IGN: Resident Evil 5 is so RACIST that it can't be remade

Imagine writing all of that and not a line is true.😂 Wherever ever you are from needs a better education system.

It's relevant in this context to be fair, we have a publication making some way off base claim with regards RE5, which is very much in line with the agenda we can see certain companies leverage, and even more bizarrely we appear to have game journo outlets (which are essentially a trade press) at diametric opposites with the audience they ostensibly represent. For my money I don't think it would be a bad thing to allow the discussion, but not my call obviously.

@Pedro: 100% true. Guess you don't watch trumps speeches.

Yep! Because I have a fully functional brain.😊

I beat it again last year on Xbox didn't see any racism this is a weird statement .

@Pedro: I am myself college educated. And I don't think that ideology applies to all college graduates.

The issue is that it's common that some university graduates form their own subculture that is very disconnected with average people, and their own success validates in their minds their ideas to such an extent that they become more likely to dismiss other people ideas without proper thought.

It generates a huge blind spot.

And I think you have probably noted that if you speak with people or follow the news. There is currently a mentality from media representatives of "I need to show the masses only the information needed for them to arrive to the same conclusions I have"

I Will give you an example: at the beginning of the pandemic, masks were said to not be necessary. This was not because they were not thought to be useful, this was done out of fear hospital personnel would loose access to them if the general public bought them in mass.so the FDA and media provided incorrect information to make people act in the way they considered appropriate for the time. This obviously generated massive distrust and led to thousands of extra deaths on the long run .

Also, when the George Floyd protests happened. Most not right wing media, minimized or underreported acts of violence as they agreed with the objective of the protests and didn't want them to be invalidated by violent acts that may not represent all protesters. This also generated massive degrees of distrust by people that could see violent demonstration through other channels. They could have simply report, condemn it and separate the valid claims from the acts of violence.

I think this way of thinking applies to the changes they are requesting from this game as well. They don't want negative stereotypes to affect the life of African Americans (most media personal is American). They see that generally representations of sub Saharan Africa contains negative situations (like poverty, crime, religion manifestations that some people in the west see as primitive), so they would not like this to affect the perception of African Americans.

That is fine. The problem is that those situations indeed exist and are indeed still common. So people aware of what reality is and knowing the bias of the people trying to apply a filter to media react by rejecting and distrusting them.

A push for authencity and a contextualization of the things we see as negative would have the effect of protecting Africans or African Americans reputation without generating distrust.

I also second this!

Africa itself just needs to be more represented in a manner of way and I think Capcom needs an African counselor game designer as we're starting to see more African game developers on the Indie side.

Haiti isn't a bad idea. Not many video games used the idea set in Haiti. If Capcom can take RE5 into Haiti, it is a step in the right direction as long as it's true to the actual area town of Haiti.

Can you provide evidence behind your Covid claim that mask were initial deem not necessary to protect medical personel?

The largest news organization in the US is FOX news with the largest viewership. They pushed all of the information that you deemed necessary with a hefty serving of misinformation.

The history behind African countries and the exploitation of these countries were based on western propaganda to justify hostility towards many of the African countries. This all documented. It is also why so many Americans believe that Africa is a country and that country is filled with uneducated barbarians. The issues you list exist in many countries across the world, however, the imagery of African countries associated with "poverty, crime, religion manifestation" have become the standard view for Americans and since the US pushes out media to the rest of the world, these ideas have become world views. This need to push for authenticity and contextualization ignores the decades of a one sided view for all 54 African countries. To argue for this sudden need for authenticity which is only showing the negatives (which also exist in other nations) when you have just one opportunity in a series with the guise of protecting Africans (again the treating of 54 nations as one) and African Americans reputation lacks authentic concern.

With that said, when media shows Miami, it shows all of the beautiful people, buildings and places while ignoring the huge areas which are the exact opposite. Is there a push for showing Miami authentically? No! You can pick many locations in the US that are portrayed positively whilst ignoring the hardship of all the ills you mentioned. You rarely see it in sitcoms and other entertainment. With the decades of showing only the negatives and rarely showing the positives (Overwatch is probably the only game I can think of and the country is made up) of African countries, requesting for authenticity with a focus on a the negatives is a hard sell.

EDIT: I see folks still referring the continent of Africa as a unified body aka a country.🥴

@Pedro:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN26T2T9/

"""

As Fauci told the Washington Post here , at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, masks were not recommended for the general public, as authorities were trying to prevent a mask shortage for health workers and the extent of asymptomatic spread was unknown.

"""

Thank you.

@Pedro: to address some of your points

1. I never watch Fox news. I am not American, and don't usually consume news in English, and when I do, I prefer non sensationalist sources.

2. I am not sure what you mean when you say: "The history behind African countries and the exploitation of these countries were based on western propaganda to justify hostility towards many of the African countries."

I am not saying it's not as you said. But I need more context to understand this.

3. I think American media tends to export negative views of most other countries world-wide (except North West Europe and japan). But replacing an oversimplified incorrect idea with another one doesn't work and as you can see from internet reactions everyone is aware of how and why it was done and people don't believe it. They may support it or reject it based on their political views but even people that support it don't believe it.

4. I am not asking for a focus on the negative, I am just asking for a authentic representation that includes both positive and negative aspects. The comparison with a sitcom is also not fair. Sitcoms are meant to be relaxed and enjoyable, zombie games are meant to be gritty and dark. The format itself will necessitate some negative aspects to be more on the forefront.

Besides, there is also plenty of negative portrayals of the USA. I tend to follow documentaries about drug addiction and most happen in the USA. (And the places they show are awful)

This doesn't mean they shouldn't include the positive or more developed parts of Africa that do exist. Some of which are unknown or can be surprising. I am myself have a very good friend from the Eastern part of congo, a region famous for civil war, and the dude is a PhD that comes from a middle to high class family. Obviously those regions also exist and should be portrayed.

6. My main point is that an idealized fantasy is both not believable and not appropriate for a game of this kind. An authentic balanced representation, is on the other hand convincing and fair.

7. I have been to south Africa and Kenya myself, I am well aware, sub-saharan Africa is not a single country.

Capcom could go further by conducting surveys in West Africa and making research trips to the region. Instead of Westerners or Japanese debating how West Africa should be represented, they could just ask West Africans instead.

Changing the setting to Haiti would be too drastic of a change. RE5 should remain in West Africa, or else it wouldn't be RE5 anymore. But Haiti would be a good setting for a future RE, Far Cry or GTA game... It's quite literally real-life GTA down there.

Guys, its a f*cking VIDEO GAME. What surveys? What research? Make a god damn good game with quality set pieces, gunplay and so on. None of that was present in RE5, so if they want to release an actual RE title that is on par with RE2R and RE4R, then they'd need to scrap it all up, and completely change the game similarly to what FF7R did.

They could replace the setting to Canada, paint every zombie in white, and the game is still gonna be garbage. The core of that game was trash, and only acceptable to many (me included) because it came out in 2009, and expectations weren't what they are now. If they don't change the foundation of the game, it will be another RE3R that nobody will give a damn about less than a week after launch. They'd need to change it so damn much that it'd be same as making a brand new game, so why even bother? Also, another thing, are we gonna pretend like this series has any other characters that are worth playing as other than Leon? All these cheesy Clairs, Jills and Chrises are a waste of time. Only Leon, Wesker and to a lesser extent, Ada (even tho they need to expand her character cuz she is very generic) is worth keeping in the series. Everyone else is just a waste of space.

@hardwenzen: but realism and authencity are very important for a game to be enjoyed.

I haven't played resident evil 4, but many people said that the voice overs were changed in the remake to that they would have Spanish accents and country specific vocabulary. Whereas in the original one, it was full of gramatical errors and voice actors had Mexican accents.

So they did put effort in to that.

Similarly, I remember watching breaking bad, that featured so much Spanish, and 90% was awful, and every time Gus fring would speak in Spanish I would just cringe. Terrible accent, nothing Chilean about him. It took me completely off the plot.

I imagine if you have some knowledge about African culture, have visited often or your are yourself African, seen a completely fantastical and non sensical representation of your location probably sucks. Not only that, it probably makes it so that you can't enjoy it.

Is it? I enjoy games that aren't realistic or authentic. Actually greatly prefer that. It's videogames. Making them accurate makes them boring.

Silly people and silly feelings. I don't care much, but thought the voices were more fun in the original. If it upsets a few spanish speaking people, even better. That's like me complaining that Torbjörn in Overwatch doesn't sound the least bit swedish. Which would be really fucking silly to complain about, since it's a videogame.

I don't see any praise for them having more accurate spanish in the remake, so it obviously wasn't that important anyway.

I'd love to see a fantastical non sensical representation of my location. I see the real thing everyday, it's boring. Needs way more nonsense.

@Litchie: except from what I hear, there is a ton of Spanish dialogue in resident evil 4. It's not simply one character in a multiplayer shooter speaking English with an accent.

if the intention is to make a comedy it's fine. If it's not, it's distracting to see things that are out of place, grammatically wrong, etc.

Imagine if you are playing the last of us, and half the people speak in a Scottish accent and the other half in a south African accent. The signs have gramatical mistakes.

It becomes an unintentional comedy. If you want something like that it's fine. But it misses the tone of the game and it undermines it's perceived quality. Also, sometimes you just don't understand what's being said (like in breaking bad when Gus tries to speak Spanish)

And if you saw a representation of your location that is completely messed up, maybe maybe you would laugh about it, but you would be much more impressed if it was well done.

That has happened to me already. You are just left thinking, this takes 5 minutes in Wikipedia to research.

"but realism and authencity are very important for a game to be enjoyed"

Well for a start the game in question has zombies in it..that's some realism right there 🤣

There won't be many games if realism and being authentic to reality were VERY important.

No sonic,no star wars,no mario,no Zelda, no Halo,no TLOU..nothing.

Gaming needs realism and authenticity like a hole in the head!

This stupidness is still going?

Bunch of toddlers throwing a hissy fit over nuttin. lol :P

@saint-george: yes, but there is a difference about things that are deliberately fantastic to fulfill a plot requirement ( like zombies, magic, etc) and things that are just obvious mistakes (like low frame rates, bad voice acting, bad textures, plot holes or as I mentioned glaringly incorrect portrayals of places, countries or cultures)

One serves a plot or gameplay purpose, the other one is someone making a mistake.

I don't think anybody thought: you know i think it would make it more creepy if no one on this small town has enough grasp of their native language grammar to properly write a sign.

Or would it not be awesome if being next to zombies would change your accent to the accent of another country thousands of kilometers away?

You either want realism and Authenticity or you don't,if its very important to you.

I doubt i'd ever stand next to a zombie,regardless of accent they're not real you see.

Right i'm off to watch the hedgehog in the neighbours garden,its doing somersaults while collecting coins.......Amazing

Then you clearly don't understand how horror works. What makes something scary is when you take a realistic scenario and insert something unrealistic into the scenario. It's that contrast between realism and unrealism that makes it scary.

then don't comment on something you have no idea about. I suggest you do watch his speeches. why people are waking up and bring ing him back this election. people realize how much of the media spread lies about him. they keep charging him with fake shit.

@saint-george: so for you, poor voice acting, writing mistakes, low res textures are a part of the fantasy of the game ?

Dude you look like you are digging your heels just to continue the discussion. It's obvious that artistic choices and mistakes are not the same.

Meanwhile, you're shooting Asian zombies in RE6 and no one says anything.

How is the game racist?

Honest question. I'm not black but could some black person explain to me how offended by it they were? I would like to know

Is RE4 racist towards spanish people?

I can give you a straightforward answer to that. The Woke POV sees the world through a lens. A white man killing black people for a wokster is super-racist. As much as the Twilight Episode (Paladin of the lost hour) i mentioned earlier. The lense being Critical Theory, or adjusted to time and place, Critical Race Theory.

What happens when you look at something through a magnifying lens? It gets enlarged to extreme proportions.

My credentials: My favorite pair of breasts are black and some of my ancestors were on the slave ships destined for the americas.

Edit: You can't be racist towards white people. They play the oppressor role. Thesis vs. Antithesis, strong-weak-relationship. Much like a proletarian can't be the capitalist bourgeoisie or discrimination towards the male sex is ignored in todays society.

Agreed.

Another note as well - later in the game they turn into plant monsters, they technically aren't even black anymore.

To have an accurate answer, you must ask this question to a BLACK ZOMBIE and a SPANISH ZOMBIE. Wrong forum to do that.

Very close minded to assume they don't post here.

🤣

The problem with this whole discourse surrounding RE5 is that it's almost entirely through a Western lens, especially in reference to BLM. However, BLM is specific to American culture and isn't much of a big issue in Africa.

In Africa, the bigger issue is Western imperialism. For example, Western powers exploiting African labour and resources, invading sovereign nations, arming and funding dictatorships, instigating wars and conflicts, etc. And Western media plays a role in justifying said imperialism. That's where the real issue lies.

In RE5, Umbrella is basically a representation of Western imperialism. The way they exploit, colonize and destroy an African nation. There's plenty of room for Capcom to expand on this plot point.

I think the extent of Capcoms thinking is "this will be cool, did you see Black Hawk down?"

@uninspiredcup: Now that you mention it... RE5 does have some similarities to Black Hawk Down.

If you want to listen to a moron, that is your prerogative and it also explains a lot.

1. I provided information based on your comment. Nothing more.

2. I am not sure what is unclear. European countries exploited African countries and they validated their actions via propaganda of showing African countries as uncivilized, violent and barbaric. You can start with Ethiopia.

3. There is a lot of things being said here with no clarity of origins. What countries are you referring to when you say American media tends to export negative views of most countries? What oversimplified idea is being replaced by another oversimplified idea? What internet reaction has there been for positive views on non-Anglo-Saxon countries?

4. I may have missed a post, but your comments are all focused on the proper negative representation of African countries. Was a positive element you previously stated that you believe should be shown because I may have missed it. The comparison to sitcoms is a fair comparison because Sitcoms are entertainment in the same way games are. Something can be dark and gritty but still positively represent a group, society or country. Documentaries primary focus is to inform not to entertain. The topic is about entertainment not portraying negative elements of the US so deviating to documentaries is an unusual point of reference.

6. I don't know what you are referencing because the discourse was not about an idealize fantasy. The point that I made is that there have been decades of negative portrayals of African nations, having a singular positive against the negatives would be a nice change of pace. You disagree.🤷🏽‍♂️

7. You don't have to be to a country to know it is a country. My comment was the active and perpetual reference to Africa as a unified body by several posters. Anyone can acknowledge Africa being made up of 54 countries but whether they perceive as such can be captured in their words.

@nirgal: You (Chris Redfield), a white guy, shoot black zombies (You're in Africa).

@ghosts4ever: 100%.

I honestly believe Capcom can remake this into a 90+ MC GOTY contender. Not as good as RE4R, obviously, but better than RE3R and about on par with RE2R.

Give the same combat from RE4R (obv. a few combos and different weapons) and vastly improve Sheva's AI for when you are outside of co-op.

Co-op with RE4R style combat? yes pls

listen to a moron so there are plenty of factories in a america making made in a america?

that moron has made more than you and I combined.

Had a big post typed out about who thought came across as legitimately racist in this thread but decided to delete it as felt like a personal attack on Hardware, Pasta and Chute.

Pedro and Jag came across as quite reasonable.

Complaints are now being remastered.

But then you decided to post an abridged version anyway? Big, small, it doesn't make the slightest difference, since "you guys" are intellectually unarmed and trapped in this circus, unable to escape your performance. You, the circus-ape, i pity you.

Yesure, call an actual afro-american/ racist towards black people. Genius. Projection much?

You are suffering from a known side-effect of adhering to moron. Your moron guy had the privilege of a 400+ million support from his dad. None of this matters because someone being rich and someone being a moron isn't mutually exclusive. But, you are subbing to a moron.🤷🏽‍♂️

Kanye West is the most racist man in existence. The argument that black people can't be racist against black people is ridiculous.

Further, we gave absolutely 0 evidence you are black other than your word. You could be a white kid who most likely watches Tucker Carlson as the bible.

For the record, I am actually black, had a genealogy test and have been confirmed 5% Jamaican.

that moron was very popular even in the black community until he became president. then people turned on him. heck he was even in fresh prince of bel air.

even the show apprentice which was super popular.

I mean come on look what NY is doing to him 354 million for doing normal business. even the bank said he payed every penny back. yet they are taking his property in NY for nothing.

they are taking his hotel as well. to the fact that banks are leaving NY because of it.

@gifford38: I accept that you are a victim to listening to a moron.