Someone was bound to get offended by Resident Evil 5. One white guy on a killing spree in a third-world village filled with black zombie-like creatures isn't a particularly good image, despite nobody caring when the same white boy mowed down dozens of latino enemies. It's a big world, filled with many interesting places for zombie outbreaks, and expecting Leon to stay in Lilywhite Land is a bit much. Still, it was only a matter of time before the articles started.

The inevitable happened today. Kym Platt, one of the members of the Black Looks blog, posted her displeasure over the Resident Evil 5 imagery while displaying a lack of understanding of how the M rating works. "…this video game is marketed to children and young adults." isn't exactly true, but that's not really the point.

Gamespot

GamePolitics

Joystiq

Kotaku

That's just so far, and doesn't count web sites I'm unfamiliar with or the innumerable threads in gaming forums the world over. I'd be very surprised if this didn't hit the mainstream news in the next day or two. It's summer, there isn't a whole lot is going on, and this would fill up column inches nicely.

The important thing here is that this is just a blog article. Or at least, it was a simple article until everyone decided to splatter this individual's viewpoint all over the web. I've got to admit, though, that I don't understand how an opinion written by someone who seems to believe all video games are for children is news. Kym Platt even goes so far as to admit that she doesn't know much about video games. She is, however, outraged, and apparently that's enough to make it news.

A slightly more informed opinion piece than the Black Looks commentary can be found over at Microscopiq. He cracks on the mojas in LocoRoco, though, so it probably shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Personal view- zombie-like creatures in (most likely) Africa being fought by current series protagonist Leon isn't racist. If you want to read racism into the game, by all means, have fun with it. Just be aware that it's all happening inside your own head, and don't try to tell me what a white imperialist bastard I am because I like having fun killing the undead of any ethnicity.

I powered on my Xbox 360 last night, only to find that it wasn't a happy camper. I was hankering for some Bomberman Live. I had to settle for my PlayStation 2 instead… I've had it since Christmas and treated it well. It froze a couple times (Lost Planet caused it several problems), but otherwise has worked just fine. I hadn't fired it up in a while, so it was surprising that it went from fine to dead without being used.

So I packed it up, took it to Best Buy and attempted to exchange it. But the little trickster decided to work fine there. So maybe I didn't do something right. Got it home and it booted up once, froze, crashed, made strange noises, and then it was back to the 3 blinking lights (the ones that mean hardware failure). So tonight, it goes in for good, because I have games to review and this is just not cutting it.

The moral of this story? None really, since I always treat my equipment well. Technology just doesn't always work, so it's nice to know that a company such as Microsoft is covering its users. Sure I have the extended warranty with Best Buy, but for those who don't, a 3 year warranty against the dreaded blinking lights problem is a fine way to handle things (and a needed acknowledge of a serious problem). I'm glad I don't have to send it in, simply because I've got lots to play on it over the next month.

I've killed very few consoles in my 20+ years of gaming, a couple Dreamcasts, a Sega CD model 2 (the model 1 is still chugging along), my original Xbox, and that poor original Gameboy I dropped down the stairs the same freaking day I got it (it worked for a while after, but had lines on both sides). Guess I can add one more to the list. Let's just hope there's nothing wrong with the harddrive… Hopefully tonight, I'll get to play some Bomberman!!!

The transition from E3 '06 to E3 '07 was a jarring one, with the size downgrade being only the most obvious change.  The central hangar where the E3 show floor was held was supplemented by several hotels where exhibitors demonstrated their biggest titles behind closed doors, all but defeating the point of having a smaller, press-only event in the first place.  Additionally, press meeting rooms would be used, cleared out, rebuilt in about 15 minutes or so, and then everyone would troop back in.  A smaller, more exclusive E3 isn't that bad an idea, but a less effective one doesn't help anybody.  So, onwards with the evolution.

Now that everyone has come home, a survey has been sent around indicating the possibility of more changes for next year.  A few tweaks to efficiency are a given, of course, but bigger differences are also being discussed.  It's pretty obvious that the E3 organizers are aware of the problems, as indicated by questions about Barker Hanger and the Fairmont Hotel, which were farthest away from the hotels where events were scheduled.  Also up for the possibility of change is the date, with options being discussed for May through August.  The most surprising change for regular E3 attendees is a potential move from LA, though, to San Francisco, Laguna Beach, Sand Diego, or Santa Monica.  Or maybe E3 will stay put in its home city.  Who knows at this point?  The only thing definite is that more changes are coming.

By now, you've all had a chance to catch Nintendo's amazingly underwhelming conference and we're just moments before the final press conference goes down. In the interim, I stumbled upon some awesome videos created by a few talented Shoryuken.com/SonicHurricane members. The site reports that a special Guile Exhibition will be featured at this year's Evolution tournament in Las Vegas. They've been working on the production over the past year and every fighting enthusiast planning to attend will be treated to an exclusive showing on the big screen!

To whet everyone's appetite, SRK offer a small sneak peek of what's to come. EVERY fighting fanatic needs to check this out. And while you're there, be sure to look throughout the rest of the combo collection created by the SonicHurricane.com crew. 

[Via Shoryuken.com] 

Pioneering machinima series Red vs. Blue will be ending its four year, 100 episode run when the 15 minute series finale goes live Wednesday night. While this is the end of the ongoing storyline, Rooster Teeth still plans to create one-off specials, so I'd say you can expect some Red vs. Blue shorts to help promote the release of Halo 3. I have to confess that while I watched the first few episodes and thought they were pretty funny, I never kept up with the series. Now that it's over I may have to sit down and watch them beginning to end. At five minutes a piece it shouldn't take too long…my abacus says roughly 500 minutes. [via Wired]