Not, it's a mistake that unwittingly resembles racism. Not nearly the same thing, but still not good, and entirely avoidable.

That said, I'ma grab my shotgun, as all this talk about zombies is making me nervous....

 "avoidable"?  Why the hell does this matter so much?  People make up racist ideas in their heads...Capcom is not obligated, nor should they have to change anything about this game.  So perhaps they'll lose the same customers as the ones that don't buy Castle Crashers...whoop-dee-doo.  It's not racist, and there's no reason Capcom should have had to "avoid" this design.  It makes sense for black people to be in Africa, and again, nobody has problems when we kill white people in games.

Call me when people stop whining about petty stuff like this.  

The problem is that, for Africa, the idea of armed white men murdering or pillaging in their cities and countryside is not fiction like it is for us; it's recent history. The stuff that you see in the trailer happened on more than one occasion, and the white man wasn't a hero, and the black people were not zombies beyond redemption.

No one would criticize the Anti-Defamation League for protesting a game that features Jews being gunned down or worse, gassed, because the Holocaust is still very fresh in the minds of the West. Germany would never let the game be sold within its borders. But what's been done to Africa is largely forgotten, and easily dismissed.

I do not think so. They would find another minor issue on the game and whine about it.
Look at the claims of RE4 being sexist.

There at least 4 kinds of women in this game.

1) Ashley design was considered to be sexist due to the fact that she was frail and depended on Leon's help to survive. She was also the cute girl type (some people do not think so). For crying out loud she was the president's daughter. What do you expect from the presidents daughter? Spoiled, rich and dependent girls.

2) Ada was the "I can take care of myself" woman. Sexy, acrobatic and smart. She saved Leon's life on several ocasions and even kicked his ass when he lost himself and tried to kill her. What is sexist about her? Well she is too sexy and dress in a way that pleases a lot of men. I kinda agree that she using high heels was a little lame, but she is far from the kind of DOA girl or Nina Willians from Death by Degrees.

3)Hunnigan, the Mei ling rip off. She is smart, beautiful and assists Leon along the journey. What is sexist about her? Nothing. But people do not want to analyze her considering it takes most of the logic from the RE4 is sexist argument.

4) The female Ganados. These are the toughest. Right at the start Leon sees a woman nailed at the wall with a pitchfork and says: "There is no gender discrimination among them". There is no significant difference in strenght between male and female in the game. The wort enemies in the game are females, the Bella sisters. There is no one I know that had not died at least once against them. Why they are sexist? Because they are fat and ugly housewives, when they should be ugly fat 40 yers old democrat business women (feminist stereotype).

The last comment was a little extreme but the point is that feminine cast in RE4 is so diverse that you cannot label the whole game as sexist.

I'm not sure why that's a response to me, since my only discussion of RE4 was to point out that it does not take place in Mexico.

I suppose I probably am being too negative.  I just know what can happen to sequels for games when they aren't made by the same people.  Look at what happened to Rare when Microsoft bought them and most of the developers left.  It took them 7 years to make another good game (Viva Pinata).

When you say it that way, it really does seem like this was a horrible development decision.

Capcom > Rare.

Capcom has been the best Japanese 3rd party this generation, I think it's clear so far. SE has been very slow (on purpose?) and Konami has only one big game coming with a bunch of smaller games around it.

Capcom: Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Devil May Cry 4, Resident Evil 5, Zack and Wiki, Street Fighter II HD...

Best 3rd party Japanese developer so far hands down for me and so much more to come :)

I think the depth of the characters (both starring and supporting) is what makes some games worth while. Gameplays is more important, but a bad story can screw up a game like this. (see my above comments).

They are taking the "easy way" by using an established character, but are missing an oppurtunity to do something bigger. Challenging the standards. And because of this it also appears racist.

@Ben: Remember, I made the White Man's Burden comment in the other thread? The first world "helps" the third world with military actions. Games are tackling this issue. Private Militaries turn third world countries into war zones (for profit) in Metal Gear Solid 4 and in Haze. Both games portray this corporate colonialism as bad. Although neither developer says it, I bet they were partially inspired by Blackwater and CACI in Iraq.

This is a Zombie game but could be made much more powerful if the locals weren't just portrayed as mindless followers of the guy with the megaphone (before zombification). If Chris is an Aid worker why does he need a gun? Why does he have to be an international policeman investigating crimes in Africa? Isn't it a little unlikely that the same characters keep ending up in zombie epidemics?

Why not make RE5's story as strong as Haze or MGS4? Because that take talent, and all of Capcom's talent either left or is working on Zack and Wiki.

On a side note: It's actually kinda funny because of the racial controversy of the original "Night of the Living Dead".