Animal Crossing: Wild, Racist FILTH [update]
Nintendo is, famously, very politically correct where Animal Crossing is concerned. In the games, any festivals or holidays with even a hint of religious overtones are quietly repackaged: Easter becomes "Bunny Day," Christmas is "The Night that Jingle Comes to Town," and so forth. This keenness to be inclusive and totally inoffensive means Animal Crossing: Wild World was the last game we expected to spew racist terminology.
Because that's what it's done ... albeit accidentally. If you've played an Animal Crossing title before, you'll know that you can teach your fellow villagers words, which they'll then use to greet you. Naturally, this is open to player abuse, as you can enter cuss words and other rude terms -- something that not even Nintendo is above doing.
MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo recently received a copy of Wild World from Nintendo, so he could test the Wii/DS transfer feature in City Folk. The copy had been played before, because it was full of rare, unlocked items, but those weren't the only secrets the cart held. As he started chatting to his village's animals, Totilo suddenly found himself being racially abused by a sheep called Baabara. "How are you, N---a?" is just one greeting he received from the woolly fascist. Whoops!
Maybe triple-check the next batch of press-only carts you send out, Nintendo? Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to phone the Daily Mail.
Gallery: Animal Crossing: Wild World
Nintendo's official response:
Previously played copies of the 2005 DS game Animal Crossing: Wild World were sent to 14 members of the media to demonstrate the ability of players to transfer items to the new Animal Crossing: City Folk for Wii. We regret that an offensive phrase was included without our knowledge via a wireless function that allows user-generated catchphrases to spread virally from one game to the next. This version is limited to 14 copies created for media review purposes only and is not available at retailers. We sincerely apologize for the incident and are working with media who received the game cards to return them to Nintendo immediately.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
TJF588 @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:22PM
"Nintendo is, famously, very politically correct where Animal Crossing is concerned."
I call BULL! Look at the oboids (oboids, right?) in the GameCube one. So. very. blackface. Dount-shaped lips, single up-sticking piece of hair with a bow... Were they taken out of Wild World? Does that game even have gyroid-collecting?
Nushio (NDF - Blue) @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:46PM
Gyroids are still in Wild World. They are by no means racist (Never thought of them as buried people :P). I think they come from some ancient japanese tradition or something similar.
Zealot @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:24PM
What I really don't get is the tilde over the N. Was dressing the word up in obscure (in the English language, at least) accentuation supposed to somehow soften the potential blow of the word?
Nushio (NDF - Blue) @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:45PM
The game features a list of forbidden words. These words when typed are automatically censored. I'm guessing they used "igga" to bypass said censor. (Think V1@Gra or P3N15, except those 2 are way more common).
The issue at hand though isn't the fact that the game allowed for "igga" to be used, but the fact that Nintendo themselves handed over the cart.
BTW, I understand there's a strong resentment over "the N word" in the US of A, but here in Mexico? No way Jos! There's even a crappy reggaeton singer called "Nigga".
Zealot @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:55PM
I see. I was never one to make my villagers say inappropriate things, so the potential for a list of forbidden words slipped my mind. Pretty obvious, really.
I know that the issue isn't with the word itself but the fact that Nintendo really goofed on this one. Somehow, I was just more fixated on the puzzle of the tilde than the broader issue.
aj @ Dec 3rd 2008 6:59PM
If you think that's bad, you should see the things the animals say in my game.
Pinkechidna @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:01PM
I'm surprised no one caught, "Love you long time." XD
Nigeria @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:13PM
Poor form, Nintendo, poor form.
But the write up by Chris made me lol. A gig at the Mail or Express may possibly await.
Sora @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:33PM
Sometimes you just have to shake your head, and say what the hell were those people at nintendo thinking, i'm not going to call them racist because I have never met them before, they might be, but I don't know them to judge, but seriously for a game company to put some filth like that in a game, it's unthinkable, who knows, they might have been doing to get attention so they can boost sells, never played animal crossing, and filth I never will either.
AltCtrlPwn @ Dec 4th 2008 2:47PM
how about actually reading the article, hmm? sounds like a good idea.
FantomRedux @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:40PM
Is it just me or do Nigeria and Sora seem to share something here? A complete misunderstanding of whats happened, at least that how it seems. This is no more "news" than if someone made a Nigga Killin Planet on LittleBig Planet, or A blackface species on Spore. The companies can't help if users go and make racist content, or add racist words into a game like Wild World.
-slycooper_rocker- (lorddshadow the amazing) psn: shahanasalam @ Dec 3rd 2008 10:29PM
but that's created by the average user. this was a guy from NINTENDO. as in the people you would least expect this from.
atastysammich @ Dec 3rd 2008 7:40PM
What about it? Teaching them inappropriate language is what keeps me coming back to play!
I'm more worried about where that guy's eyes are. I'm hoping the censor took them out to protect the character's privacy (since Totilo was name-dropped and all).
SephFinale @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:34PM
Haha, this reminds me of my friend who got his villagers in City Folk to say,"BALLS NO!"
TJF588 @ Dec 3rd 2008 8:56PM
Agh, what is it with me running into things that I just ran into? "balls no" I just read earlier in VG Cats, and the Sora mention earlier coincides with the wallpaper I settled on (have a randomizer) and checking in at Ansem Retort. Jeebus...
Ayumin @ Dec 4th 2008 12:21AM
That was like one of the most fun part of Animal Crossing. I did some somewhat... obscene things. And all my friends would IM me and be like "Yeah, all my animals are saying 'fo shizzle' and 'my nizzle'. You're crazy." And I had a few naked patterns and the ever famous J.Lo dress which made it around to everybody it seems. Yeah, I wasn't the only person guilty of doing immature stuff in Animal Crossing. I had a sky full of penises before I stopped playing all from friends.
I think the whole situation is just funny and being immature in a rainbow colored world is just fun.
E @ Dec 4th 2008 12:56PM
You can afford to laugh at things like "fo shizzle my nizzle" and "N---- this" and "N---- that" when you don't have to deal with what comes with the word (or others for that matter). And just because some black people use the word doesn't mean it's "cool" for everyone else to use just because. I don't think it's funny when the white guys I go to school with get wasted and come to class bragging about how s--- faced they got the night before. It's ignorant and makes people look stupid. And lastly, I guarantee if you've ever had to deal with racial slurs, ugly looks, denial of service, being treated differently, walking in opposite directions of you, etc., you wouldn't find N---- or nizzle very funny.
Other than that, it's kind of funny to me how immature some people are. Dude: flying penises? LOL! I guess... I'm not trying to change the world here. Whatever floats your boat I guess...
::: don't know what to say :::
Deozaan @ Dec 4th 2008 3:57AM
Fascism is not equal to racism.
Also, the article should be corrected to more accurately reflect the truth of what happened. Instead of implying that Nintendo isn't above using cuss words, any idiot (and anyone smarter than an idiot) should have known from the getgo that this was likely from the viral migration of data or another member of the press who had the game cart.
It's not like you can just plug in the game and see all the custom data that might be inappropriate. It only takes a week of playing (if that long) before you realize how inane all the animal talk is and stop talking to any of them anymore. I'd never know if one of my animals picked up something like that from someone else because I never talk to them.
Mert @ Dec 4th 2008 11:00AM
Nigga is censored now? If THAT's not fascism, I don't know what is.
Zealot @ Dec 4th 2008 12:14PM
Well, at least you were honest enough to admit that you don't know what fascism is. Fascism is akin to authoritarianism, especially a type that emphasizes the interests of the state as paramount and stresses absolute obedience and cooperation on the part of citizens.
Except today, nobody knows what it means and it's basically used as an insult toward someone one disagrees with--"you fascist donut-hating MONSTER!", "if you support the quarter-percent tax levy you're just a tool of the fascist nazi police state!", etc. The article very cleverly played this inability of people to get the definition of the word right as part of its sarcastic, exaggerated shock.
Mert @ Dec 4th 2008 4:22PM
"and stresses absolute obedience and cooperation on the part of citizens"
Isn't that the exact idea behind censorship?
Zealot @ Dec 4th 2008 5:20PM
Calling censorship fascism is a huge exaggeration, though. Any sort of legal prohibition is preventing an individual from exercising their free will, so under this kind of definition any kind of society that isn't anarchic is automatically fascist.
The main difference between laws in democratic countries and edicts in totalitarian states is the intent behind them--democracies are supposed to be motivated to protect the best interests of the people, while fascist dictatorships' laws always have the interest of the state at heart. Whether one agrees with a law or not, in a non-fascist state there is still a justification beyond upholding ideological purity or the personal moral standards of a single leader. For instance, if saying the word "nigga" was illegal in a non-fascist state, odds are the justification would be something to the effect of "this is an offensive racial epithet and we are trying to protect the dignity of oppressed minorities".
Where fascism and non-fascism seem similar is in pluralistic societies with representative forms of government, where the ideological decrees extended by the majority through government rule may be distasteful to the minority, even when the majority is acting with no ill intent. We have so many things that are taboo but legal in western countries precisely because we understand the need to accommodate ideologies that we don't necessarily agree with. While, in reality, we're far from perfect in this respect, this would not be possible in a fascist state.
This is all really a moot point considering that "nigga" isn't illegal anywhere, but only considered offensive by some quarters of society. I see validity on both sides of the contorversy--some say that the word is positive, as African-Americans have taken the sting out of a hateful word, while some say that the word, whether it ends in -er or -a is a relic of a dark and shameful chapter of American history and should be discarded. Nintendo is not exercising fascism by expressing regret over the presence of the word in copies of Animal Crossing. They're just trying to avoid controversy, and I think we're turning a spot of bad PR into a grand ideological confrontation that it doesn't need to be.
PS: Sorry for being sarcastic earlier; it's just that I see the word fascist misused so often and it's one of my pet peeves.
chris @ Dec 4th 2008 11:24AM
wtf... i'm glad a couple of people here aren't missing the big picture. some poor kid at nintendo may well lose his dreamjob, all because people are braindead. there are no black people in this screenshot; if anything, this comment was the OPPOSITE of racist. He taught all his pplz to greet each other as nigga; i suppose this post will be censored, but sobeit. I call all my friends nigga and to people who can't handle it, get a life. Frankly I'm disppointed in (wtf? MTV is it?) as well as dsfanboy for being so blind regarding what is and is not actual news. This is sensationalism at its finest and the line you all are crossing now (with the tone of this post) is the one that takes this blog from being by-gamers-for-gamers to being by-professional-bullshitters-for-moms-and-politicians. I'm not saying you have to use the word nigga if you don't like it; just don't deliberately misinterpret the situation as racist when it is so clearly not in a racist context. It literally could not be in LESS of a racist context -- THEY'RE VIRTUAL ANIMALS FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.
Ayumin @ Dec 4th 2008 1:03PM
You're assuming I'm not black. It doesn't get to you as much as long as you realise the person calling you that isn't talking to you. Let yourself be called a nigga and you are one.
Yes, I'm not all that crazy about it being just thrown about, but there's some times you just gotta relax when it's not meant to be hurtful. Some people are raised differently and it's not worth your time to get stressed out the few times it pops up unless it's just blatantly hurtful.
E @ Dec 4th 2008 1:40PM
I didn't say I was "blatantly hurt" by the statement either. In fact, the point of the article isn't even about the word. I'm just making a comment to let it be known that personally, I'm not fan of any form of it. I hear people using it in public all the time, and while it doesn't tick me off, I don't necessarily like it either.
I hear what you're saying; where I come from, people are usually outright with how they feel about people of color (and not just blacks), and that's where my opinion comes from. I don't get offended, but I don't like it either.
And for the record, I'm not assuming you're not black because I'm only half myself. =0) Appreciate the comment though!
Other than that, this little situation is totally not Nintendo's fault so other than being politically correct, I don't really see why they need(ed) to release a statement about what obviously some person that does or doesn't worked at Nintendo did (and I doubt someone at Nintendo would blatantly do that, although I could be wrong). I guess no one saw the "[Love] you long time." before the statement in question.
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 9:09PM
My god... me and my people are oppressed enough by you crackers but you have to sink as low as insulting us in your video games? I'm glad President Obama will put you whities in your place. ****ing crackers.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 9:22PM
You do know that 'crackers' make up a good portion of the people who voted obama into office. GTFO with your racism.
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 9:33PM
How about you shut up? You have no idea what it's like to be judged based upon the color of your skin. You're just a self-righteous whitie that thinks you understand what it's like to be a brother. Pathetic.
And Obama knows where he comes from. Sure the whities may have voted for him, but he knows who really needs to be lifted up in this country. Me and my people will finally get the power we so deserve.
117 @ Dec 4th 2008 9:40PM
And that is an extremely racist comment. Obama's victory is a steeping stone away from America's troubled past, and I hope it helps to end racism, but remember that racism is discriminating or stereotyping a group of people, which you have just done. White's oppressing backs, or indeed, any discrimination over skin color is not the only form of racism. As the above poster claimed it accurately, GTFO with your racism. No one wants to here it.
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 9:49PM
Stepping stone for my people. Stone in the head for you racist pigs.
About time things have turned around for us.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 10:27PM
So being white automatically makes you racist? You are the only racist I see, nobody else in this blog has said anything bad about anyone else because of their race.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 10:30PM
And obviously I do know what's it's like to be judged based on the color of my skin, you're doing it to me now!
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 10:43PM
Whatever you racist pigs. You'll be working for us soon, some payback for your slavery if you will.
It is about time we got some retribution for the whites sins. They just pretend to like us anyway, and then don't care when a majority of our people live in poverty.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 11:03PM
How am I racist? I never put you down because of your race, I'm only angry because you're generalising white people.
Stop being such a hypocrite.
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 11:09PM
So you can generalize us but not us you? You're the hypocrite.
I can't believe people like you are still stuck in the past. I would cap you if I had the chance, you lying hypocrite. Acting like you're different than the rest.
We will rise up, and show you whos boss. With the newly elected leader of this county there is no limit to what my people can do!!! And you're just scared of that... pathetic.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 11:15PM
When did I ever make a generalisation about black people? I was talking about you as an individual.
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 11:28PM
You know, all this talk of rising up against another group basically makes you a hitler without an army. And presumably without his infamous facial hair as well.
jerome008 @ Dec 4th 2008 11:34PM
You just don't get us... there is no individual, I am part of a group. A group that is proud and strong. And soon we will be a group that will finally get what we deserve. And your group will get what they deserve as well. Your group enslaved and raped my people, and we will NEVER forgive you. NEVER.
So pretend that you're not racist, and that you like everyone, because I know the truth. You're just like all the rest...
bug frawg @ Dec 4th 2008 11:40PM
But not all white people are like me. I did nothing to your people, maybe a relative did, but not me.
Not all black people are like you, would you want to be blamed for a murder you did not commit because someone of the same race was the real killer? No, you were innocent of it and shouldn't take the blame.
Your beliefs are the very foundation of racism.
J @ Dec 6th 2008 4:56PM
lol! Come on guys, can't you see jerome008 is just trolling?
Never reason with a troll; they're not looking for discussion so much as they're looking to mess with people.
He's probably just some white kid in a basement somewhere in middle America.
lol... retribution.
chris @ Dec 5th 2008 1:39AM
wow, nobody censored my post or missed the point. I apologize for worrying in advance.
But man, jerome, you're clueless if you think that about Barack. He's a man who lives far above the principles you espouse. He is a self-made man, not someone who clings to some Marcus Garvey-fairytale, or waits for a black savior to lift him to freedom. He's also not one to assume everyone he meets is racist before he even talks to them, let alone without even knowing what they look like. I won't banter back and forth with you because I don't need to fight with you.
You sound like you have a lot of problems in your life. I understand that, and I've been in some pretty bad situations. Look inside yourself and start your improvements there. You've become what you hate; you're now a sad child eating his own heart out with hate. You think you're scaring the white folk or something, but you're just taking up a lot of space on this page, with no useful content. Good luck, brother.
Bakerboi @ Dec 5th 2008 2:57PM
Ya know, explainin to people Barack Obama is a "self made man" is one of the most insulting things I've ever heard and not because he's no, but because the fact the had to explain it to this man like he was some type of kid.
The same type of dumb isht the white nationalists around the intarnets throw about. "He can't save you", "He's not going to make things better for you"
And you think we as black people really think Barack was bringing Jesus back? I tired of people talkin to us like we're children and we don't understand the world because we choose not to live with some garbage, spoon fed ideology from your world.
Barack isn't going to be able to do anything for the world wide black community even if he wanted to (which he doesn't) He's got a brother in Africa he doesn't give a fluck about and you think he gon' try to save a whole MASS of niggas?
Barack lived in the same "fairy-tale" as all of us until they media started calling all the people he associated with racists and terrorists. He couldn't even proudly say "there's a black man in the white house now!" psssh, "change has finally come" is just bull isht. We don't think he's going do anything for us, he's already done what we wanted him to and that's get in office. That is enough.
Also this undertone that we should not do as our enemy is some of that MLK assery. If some body busts me upside my head with a rock imma try my best to bust their's back. It's not nessicarily about revenge, getting an eye for eye, but because if I survive it, they might try that isht again. Best learn from your mistakes.
You shouldn't fall for that bull ishtery twice and I nor any of my other people I hope, will. Im not going to be satisfied with being complacent, im not going to be satisfied with having predisposed dirt on my name in a world where I've done nothing, im not going to be satisfied with having a forced double standard, im not going to be satisfied with fearing myself, I am black and Im going to be black unitil the world falls apart and the tides of the ocean wash over the crust of this earth and wipe all our asses off of it.
When a black man such as yourself starts to insult his own intelligence by insulting the intelligence of his brother then you are no longer in the same understanding.
Try to understand what the young man is saying before you write it off as "having hard times". There are forces working against the black people in this world and there is nothing else to say of it than the majority of the ones doing the dirt against us happen to be "white" skinned(while others are camouflaged in black).
We're having "hard times" all over the flucking world. All our people that were and are being killed in the Philippines and in India, slaughtered in the mid-east, isolated in Asia, Terribly wronged in Australia and in Africa, starving in the Carib, practically ignored in Brasil and the situation for dumb niggas in America is bleak.
Now, I know you aren't going to sit here and try to tell me that some how they brought their situation upon themselves now are you? You couldn't possibly tell me that...
If any of you need me to elaborate on what I'm talking about just say so. I'd be EXTREMELY HAPPY to fill your ears with the salve of knowledge.
But let me end my rant here since there is probably going to take up half a page there's more I want to say but not enough space nor time here to type all I need to.
Just let me say individualism is only supposed to be a state of mind it doesn't work in a society of living. And a society of living is this whole planet earth. Nothing gets done on individualism when you try to apply it to the physical world.
Nothing on this planet acts in a single unit so the idea that anything one thing in the physical world sustains itself is idiotic (the human body for example). This is why the young man in the comments above understands that he is in a group. He probably didn't think about it all deep like this, but he has the understanding. That is what being black is, having the same understanding.
That's why the elders of our community think young people are absolutely stupid. Too much independence and not enough understanding. Ones possessing the same thinking are automatically grouped together, not by any means of man, but that's just the magnetism of thought.
Anyway, nigga isn't really a word I get hot over any more because I tracked down it's origin and it's not from "niger", it's not from "negro", and white people didn't make it up, but they did start saying it wrong and later, spelling it wrong.
Nigga comes from the term Naga (Pronounced [N ea gah] not [NAHgah] like it's mispronounced today)
Black Nagas, it's too much to explain but it's origins started in Africa spreading through different cultures their, the most prominent being Kemet (Egypt to yall) and moved with the africans who moved out to India and Asia, the image of Naga, the snake, became Dragons in Asia.
Lil history lesson for you niggas.
holla
MMLgamer @ Dec 7th 2008 10:49AM
"Ya know, explainin to people Barack Obama is a "self made man" is one of the most insulting things I've ever heard and not because he's no, but because the fact the had to explain it to this man like he was some type of kid."
Yeah, it's hard to tell whether or not jerome is a childlike idiot. /sarcasm
But seriously, there is way too much statement analysis going on in this comment page. One guy says one simple thing and people are posting half a web page full of garbage that no one cares about.
mike @ Dec 5th 2008 4:49AM
so this is about Nintendo plays being racist, not Nintendo.
So...Nintendo is apologizing that there is still the ability for racist people to say bad things in their game.
How about a new title for this post, Animal Crossing Owners: Wild Racist Filth.