Although Capcom has never offered a firm release date for its Resident Evil offering for the current generation, things have been mighty quiet since its initial E3 outing in July last year.

One cunning scanner-owning Famitsu reader has opted to share a handful of new screens with the internet populace, for which we are extremely grateful. The mag also notes a few things about the new title's gameplay: first, that the transition from shaded areas to sunlit ones is an important part of the game, and second, that there will be a return of the larger style boss enemies from previous titles.

I'm particularly interested in how it's evolving stylistically, not just because I'm a Resident Evil fan (although I prefer the older spooky horror to the modern action horror) but because of the whole racism brouhaha. After the initial hubbub following that trailer and first cries of prejudice (!) I thought it was people reading into it a little too deeply and just desperately seeking any old reason to find evidence of marginalisation, no matter how far they had to stretch it.

So it's interesting that the new screen shot here shows that at least one of those living dead is actually a white guy.

Resi 5 is supposed to be set in Africa. Or maybe Haiti. No one's cleared that up. Anyway, it's somewhere where there's a predominantly black population. So a big white dude rolling in and 'liberating' them via a large assault weapon doesn't strike a particularly pleasant chord. But so what - big white dudes (and chicks - no sexim here) have been liberating (and more often just plain butchering) their way through countless hordes of white zombies in the four previous games.

Well, as I said, I wasn't convinced before, but analysis by Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totillo led me to think that even though it was probably unintentional and that only a few of the players would have even spotted a racist undertone had it not been for the outcry, it is important for games to be accepted as serious art form and entertainment medium and adhering to these kind of sensitivities is key to that.

So has Capcom changed tack in light of the allegations and fears? Or was it just an unlucky choice of trailer that quality control didn't pick up on.? We'll probably never know now - or not until the game is out. But for the moment it looks like that the game does include a mix of races to fill out the ranks of undead menaces.

(via Darkzero)

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