Capcom Forced to Remove Islamic Phrase From 'Zack and Wiki'

I don't think Capcom has anything to apologize for. All of this controversy is political correctness gone mad. That kind of thinking does not belong in videogames, it could ruin the fun for us all. If we, as gamers buy into this paranoia then we might contribute to the eventual censorship of our beloved hobby.

Having a simple phrase like "god is great" in a game is by no means a slur towards muslims. And black skinned zombies in a game that takes place in Africa is logical, not racist. People should be happy that blacks are included in RE5, because up til now all zombies in that series has been white. Where was the accusations of racism then? Killing white people in videogames is normal right?

The only thing Capcom should apologize for is Mega Man.

I think Capcom certainly needs to be more concious of certain things that go in their games, but for the most part Capcom seems like a victim of circumstance. Much like me, perhaps they don't see "God is most great" being uttered by a savage in the game as a bad thing. Not everyone will hear the phrase, even know it's a real phrase and not a made up game language, and then make a connection that because savages in the game are saying it, that there is supposed to be some correlation to Muslims being savages.

Meanwhile, with RE5, people are only seeing a skin color. The fact is that these are zombies (or as close to zombies as the game is doing nowadays). I'd check if my Xbox 360 hadn't died - again - but I'm pretty sure there were zombies of multiple races in Dead Rising. It's certainly touchy material, but why Spaniards were not offended with the killing of them in RE4. Certainly people of African decent have had more hardships throughout history, but I don't see it as some evidence of racism. For all we know, the game could have a very important message to it, looking at the aids epidemic or genocide going on over there that America is so quick to look over. Who knows?

If I'm apologetic to Capcom it's only because I don't personally feel they mean direct harm. There is no single hive mind in the world, so everything in existence could be tweaked and twisted to be something evil and/or racist when there is nothing there on the surface otherwise. Perhaps they should be more aware and analyzing things, but maybe they're just seeing games first and political correctness later. Certainly when I saw the RE5 trailer, all I saw was an amazingly scary and action packed game, which is what more people need to see it as. It wasn't until afterwards that I saw the "possibility" for anything else.

As for the gamers out there who seem to be attacking those with an opinion for seeing Resident Evil 5 as having a possible racist attitude, I'll post a news story of that up later today, but that's certainly a behavior I can't see any fellow gamers being able to stand-by.

Don't you think you're being a bit apologetic for Capcom?

The thing is, that while Capcom in itself, as an entity, _is not_ racist, they are responsible for their marketing and products. As far as the RE5 trailer is concerned, there's definitely some disturbing imagery that should be considered and discussed.

As far as this most recent issue, it seems similar in nature to Nintendo's Mario Party 8 issue with the word spastic and what it means in the UK.

I'm not for censorship, but I'm also not for societal norms being the only thing reiterated in games.

It may seem like Capcom is a victim of an overzealous campaign of political correctedness, but I see it rather as a issue of typically oppressed groups speaking out.