I looked at the Resident Evil 5 trailer and I was like, "Wow, clearly no one black worked on this game." Because I wonder, and I haven't sort of really dug into it that much, but I wonder what sort of advice Capcom gave them. The point isn't that you can't have black zombies. There was a lot of imagery in that trailer that dovetailed with classic racist imagery. What was not funny, but sort of interesting, was that there were so many gamers who could not at all see it. Like literally couldn't see it. So how could you have a conversation with people who don't understand what you're talking about and think that you're sort of seeing race where nothing exists?

There was stuff like even before the point in the trailer where the crowd turned into zombies. There sort of being, in sort of post-modern parlance, they're sort of "othered." They're hidden in shadows, you can barely see their eyes, and the perspective of the trailer is not even someone who's coming to help the people. It's like they're all dangerous; they all need to be killed. It's not even like one cute African — or Haitian or Caribbean — child could be saved. They're all dangerous men, women and children. They all have to be killed. And given the history, given the not so distant post-colonial history, you would say to yourself, why would you uncritically put up those images? It's not as simple as saying, "Oh, they shot Spanish zombies in 'Resident Evil 4,' and now 'black zombies and that's why people are getting upset." The imagery is not the same. It doesn't carry the same history, it doesn't carry the same weight. I don't know how to explain it more clearly than that.

N'Gai on the RE5 Trailer [Multiplayer]

Here's the thing: Cole Train on his own, no harm no foul. But what is Cole Train? Cole Train is basically like every other effin' black character in a video game. Like here comes the urban stereotype. Where is this 1990's — not even 2000 — black slang, where does this fit in this futuristic world that doesn't even take place on Earth? They go really far to do a lot of fictional justifications for this culture that they've built, and they go right back to this urban stereotype for the black character.

I'm not knocking Epic; the game was fun and gorgeous. But it's just a lack of thought, right? All it does is reinforce dumb stereotypes and it sort of reinforces casual racism.

With the release of Halo 3 just days away the ultimate faceoff went down over the weekend at the Dover Speedway: Halo 3 took on the Wii in the form of a NASCAR racing pitting Greg Biffle versus David Stremme.

Exactly 306 laps into the 440 lap race Stremme's number 40 car blew its engine and sidelined the racer. No, I'm not making that up: The Halo car got a red ring of death.

Meanwhile Biffle's Wii mobile landed a respectable second place. Ouch.

Dover 440

My problem is that it presents a fantasy I don't desire. It looks like it's an advertisement to virtually shoot poor people. I know "Resident Evil" games are supposed to be about hiding from and shooting zombies — this one probably is too. Shooting zombies is something I can get behind...But when I see a town of what looks like impoverished African villagers — the very image of global poverty, the very spectacle that since my youth has been coded in me to evoke sympathy and charity — I don't want to pull the trigger.

After mulling over my visceral dislike for the trailer, I have to agree. It transcends white man guilt, hitting a much more sensitive nerve: general American greed.

Whether or not Capcom will use this polar critical response to make a deeper point...let's just say I hope that they aren't wasting some potentially deeply literary material.

That Notorious "Resident Evil 5″ Trailer And The People I Met In Africa [multiplayerblog]

"If Blacks and Latinos are always portrayed as the villains, or as the victims who get killed often and easily, that is code for powerlessness," said Kansas State University psychologist John Murray, who's studied violence and stereotypes in the media for the past 30 years. "These image persist because too few minorities are in the industry."

Jones goes on to suggest that the solution lies in more young Black and Latino children stop playing the games and start making them, and I agree completely. Not only would it help with their own self-image, it could help everyone understand each other a little bit better. Michael Fahey

The Bad News and Good News of Obsessive Video Games Part 1 [Black Voice News via GamePolitics]

Being on a World of Warcraft kick lately, I just had to post this video of 16 Level 1 Gnomes racing between Ironforge and Stormwind, on a PVP server no less. I'd like to scowl at the Level 60 Horde bastards who eviscerated the little shrimps on their marathon, but hell, I'd have done the same thing. I'm a ganker. Thanks, Hard Gay! Florian Eckhardt

While the video is twelve minutes, the race itself took an hour: 16 level 1 gnomes on a mad dash from Ironforge to Stormwind.

Why I like this video: a passel of helpless gnomes slaughtered by ogres, spiders, orcs and bears while the Rudy theme soars in the background. Eliza Gauger

[via Destructoid]