Black protagonists in video games....
Can you think of any that have been in really good ones?
Console games, PC games, indie games, etc...
Console games, PC games, indie games, etc...
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You know, as much as there have been plenty of black supporting characters in video games, I can honestly not think of any that have a black person as the main character. In fact there are quite a lot of American made video games where the lead character is a white male with short brown hair with gruffy facial stubble. Chris Redfield, Commander Sheppard (default model), Nathan Drake, Frank West, Max Payne, Joel from the Last of Us, etc.
GTA San Andreas, Vice City Stories, and V all have black protagonists
FF7 has Barret Wallace
One of the(apparently) first action games with a black protagonist was Akuji the Heartless
The Walking Dead's Lee Everett
Louis and Coach from the Left 4 Dead series
In the Saints Row series your character can be any race
Tekken has Bruce Irvin, Raven, Eddy Gordo, and Christie Montiero
Prototype 2's James Heller
Sheba from Resident Evil 5
Nilin from Remember Me
Shinobu has a few playable sections in No More Heroes 2
Xavier Stone from the Guitar Hero series (he's pretty much Jimi Hendrix)
Zasalamel from Soul Calibur
Shadow Man
Garcian Smith from Killer7
Wu Tang Clan have their own fighting game
Jax from Mortal Kombat
FF7 has Barret Wallace
One of the(apparently) first action games with a black protagonist was Akuji the Heartless
The Walking Dead's Lee Everett
Louis and Coach from the Left 4 Dead series
In the Saints Row series your character can be any race
Tekken has Bruce Irvin, Raven, Eddy Gordo, and Christie Montiero
Prototype 2's James Heller
Sheba from Resident Evil 5
Nilin from Remember Me
Shinobu has a few playable sections in No More Heroes 2
Xavier Stone from the Guitar Hero series (he's pretty much Jimi Hendrix)
Zasalamel from Soul Calibur
Shadow Man
Garcian Smith from Killer7
Wu Tang Clan have their own fighting game
Jax from Mortal Kombat
Franklin Clinton in GTAV
Walking Dead season 1.
Coach!!! He's a one-man cheeseburger apocalypse!!! 
SHADOW MAN! Acclaim's big magnum opus. Mike LeRoi is the walker between worlds, the voodoo god the Shadow Man. That game is an incredible epic featuring family troubles, macabre poetry, and atmospheric dread and gloom. Everything in that game is done right (aside from technological flaws of the ps1). I love Shadow Man, it's my pick of the most underrated game ever.
Sazh from FFXIII was pretty awesome 
He had a chocobo in his fro, yo!
He had a chocobo in his fro, yo!
Someone else said Lee from the Walking Dead already, but he's good enough to get another mention.
John Blade from SiN, which was probably the best game to use the Quake II engine!
Issac Mother Fucking Washington from House of the Dead Overkill.
John Blade from SiN, which was probably the best game to use the Quake II engine!
Issac Mother Fucking Washington from House of the Dead Overkill.
The Walking Dead game! Lee is black and is the main protagonist. Clementine is mixed. Honestly this game is amazing and will tear your heart apart. I highly recommend it! ^^
There is also Shinobu from No More Heroes.
There is also Shinobu from No More Heroes.
I don't know any real good ones, but I'd have to say Sheva Alomar in Resident Evil 5 (even though she's annoying as hell) and... I can't think of any at the moment, I'm trying to remember the black agent from Syphon Filter 3
"Get out of the way Sheva!" lol
LoL
maybe the issue is that many game companies aren't based in countries with a black majority.
when you look at Caucasians and Asians, they are well represented in games coming from North America and Europe for the former and East Asia for the latter.
but there are a good number of black people, protagonists and otherwise, as discussed above.
I would also nominate the Demoman from TF2 to that list.
I will also refer to the boy from Limbo as being black ... literally.
when you look at Caucasians and Asians, they are well represented in games coming from North America and Europe for the former and East Asia for the latter.
but there are a good number of black people, protagonists and otherwise, as discussed above.
I would also nominate the Demoman from TF2 to that list.
I will also refer to the boy from Limbo as being black ... literally.
Heh, the kid from Limbo is darker than me! XD
But yeah, I think if a company based in say....Nigeria, was the one to get in the position as Nintendo in the 80's, we would see a lot more video games based on African culture for example. Nintendo seemed to pave the way for East Asian cultures to be better represented in the video game scene after the fall of Atari.
But yeah, I think if a company based in say....Nigeria, was the one to get in the position as Nintendo in the 80's, we would see a lot more video games based on African culture for example. Nintendo seemed to pave the way for East Asian cultures to be better represented in the video game scene after the fall of Atari.
If you really want to think of hypothetical scenarios, you'd have to turn time back a bit more for whatever lead Africa to being the poorest and least developed continent.
Considering that software development (including games) would require education, and now AAA games generally have high budgets to them.
Considering that software development (including games) would require education, and now AAA games generally have high budgets to them.
It's long complicated, and messed up history (colonization, slavery, famine in certain areas, unstable governments, etc.). Although it has gotten better over the years in some areas.
Are you trying to say that Africans are all uneducated? :/
You don't need a huge budget to make good games, take a look at the indie community....actually, that's where they could start. There's an idea. I need to look into that. In fact, the indie community has had a great influence over the last few years and being they often work with low budgets, no one has to break the bank and in the process, they could learn about computers and programming in the process.
Also, there was one Japanese dude named Daisuke Amaya who managed to make a game of his own without a company behind him, a little indie game you may have heard of called Cave Story. Sure, it took him five years but for one guy, that's impressive. Imagine if there was a small band of people in Nigeria who wanted to make their own game. They can be the founders of the next Nintendo!
Are you trying to say that Africans are all uneducated? :/
You don't need a huge budget to make good games, take a look at the indie community....actually, that's where they could start. There's an idea. I need to look into that. In fact, the indie community has had a great influence over the last few years and being they often work with low budgets, no one has to break the bank and in the process, they could learn about computers and programming in the process.
Also, there was one Japanese dude named Daisuke Amaya who managed to make a game of his own without a company behind him, a little indie game you may have heard of called Cave Story. Sure, it took him five years but for one guy, that's impressive. Imagine if there was a small band of people in Nigeria who wanted to make their own game. They can be the founders of the next Nintendo!
Imagine if there was a small band of people in Nigeria who wanted to make their own game.
There are, but unsurprisingly there's no spotlight on them. Maybe they don't have as much of a budget on marketing as the usual game that takes the spotlight, could be anything.
Your last conversation with me gave me the impression you pay attention to AAA titles- which obviously a small game developer isn't going to have the same level of promotion as such.
Rest of your post is platitude to me.
EDIT: [Quote myself], does not mean all Africans are uneducated neither does it mean games require AAA titles to be good nor I don't know indie games exist. I find your response unfitting and on a bad day, could've considered it condescending.
There are, but unsurprisingly there's no spotlight on them. Maybe they don't have as much of a budget on marketing as the usual game that takes the spotlight, could be anything.
Your last conversation with me gave me the impression you pay attention to AAA titles- which obviously a small game developer isn't going to have the same level of promotion as such.
Rest of your post is platitude to me.
EDIT: [Quote myself], does not mean all Africans are uneducated neither does it mean games require AAA titles to be good nor I don't know indie games exist. I find your response unfitting and on a bad day, could've considered it condescending.
Well, I guess I should really put my cards on the table! I pay attention to both AAA and indie, which I guess I should have clarified.
And after some personal research, the banding has happened! Although it seems pretty recent. May take a while but there is some hope.
Platitude? Well, then, it seems like I've suggested more ideas than you, my friend despite that. You seem like you don't give a damn either way. Makes me wonder why you even commented on this post in the first place.
I am not trying to put words in your mouth, I'm just asking.
I will have no hard feelings if we just end our conversation because I get the feeling from your responses that we don't see eye-to-eye and so it may be better for me to discuss this with someone who is actually interested rather than start an argument with someone who is really not. What do you say?
And after some personal research, the banding has happened! Although it seems pretty recent. May take a while but there is some hope.
Platitude? Well, then, it seems like I've suggested more ideas than you, my friend despite that. You seem like you don't give a damn either way. Makes me wonder why you even commented on this post in the first place.
I am not trying to put words in your mouth, I'm just asking.
I will have no hard feelings if we just end our conversation because I get the feeling from your responses that we don't see eye-to-eye and so it may be better for me to discuss this with someone who is actually interested rather than start an argument with someone who is really not. What do you say?
It's long complicated, and messed up history (colonization, slavery, famine in certain areas, unstable governments, etc.). Although it has gotten better over the years in some areas.
Are you trying to say that Africans are all uneducated? :/
You don't need a huge budget to make good games, take a look at the indie community....actually, that's where they could start. There's an idea. I need to look into that. In fact, the indie community has had a great influence over the last few years and being they often work with low budgets, no one has to break the bank and in the process, they could learn about computers and programming in the process.
Also, there was one Japanese dude named Daisuke Amaya who managed to make a game of his own without a company behind him, a little indie game you may have heard of called Cave Story. Sure, it took him five years but for one guy, that's impressive. Imagine if there was a small band of people in Nigeria who wanted to make their own game. They can be the founders of the next Nintendo!
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Imagine if there was a small band of people in Nigeria who wanted to make their own game.
There are, but unsurprisingly there's no spotlight on them. Maybe they don't have as much of a budget on marketing as the usual game that takes the spotlight, could be anything.
Your last conversation with me gave me the impression you pay attention to AAA titles- which obviously a small game developer isn't going to have the same level of promotion as such.
Rest of your post is platitude to me.
EDIT: [Quote myself], does not mean all Africans are uneducated neither does it mean games require AAA titles to be good nor I don't know indie games exist. I find your response unfitting and on a bad day, could've considered it condescending.
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Well yes. The stuff in bolded font (matched by subject) since color coding doesn't exist for this message board, does sound like things presented to me by wording as if there were significant or original, but really aren't. There isn't much to get from this conversation if it were to lead you to present more things in such a way.
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maybe the issue is that these nations hardly had a decent industrialization which creates the technological culture where games are created.
It took Japan a very rapid post-ww2 industrialization to become the tech-nation we know today.
It took Japan a very rapid post-ww2 industrialization to become the tech-nation we know today.
You do have a good point. Although the potential is there and from personal experience, there is more progress going on in Nigeria for example.
Monster Hunter.
Some good ones I've played are GTA: Vice City Stories, GTAV, and Crackdown. Funny how they on either side of the police or gangster coin and use gats. Hahaha, I jest. But seriously. Even Barrett and Sazh. Oh, and Shiva from Resident Evil.
Don't forget GTA San Andreas