Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Sub-Genre: Survival Horror
Release Date: Mar 13th, 2009
Additonal Info: Also known as Biohazard 5 (J...
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Sub-Genre: Survival Horror
Release Date: Oct 25th, 2005
Additonal Info: None
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Action
Sub-Genre: Survival Horror
Release Date: Aug 21st, 2001
Additonal Info:
Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi has shot down claims suggesting that Resident Evil 5 was redesigned after a number of critics accused the game of displaying racist imagery.
Controversy arose following the E3 2007 trailer of the forthcoming survival horror outing, attracting a number of complaints, most notably from Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal.
However, the recent CAPTIVATE 08 trailer displayed a more ethnic diversity among RE5’s enemies, as well as introducing a young African woman, who serves as a partner character to game’s main protagonist, Chris Redfield.
When asked by Kotaku whether or not these changes were applied with criticism in mind, Takeuchi replied, "No, not really,” stating such complaints "didn't have any effect on the game design."
"We wanted Chris to have a partner who was familiar with the environment. She's been in there since pretty much the beginning," Takeuchi said of the female mercenary.
"In terms of the reaction, we're in the business of entertainment... We didn't set out to make a racist game or a political statement. We did feel there was a misunderstanding about the initial trailer," he said.

Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 E3 '07 Extended Trailer HD
Resident Evil 5 E3 '07 Extended Trailer
Resident Evil 5 Japanese Trailer
fair enough i'd say, i hate how people are so quick to jump to conclusions. and hey even if it was racist free speech and all that etc etc
Oh dear here go the PC brigade, for gods sake get a grip people, Arion has hit the nail on the head, its ridiculous! People are so dam quick to show the racist card, I am white and if it was the other way round it wouldnt bother me in the slightest, its a freakin game based in africa so its going to have mainly africans in it, if it was based in england it would have mainly white people in it. Its a geographical thing not a bl00dy racist thing
My thing is... Did they play this crap when RE 4 was out? One white guy killing a bunch of hispanics is not racist? I didn't hear any complaints about that one. Therfore their shouldn't be ANY critics pulling this racist crap.
Not to stir anything up but I don't think Arion has a point at all. I don't remember any games with black people killing white people. I'm not black but I undestand that there's HISTORY that black people have been massacred in the past in Africa and even here in the US. So, let's be a bit sensitive and not talk about double standards because then it feels indeed kind of racist.
This is a game, a horror game that doesn't reflect any reality. In RE4 the villagers had an accent and there wasn't critcism. I don't think RE5 is a racist game and never was. It's a GAME people! C'mon now!
The sad thing is that there are a lot of people out there who like this sort of thing to happen just so they can play the racist card.They need to get a grip!
Its a game set in africa so there will be a lot of black people there.If it was set in china there'd be chinese people and if it was set in england,where im from,you wouldn't have much of a challenger as it'd most likely be raining and cold so everybody would stay indoors.Haha!
People will knit pick anything. Was the Movie Candyman Racist? I mean here you have a black male killing people? What about 2 GTA games, so stealing cars and killing people isn't making a statement? As richkaos stated...if the outbreak were in any different country, you would be killing a certain nationality. People kill...we're still basically animals..and this is a frikkin video game. Lets make all video games with a G rating..maybe smurfs going to damn candy land, then there won't be any violence in games, then they can not be used as some kinda damned excuse.
Who are these loser good for nothing critics anyway, Jerimiah Wright, Jessie Jackson, or maybe Al Sharpton? Screw all those hate peddlers! Whoever the critics are they all need to rot.
Just curious, but did "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" seem racist to anyone? I loved the game and I think most politican correctness just seems stupid, but even I started thinking it was a racist game after a while. All the enemy in that game except for 1 is non-white and all 3 of the good guys are white. Of course the part of the world it's set it, I doubt you'd get that many white pirates after you. Then again, the good guys did get some help from the Nazis in a way. Ten bucks says in Uncharted 2, Drake will have some black, Jamaican buddy, or manybe a little Asian kid that follows him around (Short Round).
Seriously though, racism, while stupid, isn't the most horrible thing in the world. People have lost their jobs over racist remarks, but some have kept their jobs while doing much worse things, like murder and theft. If you're going to be outraged over something, be outraged over something that really counts. Somebody's hurt feelings isn't something to waste your time on IMO. If they lose their freedoms, life, or property over racism then yes, make a big deal out of it because it IS a big deal.
Focking political correctness gone wild.
@ psr75 All I did in san andreas was kill white people w/ my African American character...This whole "news article" reeks of nonesense.....
Wow, I am black, and I saw this game in Africa and didn't notice not one racist thing until the dumb critics pointed it out. I guess I just see people as people and not the color of their skin. Sometimes I think it is like a salem witch hunt....
Hmm, I find it funny how some of you people say this game is freedom of speech, but get mad that people want to protest this game. Isn't that like a double standard? Why doesn't everyone just drop this topic. If no one is rasing a concern over this game anymore, then why should you?
well said.Im an african american and i dont think the game is racist.I cant wait to play RE5 just come out so i can play.If yall may notice RE2 had a few black zombies on the game an nobody said it was rasist then,and in RE0 that clip when they murdered 23 african's noboby said anything then. I think they are just trying to start something that is no big deal,people need to stop saying that.RE5 i can't wait to play you lol
Its a load of old BOLLOX! It really pisses me off that this sort of stuff is classed as racism. Get over it already! I dont see complaints with 50 cents new game.
its not racist.. wtf... they're not slave driving the people.... they're just... killing them because of an epidemic. Hollywood does it constantly. Look at the other RE movies. Look at 28 days and weeks later. Look at will smith's movie [forgot the name] etc etc etc. So it happens to take place in africa. W0W. killing all those "white" people doesn't look so racist, so why should this?
Nothing was changed in the game. The people that were complaining were not gamers. There is no such thing as a double standard in this case because there hasn't been a game in which you play a black guy that only kills white people.
The complaint was made after some none gamer saw the advert and sure you could use games like 50 cent, true crime, GTA: san andreas and the def jam vendetta series to imply some type of racism but the truth is they never had an advertisment that would implicate them as such.
What this is about is non gamers complaining about what they do not know about. Anything more, including talk about double standards and PC is just hot air.
They're Japanese, they dont understand racism like we do here in the US. They've actually grown more facinated with other races than they ever have in the last 20 years, probably had every intention of making the female heroine a white woman (probably from the UK) untill the complaints started but we'll never really know. They probably realized they had to even things out a bit, they even added some caucasian looking enemies since the first videos.
OMGZZ THEIRZ A WHITE PERSONZ AN HEZ KILLING BLACK PEOPLEZ!!! OH NOEEEES! ITS RACIST!!!!!!!1111!!!!!1
...almost like they're in Africa or something. What are the odds?
that reminds me...i've been meaning to file a complaint against Nintendo and Sony for the blatantly racist imagery in their bowling games. All you ever do is obliterate white pins with a black ball. How obscene!
(yes i know both of those games have different colored balls; if you needed this, you're missing the point entirely; if you hurry, you may still be able to catch it)
@arion like San Andreas?
I am not even touching the subject of revers apartheid and/or revese racism. South africa.. no.. africa as a whole is messed up. But to try to blame what happened on one race or even one culture would be a complete cop out. The people that decided to sit on africa t are to be blamed. The tribal warfare, feuled even hotter thanks to religious warfare is to be blamed. The apartheid and reverse apartheid are to be blamed.
Do you honestly expect us to believe that there were going to be no hard feelings after what happened there? Do you honestly believe there "should" be no hard feelings.
I feel bad for you but if it is getting uncomfertable there....... then leave. Trust me, you might very well be happy elsewhere.
First just let me say, I first don't believe Capcom was initially trying to be racist about what they did with this game.
Namco and Capcom have a track record of being two of the only japanese companies that consistantly put african decent people in their games and them not be garbage.
But japanese media as a whole has had a track record to be racially insensitive and when some one calls them on it people make the excuse for them, "Oh they didnt know."
Yes they did, they always know. There's a band called Sambo Master. So you tellin me they dont know what a Sambo is? In this day and age there is nothing that has been stereotyped about black folks that isnt globally known.
All these other countries some how know these little racist what-not's but some how japan is out of the loop and they continue to use them anyway...Yeah...
But that's not even my real point, which is:
White folks in general never want to hear any body complain about racism or any wrong doing when they're involved. This is subjective to whoever has done somethin in a situation pertainin to what I'm talking about.
What this means for the slow ones is, im not giving a specific case because we all know racism still goes on, and most of the time some caucasian is involved. Don't believe it? Well...hahaha of course you dont...
Which brings us to the fact that no matter if you're a gamer or not this game is not going to seem racist to you guys. I know a lot of you are going to accuse me of being a racist and hosting a double standard after you read this, but it's typical.
I'd like to agree with you though there is a huge double standard not just in America, but in the world. Everything "black" is held in low value and people still have the mind set of judging black folks as something "other". Judged from how we dance, our music, what we eat, how we live (and where), how we dress, our dialect...I mean c'mon...
And lets not forget the african descent people in Jamica and Brasil...especially in brasil they just now in recent years started to be embraced by the whole country for what they are(brasil doesnt classify by race, but what the color of your skin is EX.Brown, light brown etc.)
Reading that article Arion put down there, well consider this @Arion. Remember in america where that was the truth for black people almost every where? Couldnt sit here, couldnt eat there, couldnt attend this or that.
Noooo body raised an eyebrow then either. So what's your point? No double standard there, just a taste of your own medicine. Coviently forgot that fact did you?
You should take a closer look at the "Double Standard" you are talking about because it's never us who initiates racism, but some body always doing somethin racist-like that makes us call you on it. So if you dont like being called a racist stop doing things you know are akin to it.
I think Arion is confusing being a Seperatist with being a racist. It's not the act of hate but the act of wanting something you can call your own. Lol sort of like video game exclusives. Look at american history blacks always did have things they did on their own but you see when others started doing it, stealing, blacks stopped doing it.
There's alot more I'd like to go into but nobody's gonna read it already anyway so ill stop here.
Im just trying to get you to see that we know the game isnt racist on purpose but in the world that we live in, it is because of the standard the world holds to black people. Even the dark East Indians know how it feels, but you wont understand cause you arent us and dont want to be.
so next time you want to mention a double standard think about everything all these black people across the globe are enduring and then rethink that thought.
LAKERS!!!!!11111
(to break the ice)