a race, look at where that got blacks today, instead focus on your self, you and you alone.

for example, me being a white man, I don't think "white pride, yeah!!!", no I think of how am I as an individual, not as a race.

[SmokeyMcBear]

if it makes you feel any better, i perceive white people to be trailer trash yokels out of middle america that beat their wives and drink too much and drive 4X4's.... they should make a game out of that

"Alabama Man" - South park viewers will get it.

[lsujester]

Smokey... when did you come to my house, man?? LOL

But I totally understand where this article is coming from. Most black game characters are steretyped in some kind of way, but I don't think it's ALWAYS a negative thing. If I have a choice between some white guy having angst about morality and saving the universe, and some black guy who says 'F*** it!" and blows the crap outta everything... I'm going with the black guy.

But I think part of the problem too could be the various people and groups who feel the need to "respond" to everything involving a black person. RE5 is set in Africa.. where there are black people. But yet black people turn to zombies and have to be shot, it's suddenly promoting the killing of black people... even though almost every game zombie in history til that point has been white.

It's crap like this article

http://caribbean.craigslist...

that undoubtedly scares some developers from making a non-white lead character because inevitably that character will have to do something to another character. And when that happens, it will automatically be racist to someone.

And don't forget that videogames as a whole are mostly made by white programming nerds who have no contact with the outside world except for conventions. LOL

[shazam]

Drebin isn't lame?

[Jim Crowslaw]

Drebin isnt on the 360 though...........

"GET IT TOGETHER SHAZAAM!!"

a lil MGS4 humor :P

[player911]

Why is 360 in the title?

I don't see any other consoles being any different.

I never really noticed this before. The games I play usually are diverse. Unreal Tournament has a mix of players, Half Life has black scientists, Mass Effect lets you create your own, and isn't the main character in Gears black as well?

I'm not trying to justify anything, but a game is a game. The main character can be a troll for all I care... as long as the game is good.

[NO_PUDding]

Generally black people are sensitive to any attack, well becuase they feel they are justified to, it was only 2 or 3 centuries since there was slavery. I kind of understand.

But they have to compromise, becuase no one who tortured their ancestors is alive now. And they didn't experience it first hand. The equilibrium has shifted and white males have to tiptoe around difficult subjects such as this, and I refuse to do it.

I do have Afro-Carribean heritage to fall back on, but I am predominantly white.

Anyway, it's quite a fantastical feat, that America (and UK for that matter) can actually live so peacefully, with less crime than the Wild West.

[hokiebonoz]

there are hardly any leads for other races as well

[boogeyman999]

Best quote is about how he talks about how developers, if they can create great characters out of cubes, black people shouldn't be that hard. Awesome.

[NO_PUDding]

That quote is ridiculous, and so are you for not realising, that Cubes won't create a backlash. Interesting charcters are often amde interested through misrepresntation, and developers aren't free enough to exercise that yet, becuase unlike movies, games are totally created.

[boogeyman999]

I'm from a tough perspective to talk about it, but yeah. I never really noticed anything either.

[vegnadragon]

resident evil 5 anyone?

[TheXgamerLive]

White zombies, oh oh, they must all be racist and hate white people, right? The Black Panthers must of designed and developed the first 4 and the KKK are doing number 5, is that it?

NO! It's just an F'in video game!!

edit: Hey whatever floats your boat "SMOKEY".

[SmokeyMcBear]

they should make a game where it is a black protagonist, and all he does is kill white people... for whatever reason they can congure up.. that would be a cool game

[player911]

sounds like your racist as well.

Although trying to follow your logic, I wouldn't care. If a black guy was the main character and was killing white zombies or whatever... who cares. If the GAME is good then what does it matter?

[drigg]

Have you all forgetten Augustus Cole, one of the greatest game characters ever lol!

[GiantEnemyCrab]

How about Crackdown! Not much back story to him but was freakin awesome!

"Skills for kills agent!"

[gonzodamus]

There was an interesting article I read (or was it on NPR?) about black characters on television. Apparently, there is only one new show this year with a black lead, and it's animated. From a purely gameplay perspective, I tire of playing the same character again and again.

I'm not sure if it's just for asthetic purposes or just to make up for the underrepresentation in games, but my character in Knights of the Old Republic II, Torn, was black. My first Oblivion character was too.

I think the Half Life series deserves a lot of credit, as all of the characters interact like people, regardless of gender or skin tone.

[Statix]

I played Deus Ex 2 as a black character, just because I could, and just because I was sick of the lack of ethnic variety in games. I'm gonna play Far Cry 2 starting off with an African character as well--that is, assuming it includes some African characters for you to choose. It had better damn well include some, considering the game is set in freaking AFRICA.

[Bnet343]

Cole Train baby!

"WOOO! We're going into overdrive baby!

[The Wood]

..yeah he was a US yardie but i respected the role r* gave him. Despite him being stoned all the time he was helpful, brave and good with a gun so at least he wasn't all chat like how some blacks are portrayed.

[Agent VX]

Boo Hoo... dude needs a tissue or something. If he wants a black character, get someone to fund it and make a game. Quit whinning already. Or I will get started how we 'racist whites' don't get our own 'white only awards show' on the boob tube, or 'white only scholarship' fund for college.

I'm sick of these whiny racist spouting out how 'left out' they are. It's a free country, if you want it, do it yourself. Just quit your whinning already.

[Statix]

It's a free country, you're absolutely right. That means, I, they, we, all have the right to speak out about any inequalities and inaccuracies in racial representation we see. Just like how you have the right to whine about people of other races pointing out injustices because you're a closet racist on teh internets.

[TheXgamerLive]

There comes a time and that was long ago in my book that the black race instead of taken every penny and waisting it on your 1985 elcamino's rims instead should be caring your your 5 kids who's mom's you didn't marry.

Now, tell me did that sound racist? Also, tell me this, was that statement reality, ya see there's a difference between racism and reality. racism is hating just for the lack of hating, no real reason needed but reality no matter how awful it sounds is the truth and not racism, it's reality. Is that the truth behind every black person? No of course not but a great majority it is and until that majority has changed the ugly truth be it in a movie or video game won't change either.

[Xi]

that was racist because you implied that all black people take advantage of thier situations. And that doesn't sound like reality.

Many black people are very hard working
many also get stucking into social and econimcal problems because of the current surroundings. (ie, kids get drafted into gangs etc)
many are often ignored by society and aren't given due process.

Honestly whats the difference between what you said and someone saying.
"White people need to stop using government welfare to pay for their guns and liquor while their babies mama's get fat in their trailer.

now is that racism? no it's reality, and maybe when the south smartens up we will stop calling them hicks and rednecks."

Stop posting BS like that, it's wrong and you know it.

[olLANDSHARKlo]

X gamer what is your live gamertag, I agree with you 100%, but if people want free rides they are gonna just keep complaining it racism, they want free rides in life. Finally someone who has their eyes and ears open in this world. Hit me up on live xgamer, I would be proud to game with you anytime.

[Statix]

It's a sad, sad indictment and statement about certain civilized countries and society in general, but racial representation DOES affect game/media sales. It's all about demographic identifiability: White males would generally rather play as white males, because they can identify with the character more... racially. I'm Asian-American, and I could make the argument that East Asians would have even worse/less representation in videogame characterization, if it weren't for the fact that the Japanese provide a decent proportion of games that sometimes feature clearly, unambiguously Asian characters. Indian and Middle Eastern gamers could have the same gripe. As could people of Hispanic heritage. But even the Japanese in many cases have admittedly have fallen into the trap of pandering more towards Western and white-male gaming audiences, opting for more white lead characters (or at least characters that LOOK AMBIGUOUS racially) because it influences/helps the sales of the game on an international basis. In fact, it's arguable that Japanese developers would rather use white lead characters even more so than Japanese-looking characters in their games because sales of the game would likely suffer if they used a CLEARLY Asian-looking, or black-looking, or any other nonwhite-looking character.

I really do wonder how Barack Obama's potential presidency could perhaps affect, in a positive way, America and the West's acceptance of black lead characters--characters that take on more significant, leadership, high-rank positions--and how they perceive the image of black people in a more accepting, palatable, and identifable way. I'm wondering if there will ever come a day when we just start looking at each other as human beings, and not in terms of skin categories, and that sales of videogames, films, and other entertainment media aren't affected by such a stupid, superficial thing.

[Agent VX]

Wow, all this because of the evil “whiteman” rule over the world.

Here, lesson one in economics. You sell to where the money is. If that means more “white characters” in video games because you have some fancy theory that white people rather play as white characters, then guess what??? If that sells more copies, all the power to you.

Don’t tell me that you endorse the absolute racist policy of “Affirmative Action” now in video games? So now what, is it going to be legislated that “X” amount of characters have to be this race and that race. Welcome to Naziville, where we control you minds because some minority(s) are offended. Sorry, I don’t kiss butt to no minorities, all people bleed red and that’s the way it is.

The more I hear these racist pr#cks whine about they don’t have enough say or exposure, the more I stereotype their sorry butts. Your either a A-hole, or your not an A-Hole, I don’t care what color your skin is!

[Statix]

I'm for FAIR and ACCURATE demographic portrayal of the country's racial consituency. If a country is made up of 15% black people, we should see that amount of representation in the media. If there are 5% of Asian peoples in the country, we should see that much representation in the media. It's called FAIRNESS and ACCURACY, that obviates any possibility of racism or discrimination on the part of the racial majority (in the case of America, that's Caucasian) dictating asymmetric representation of certain peoples in the media.

You're saying that just because the current social establishment favors white people, and that sales are better because games use white characters, that we should just keep doing it without questioning the inherent factors of racism that contribute to that? You're most likely the kind of hypocrite who would "whine" just like we are doing if you weren't white. But because you're in an unfair and inequitable position of popularity and power, you accept and defend it.

[Isaac]

Is AWESOME.

[pwnmaster3000]

fuk that people just over react to much

example resisdent evil 5 white man killing black people, its racist

resident evil 4 whit man killing spanish people, no problem

blks arnt complaning is the whit people whos complaning, because they kno wat they did hundreds of years ago.

how about my race thers actually more black leads then asian

and i bet u if theres a game that kills only asian in the philippines, there will be no problem

its stupid

[Xi]

not only can you choose to make your character black.

You also have the general that owns the normandy. The one that helps you kill the *spoiler alert* giant ship.

or crackdown (yes I know you don't have to be black, but it was the defaulted character, and what they used on the cover and for commercials and trailers. You also kill a lot of other ethnicities in that game, only one boss is black I think)

However, you also have to look at how many of the end baddies are black, most are white too.

[boogeyman999]

He did mention Mass Effect. Did you read the damn article you tool?

[Xi]

I know he mentioned mass effect, but he doesn't mention captain anderson who the normandy belongs to.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

although it does look like theres a bit of cream in his coffee...

then theres also the Alex Vance and her father from hl2/ep1&2.

and he forgot theres a new 50 cent game coming out. (but imo we should forget about that)

[KingME]

Although I think this guy is using the wrong vehicle to make his point. (how are you going to argue a possible race issue, in a forum that is 85 percent the other race.) It does have a bit of validity, as far as the stereo types go, notice the black guy in MSG4, hustling hacked weapons in a warzone, and has a pet monkey that likes to drink coca cola. If a black man is going to have a pet, it would be a dog, not a damn monkey..haha.

[pabadamus1]

I think this is excellent commentary on videogames and entertainment as a whole. Being a long time gamer I am happy to see minority representation increase to include memorable characters such as Augustus Cole and others. The problem arises when characters like Cole and other minority representative characters only exhibit negatively connotative, stereotypical behavior. Many of these characters fill the vision of the developers and creators but run the risk of perpetuating damaging and sweeping generalities about specific cultures and ethnicities. We are in an age where tv and videogames are raising children and we cannot afford to allow this cycle of disunity to continue due to malformed perceptions.

[allforcalisto]

CJ was my favourite protagonist from GTA

The reason why black characters in videogames are mostly lame is because videogames largely reflect hollywood which has this history of stereotyping black men as hyper masculine idiots.
Cool guys rely on muscle when necessary; black guys in the media are obnoxious idiots who make a scene and are attention whores. See Ladykillers, and most films with any black man in them

I had a feeling the guy would mention Final fantasy. It's the perfect example of a cultural paradigm thats alluring to a sizeable number of western gamers. The heroes aren't muscle-heads who blow s*** up (see most FPS especially contemporary ones).
Its escapism from hollywood. obviously jrpgs themselves can be riddled with cliches.

hell think of hollywood, what noble black male characters are there?
think of jack from Lost, Can you imagine him black?

i love lost btw, just making a point.

[Coke-a-Cola]

Imagine if 90 percent of the gaming public where GAY.............You would see a change in the content lead.
This wont happen any day soon ............but the black population will likely grow and then We would see a change to reflect ...............who is paying .............Sh!t Facts I know.

[JasonXE]

Man, cole train made gears of war. They should really think about branching out the series and making him a lead character.

[Xi]

with cole.

[Gandhi Man]

I liked the game references the author made at the end of his article. I believe, most if not all were japanese based/developed games. I'm sure you all have heard of the recent japanese advertisement that equates/depicts Obama as a monkey. Do a search on it, you'll find it if you havent seen it.

Good luck ever getting a Black lead character from a japanese developer.

[phoenixtilt]

This is Dumb, Im hispanic do you think its any different for us?

So In one line your upset cause they
put black ppl as Loud and swearing

Then your upset that they have black guys in Sports games "Black Athlete (Insert Sports Game Here)"
Many Black Athletes can be role models for todays youth.

What do you want a Black scientist? HALF LIFE 2 bam there ya go.
Your upset about black ppl shooting and running ppl over? OMG that is like ever game on the XBOX, not just black guys, lots of white guys.... for every GTA black referance think there is a white guy doing the same thing.

Your Dumb , think about stuff before you type it out

www.mwgamer.com

[allforcalisto]

thats very tribal thinking, and its not doing race relations any good.

Dont patronise me with facts about target demographics
I understand what the white men in black suits are doing

Why did you have to say 90 percent of characters being gay?

probably because you know that game creators can get away with having a gay character here or there. A Final fantasy party could have a member that was gay and squeenix could sell that. Lets just say 10 percent of the US is gay, then surely that should be reflected in videogames?

Reason why its not is because of heterosexist and homophobic social conditioning most kids go through. What we should encourage this?

this isn't a discussion about a lack of black characters, its how the ones who do manage to exist, behave.

[crom]

the fact of the matter is that most gamers around the world are whites and asians. developers are also generally whites and asians. developers will make games that will reflect their custumers race because it sells. case in point; many asians developer make their character whites. does this make them racist? Maybe, who knows, but deal with it. don't play any of these game, if you feel this way. if you want change, have your race go to school and get educated in the video industry. through this, changes could be tailored toward your preferance. crying over this will not change anything. stop cring! i don't hear anybody crying about the nba or nfl. hip hop. what a bunch of bs; sick of winers like this. by the way, im not white.

[Rocko]

The f*ck does he want? Sgt. Johnson and Cole to be f*cking lawyers or doctors?

[Clinton514]

He's a cool character. And why does the topic have to be 360 centric? :|

The fact is that any minority in North America stands a chance at being misrepresented if video game creators are predominantly white. It's not and insult or anything, it's just the fact of the matter.

The character I was most insulted by is ColeTrain.

ps. To all the immature insensitive jerks who aren't intelligent enough to discuss the topic without trying to insult others, grow the hell up. Some of you are the reason why racial conflicts will never go away.

[Xi]

and I have to say, that sounded like a lot of crying over spilled milk.

I mean, he forgets to mention 3 high profile black characters.
captain anderson (mass effect)
alex vance (hl2)
Dr. Eli vance (hl2)
and he misses cod4 completely.

he doesn't mention the amount of white guys are portrayed as money grabbing backstabers. Or evil people (ie most videogame badguys are white).

He doesn't recognize the lack of other minorities in games. (lost planet is the only game that I can think of with a korean main character)

he doesn't count games where you can create your own character. (like crackdown, where you actually kill mostly white people like the volk)

he doesn't acknowledge games that use a specific perspective to achieve animosity for it's characters(ie fps games let you play your character as what ever you imagine him to be).

And finally it's a moot point to argue about the way black people are depicted if you play the games where black people are depicted as stereotypes. Honestly do you expect sports games to have the black people playing chess on the field? Or gears, because all the people in gears use long words, it's not like the script consists of grunts a swears(sarcasm). Go play beyond good and evil, mass effect and half life 2.

PS, you have to stop feeding the stereotype, but what do you expect a game with 50 cent is going to play like.

[kewlkat007]

well that will be a start...Maybe Blankman or Spawn..lol

I wouldn't mind seeing more Black Lead roles in some of these games...

Maybe they think it wouldn't sell, I'm not sure. Why couldn't Cole be the lead in GEOW?

But I think this goes way beyond games, and moreso entertainment industry itself.

[General McNugget]

It all deals with pop culture. I agree with the article, but I personally wouldn't think too much into it. Afterall they are just games. Games are pop culture.

But digging in deeper, the question is, what popular game out there doesn't have the stereotypical black character (if any black characters). Heck look at Drebin in MGS4. He isn't a druglord or a rapping gangsta, but an illegal arms dealer with a Dennis Rodman hairdo.

[Muddyalcapones]

while those black characters he mentioned may have been two dimensional or even stereotypical, he failed to acknowledge that many videogame characters are like that regardless of color. Look at the other characters in the games he mentioned: Sports games: well everyone in them plays sports, GTA: all of the series white protagonists engaged in those same crimes, Gears of War: all the main characters were steroid-fueled foul-mouthed killing machines... so while yes, there could be better black characters in videogames, the same is true for characters of all colors in videogames.

[ace3081]

One thing needs to happen for any stereotypical and racist attitude to disappear, the concept of only one race, the Human Race. The color of your skin is nothing more than a trait much like the color of you eyes and hair or your hight and foot size. We are all made of the same cells and DNA. If the concept could be adopted you would no longer have a separation but unity. The media as a whole is to blame for alot of why different ethnicity is stereotyped. African-Americans (which is a another name for the color of skin, when 90% of the group are Americans and not directly from Africa)tend to get portrayed as they do because of what the public eye sees. Also ethnic groups need to understand the reality of their actions. How you portray yourself in public is how you will be seen as a whole.

[crom]

can't belive how leftist this site is. the man is a winer; clear and simple. does he want affirmative action expanded to video game? get over it. the blacks in this country think they're the only group that have been mistreated. learn your us history. the chinese, jap, mex, irish, catholics, italian. let's not forget the native indians; they had worse than any other combined. i don't hear much about their complaints. throughout our hist. many have been mistreated. Somehow, many of these group learn to move on except the blacks. disagree if you want, but it's the truth. if you do disagree, you don't know your us hist and you are a leftist.

[n00bFRAGGER]

Catch up on you're history.

Blacks were slaves for nearly 250 years in America. They dealt with dangerous racists for 50 years during the reconstruction period. Then they were considered second-class for 60 plus years while they were segregated.

And now, as a minority, they still feel suppressed. All this guy is saying is that he doesn't like the way how his people are being represented as potheads, loud mouths, and murderers only. Sure, some white guys are depicted at that, but a minority. Most blacks in video games are depicted as thugs, loud mouths, or criminals.

Which is a shame.

[Tacki]

Well I personally believe we should have more grey characters in video games. Kratos is good... but we greys are still the most overlooked minority when it comes to game characters.

[Common Sense]

It actually annoys me more to see black people act like the stereotypical loud and ghetto black person.

I live in Canal Winchester, Ohio. It has about 5000 people and it is a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. It's almost in the country. Houses here range from 150,000 to 500,000 on average so it's a fairly well to do area. Surprisingly, most of my neighbors are black. About 9 out of 14 homeowners on my street are black. So this place is far from the stereotypical neighborhood, you would see a high percentage of black people living in. Up until I graduated, I found it surprising that many black kids in my school are trying so hard to act ghetto or "black".

I also find it annoying because everybody that acts ignorant,loud, deviant and generally ghetto are said to be acting " black".

I'm black, I'm horrible at sports and I got mostly all A's throughout. I like pop, r&b, rock and some country music but I dislike rap and heavy metal. All these stuff do not make me any less black. In fact, I blacker than most people here because I'm African and living in the US.

[CNIVEK]

Why did this moron feel the need to single out the 360?

[n00bFRAGGER]

Because it's an Xbox site.

[ChrisGTR1]

who cares. cole was defenetly the best gears character and i had no prob with him being steriotipical. it made him better lol.

[project76dodo]

white people will never understand
because they always want to play dumb
and play the "hey bro...yo dude"

nah most white ppl hate "minorities"

even though theirs more of us

[t-0_ot-]

And, your racist towards whites... and blacks, so shut the hell up. You're not making the racial situations any better.

[project76dodo]

haha you again

you sure are on here alot for a guy with 3 multi bilion dollar jobs
ahhahahahhahahahaha

you are a coward
block me then want to act like a school girl
to make me look dumb
yet you are the one who tails me hahahha

[piggyslig]

@project
yea i've noticed to-ot wants to argue with you
and you seem to just brush off ya shoulder

true playstation brother against xbot

props project

+ im going to kick your punk ass online when im off work metalgearOnline

[timmyrulz]

Why just the 360? Or is it because the consoles itself is mainly white so you think that is racist too?

[poopface1]

because its only black and white people killing everything. There arnt many asians/hispanics or any others in games much at all. If real life was like video games, any time a disaster strikes, give the nearest white/black guy a gun and they will save the day. I think if most games didnt focus on killing stuff, there would be less racism.

I think that the characters are mostly white cause the people who make/play the games are mostly white/asian, so they stick to the safe path and make white people killing mostly white people, in order to evade the possible racist accusations.

There are some postive black roles in video games, just not many. Not many positive white roles either, unless you consider steroids and shooting stuff good character traits.

[59fifty8]

and im still pissed about resident evil 4 how they beat up hispanics.

sike im joking black are cool in tekken bruce and raven, and sports games too i think.

[PS3ALLDAY122]

Kingdom Hearts 3
Platform: PlayStation 3?
Possible Release Dates:
- Japan // Late 2010?
- North America // Early 2011?
- Europe // Late 2011?

Based on the current success and ongoing developments in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, it is largely speculated that a third installment in the KH Series will appear in the future. Please note all information on this page is speculation.

Current Development Status:
With the development team of Kingdom Hearts 2 currently working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, it is expected that if an announcement of a Kingdom Hearts 3 is to take place, it will likely be after the release of that game. Therefore, we speculate that the first concrete news on this title will appear at either TGS 2008 (October 9th - 12th) or TGS 2009.

What would the Storyline possibly be?
In an interview with Tesuya Nomura (Series Creator), when asked if he had thought of a plotline for Kingdom Hearts 3, he stated "Hmm... I have an idea but it can't be helped because my team are planning to work on our next different title. So we're not working on KHIII now and we're not planning to work on it for some time, too. I have a plot in my head but I'm not sure if it'll be released to the world or just stay in there" (Source: KH2 Ultimania)

After the release of Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix+, Nomura gave another insight into the possible future of the series: "My own feelings are that I would like to give Sora a break from large adventures for a little while. In the ending of Kingdom Hearts II, there was a scene where Sora received a letter from the King; for Sora, I would like you to consider this as a new beginning." (View Ending Video)

Look for further updates to this section when Kingdom Hearts 3 is officially announced!