Well I just thought I'd add my teo cents to the discussion. I am black, and the lack of black characters in games actually does make me a little mad. In a game where there are multiple characters to choose from, I see no reason why one of the characters shouldn't be black. Most multiplayer games do have the "token" black character. and for the most part, I'm ok with that. I'd rather play with white main characters than black stereotypes as well. Therefore, games like GTA and True Crime don't appeal to me.

And I know this is kind of off-topic, but Parappa the Rapper was a "black game" that didn't show black people in a stereotypical way (of course the main character was a dog...but I hope you understand where I'm coming from.)

Good writen thread.

Kudos to Mistwalker, who actually have a japanese looking male characther in both their games. ^^

Well, most of Western stories are actually based on the arctypes from either ancient Celtic myth or Greece, etc.  You're only looking at very recent times.  The West certainly didn't orginate the concept of the heroic journey.

OT - However a great deal of global entertainment has been driven by West most recently, from music to films to literature.  This has led to a skewed (in terms of potential audience) set of basic role models.  Japanese developers have been happy to adopt characters who are 'Westernised' while still retaining certain Asian aspects - if for no other reason than it ensures a larger global audience and mirrors much of what goes on in their more global animie efforts - or to simply have Western characters and settings (a'la Silent Hill).

Over time I'm sure this will change as gaming industry grows.  But right now you're really looking at a virtual monoploy driven by Western developers and Japan.  After all, these are territories that are stable and where entertainment is in high demand vs unstable countries and even before games came along films and music had set the standard that a lot of entertainment is both Western and white.

I'll note that most MMOs and a fair number of PC games allow you to play male/female and as pretty much any enthnic race, so perhaps consoles are simply trailing PCs a little from that aspect.

GTA IV. GTA San Andreas. Streets of Rage. Mass Effect*. Urban Chaos. Prince of Persia. Akuji The Heartless. Mark of the Kri. Indigo Prophecy. Halo (you know it's true!). Shark Tale. ;)

These are just games in my collection (I don't even own Crackdown). I didn't include games like SSX or SFIII: Third Strike with multi-ethnic rosters. I'm sure there are more. Really, I don't care about race, in video games. When I play as Mario, Lara Croft, Solid Snake, or that Straight Line from Tetris, that character IS ME. I'm more concerned with mechanics and stories, than race.

Xenophobia - I remember reading an article on No More Heroes and why it bombed in Japan, according to the author while many japanese knew Guichi Suda they also thought of him in like terms of Microsoft withtin their country - a native that was viewed as a strainger. This directly linked to his showings in Japan and their lack luster sales.

Apparantly the American market is much more ressiliant and can go much longer before xenophobia set's in. This is due to the obvious cultural diversity in America.

In short Travis and his word and even his creator were too different from what Japan understood it wanted.

Maybe if he was Asian living in fantasy Shibuya it would of sold 500k in japan?

 I agree as well

all the games where the main character is black, such as gta:sa, true crime and saints row(i think), they are all criminals that just shoot to kill. coincedence, i think not.

This is new to me, for someone that comes from an island in the caribbean... not white, i never really thought about Games made for white people, i always see black people like the Seargent from Halo, or Coltrane from Gears, don't forget Rude from FF7 for example. I disagree with games catered to whites, pretty much they cater to americans. Japan pretty much been doing it for years, they did get nuked by americans, and american military bases are all over japan to this day.

Master Chief reveal your Identity!

Its verry interesting u say that i have a storry...
My friend dosent play video games but a while bak i desided to schock him a bit with the graphics that are now possible... so i showed him assasins creed.... the responce that i got was staggering....quote "why would i wanna play an arab?" he said.....to that point it dint even dawn on me that the charecter wasnt white and i still dont care...the game was amazing...