Another Pokemon Black/White blog. Only by the biggest Pokemon fans at Nintendo 5-Star. Just trying to keep us occupied until the new details are out on the 15th, that's...two days from now. This blog will be about the names of the two games.
It's not out in the open, but a lot of internet comments have commented on uhh.....okay, let's just say the titles are slightly racist. I'm not trying to sound offensive or anything, but there's a lot of buzz around the two names ever since they came out. In Japan it doesn't matter a single bit but what then when it's localized for the US? Would the names be changed? One guy suggested 'Dark/Light' instead of the current 'Black/White'. Ugh. How droll. All because of a simple naming issue you take out the pure, original names. There's bound to be some way to either avoid this or totally ignore it altogether. So what if it's Black/White.
Most of the comments are actually made in jest, however. Gamers don't give a ****, it's just some joke that came up. But I'm sure someone else at NOA is taking this seriously. And we could be seeing a potential name change for Pokemon Black/White as it's moved over there. Which would suck.
No one likes unnecessary name changes, just ask the Europeans. Tight censorship gives them castrated, unimaginative game names, say, Kirby: Squeak Squad was renamed Kirby: Mouse Attack, and WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames renamed to WarioWare Inc. Minigame Mania. Slightly less 'offensive' according to those prudes at the censorship boards, but overall completely worthless. Really saps the creative power put into naming the game in the first place. What the hell is wrong with the term 'microgames'? Some one tell me. It's smaller than a minigame, therefore it's a micro-game! So, what, anything that isn't defined in the Oxford dictionary of English can't be used to name a game?
This isn't the first time something like this has happened in the world of games. There was one game which also used the colors black and white for both versions of it. That game is Megaman Battle Network 3. In Japan.
'White' isn't mentioned, but look at the box. Isn't is significantly whiter?
Over in the US, Megaman Battle Network 3 made it, but the name didn't stay. Black was renamed to Blue, , and White remained as is, probably to avoid the same racial connotation Pokemon Black/White could be facing in the future. But Pokemon's problem goes further, in that it's exhausted most, if not all, the basic colors. It can't simply rename Black to Blue because.....well, there's already a Pokemon Blue! Other colors? Pink, Orange, Purple? That wouldn't exactly go together with White, would it? Or the flagship Pokemon species that's bound to be on the box.
Come on, it's just a game. What's in a name anyway? Leave it alone and let Pokemon fans enjoy their stuff. You'll be glad you did.
If the names are changed i swear i'll start a riot of pokefans. The censorship people won't know what hit them...hopefully.
ReplyDeleteThere is way too much sensitivity about the terms black and white, which doesn't make any sense anyway. there is no race of humans with black skin, or white, for that matter. extremely pale maybe, but if you actually have white or black skin, you have some serious issues going on.
They should just let pokemon keep the names, there haven't been any issues with red or yellow and their racial connotations, why bother kicking up a fuss about black and white?
and before there are any comments about what i said above, i'll have everyone know that i don't see skin colour, i see people.
Not to mention, as i am australian, i do realise why racism is such a sensitive subject, i just think certain people should grow some brains, and some certain other show grow some balls.
~ ani_luff
But what if we name the games black and white and then Malcom X comes back from the grave, and im not talking about post pilgrimage Malcom X,Im talking about the "by any means necessary" guy. He will start a litertal race war, and since the president is black, the sides will be bias. Thus ending humanity as we know it. The US, and, because we are most important, the world too, will then be destroyed! NOOOO!!! Of course this is all sarcasm (except for maybe the part about the US... XD *chuckles to self*). I see race, unlike ani_luff, but thats because i was programmed to be afraid of seeing race. Whenever i am around a person of different color that i do not know, i feel like i must conciously be sure that i say nothing racsist... I was programmed by people who are so censor happy and so race aware that the colors of the rainbow has to mean something other than refracted light, no matter the context, therefore, the rainbow can't be on the cover of this children's book (true story). I believe, if we just dont talk about race, if we just say "It doesn't matter,"a if no word was off limits because it will "offend" somone, then, i garuntee, racsism will go away. If it wasn't a big deal, then nobody would care. Then we would all be able to live in harmony... Or some semblance of it, because, after all we are human and that means there will always be some sort of conflict.
ReplyDelete:O oh noes, i would hate to see the world end!
ReplyDelete.. >.> <.< really!
Hmm, i think racism will eventually disappear, just as long as we teach the younger generations not to hate people because their skin is different, or rather, don't treat people with different coloured skin any differently than you would someone of the same coloured skin.... it rubs off on the younger generations, or, hate them alot and pray your kid is rebellious.
humanity's very nature is to be somewhat chaotic.
And to the anon in the above post:
You're funny, and yet manage to make a very good point. xD
~Ani_luff