The accusation that Resident Evil 5 is the byproduct of racism is a complete fallacy. In fact to argue that point you'd had better have a concrete argument; or at least stake your reputation on it, because reporting it as such would be irresponsible. Comparing games like RE5 to Ethnic Cleansing and it's "sequels" that have been developed to propagate the ideas of Neo-Nazism and white supremacy would certainly be ludicrous. To me this issue is very simple. Resident Evil 5 is a not a platform for racist beliefs or part of a racist propaganda.
I can say this because it's been proven. Games that are developed plainly to promote brash racial prejudices don't make money. And even though titles like Ethnic Cleansing get a lot of press prior to their release, they never yield a profit. Make no mistake; publisher's are out to make money, plain and simple. While this industry is relatively new, the rules remain the same: always turn a profit.
I haven't played the full retail game, nor was I given privy to a hands on preview similar to IGN, Kotaku, or Eurogamer, etc. However, the demo reveals the original RE protagonist Chris Redfield in Africa battling zombies in the fictional country of Kijuju. Even after the initial backlash in August of 2007, for accusations of racist overtones, Capcom backpedalled and added Sheva Alomar, a black female protagonist, to the game's playable character roster.
One has to question whether we are being too sensitive to factors that are purely fictional. Racism is ongoing presence in our life, but we tend to look for it everywhere, even in things where it's not. In this case it would reinforce a stereotype that would proclaim that African men & women can be only dirt poor and not affluent. An assertion which most logical people would label asinine. I for one at a young age didn't think that I'd be wearing a proton pack as a profession because I saw Winston Zedemore's charachter in Ghostbusters.
Perhaps instead of labeling a game that none of us have really had the chance to play, we give the dev the benefit of the doubt, and wait one more week to make our own assessment. Just maybe we can't always rely on the overcritical assertions made by game journalists who are more than eager to break the next big headline. Because as much as we rely on their content to make purchasing decisions, we can't take everything they have to write for granted. They may simply be overthinking it.
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