Old news is no news is good news, eh?
A study done in 2004 on video games, seemingly pertaining mostly to video game violence, told that majority of video games, the majority of the most popular video games particularly, depicted violence in some way. I don't care.
However, it also stated that most player characters are the archetypal white male. When I consider the mindset game designers are in to go that route, it makes me a bit dizzy as I think back to my childhood when I would pretend to be Bruce Lee. Yet, Asians as central protagonists proved to be a rarity in games just as much as blacks and women.
Personally, I love the idea of being able to play games outside my race or gender. I already play games that feature character whom are outside my age-range, state-of-mind, physicality, etc. Granted, I find myself somewhat more on the fences about playing as Latino characters despite half my family being Latino (they're married in). If they made a game version of Desperado, however, I'd love to play as the Mariachi and honestly, I loved the character of Ricardo Mariachi in Shadow Hearts: From the New World.
Games like GTA San Andreas and True Crime made blacks and Asians central "protagonists" though whether you could really call them that in these particular titles is questionable if not laughable. The game Stranglehold allows for a somewhat more heroic Asian main character.
Heavenly Sword was an awesome game in the vein of God of War which featured a female protagonist, Lara Croft has had her own series, and Aya Brea has at least had a sequel. Kasumi is the main protagonist of the Dead or Alive series and Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII is getting a third game. There's also news of a remake or sequel for Beyond Good & Evil starring our favorite photographer, Jade.
As for blacks as main protagonists, male or female, in video games, the closest one may find is ShadowMan from the namesake game for Sega Genesis.
I'm not counting RPGs, FPS, RTS, Army-sims, or Fighters where a black person just happens to appear in the cast and may be a "good guy". I'm talking about a game that acknowledges the main protagonist is The Black Guy. First-Person games and Driving-sims will never count because you can't see your character's face. Has Black Panther been licensed for a video game yet? It may be our chance to see a black guy in the main role.
Am I missing something?
What other games can you name where an Asian is the central protagonist, male or female (not including games wherein the character's race is ambiguous, as in not stated in the game or manual)?
What other game can you mention that provides an African-American in the lead?
Do you feel there are enough games lately representing the other side of the gender coin?
