Breaking down borders in video games.
Posts tagged Japan
Ching Chong Beautiful Exposes Racism in Video Game Design
Dec 30th
This post was written by Latoya Peterson, originally posted at Racialicious, and is kindly republished here with permission.
Latoya Peterson provides a hip-hop feminist and anti-racist view on pop culture with a special focus on video games, anime, American comics, manga, magazines, film, television, and music. She is the Editor at Racialicious, is a Contributor at Jezebel, and has written for The American Prospect, Bitch Magazine, Clutch Magazine, the Women’s Review of Books, Slate’s Double X, and the Guardian.
On Christmas, reader Mel sent us a little present. He wrote in about a flash based indie video game covered by the Escapist. The title? Ching Chong Beautiful.
I click over the link, expecting to see a take down. After all, the Escapist does publish a lot of progressive gaming commentary, and our blog bud Pat over at Token Minorities has been known to bless them with a piece or two. So imagine my shock when I checked the endorsement :
That’s kind of the principle behind Newgrounds’ latest well-promoted title, the kind-of-offensive-but-actually-really-funny Ching Chong Beautiful, developed by The Swain. Your brother is kidnapped by Mr. Beautiful, whose obstacle course is A.) known to be deadly and unbeatable and B.) the most popular TV show in Japan. In order to save your brother, you must get a thoroughbred horse, and the only way to do that is – you guessed it – enter Ching Chong Beautiful.
The game starts throwing stereotypes in the blender from the intro page:
A Game of Great Endurance Challenge!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/520768
The game features the new High Scores system and Newgrounds medals! So go grab some green tea, get drunk on sake, and maybe poach some whales if there’s time…the Bang Wong Fishhead Corporation challenges you to defeat Mr.Beautiful’s ancient obstacle course: Ching Chong Beautiful!
And it goes from there.
Now, before some gamers wander over here from other sites complaining about our general lack of humor and understanding, let me make something crystal clear: I get all the fucking jokes. I know what MXC is, I used to watch it on Spike. I know what Takeshi’s Castle is, I’ve watched it online. I know what this is:
The green can next to the television labeled “Sweat” is a play on the sports drink Pocari Sweat, which normally comes in a blue and white can or bottle. (And yes, I’ve tried that too.)
I’m aware that CCB is, in part, mocking the nature of these kinds of game shows that specialize in sadistic environments and public humiliation. But it’s still racist. More >
Japanese rape game auctions pulled from eBay
Dec 1st
(Trigger Warning: Simulated rape, forced abortion)
A 2006 Japanese game called Rapelay with the objective of assaulting and raping women has had all of its eBay auctions pulled down today. The game requires players to use wind to raise the skirts of girls, rape them, and then force them to have an abortion before they become too pregnant. There is also the ability to invite others in for a simulated gang-rape scenario.
The Amazon listing previously read:
RapeLay is an offshoot of the Illusion series, Interact Play. You, like in previous installments, play as a public nuisance that gets away from captivity and starts scouting for new targets. This time around you find a family of a single mother and her two daughters. You quickly begin your hunt and capture each woman one by one. The gameplay involves an amusing training/disposition system with which to break each respective target to your liking. Watch where you blow your load, or you might get them pregnant!
The cover of Rapelay, featuring two women holding each other.
The company that develops this game, Illusion, only sells their games within Japan to people 18 and up. Other games include the Battle Raper series with a similar objective, and Reversible Face which is a simulated female stalking game. This particular game was pulled down from Amazon in February.
I’m thankful these auctions were pulled down from eBay, but it’s absurd that these games are legal in Japan. There are some really disgusting walkthroughs available on the web that I found during my research for this article that left me sick to my stomach.
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