cheers, Sobbingly.

- most people that decided its racist say its racist because it portrays black people being killed by a white dude.

- people that decided its not racist points out that zombies are killed and not people. The game is in Africa and black people hence black zombies will be inevitable.

- most people that decided its racist will say that because black looking people are being killed by a white man opens up wounds of slavery and the topic should never have been touched at all.

- people that decided its not racist will sometimes point out that past RE games featured white and Spanish people being killed by a white dude and no one was complaining.

- people that decided it is racist may tell them that these races in the past has forfeited their right to complain by being silent or that a white dude killing a Spanish person dosent really open up a big as a wound as a white person killing a black(zombie) person.

That said, I think both camps has valid points. But what intrigues me most is why of all the games ever produced re5 is seen as the hottest target of racism. There are others that could have you know, take red steel for example – a white guy(Scott Monroe) goes to japan and tries to marry Japanese girl(people never interpreted that as imperialism), kills Japanese people (and none zombies at that) and disgraces Japanese tradition by, in a way, inheriting an ancestral samurai sword. No one even brought this topic up none the less mentioned that 2 whole cities in WW2 were nuked killing thousands of innocents in minutes; and yeah, by white men. And to tell you bluntly if RE5 opens wounds Red Steel should have as well. But somehow it didn’t.

Don’t you find it more disturbing that people have scrutinized a game we hardly know about yet, has not yet been released and we have never really looked into million dollar sellers that potentially has the same cultural impact if not more so? I wonder why that is? Is it because some people have placed the past behind them while others have not? Is is because of lack of diligence? Or is it something else? You tell me because I really want to know. I am not black, white or Japanese. Looking at all of this fiasco from a bird’s eye view is not only enlightening as it is entertaining but it also gives the rest of us a clearer, more insightful picture of humanity and world view.

In Okami this is true, they claimed it to be the case during development of the original PS2 version.

In no more heroes, it seems more intentional. Take into account the personality of the developer of the game; Mr suda51, you will notice that he is never into the mainstream when it comes to developing games, hence one will expect his game to look ‘different’ from the mainstream. More importantly if you look at the bosses they all seem to be in the league of “comics style personalities” and design – more fitting for a cell shaded environment rather than a realistic one. Also a hint of the game character being referenced as an “OTAKU”(a term that usually provokes images of Japanese animae) suggest cell shaded visuals may be very intentional from the early development stages. That said, I am confident that if this game was released in a console other than the wii, cell shading will still be the most suitable.

What I find terribly interesting about this game is how your relationship to the side scroller environment is changed by inverting the goal. Instead of running toward a goal, you’re goal is to escape what is, ultimately, inevitable. It lends a certain desperation to the gameplay that I find fascinating.

Also, the thing your running from has the capacity to completely change your perceptions of the environment with its heat and fury. Thanks for joining the Round Table and thanks for bringing this gem to my attention!