Exposed: the most culturally insensitive video games of all time

From inbred yokels to black zombie genocide, GamePro counts down the most racist moments in video game history.

GamePro: "Pretty much everything is accused of being racist these days. From Creole chocolate cookies to old reruns of Speedy Gonzalez, the cry of "ZOMG, that’s Racist!" is never far behind. That said, some video games do contain offensive stereotypes, and it's time we all owned up to them.

Not every game on this list is dead-set racist, but they all contain images, scenes or characters that might cause offence to certain groups of people. We've subsequently given each game a 'Cultural Insensitivity' rating to separate the mildly offensive from the truly notorious."

[Dr Face Doctor]

Custer's Revenge wasn't racist, it was an enthralling tale of the hardships and pressures of the civil war, and particularly the forbidden romance between General Custer and a Native American girl.

Custer's "little big horn" is clearly a metaphor for global warming... or some hippie crap like that.

[Yi-Long]

... are just oversensitive, and want to bitch and moan about everything that MIGHT be considered ever so slightly racist.

TBH, I think people need to grow up, grow some skin, and learn that not everything has to be 'respectful' and 'sensitive' and 'politically correct'.

So you're a bit offended. So what!? Move on.

I think that it's an absolute JOKE to consider this stuff racist, while not that long ago we had REAL racism (which is still going on today, luckily to a lesser degree).

[bjornbear]

I like to believe that everyone has the equal right to be offended and to offend.

but thats just far to radical for this world -_-

[wicko]

Completely agree. To be honest, I think people who get all worked up about this kind of thing, or otherwise get offended so easily are less mature than those being offensive. Particularly stuff like South Park episodes, if you're offended by that show and you're vocal about it, I'd say you need to grow up. A mature person would not take it personally and either ignore it or otherwise not make a big stink about it.

[Yardie]

@wicko
Please don't talk about South Park, I still cry myself to sleep knowing that they haven't shown the latest episodes (200, 201) in England because of the terrorist death threats. it's a cold time for free speech.

[wicko]

You should be able to download them somewhere.

[Penno]

KZ Manager sounds completely sick and reprehensible.

I don't have a problem with hawt Nazi manga babes though (Moe Moe Niji Taisento FTW!)

[Rocket Sauce]

I like how the Japanese Nazi porn was rated among the least offensive games.

[grumpysmurf]

The most racist thing that the gaming industry's ever done was change the Xbox 360 from white to black. It was a huge insult to Anglo-Saxon gamers everywhere.

[kraze07]

I thought it was racist going from a black xbox to a white xbox360.

[BeaArthur]

They can only be culturally insensitive if you take them seriously. I have yet to find anything in a game that really offended me.

[Saturnize]

This article is fucking insulting.

[Timesplitter14]

we can say "fucking" now?

[bangoskank]

Fuck yeah it is.
Does Gamepro even know what racism is?
Since when were hillbillies a race?
... fucking idiots...

[FanboysWillHateMe]

haha, we can say "fucking" now!

I feel so liberated, wooooo! fuck fuck fuckity fuck!

[8thnightvolley]

we can say fuck now.. oh shyt!!..

FUUCKKK YEAHHHHHHHHH...

[Timesplitter14]

Damnit I'm so tired of hearing about RE5 being racist.

more than 4 games of killing violent savage white people and no one complains. Then they decide to change the scenery and set the game in Africa, and suddenly it's racist. We've been saying this forever but those people simply ignore the arguments (and the facts) because they simply enjoy complaining.

Anyone who says this is racist has the IQ of a small intestine

[bjornbear]

I mean, RE5 takes place in africa...if it DIDN'T have africans in it THAT would be racist -_-

wtv, its all self righteous and political correctness gone mad

@ The Wood

DUDE....we wrote the same thing at the same time -_- xP

[Lord Gunchrote]

you should know why people called it racist. go read a history book. yeah people should get over, but its not like you don't know why they're saying it! and when the zombies were white.......so were the protagonists. lol.

[Rocket Sauce]

I didn't take Resident Evil 5 that seriously, but I always thought the problem people had was how Africans were depicted. I mean, they look like zombies BEFORE they're turned into full-blown zombies.

Just look at this dude, he looks fucking scary even before he gets infected.

Either way, I was more offended by the reused sound effects and animations. Why'd it take so long for this game to come out? They didn't really do much.

[GrilledCheeseBook]

if i didn't shoot a black guy in RE5 i would be shocked. Its in Africa and plus to expect the Japanese to be thinking about about a dominantly western problem is a little much.

[The Wood]

not racist. It woulda been if there were NO black infected. Dont believe the hype because a few uneducated non gamers started a snowball effect
I did find the user created gollywog avatar on modnation racers offensive though not offensive enough to report it, i was kinda shocked

@ bjornbear

jinx ;)

[Marceles]

The only thing I got out of this article is that I want to play Vice City again, that game was so good

[Galaxia]

Haha same thing here. Vice City was great and this made me want to replay it.

Those Nazi Chicks were hot too. :P

[kraze07]

Didn't read past the second page. They could've fit all that stuff on 1 or 2 pages.

[midgard227]

wait RE5 is racist because they are in africa killing african zombies????? wtf else do u expect to be there? native americans?

why didnt anyone bash re4 for killing a bunch of spanish zombies? lol just cuz africans were slaves doesnt mean they have to be so anal about everything just cuz they get killed in a game or movie.

im spanish and wasnt offended that they killed spanish in re4 so africans shudnt be offended that africans are being killed in re5.......lol wow

[Whitefox789]

The problem with RE 5 was the way they depicted Africa, as was stated in the article from N'Gai, "This imagery has a history. It has a history and you can't pretend otherwise. That imagery still has a history that has to be engaged, that has to be understood."

So if I'm getting this correctly its depicting the African populous as violent savages, where a white man has to kill all of them seems to be the problem. Sadly enough though this isn't entirely the story with Resident Evil 5 as we know it. We know that first off their not zombies (in a sense their not dead, brain craving zombies). They are instead infected with a parasite that makes them prone to violence. That's just about it in all of the rationale point of view of this.

The only reason they are actually scared is because since Video games have become mainstream parents have been kind of depending on video games, television, internet, etc. as a babysitter for children. I know as an adult its the parents job to decide what is acceptable for a children to view and if a child sees something the parent doesn't want them to see they should put it into context so the kid doesn't take it the wrong way.

I thought this was hilarious in the RE 5 article, "This is problematic on so many levels," wrote Black Looks blogger Kym Platt "...the depiction of Black people as inhuman savages, the killing of Black people by a white man in military clothing, the fact that this video game is marketed to children and young adults. Start them young — fearing, hating, and destroying Black people."

Okay.... Umm the game is Rated M in the U.S. which by ESRB standards is 17+ so I'm going to say it is not marketed to children. I remember when the game came out I only saw commercials for it on Comedy Central (adult channel) around 10:30 p.m. which normally is a time a kid should be asleep. Now if the rating of the game somehow got changed to an E and the front of the cover had Chris and Sheva under a rainbow holding hands and they kept all of the games content in tack we would have a problem.

In short though cause this comment is long enough, the only reason people complain of racial intolerance is because they are afraid of what the new generations are going to see through their media.

[baker_boi]

You idiot, that's not the fricken point...

Of course black people are in Africa. If that's what we were so mad at that'd make us stupid like you.

To understand it you have look at the whole damn picture.

The producer of the game first kept saying, "this game is geared toward a WESTERN audience". And if you know the Japanese you know whenever they make a statement like that they mean white people. As they either market their games towards themselves or Caucasians.

When raised with the question of whether they'd create a black main character they always say, "That may raise problems of marketing it towards our target audience".

But they don't seem to mind putting black people in a game as long as they're fulfilling a villian aspect. Or maybe just being some arm-candy on the side of the lead character.

Also, in the game industry most of the time you never see black people in any great number outside of sports games, so when some company finally puts a large number of us in a game, we're all "monsters" ready to get our chests busted open with automatic fire.

Nice touch for a first venture into Africa wouldn't you say?

If we can't be shown doing more than throwin a ball through a hoop or running down a field then don't incorporate us in your media when you want, however you want.

If being the main character in your games will cause problems in selling it to young, white teens, please feel free to not put us in games as hordes of enemies getting mowed down.

If developers want to continue keeping game media as a purely white medium then there's no need to have black people, in any shape or form, scape goating in their releases.

ESPECIALLY not in Africa where every black face except the one beside the hulking, Caucasian hero is getting shredded with bullets.

So, it's fine if we're not heroes or appear in any large number in them, but we don't need to appear being killed in them either.

So if you were to ask me, "What were you so mad about?" I'd have told you, "That I can't see my black ass in a game except to get shot in the face...or play basket ball."

[Persistantthug]

But I must say, you've brought up some very interesting points that I can't say are entirely wrong here.

You get a bubble for the thought provoking and intelligent conversation.

[midgard227]

i think the only racist thing this gen is that every1 likes 360 and wii more than ps3....and thats only cuz the ps3 is black......lol just kiddin :)

[the-show-stopper]

while i agree with that most of these games arent that bad
the concentration camp simulator is stepping over the line

[bangoskank]

Didn't even bother to get that far but, yes, that's pretty fucked up(abusing the f-bomb privilege).

[RockmanII7]

Are they being serious with this list

[Lord Gunchrote]

I'm African American and I wasn't offended by anything in RE5...because as much as I liked shooting Africans, I'll shoot white zombies too. I don't discriminate when it comes to the undead. lol.

One thing I did notice was that this was Gamepro Austrailia...lol...austrailia had a "white only" immigration policy til 1973...and now they're talking racism!! LMAO!!

[danielle007]

With the Resident Evils, and Left 4 Deads, and Dead Risings.. I don't see color. I don't see race. I just see the undead who are trying to eat my brains.

Really, zombies are the least racist concept in the world. Anyone can become one, and they are universally evil. It doesn't matter if you're black, white, asian, latin, muslim, arab, egyptian... None of it matters. The only thing that matters is survival and slaughtering the evil veggies that are zombies.. If there's a black zombie, and white zombie, and an asian zombie coming towards you, you're not going to be like "Hm.. Well, I'm white, so I'll just shoot the other two and try to jog away from my fellow whitey.." Nono, you're just going to mow them down, disregarding any stereotypes of their race, because otherwise you'll catch a bad case of dead.

[Gish]

For those defending the Japanese Army read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Not to mention the horrific treatment of POW's. Their Navy, was the more honorable of the two. Admiral Yamamoto did insist that the US be told that they were declaring war before the strike on Pearl but their consulate in Washington screwed up and did not inform the US. Would have been interesting to have seen what would have happened if the ships were prepared for the attack. Very interesting part of history i do have to say.

[dizzleK]

the japanese army was nighmarishly barbaric. for comparison the nazis were absolute gentleman and treated the enemy like men, they were simply patriots. the japanese were demons shat from hell-

http://www.ww2pacific.com/a...

they deserved their nuking. imagine atrocities like this being played all across japan had the u.s. attempted an invasion. even hitler didn't trust them.

[zanzibarlegend]

i knew it would cause a shit storm. to the public at large who turn their eye on history, it was just a game about killing zombies. to those familiar not just with slavery, and apartheid... but even (i hate to say this but its damned true) the depiction of colored people by japanese has not been very favorable. if you take a look at import anime,movies and games the evidence is there. from the big red lips, or bubble lips, with pitch black skin, and caveman-ish v/o.

meanwhile here in the states and other parts of the world asians do get to look favorable in almost all roles. all of that old school asian-mockery in entertainment is a thing of old. colored people in asia? just go to the net if you don't believe my words. now im saying all asian people are like that, as i have many asian friends who are amazing people with a broad view on the world. its just that certain people in power have a way of casting a negative light on people.

that said, i personally think all races are fair game to get the shaft, i personally dont care as much, so long as there is no underlying intention to ridicule one's race. and more importantly we must remember (as blacks) that there are far more important heroes in real life who have made advances in history for the better of mankind.

less parents should be bitching about games, and teach their children about world history.

end rant.