Capcom eclipsed by ethnic 'twin tragedy'

A bolt from the blue for Japan based developer Capcom - two of its latest titles named Zack & Wiki and Resident Evil 5 are under fire for ethnic reasons. Zack & Wiki is the game accused of chanting Muslim's ethnic phrase 'Allahu akbar' i.e. 'God is the Greatest', while later one has been victimized for showing racism i.e. the game is on critics' aim for new trailer of unreleased title calling it highly offensive/unacceptable and racially prejudiced.

It's the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), who has raised bars against Zack & Wiki and asked Capcom to remove the phrase from the game for keeping up social harmony.

Here is what CAIR has to say about the game:

The Arabic phrase is one of the most frequently repeated religious statements made by Muslims and is used often in daily Islamic prayers.

The phrase has been removed from the game; the CAIR has appreciated Capcom's prompt initiative and thanked the company for dousing flames of mutiny even before hitting the roof.

To cap it all, another title that falls prey is currently in development for the Xbox360 and PS3, and facing criticism from African community for serving racially inspired content depicting a white man killing Black people.

Black Looks, a blog devoted to African women alleges that the game very visibly depicts racial discrimination in the video that was released at this year's E3.

The new Resident Evil video game depicts a white man in what appears to be Africa killing Black people. The Black people are supposed to be zombies and the white man's job is to destroy them and save humanity...

- the blog writes

Moreover, the blog depicts that the game is an uninterrupted attempt to implant an ideology in young players' mind that makes white people hate, put down, and destroy Black people.

It's a tragic irony that videogames are still lacking a position that they desperately deserve. No doubt, the organizations are established to scrutinize flaws in the system, but by poking its nose in issue allied with videogames, the CAIR has left a sign of idiocy.

Nothing wrong lies in chanting Muslims' sacred phrase in the game, because there are hundreds of anime, manga that use religious symbols and phrases (other than Mulish) and respective followers have never created public nuisance all around. I don't think it's really that big an issue, because, neither Judaism, Christianity nor Islam would deny monolithic reality that 'God is Great'.

However, some critics might find a chance to blame the game for the reason that use of a religious phrase is out of context (offensive), because, the characters have been shown drinking some beverage in skull bowls - but, as I found after going through the video, no phrase is audible while tots having their drinks - hence, it's nothing other than an ignorant stereotyping.

Familiar is image in case of Resident Evil 5 too, where the game content falls into wrong hands, assess it erroneously and leads to a progressive hypocrisy. As the blog mentions itself the Black people whom a white guy shoots, are Las Plagas infected zombies, who are supposed to be destroyed - hence, like other people who visit the game for the first time, Black Looks' bloggers misinterpreted it and despite, perceiving it 'Zombies vs protagonist' clash, took it as white guy gunning down African clan.

Capcom has (or about to) amended both the games - did the developer really need it?

The aforesaid claims should be called a 'twin tragedy' and especially when the world is stepping into the 'next-gen era', this sick perception calls for a resurrection.