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Muttpop Bob's musings and rants for all things Muttpop, toys, videogames, hip-hop, and whatever else he's thinking of. |
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Capcom Games & Racism
This last week Capcom has been receiving lots of criticism for their portrayals of race and culture in two of their upcoming videogames.First off, Black interest groups are very concerned about the portrayal of blacks as zombies in the upcoming RESIDENT EVIL 5. In the game your character roams around a Caribbean locale killing voodoo zombies.Second, Capcom's getting flack for the inclusion of the chanted phrase, "Allahu Akbar" (meaning "God is Great" in Arabic) in the upcoming Wii game ZACK & WIKI. The phrase is repeatedly chanted by a monkey tribe that drinks some mysterious stew from skulls. Capcom claims they will remove it from the final game.I personally think the Resident Evil freak out is stupid. Didn't the concept of zombies come from the Caribbean? How is that racist?But the ZACK & WIKI thing is weird. The game is clearly aimed at an all ages audience and if I were Muslim I'd feel a bit weird seeing my kid play a game where that happened.Ironically, after seeing this video Zack & Wiki has become my most anticipated game for the Nintendo Wii. The game looks awesome. The design reminds me a bit of Fabien's work on Tikitis.What do you think? Check out the videos and decide for yourself!Resident Evil 5Zack & Wiki
Comments
luvyatoo
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Zack & Wiki looks pretty nifty! That clip makes me think of the Forest Haven in Wind Waker a little bit. Looks great!
flypoo
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Si Zak & Wiki avait un univers fait d'humour noir bien gras ([a] la Conker's Bad Fur Day, sur N64, ah que je l'avais aimé celui l[a]) je pense que cette histoire aurait pu très bien passer, mais en voyant la vidéo, ça a pas trop l'air d'être comme ça.Sinon je le trouve joli ce jeu, [a] voir.Pour RE5, c'est vraiment se foutre de la gueule du monde que de leur casser les burnes [a] cause de ça... Mais c'était plus que prévisible.
Duncan
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Myself, after seeing the preview for RE5, I was reminded that something like a third of Africa is HIV+ right now and this game is about killing a bunch of black zombies who have been infected with a virus. It made we uncomfortable to watch this trailer. While I'm sure this was not Capcom's intent and you are correct in the face that voudou and zombies originated in the caribbean, I still think they're courting controversy at best and being purposefully offensive at worst. But I guess it'll all just sell more copies once the dust settles over the debate, right?
Muttpop Bob
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
LUVYATOO, FLYPOO, & DUNCAN:Thanks for your comments. Some very interesting points.-Muttpop Bobp
Anonymous
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
En tant que femme noire, je trouve stupide de n'avoir pas la droit d'être "zombifiée" dans un jeu (ou dans un film) !Sinon, il sffit de voager dans n'importe quel pays du moyen Orient (même en Turquie, Tunisie ou Maroc) pour entendre le Muezin appeler ses fidèles au son d'"Allah Ackbar"... L[a] encore, rien de choquant...Les racistes feraient bien de voyager un peu... Il existe sûrement des tonnes de jeux vidéos où les cloches de l'église carillonnent !Anne O.
Jerry Frissen
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Anne O, tu n'as pas tort!