In the whole interview, I think N'Gai Croal answers a lot of the issues people are having with the snippets of quotes that are in the article. Here's the link:

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/04/10/newsweeks-ngai-croal-on-the-resident-evil-5-trailer-this-imagery-has-a-history/

In the context of the game, I would tend to agree that this is not racist. Wherever this is set, the majority is obviously black.

However, I think the biggest issue with this trailer is for people who have no background with the game. That could cause a lot of problems for Capcom. With the history of race in America, I think that there will be some sort of uproar over this game. At the very least, I'm sure one of the 24-hour news networks will rip this game for being racist. Unfortunately, this is exactly the kind of mass media coverage the video game industry doesn't need.

I'm surprised that N'Gai of all people said this. :(

 Exactly. I don't think that anyone should find this Racist. Its only because of the location, that the people are black.

Im not racist or anything *i do have black friends* but people need to get real with this racist crap. they get too offended. I dont remember much media attention from RE4 because of the game taking place at a small village in Spain

omg tehy shouldve critizied san andreas for being racist cause u shoot mexicans and white people.

but when ur shootingb black people with a white guy its racist

im black and this is EXACTLY why black people are NOT moving forward because they have to bicth about everything being racist, and blame white people for not succeeding in life, which is bullshit because my dad is a very succesful man who came from st lucia when he was 15. he now works for teh canadian government.

black people have a lot of work to do.

 Okay well this clears it up. A classic case of someone being taken out of context. Given context of the total article, it does seem more in line with what I'd expect from N'Gai Croal.

Whether or not the cries of racism are logical or fair, Capcom should have seen this coming. Racism and its responses have never been logical or fair, and it's too sensitive an issue to miss.

They should have dumped Mr. Musclebound all-American Whitey and given us a black protagonist. A totally new character -- make him a local from the village. That would have made for a hell of a lot more interesting story, and is anyone really so attached to RE's shitty, generic characters that they would miss them if they didn't show up in this installment?

Below is some insight from Capcom regarding why they went with Africa. Seems logical.

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=23507

Oh he's not out of line...he addresses various things like "RE4 was killing Spaniards, why no outcry there?" He says because of the history that black people have in America, etc.

But I still think he's needlessly bringing race into the equation...not to mention I'm one of those people that don't care about slavery, that's in the past. And while some things might not work out evenly between races due to racism somewhere along the line, I don't see how bringing up slavery to people who have been free their whole lives is going to help.

I bet some news network will indeed bring up RE5 when it comes out and call it racist. And they'll have a panel of "experts" discuss it and unanimously call it racist. And they'll have some videogame-savvy person on the show and totally ignore what he has to say. And then we go on with our lives.