105 Responses to “That Notorious “Resident Evil 5″ Trailer And The People I Met In Africa”

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1. Sir-G says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 2:05 pm

   Were do I even begin with this! I understand how you may personally feel, but I strongly feel that this is just insignificant when it comes to the big picture. No one really likes to talk about how the Africans are destroying themselves. They are constantly fighting over things like land and committing mass murders of one another because of something as silly as begin from a different tribe. I could go on about alot of the problems, but I’ll strongly argue that blacks in general need to straighten themselves out as a people before they start blaming everything on the white man! And for the record, I am African-American myself. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with me, but I just wanted to clear that up in case anyone may have thought otherwise.

2. Conman says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm

   Thank you. Over the past week, I’ve been frantically forwarding the new trailer to (mostly) gamer friends of mine, trying to show them how messed up this game looks. Most just say the typical, “but they’re zombies!” or “no one was upset by the white zombies in the other games!” They’re missing what’s right in front of them.

   Like you, I would love to see the game get some context. I love the RE series. Hopefully the story will provide enough context to make the “horror” of this game look more like what’s in “Heart of Darkness” or “The Last King of Scotland” and less like what’s in “The Birth of a Nation.”

3. N'Gai Croal says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm

   Sir-G,

   Nothing in Stephen’s post was about “blaming everything on the white man.” If you’re genuinely wondering “Where do I even begin with this,” a good place might be by engaging what Stephen has written.

   Cheers,

   N’Gai

4. MTV is retarded says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:06 pm

   THis is a videogame for christ sakes! Also Resident Evil 4 featured “poor” hispanic/european villagers getting shot up~ Defend them first~! Did they go crazy? Go crazy on Grand Theft Auto IV, they feature a whole bunch of different races~!

5. Jenga says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm

   So as long as they’re not poor zombies it’s alright to blow off their heads? ‘Kay.

6. OnimaruXLR says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:20 pm

   Part of the problem is the COMPLETE LACK OF CONTEXT in the trailer other than “They’re coming right at him!” I mean, if you take a game like RE4 and strip out all the plot elements, of course it’s going to look like a mass murder simulator. And it kind of shows a lack of foresight/”sensitivity” on Capcom’s part not to see this coming. And when you add a racial element to it–there you go

   That being said I doubt the game is any more racist than RE4 was. It does beg the question though…in RE4, Spanish was chosen specifically to help create a heightened atmosphere of tension as something that most American and Japanese gamers wouldn’t understand. So putting aside that these guys will probably be speaking in a foreign language, is it possible that Capcom DID actually intend to capitalize on any latent racism people might have for emotional impact? And if they did, do they have enough sack to admit it?

7. Andrew says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:22 pm

   In Resident Evil 4 the general populous of bad guys were small town villagers in or around Spain. Nobody wined about their poverty stricken houses and towns. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was a big slap in the face to urban challenged cities and nobody freaked out about it. Thinking this resident evil 5 trailer racist or even poking fun to poverty is ridiculous. I mean seriously, its a zombie video game. If your feeling this way then you need to be attacking movies like “Serpent and the Rainbow” or Zombie where the concept of this game obviously came from. Both of which were zombie movies based on african voodoo folklore. Finding something like this is as far fetched as saying that Area 51, the game where you are shooting aliens, is racist towards Mexicans. I mean isnt the main point of that game to shoot aliens? And isnt American filled with alien immigrants? OH lordy lets start to moan over it. Wha Wha.

   Articles like this make me realize that we live in a world where anyone can damn near $@$@$ about anything. Should Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory be considered cruel to little people? How come people aren’t complaining that Pac-man is a role model for druggies or fat people. He eats everything, that supports obesity. Oh no!

   Jesus Christ people, it’s a damn video game. If anything people should be looking at it like…wow that is amazing detail to the type of environment that they live in. That game looks real. And about that comment someone made about this game making them want to shoot homeless people, you should possibly look into getting some psychiatric help. I saw the trailer and all it made me want to kill was voodoo zombies that would be chasing me and trying to kill me. If you even have a shroud of a clue of what your talking about, Never in a resident evil game do you kill innocent victims. Your put in kill or be killed situations. And if I was in a town full of poverty stricken zombies that were trying to kill me, you bet your hiney i would kill every last one of them if it meant my survival. So no i never once during that trailer I thought…awww man….that poor person. I thought….”oh crap, I’m going to die”.

8. Azln Ofane says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pm

   This is ridiculous. You feel bad for a bunch of poor people in a part of the world that doesn’t have a lot, so a game that uses that location as its setting is bad? Your article seems to imply a racist angle behind the game, but I just watched the trailer after getting linked here from Kotaku. The hero never hurts a single person who isn’t a zombie/infected/blood lusting/beserk/whatever you wanna call it. Never do I see a poor person just minding there own business and the main character shoots them. His weapons are only used when people go crazy and try to kill himIn fact in the beginning of the trailer, he’s walking through the city minding his own affairs, tons of people walking around him not minding him, and him not shooting them. Lets face some facts

   1. Africa (if this is what its suppose to be, and it does indeed look like it) has black folks in it.
   2. Africans are on average poorer than people in more financially successful countries.

   so assuming I haven’t made a mistake with my two aforementioned facts, if a zombie disease/parasite hits a place like that its going to spread like wild fire because poorer countries don’t have as good sanitation/medical facilities. Also the majority of the people infected will be black folks because the majority of the local population is in fact– black skinned peoples.

   Your love of a indigenous people and your experiences with them doesn’t effect the game in any way. The fact you helped people who didn’t have a lot doesn’t make the game racist. The fact all the black people in that type of setting makes you think of the people you worked with speaks more for your stereotyping than Capcoms.

   Resident evil isn’t about saving people. Its about saving yourself. Its about being in over your head with what looks like no way out, and having to deal with hordes of mindless blood thirsty people who were once human and are now little more than cannibalistic feeders. So you can forgive the lead character for having the peoples of the village down the barrel of his gun instead of by his side because you don’t save people in the series. you might save one or two important story related NPCs, but other than that you’re there to kill and get the hell out.

9. Austin Walker says:
   August 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm

   Hey, Below is my first response to the initial outrage over the Black Looks and Village Voice articles, and then my response to a friend’s response to my post. Some decent folks on the Kotaku thread really dug it, so I figured, why not… In fact, the second part sort of feels like my own personal Stephen-N’Gai debate. Ah, if only.

   At the very least, what those of us who are still reading this post should be able to agree upon is this:

   The trailer has, and game seems like it will, rely upon established imagery, themes, and perhaps even a little “institutionalized racism” in order to draw the player into the game and create suspense. By echoing systems and structures that we as players are familiar with, bringing to mind experiences of other entertainment (Black Hawk Down comes to mind immediately), Capcom will be creating a game that has formal (structural) similarity to things outside of the RE series. In doing this it will act as a primer for what will hopefully be some of the issues that RE5 touches on.

   RE4, when taken apart, could be seen as a strong criticism of religion, specifically its affect on a poor and uneducated community. **RE4 SPOILERS** Saddler the leader of an old religion, has very physically begun to manipulate the populous of the village that the game takes place in. This parallels the arguments that many (religious and non-religious) people make: that throughout time religious institutions, and perhaps even the concept of religion itself, have oppressed the people, denied them things like education, and through alliances with political and noble forces (see: Salazar), military and para-military forces (See: Krauser), and by keeping the few educated men in their payroll, killing them if they offer to help free the people from their grasp (See: Luis.) *END SPOILER*

   This is the same sort of seriousness that I expect Capcom to take with RE5. Someone brought up American imperialism earlier, and I wouldn’t be very surprised if at some point an uninfected African character said something along the lines of “This is our problems, American, let us deal with it.” Likewise, the game should explore the ideas of racism, population control, the affects of poverty, and the image of a broken nation to the outside world. If not through narrative, then Capcom should deal with these things through structure (see James Clinton Howell’s “Driving off the Map: A Formal Analysis of Metal Gear Solid 2″ at [www.deltaheadtranslation.com] for an explanation of how design and structure can relate theme.)

   I believe that through my earlier brief analysis of RE4 I have adequately shown that games can be more than just entertainment devoid of message, and more importantly that the message needn’t be in broad strokes and bold lettering, but can instead be very subtle. As such, I assert that it wouldn’t be racist for Capcom to deal with the issues that I established in the last paragraph (or issues on that scale, at least.) In fact, to ignore them would be irresponsible, and betray poor craftsmanship.

   That said, a failure to explore these issues, however subtlety, would begin to veer off into what could be called racism. By removing the commentary that the setting allows - that is, by not using the setting to explore themes of some importance - then what you’ve created may be a racist game. In other words: is there a reason that the game is set in Africa? (and an answer like “That’s where Wesker’s latest plot takes place” isn’t good enough; I’m looking for serious critical thought here.) If there is no answer, then what we have is only a white paramilitary man shooting savage black people. If the game uses no editorial power with its African setting, then the African setting was never necessary. This is how important strong narrative, or at the very least good formal structure that presents a theme, is.

   The idea that racism is dead is naive at best, and close-minded at worst. People are still racist, institutionally or otherwise, and I hope and believe that Capcom understands this and will do the responsible thing here by tackling issues with their game. The moment that they do it elevates RE5 above the white guy shoots black guys entertainment, and turns it into a piece of media that truly means something.

   part 2

   Hey, this is in response to http://quantumblaze.livejournal.com/56292.html?thread=96228#t96228 in which Matt started a new conversation about RE5.

   Matt,

   You make some interesting points, however, I think some of the examples you’ve brought up can also be used for a different argument all together, including one that neither of us has made.

   The first of these, the film Godzilla and the Godzilla franchise, strikes me as a very appropriate reference point. Gojira is a film hailed around the world for its excellence. It is (and Art can attest to this) taught in classes, studied for its exploration of binaries like “Science Vs. Nature,” “West vs East,” and “Tradition vs Progress.” The climax of the original film is the fierce debate about using the Oxygen Destroyer, a tool that its creator had previously hidden due to its devestating effects - it is clearly a stand in for the Atomic Bomb, and perhaps even for weapons of even greater destruction yet to be developed.

   Gojira is studied worldwide for these qualities and instances of brilliance. The others simply… are not. While you can argue that a few of them have strong qualities as films and not just as monster movies, the fact remains that the community of film makers and critics simply does not revere the latter films in anything near the same regard. The first lesson that we should learn here is that a given franchise, production team, or even company is simply not automatically free of doubt due to former successes. While we all certainly look forward to the next film in a great series, or the next game from a company we like, we simply can not give them carte blanche because they haven’t let us down yet.

   For that matter, if someone takes the opposite stance and argues that, in fact, you can judge how a given piece of media will be simply by looking at past examples, then Capcom is (perhaps) in a worse place. Traditionally Capcom has made some very… poor decisions, most of which I’d assert are due to lack of cultural sensitivity. Check out this picture from Square no Tom Sawyer:

   That is Slave Jim, from the classic Twain novel Tom Sawyer . On a side note, when you’re in dark places, like a cave, only his huge red lips and eyes show up.

   A quick counter point is that Capcom has come a long way from 1989. Such stereotypes have certainly been overcome by now. Sadly, I’m not sure that this is true. Take Oil Man, new character in the Mega Man 1 remake Mega Man Powered Up for the PSP.

   Pretty bad, but perhaps this is all just a stretch of the imagination… sadly, Capcom itself didn’t think so. Only after receiving negative feedback from American fans and testers did they realize they had to make a change, so they tinted his surface color blue, and his lips a simple yellow, and here is the new and improved Oil Man:

   Worse of all, RE head honcho (Capcom big man on campus) Keiji Inafune was the executive producer on the Powered Up project, and designed the two new characters, Oil Man and Time Man,

   Even more recently, in The Adventures of Zack & Wiki, Capcom came under pressure by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and was forced to change a fairly insensitively placed sound effect in their game. A video surfaced in which a player finished a puzzle, allowing a dozen or so monkeys access to a big bowl of soup, which they added to bowls made of skulls and drank down. Perfectly fine, in fact, damn near cute thus far - and when you buy Zack & Wiki in the stores, that’s what it will be like, because the offending sounds has been removed. That offending sound was a loud call of Allahu akbar just before the monkeys went to eat. Allahu akbar means “God is most Great” in Arabic and is used frequently in the Islamic religion and among Muslim people world wide. The sort of subconscious racism that comes into play here is really from a perfect storm of negative qualities, between the monkeys, the jungle setting, the eating from skulls, and then, on top of that, the religious phrase, and at a time where the Islamic religion conjures many negatives of its own in the minds of many people, American and otherwise - its bad news, and it reinforces stereotypes.. It’d be comparable to a children’s (not political) cartoon from the mid 19th century depicting a drunk Irish man saying his catholic prayers and asking for potatoes - the editorial intent may not have been racist, but it sure would offend a whole lot of people

   So, returning to the original counter, that “Capcom wouldn’t do that” and assuming that, in fact, you can judge a company by previously established actions, I have to say, Capcom is not in a great place.

   That brief debate aside, I think that between Gojira and The Adventures of Zack and Wiki, we’ve stumbled onto a debate that, trust me, is quite old and quite still alive: what matters, intent or feeling. That is to say, does the intent of the artist matter more or less than the feelings of the audience. Godzilla doesn’t leave us with a clear cut answer - the monster was defeated thanks to science, but at the same time Japan’s fishing industry is shot, while simultaneously leaving us with the knowledge that if they hadn’t stopped the beast, Japan would be tormented forever. If we got Ishiro Honda, the lead writer on the project, and Akira Takarada, the director, in a room and got them to say what their intent was, what their belief about what Godzilla is about, would that account be, automatically, the final story?

   It’s easy to say yes, so let me give you another example, again about intent and feeling. A man, lets make him an alien in human form, just so that we can be completely sure, who is socially inept and unfamiliar with our customs goes to a bar, takes a woman to his space ship against her will, and rapes her.”I thought that this is how things worked?” he says, while she argues that she was raped, that she felt raped. Was she raped? On the other hand, take a look at the play Oleana by David Mamet. In the play, Carol, a college student determined to argue the case for political correctness, and John, her professor who is on the verge of getting tenure and a new house with his wife, engage in a series of talks. After the first Carol asserts to the tenure committee that John sexually harassed her, while we in the audience saw only a fatherly embrace. After their second meeting she goes further, and tells the police that he has raped and assaulted her - which, again we know isn’t true since we see the entirety of their interaction. When John finds this out at the height of the third act, he beats her over and over, and nearly kills her with a coat rack. John has lost his tenure, and his marriage, and almost certainly will wind up in court, and potentially in jail because, debatably, Carol felt something. Was she right when she felt harassed despite his lack of intent? And if so, was she right when she felt assaulted before ever having been so? My answers always land yes in the first column, and then no in the second - but this takes to illustrate the problem here: When it comes to feelings, reactions like feeling harassed and feeling like something is offensive, it’s hard to tell someone “NO, YOU’RE WRONG YOU DIDN’T FEEL THAT,” while in the case of clear, physical actions, feelings simply do not hold water.

   Tough questions abound. This is something that, again is a very large debate, and if you want to pursue it I have a ton of literature that I could loan to you - it’s something that I was very interested in during my philosophy classes. I have tons of other examples, primarily in literature that show that sometimes the creators intent simply does not match the final product (briefly, Dostoyevsky once set out to write a book about “a good man” and ended up writing one about a corrupt, simple-minded fool. Throughout the novel’s production he kept that goal intact, and simply failed at it, he says.)

   So, we again are struck with a problem - at what point can a game, or any piece of media, be racist even though the creator didn’t intend for it to be? Even more problematic, at what point can a chunk of a larger piece of media, a trailer for instance, cause a feeling of racism while perhaps the full thing doesn’t. Sean and I recently looked over the first full trailer for RE4, and among all the great gameplay footage were lines of dialogue, text on the screen, and visual clues that not all was right. We are told by Leon that this has to do with an event years previous in Racoon City. We can see that the villagers are moving and acting like zombies, though perhaps slightly smarter. Most of all, we have context - we know the president’s daughter has been kidnapped, and that we’re going in to bust her out - we know that at the very bottom level, something wrong is happening.

   The RE5 trailer simply doesn’t have that. As I watch it again, right now, I’m struck with no such thing, the first two shots are of a village in (presumably) Africa. People are poor, going about their business, there are goats (much like the cattle in RE4,) and we see a man drinking a soda or a beer. Everyone seems to be aware, alive - especially if I’m a person unfamiliar with the game series. In fact, even as a fan of the series I see people, not zombies. We see the angry black crowd, something as Westerners we’re used to seeing in films like Hotel Rwanda, Black Hawk Down, The Last King of Scotland etc. The mob is yelling at a man on a platform who is shouting through a megaphone. He has two guards and there is a man, alive, hanging upside down from a junk-metal tower (we know he is alive because the previous shot is from his eyes, looking at the mob yelling things at him.) We aren’t sure who the good guy is here, but due to the fact that the mob is holding weapons that we’ll later see being used against us, we can only guess that the man hanging upside down is the good guy, and the rest are bad - the mob is throwing things at him, not the man who is yelling down at them. “Casualties continue to mount over the long years I have struggled, more and more I wonder if it is all worth fighting for… who knows?” is said, as Chris Redfield, our old buddy from RE games gone past, steps through the village, among the villagers in a way that Leon never did in the RE4 setting. He looks around, up into the sun, and when he moves his hand away we see a look of recognition, surprise, and concern (btw, brought to you by the magic of new technology - I love my hobby.) He is suddenly alone on the street. This is where the action starts, he wanders into a room and sees two men do something to a third - this scene is the only indication that something isn’t “normal” here, and in fact, the two who do the zombification (shall we call it that?) seem to move and react in a way completely human. The rest of the trailer sees Chris fighting off hordes of people who move in a very human way, with speed and power. If I am a person unfamiliar with the resident evil series of games but familiar with the setting-specific pieces of media that I mentioned before, and especially if I am familiar with what it feels like to be afraid of white men with guns, I might feel like what I just saw was racist.

   The trailer’s primary section ends with Chris saying, in response to his earlier statement, “But there is one thing I do know: I have a job to do, and I’m going to see it through.” Again we are left questions and depending on our view, on how we look at this trailer it could mean a good number of things. Chris doesn’t know if fighting is worth it anymore, he says previously, but he’s going to do it anyway. To those of us with the sort of hot-blooded passion for action that these games have helped develop it might seem like sheer determination from a heroic figure. To those of us without such experiences, but who have studied 20th century history extensively, it might bear similarity to famous remarks at Nuremberg Trials by Nazi soldiers: “I was just following orders,” or Eichmann’s own defense of “I never did anything, great or small, without obtaining in advance express instructions from Adolf Hitler or any of my superiors.” Different still, is the pacifistic thought that maybe we see this as Chris’ last mission - he’s sick of fighting, he sees it does no good and that war simply causes more war. Any of these could be felt, and in fact, if my hopes are more than just hopes, Capcom wants them ALL to be felt - because each one is important and interesting. However, this one line isn’t enough to assure me of that.

   My original point was that if the entire game is like the trailer, without meaningful dialogue, exploration of key issues, and especially very well developed characters, then what we have is a game that will make a lot of african-descended people feel like it is racist. In a way RE4 could’ve fallen into this too - the villagers could’ve represented Spaniards as a rural population that is foolish and over religious, as well as too tied up with noble bloodlines in this modern age. However, through including characters like Luis and even the two police officers at the beginning of the game we as a player never make that assertion - we see the village as an isolated part of Spain, not as representative of the entire country. Hopefully RE5 will do the same - it will have its own Luis, it’s on dialogue with whomever about the dangers of propaganda and military control of the people. But if the entire game leaves us hanging - if it doesn’t tell us, however subtly, that Chris is doing more than just “following orders”, then I think Capcom might have a problem.

   I think that by viewing the trailer alone, without knowledge of the series, it is possible to assume the second version of Chris’ statement and see this game as a mission by a soldier who is going to do things that aren’t quite moral because he’s been ordered to. You and I won’t do that, because we’re familiar with the series, and maybe because we’re unfamiliar with the sort of prejudice and racism that other people have been, but such a reaction is possible, and at the very least it has caused this good conversation.

10. Austin Walker says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:28 pm

    Gah, the links to the pics didn’t come out: Here they are in simple-text:

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2b/Square_Tom_Sawyer_screenshot_blackface.png

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/quanmadrid/blog%20pics/oilman1bigger.jpg
    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/quanmadrid/blog%20pics/oilman_shot.jpg

    http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v429/quanmadrid/blog%20pics/oilman2bigger.jpg

11. Aaron says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm

    First of all it’s the 5th game in the series[numbered wise, there are others that dont follow the general story line] and in games 0-3[that's 4 games] you were in a rural american town that got ransacked by a zombie virus and in the 4th game you were in a spanish town with a similar problem but now all of a sudden with the 5th game you’re going to complain just because it’s in africa?

    also i’d like to point out that capcom is a japanese companyso take up your racist remarks with the japanese about their character they created over 10 years ago that is appearently a racist now because he’s in africa where the virus has spread to [all the way from america and through spain it appears]

12. tinky XIII says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    Actually, your article in fact DOES have everything to do with race. Yes, it appears the game at least semi-accurately sets the game in an african village. Yourself, having spent time in this sort of area, feels uneasy with the realistic setting overrun with African zombies.

    Where were you when RE4 featured Spanish zombies? Or, perhaps you’ve been to a mall? Did the setting of Dead Rising strike a chord? No? Why not? Though I’m sure your being in an African village may have part of it, the fact remains that Capcom is trying to make this as realistic as possible with regard to location. Now about context: How would you feel if the story revolved around Umbrella [or another corporation] testing the G-Virus in Africa, only to have it get out of hand and eventually require the destruction of several square miles of African landscape? Be kinda bad, huh?

    Just like the story with the original Resident Evil, only in a different location. Face it, this game IS going to have many, many people throw down the race card. Which is fine. I’m all for Capcom [a Japanese company making games for Japanese gamers] press into new territory with the story. Isolated villages in foreign countries allow for new wildlife to be mutated, as well as being thrust into a foreign environment.

    If you feel uncomfortable about the game, don’t play it. It’s that simple.

13. Ejiroghene Pinnock says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    I’m not sure if you guys know it but by judging by this screenshot the game must take place in the Caribbeans or Latin or South America since a Hispanic looking local can be seen. I grew up in Nigeria so when I first saw the trailer I really didn’t have a problem shooting Africans or poor people, but I do understand why many view it as uncomfortable or even racist. As for the comments on sites such as kotaku and joystiq, I think it funny that as many of those who comment in an attempt to prove RE5 is not racist, appear to be filled prejudice and ignorance.

    RE5 Not in Africa screenshot: http://flickr.com/photos/48209832@N00/979546004/

14. Geoff says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:33 pm

    Stephen, it seems like you’re more concerned about the fact that the villagers are poor than you are about their ethnicity. I see two concerns with that. First, without class references to the protagonists (i.e., if you don’t see them with money or in designer clothes, etc.) you have no frame of reference to make the judgment that you’re “virtually killing poor people.” In other words, it seems like you’re projecting your own economic status onto the game, rather than taking the trailer at face value.

    Second, it seems to me that restricting a game to specific world locations based on their economic status is inherently troubling - if you only killed rich corporate titans, you’re sending a message just as clearly as if your game was set in a poorer village. I’d suggest that an important piece of context here is the extent to which the RE games focus on these distinctions. Since this is, as far as I’m aware, the first setting of this type in a RE franchise game, it seems reasonable to attribute the choice of location to something other than malice.

    One other observation. From other accounts, there seems to be some confusion about whether RE5 is set in Africa or Haiti (a much more likely setting for a game about zombies). It’s worth noting - and perhaps just as troubling - that the first association everyone made when seeing a group of black individuals is “Africa.” There are plenty of locations throughout the world, including both within the US and the Caribbean, where the trailer could reasonably be set.

    -Geoff
    http://www.alinktothefuture.com

15. SidearmS says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    Oh grow up.

    A “global sign of poverty”? Where were you when Condemned came out? 50 Cent Bulletproof? Resident Evil 4? Half Life 2 and its IMPRISONED CITY OF PEOPLE? GTA and its countless clones that glorify street crime?

    THE PEOPLE ARE INFECTED! Disease knows no price scale, no skin color. All I saw was and ENITRE VILLAGE OF INFECTED PEOPLE trying to kill Chris. What is he supposed to do? Bust out an acoustic guitar for some “coom-bi-ya”? The people can’t be talked to, can’t be reasoned with. So that makes it uncomfortable?

    What? Because Chris is not building homes or picking up trash you are suddenly bothered by this game? Get a grip.

    You really want to help? Sell that PC you are typing on, and all you other tech, and give that money to the folks who can build more homes in Africa. Because writing this on your PC (or laptop, even worse), probably in an air-conditioned building, and with bottled water or soda within reach; well, that is borderline hypocritical.

    And one other thing - this game is supposedly set in Haiti, NOT AFRICA. So is your unease based on locate and climate? If this NYC underground, I bet this article would not be here today. Did you even contact Capcom at all?

    This and the Village Voice articles are just plain BAD SOAPBOXING. There is obviously no sign of DEEP, INTENSIVE thought in either article. You just watched the trailer, and wrote the article. This, and the VV article, is laughable journalism.

    Seriously, let it go. Next thing I will see on this will be something like, “does the light/dark technology give us a correct picture of global warming?”

16. Jim says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:47 pm

    Mr. Totilo,

    I think your article raises an even bigger question regarding the setting of games in general. Should we have games set on the continent of Africa? How about the slums of India or the province of Chiapas in Mexico? There are realties in these areas regarding poverty, disease and civil strife that those of us responding to your article and yourself can only imagine. The representation in the trailer, a snippet to say the least, doesn’t seem to be a caricature of the conditions that exist in these areas but a realistic view which we may not have seen in video games thus far. The conditions in Africa for a majority of the population are horrendous and any game set there should try to represent the harsh reality as best as possible. To do any less would whitewash what is going on, making the situation less visible than it already is. The uncomfortableness that is felt should not be so much about the game itself but that the game is only reflecting reality in its setting.

    As far as I know this is the first game to explicitly show the conditions in a developing country anywhere much less Africa. Any judgement as to the setting of the game should be reserved until some of us have actually played through it as I’m sure that there will be an appropriate amount of social commentary on the conditions that will exist in the game (Perhaps the Umbrella Corporation testing out viruses on the impoverished people of Africa, that would seem to have many parallels to real exploitation by various drug companies etc.) Also, as I’m sure you’ve read elsewhere, Africa and it’s culture form the foundation of Zombie lore, thus this setting provides a logical progression for the series.

    While this will probably sound dumb, there is the possibility that the setting of the game will elevate the plight of the people in Africa and other places around the world in the social consciousness. Gamers who normally pay little attention to social issues(not all of them but some of them, including myself) may be moved to research just exactly what is happening. Why are these people living in sheet metal shanties? Why don’t they have clean water? A sewer system? How were these people able to be infected with a deadly virus without anyone knowing?

    I do not think that we can avoid nor should we avoid the realties that exist in our world and gloss over them in video games. While our escapism may draw us into the imaginary worlds out there with their pristine spires and clean streets but that doesn’t make the real world go away.

17. Austin Walker says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm

    Stephen,

    I dig your take, I really do. I’m one of the few men of color (I’m a mutt, what can I say, I wish there was a better term than mulatto, cause that’s pretty damn offensive if you take a look at its geneology,) who wishes that affirmitive action in schools worked on a poverty level, and not just on race level. I’m a bit of a marxist, so when it comes down to it, yes, I think that things boil down to class interaction. However, I can’t help but also think that there are issues that deal with race and prejudice due to race. In order to compromise this, I think it’s fair to say that racism is a product of class division, especially clear in the case of racism against blacks in America as a product of a sudden change in thier citizenship (from non-citizens to 3/5ths a citizen to actual citizens) and with it their economic freedom and power. Racism in this case is very certainly an effect from years of economic influence.

    That being said, there is no reason that both race and class can’t be center to RE5. In fact, it seems to be. Just as Salazar, Mendez, and Saddler commanded the villagers in RE4, so might the man with the megaphone command the residents of the African town RE5 seems to be set in. Immediately we have class distinction (inside of a single race.) Let’s hope they explore this fully.

    Also, Stephen, I share some of your hesitation at wanting to shoot at them, though I must say that this hesitation was also found in RE4, but to a lesser extent. The first time I shot a villager in RE4 and his head blew off, viscera spewing everywhere, I felt bad. He wasn’t my enemy, he was my enemy’s tool, and years prior he was probably a decent man, not a parasite infested… thing. Now though, even with great confidence that those I’ll be shooting will be under similar, if not worse, control, I feel worse.

    I’m not sure if its because of class - the Spanish men and women I killed in RE4 certainly weren’t living ritzy lives, after all, instead I think it’s due to two things: the familiar representation of class and simply good graphics. RE4’s villagers and RE5’s towns-folk might both be of the same economic class - rural, hardly surviving, ruled over by some religious madman/militant warlord - but as a guy who flips through TV channels late at night, I’m more familiar with the looks of the young black men and women that I see in RE5. I’m familiar with the sweat on their brows, the stubble on their faces, the fear in their eyes. And thanks to RE5’s technological improvement on RE4, all of those things are that much more real to me. Damn, it will feel bad to kill them because, even more than RE4, it’s going to look like I’m killing a person.

    Here’s hoping that Capcom does great stuff with my emotions…

18. Sir-G says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm

    N Gai, I feel what your saying. But these type of subject matters always seem to come down to that point even though no one physically says it. So forgive me if I may have jumped the gun and got off of the subject matter.

19. Zombie Crunch says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:20 pm

    The biggest problem with arguing against anyone that says this trailer is bad, is the sheer number of gamers with stupid comments like those made by Sir-G. The rational voices seem to be outwighed by the people who wish to point out that no one complained when the zombies were white or Hispanic. I will do my best to separate my own opinions on this from the others. That said, I do believe you are taking this way too seriously. Three minutes of trailer is not enough to judge, (as you have conceded), and at this point, it’s extremely premature to voice such concerns.

    First of all, if you have played Resident Evils of the past, (and probably even if you haven’t), you know that it is about zombies. All of the games follow similar plot lines to most zombie movies you have seen - dead people return to life, kill and eat the living; those dead people return to life, and so on spreading like a plague until every last human being on earth is a rotting corpse scavenging destroyed cities for leftover bits of living or once-living flesh. Some movies explain it as a virus, others don’t even try. RE does explain; they chose the virus route (with the exception of Resident Evil 4, which was caused by an ancient spore-like creature). There is also the minor distinction that in RE the virus can cause things to mutate into beasts other than zombies wreaking general havoc on the world at large.

    Resident Evil is considered the pioneer in the genre of survival horror. I’m sure you already know this as well. But what is survival horror? What does it really mean? There are zombies, which covers the horror part. But the other part, the important part is survival. Whatever happens in the Resident Evil universe, you can expect your sole mission will be to survive. If zombies were real, your instinct to survive is all you would have. If you wake up in your house to a horde of flesh eating zombies, your objective is to kill to survive and continue living, that’s all. You have no time for rational thought, no time for emotion, regardless of the target. This thing in front of you isn’t your wife, it’s no longer the person you met in college; it’s no longer the beautiful woman that went camping with you, watched animals from a distance, cooked s’mores with, and made love to under the stars. It’s a cold-blooded, undead, killing machine with one objective: to end your life, as quickly and painfully as possible. That is what survival means, and that is why feeling bad about shooting the poor is stupid.

    They’re just zombies, and that IS a good enough argument for any type of fantasy violence.

    Your trek to Africa sounds interesting. I’m sure it was an eye-opening, exciting, and humbling experience. It seems your feelings for the people you encountered are positive and justly so. This game has absolutely nothing to do with those people. I can guarantee you won’t find a single “World’s Greatest Dad” shirt. If it makes you feel any better, watch the trailer again - You will notice that Chris Redfield walks through the town - While there are still people in it. Just walking, not being attacked, not attacking anyone. That is pretty vital. I’ll be honest, It’s unlikely he’s there to protect those people, (he is after all an American working for the American government), but it’s also unlikely he’s there for the express purpose of destroying them. His objective as it has been for all of the previous games is to

    A. Bring down the Umbrella Corporation.
    B. Stop the spread of the T-Virus (or G-Virus, or Las Plagas).
    C. Save the world.
    D. Stay alive.

    I imagine his goals in RE 5 aren’t much different.

    I think Africa was a logical choice for a Resident Evil game. Historically speaking, epidemics of major world diseases are prone to being borne and spread in areas of poverty - specifically in third-world countries, where doctors, medicine and even clean water are in short supply. You happen to be one of the lucky people who have had an opportunity first-hand to interact with those people and help them yourself. Not everyone has - which can be good for creating an unsettling environment for a zombie outbreak. Not being familiar with your surroundings makes survival even more challenging and the prospect of trying to do so even more exciting. That’s the goal of all well-made survival horror games - to strip you of familiarity and see how you deal with it. If this series progresses tracing the outbreak to possible roots and finding out that T-virus came from Africa (if that IS why Redfield’s there) is not a great stretch of the imagination, and furthermore, believing so isn’t racist or doing a disservice to the people of Africa. If anything it helps to call attention to economic disparity between developed and underdeveloped nations. I’m not suggesting it will make other people take up a cause the way you have, but anyone of sound mind can see through the fantasy and understand that Capcom doesn’t mean any harm.

    It’s looks like an interesting story line in an interesting part of the world. Let’s just relax and see where the story takes us.

20. stephentotilo says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    Thank you all for your comments, even those which describe me as an idiot or a heathen who has never been to a shopping mall.

    Let me address a few points:

    -Is the game set in Africa?

    A few of you have suggested and even pointed to evidence that the game is set in Haiti or somewhere else that is not Africa. In my post I referred to the setting as: “a town of what looks like impoverished African villagers.” Why? Because that’s what it looked like to me. But I knew it wasn’t definitely Africa. In fact, I asked Capcom exactly that. My question, which is among the ones they did not respond to was as follows: “The assumption being made about the game by fans and opponents of the trailer is that RE5 is set in Africa and depicts RE hero Chris Redfield in combat against zombified Africans. Is that a correct description of the actual game’s content?”

    -Would I be bothered by the game if (filling the blank plot point) turned out to be the case?

    I have no idea. As I said in the post above, I’m reacting to what was shown in the trailer and am eager to learn more about the context and to be “sold” on the game. I asked Capcom if they could provide more context, but….

    -Where was I when “RE4″ came out and depicted the slaughter of poor Spanish zombies?

    I was busy beating the game. Now go back to the first RE4 trailer which did not bother me. Was that due to the technology of the day, the setting, the content Capcom chose to include in the trailer? (See for yourself: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/3294.html ) It excited me to play the game.

    Those of you who think it odd I react differently to this RE5 trailer might consider that the difference for me this time may not be the skin tone of the zombies (or non-zombies, as the case was in RE4, right?). Rather, the distinction for me may be due to the difference in graphical fidelity between the two, the differences in the content, the differences in the moods set by the trailers, the difference in the cultural touchstones and news events evoked by each. I’ve tried to explore my own reaction as honestly as I can.

    I’ve played and even occasionally enjoyed games where I’ve had to shoot virtual black people before, so give me some credit here. I’ve tried to put more factors on the table for people to discuss. I wish people would stop simplifying this down to a race issue. For those who have looked at other elements, I thank you again.

    I look forward to learning more about the game.

    -Stephen

21. jayntampa says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm

    Did you ever consider that the emotions you’re feeling are what the developers meant to evoke? The RE series has always been about the evils of the military-industrial complex and the horrors it bestows upon innocent people. That’s the point here — look at what’s been done to those least able to protect themselves. It’s almost like a parable of Darfur. It’s horrifying, and that is why it’s suitable material for a horror game. I’m looking forward to this game more because of the new setting and the agonizing reality of what the protagonist must do to stop those responsible.

    It is possible that the story won’t live up to it’s potential, then your concerns will be realized. Currently, it seems a bit to mature to make these assumptions about it. I think it’s good that so many people will come face to face with the horrors of poverty in the Third World and how the people there are abused by First World countries.

22. J3rkf4c3 says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:46 pm

    To anyone who has played RE Zero, IIRC the mother virus was found in an impoverished area of Africa and is a variant of the Ebola virus… so it would make sense if they were to try to wrap up the story there.. or at the very least it could be where umbrella gathers its original resources and becomes powerful again… Remember that the different viruses that Umbrella has created were created thru the mother virus. So thematically it makes sense to be placed there. Racism (intent or not) seems to be entirely decided in the end users opinions… put that aside and look at the story of the RE series and this is all within context.

23. Nate Hull says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:49 pm

    Stephen,

    Although I did not initially get the same uncomfortable feeling as you when watching the RE5 trailer, I understand how you feel. I had the same strong emotions playing Gun for the Xbox 360, in which I was instructed to kill hundreds of Apaches attempting to stop the construction of a bridge through their land. An alarm went off in my head: I’m contributing to genocide. An event that is still sensitive to many people. I’m doing this for entertainment. What am I doing? Like many of the responders here have done, I created a logical argument to counter my own misgivings — I’ve killed all kinds of people in video games, I’m a hypocrite for feeling bad now.

    Well, *%%@ that logic. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a conscience when it comes to playing and buying games. I don’t understand why other responders are so upset simply because you have ethical concerns, and are even willing to learn more about RE5 before making a decision. Regardless of whether I agree with you or not regarding RE5, it’s nice to hear another gamer say “There’s a line I will draw with violence.” Thanks for speaking up.

24. Chris says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 4:55 pm

    I spent a month building houses in Latin America with people just as poor if not poorer than the Tanzanians referred to in the above article. However when I played RE4, I didn’t feel a need to whine about how I was playing against the Spanish speaking villagers rather than with them at my side. This game is targeted at a mature audience, an audience with viewers that can discern between fantasy and reality; Something that must be quite difficult for the writer of this article, considering a fancy math problem displayed on a TV can upset him to the point of needing to spew such irrelevant diatribe.

25. Sir-G says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 5:08 pm

    Hey Zombie Crunch, there’s nothing stupid about any of the comments made here. Now after your long winded explanation of the Resident Evil series, I’d like to say that because of the fact that the main character of the game is a white man, everyone jumps on the whole friggn’ racist band wagon camp. If any other race were portraying the hero of the game, I guarantee this wouldn’t be a problem amongst people! No one complained about 50 cents game were you were clearly shooting white people throughout! Or what about the Def Jam series where you have blacks beating each other up. And not just any blacks, but real life artist that people can relate too!

26. Austin Walker says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    The thing that gets me most about this issue, well, besides the sort of tone that people take when they are outraged that Capcom could ever make something racism, as if Capcom is sacrosanct, is when people say “It’s just a game.” That simple phrase underminds every culturally relevant push forward that this hobby of ours has made over the past few decades, because when a something is, by its own supporters, relegated to the space of a toy, it’s lost its credibility, and I can’t stand when that happens.

27. Zombie Crunch says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 5:37 pm

    G,

    My point was simply that you can’t defend the game by pointing out other racial inconsistencies in other games, or talking about how Africans cause their own problems. It is counterproductive to everyone trying to make a decent defense of the game.

    You just end up looking like racist, yourself.

28. Jake Helms says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 6:09 pm

    Forgive me for making sweeping generalizations, but I’ve noticed something interesting:

    The responses from the minority of people (no pun intended) who are uncomfortable with the trailer have been almost exclusively written with care, empathy, and intelligence. Conversely, the stalwart, unshaken fans of the series are firing back with anger, frustration, and ridicule. It seems that many people want to extinguish the dialogue altogether.

    I myself am fairly stubborn and have decided that I will not pass judgment without presentation of more context. However, I’m finding myself growing increasingly irritated by these ignorant and juvenile arguments.

29. Pax Heredium says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    THOSE WHO BELIEVE IT’S AN ACT OF RACISM ARE CRETINS. In Mythology, zombies are known to be originated in Africa. If you’re familiar with the history of voodoo, you’ll learn that zombies were often thought to rise from this. Thus, it is correct to assume zombies are in Africa. It does not matter if the man was Anglo-Saxon, he could’ve been Asian or Latin, but he just happened to be Anglo-Saxon. Nothing is racist about it.

    Stop and Get your urban act together.

30. Jake Helms says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    Thank you for proving my point.

31. KOKING2007 says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 8:21 pm

    I don’t give a damn what race the ZOMBIE and a VIDEO GAME is….. If it’s in front of me I’m going to kill it…. Stop trying to defend your Afican friends…. I’m sure if you asked them how they felt about the game I’m sure they wouldn’t care… I’m a black man and a gamer myself and I don’t care… There is no reason to pull the race card here buddy… Its just a game, nothing more, nothing less… I’m sure you can find something better to @~?%$ about….

32. Kirk says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 8:52 pm

    While I respectably disagree with the opinion about attacking the poor, I have to support this idea just for the fact that it is not a knee-jerk reaction like the “racist” postings were. My thought, and this is just a thought, is that you may have hit the plot line on the head. Not the “shooting poor people” but the “Umbrela, being banned from the US, now is working in 3rd world countries. Another accident ensues etc.” So we may see a plot line around the rich, twisted company Umbrela taking advantage of a poor country.

33. Kirk says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 9:08 pm

    I was reading Matt’s post (the really huge one) and it got me thinking. He mentions about going on Capcom’s merit to decide on things like prior intent and skill (oil man from the Mega Man game) and it got me thinking. As a man knee deep in japan culture I thought about the portrayel of Black skinned people. Alot of anime, manga, and video games still use the offensive style (see locoRoco debacle).

    Major animes like One Piece and Dragon Ball have these portrayels, not because they are intended to be racist, but they learned how to draw these styles from the US. They have not really learned how to draw them differently until recently. Truly the issue is that the Japanese are unaware of this issue in the US (or they just don’t care). Basically my feeling is that this is about as foreign to Japanese culture as women in skirts to the middle east.

34. Josh S says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    As much as I’ve enjoyed this conversation (particularly the stellar contribution from Acting Tips), the whole “Is this RE5 trailer racist/contextless/whatever?” debate has gotten a little stale.

    I’m more interested in exploring Stephen’s underlying point, which gets at how our expectations differ for videogames vs. other media.

    “That looks cool.”

    “I want to do that.”

    Is that really the only range of expectations we can expect when we check out new gaming trailers? I was disgusted by the prospect of taking on a role in Super Columbine Massacre RPG, but felt compelled to do so for the reason Stephen cites as being reserved for other media (”I won’t enjoy this but I feel like I should know about it.”)

    Obviously, Stephen, you’re not planting an absolutist flag on this point, and based on your earlier writing, I’d guess you’re eager to explore it a bit further. Outside of RE5’s trailer, what else led to your new theory?

35. Jo Dirt says:
    August 3rd, 2007 at 9:38 pm

    The racism issue in this game pales in comparison to what Rebels have done to their own people.
    Rebels have tortured,mutilated for their own cause.

36. Bruce says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 12:14 am

    So it seems that the whole point of your post was “this game doesn’t appeal to me”. Then don’t waste your time with playing it, following the news, or even writing about it. It’s as simple as that…

37. Mota says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am

    Well word press ate my post and I don’t want to type it all over again. But I do want to say great post by Austin. Great stuff I recommend everyone not bother with the other post and just read his at least.
    Also I feel Stephens post shows another push by the medium towards art.

38. Max says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Write all the novels you want, that %@$% was racist as ~@*%, mmmmmk?

39. Andrew says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 11:29 am

    HAHA Max,

    So it’s racist when a white lead character kills black people? But in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 50 cent Bulletproof or 25 to life or any other video game where the lead character is a black man shooting white cops or Asian shop owners, I’m guessing that’s not racist to you? It’s pathetic that white on any ethnicity crime is racist, but black, mexican, or Asian crime against any other ethnicity is not.

40. Tracey says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 11:54 am

    Hear, hear Nate Hull. While I didn’t feel uncomfortable at the sight of the RE5 trailers, I can understand Stephen’s uneasiness after reading his personal experiences. To the mindless haters: His opinions aren’t stupid or invalid; if his article inspired you to take a closer look, think about it a little more and provoke an interesting discussion, then he’s done his job as a gaming journalist. I certainly took a second (even third) look at the trailers, and after some consideration, to me it’s still just killing zombies who happen to be impoverished villagers infected with the virus. But I’d like to see more… In the end, I think it all depends on how much you want to read into the game and how much you want to think about what you’re actually playing… To some gamers, that may be asking too much.

41. Jamie Poole says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 12:55 pm

    Yeah, God forbid black people live in africa eh?

    I didn’t hear you speak out when the zombies in 4 were hispanic. Were they too close to caucasian for you to give a **@* about?

    Nevermind the real world black on black violence like in darfur- let’s all focus on a fictional videogame about zombies!

    Some idiots in this world need to think more before they speak. What a retard.

42. Austin Walker says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    Nate,

    Your post really resonates with me. I was recently playing through Call of Jaurez, and in one level, while playing as Billy, the character who throughout the game has to sneak past certain people because he “doesn’t like killing,” I murdered 51 Native Americans who were, in actuallity, just in the way from point A to point B - the game even allows you to get the jump on some who are just sitting around bullshitting. I didn’t even notice the dichotomy until at the end of that selfsame level I was told I couldn’t kill any of the ranchers at the area I wound up at (despite having been nearly killed by them previously,) or else I’d fail the mission because Billy doesn’t like to kill.

    The next level follows Billy’s Uncle, who has been presented to us as an old gunslinger reawakened, and who supposedly is the action heavy character for the player. His level follows Billy’s path through the hills and down to the ranch. Total, throughout the entire level, Billy’s Uncle only killed 30 NPCs, which includes a rather large gunfight at the end of the level.

    The entire process made me want to play back through Billy’s level, and more importantly, made me feel like I should’ve been penalized to begin with, or rewarded had I NOT killed any Native Americans.

    So it goes.

43. Chris says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 5:40 pm

    This person is retarded. It’s a freakin game. Leave it alone. Should I start complaining that there aren’t enough holiday’s, movies, games, books about Asain people. Should I be mad about that? Get over yourself. It’s people like you that there is racism still in this world. You make me sick.

44. Casey Kirkruff says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 7:41 pm

    Hmm… I guess it’s not the internet without the vitriol.

    At any rate, I personally don’t see anything really objectionable in trailer. Then, I never really thought about the zombie horde as anything but a mindless collective, not even organized enough to be against me, personally- more like a force of nature; a pestilence. Thinking about the people that have come to belong to the horde is actually a key ingredient to many zombie horror scenarios. I mean, how many zombie movie heroes have had to stare at loved ones through a cross-hair? It’s a uniquely horrifying situation, and even if the emphasis of Resident Evil games has always been firmly in the action aspects of surviving a zombie horde, what if they’ve decided to enhance the emotional impact of the events as much as the graphics? Could this possibly be what Heartland promised to be?

    Not bloody likely, quite frankly, but I for one would appreciate an adventure that made the player face hard choices and make them feel responsible for what they pick.

45. Austin Walker says:
    August 4th, 2007 at 11:25 pm

    Casey,

    Curiously, the fact that most people think of “the zombie horde as … a mindless collective, not even organized … more like a force of nature; a pestilance” is exactly why RE5 has been accused of being racist, in a similar way that early cowboy flicks (or as Nate and I established, the ethical systems of Gun and Call of Jaurez) characterized Native Americans as a horde of savages - unthinking and without moral worth.

46. Dave says:
    August 5th, 2007 at 12:21 pm

    i never been in africa.but i know the they could start the game in a farm where the white people own.just saying.the could put some crazy lion zombie .that wouldn’t crazy to stop feel me , but who am i to judge,peace to the world

47. brendan says:
    August 5th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    stephen totillo for president!

    help the poor!

    shoot zombies!

    wait thats it, i solved it,

    HELP THE POOR SHOOT ZOMBIES.

    we will tottaly make re6, and it will be a dirt poor kid with a 50 cent or macho man tshirt, with no affiliation with the umbrella corp, but a bloodlust for killing rich people, and using miyamoto’s approach of “having to find the sword” the kid will come upon a walkie talkie, in the middle of a shopping mall? or downtown manhattan, and all the coked up zombie stockmarket goons, have been infected, then the realestate agents, then we come to find it only deals and infects those with excess of money, and realestate, oh and coke heads. and they will all be there all the celezombies, like lindsay lohan, and paris hilton and donald trump, and rosie o donnell. and you will get to shoot their faces off just like all the poor people in re5, but this will be funny. think of how awesome a donetella versace zombie would be, you woulndt even have to give her creepy eyes, just get perez hilton to draw white dots around her nose and commin out of her verjayjay so then you know its ok to shoot her in the face.

    murder the coke zombies!

    i bet we could get mr t to get behind it, youve met him right, that guy hates drugs and rich people.

    the list could go on forever, i bet we would be admitted to the cannes film festival, and given a palm d’ors just for being so brilliant and subversive.

    can you picture it?

    cops and blue collard people on the side of the screen having block parties, and grilling rich people meat ot front of their respective blue collar homes, while you shoot tom cruise and katie holmes.

    and not the tom cruise from planet unicorn, the gay one. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQJD1ura7G4 )

    cool so just keep thinking, of the day you get to the end of the last chapter, and billgates and steve jobs are tripping on acid, just like in the pirates of silicone valley movie, and you have to pick up a appleii and end their bad trip so that they can realize how the bohemian bougoise baby boomers have gone and entirely ruined the planet, and then they give the poor kid a job sweeping up the coke from the floor while they sell people in africa. while the credits role “created by the mfin stephen totillo : kickin ass and takin reggies name”

    hooray everyone wins.

    omg i didnt think i was gonna be so pretentious as to write such a long message sorry if you read it poeple.

    hollar at me throw a dollar at me

48. PATRICK says:
    August 5th, 2007 at 2:34 pm

    I THINK THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE THE GAME SET BACK IN AMERICA AND HAVE IT WITH MIXED RACES LIKE ALL OTHER RESIDENT EVIL GAMES. I SEEN THE TRAILER ON MY XBOX 360 AND I MY FIRST THOUGHT WHEN I SEEN THIS STUFF WAS SET IN AFRICA WAS THAT ALOT A SKIN HEADS AND KKK MEMBERS GONNA LIKE THIS GAME JUST TO KILL MY PEOPLE, AND WITH ALL THE RACISM GOIN ON XBOX LIVE BELIEVE IT ORN NOT THIS US GON UP THE ANTY ON RACISM IN MY OPINION.

49. the deal says:
    August 5th, 2007 at 5:31 pm

    personally your a idiot and your probably and idiot by most peoples standards…listen to yourself..you sound completly uneduacated and personally your probably of a minoity descent and got offended….leave it at home….the abe free’d you a long time ago!!

50. John Donat says:
    August 6th, 2007 at 1:55 am

    “I think it is to evoke two responses. First: “That looks cool!” (Said because you’re seeing Mario jump around in outer space; Raiden using his ninja skills; or really wet-looking water in a hot new Xbox 360 game) Second: “I want to do that.” (Said because you too would enjoy jumping in space, using ninja skills and skulking through wet-looking water.)”

    Well sorry, but not all games are about rotund plumbers and ninjas in outer space, the point of trailers are to get people interested in a game, to get them thinking about it as much as possible. This trailer does an excellent job of that by making RE5 look incredibly intense and challenging.

    “Shooting zombies is something I can get behind, just as I can support video game fantasies of shooting Nazis or even causing mayhem in a big city. But when I see a town of what looks like impoverished African villagers …I don’t want to pull the trigger.”

    so you’re saying it’s ok to shoot people, just not the ones you have a soft spot for? isn’t that a form of racism in itself?

    The majority of people who will see this trailer will have already played, or are at least aware of, the resident evil series, and the fact that it’s about zombies. Sure there will be some who get offended because they don’t know the context surrounding the events in the game, but that’s no reason to tip-toe around them.

    In videogames I’ve shot germans, americans , russians, japanese, chinese, spaniards, french and probably many others I’ve forgotten about, and when this game comes out, I will shoot africans. I will not be shooting them because they are black, that doesn’t factor into the equation at all, I will be shooting them because they are the enemy the game has set in front of me, and that’s all it is , just a game.

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