Despite the fact it's already been sitting on the shelves for over a year on PS2, another ruckus is being kicked off over Rockstar's Bully, reignited thanks to the upcoming release of Xbox 360 and Wii versions of the game.
The Daily Telegraph describes the updated version, Scholarship Edition, as an "even more realistic" take on the 2006 original, which "encourages players to act out assaults on pupils and teachers." Beating a dead horse much?
The game's also sparked additional rows by changing its name from Canis Canem Edit back to Bully, which in itself is enough to get Daily Mail readers all riled up.
Niall Cowley, of the charity BeatBullying, said: "We're disappointed this game was created in the first place. Some mindless people thought this was a fun, interesting piece of software to create, but it undermines all the hard work that organisations like ours are seeking to do."
Cowley said that when the original was launched last year, Rockstar tried to persuade his group to back Canis by offering a donation. "It was the most distasteful thing in the world - the idea that we could be bought off like that," he said.
"We have the interests of the children of this country in our mind, not of the shareholders of this company."
PC World and Currys have already refused to stock the Xbox 360 and Wii updates, as they did with the PS2 original. The National Union of Teachers meanwhile has called for a wider ban on the game.
In a statement, a Rockstar spokesperson said: "It is a comedic romp. The last game sold fabulously in the UK and was critically acclaimed.
"It is not a game about playing a bully. It is about the trials and tribulations of a boy in his first year at school. He protects children against other characters. People have to be able to make their own decisions and to judge for themselves, with an open mind."
Is it really worth wasting our words over this anymore? Anyone who's actually played the game will realise it's a very tongue-in-cheek action game which mostly has you protecting people from bullies rather than picking on pip-squeaks at random.
It's one of Rockstar's better games in recent times, so we definitely recommend a look when it arrives in the UK this March. Check out our PS2 review here, and screenshots of the 360 version via this link.
what a load of s**t . they think banning this game will stop bullying? or make things better? theres alot worse out there on the telly. its like saying a school drama cant have bullying in, because it could give kids ideas, but ive never heard a word from the anti-bullying campaigns about that.
Question should be will anyone notice? Who actually buys games from PC world or currys with their price mark up?
Silly move to go back to Bully name, having never really been interested in this game I am not sure what pranks can be carried out. But after all this attention in the media I may go out and get it .......just to p**s them off
I myself work for an anti-bullying charity and not even WE arecalling for its ban ive played it and i got sme of my volunteers to play it too and they all said the same, its no worse than reading the Beano.
BeatBullying, the organisation calling for its ban at the moment, actually do the same every few months. Find a news story andjump on it to get asmuch media light o them as osible. What they actually do to stop bulying is anybodies guess. All ive seen them do is spend the money given to them on expensive campaigns with celebs.
So they want to ban the 360 and Wii versions... Well I've not seen any reviews of this as yet, that would suggest that review copies haven't gone out. So have these people actually played throught the game?
I doubt it. I think most of what's in the Mail or Telegraph is opinionated up it's own bottom drivel but I least read them to come to my conclusion, I didn't just look at the title.
And those F**king idiots at Curry's want to train their staff on not supplying games to under agers thather than removing it from the shelves. It just shows how much faith they have in their staff eh?
They're wasting their time. Bully is a pointless bit of software. Hmm, maybe the plan at Rockstar is to cause controversy with their crap games so they can wear out all the watchdog groups in time for GTA4. Bully and Manhunt really aren't worth the effort. They could try the rename tactic again, but as the old saying goes, a Bully by any other name would still be a s**t game.
I got some really good ideas from the PS2 version on how to go about "Bullying" people. I had never bullied anyone before but after playing this game I was inspired to start, it has really changed my life. Next week I'm going to have a go at stabbing someone and after that I may plant a Nuclear bomb in the Hoover Damn.
Don't get me wrong I think this is all going over the top, but games do have an influence on what kids do. But ultimately I blame the parents, because surely they shouldn't have bought these age rated games for their children and should tell the kids difference between right and wrong.
Come on parents of the UK get your ASBO kids of the street and start acting like proper "parents".
The kids in Harry Potter do worse things to each other than the kids in this game! I'm a teacher, and nothing I've seen so far in this game (at least, the PS2 version) gives me reason to worry. Hopefully it is to late for any amount of protestation to delay the release of this game.
What do you expect from people who have no first hand knowledge of something, they all go on written descriptions, and they end up jumping to the wrong conclusions. And there's not a thing we could say that would change their narrow little minds. So why bother?
Yeah lets ban it, lets ban everything that depicts children misbehaving at school! Grange Hill, American Pie lets ban everything! Does all this remind you of Kyle's mum off South Park? This is getting a bit beyond the joke now if Bully was made by a diiferent developer it wouldn't have this amount of publicity and anyway Bully is a 15 rated game not exactly aimed at children
If Rock Star made a game about little girls petting bunnies it would warrant a ban at the moment!, its such a knee jerk reaction, just because no real laws or system has really been put in place to categorize games.
Actualy I played Saints Row for first time last night & it actualy shocked me. The sheer aggresiveness of it all, even just stealing a car results in a violent animation worse than any in GTA yet I bet they still stock this. & Bully - no blood or proper & excessive swearing isnt? It completely baffles me. the name counts for a lot more than content. Im sure this is the case with Manhunt 2 as well
I wish all the people calling for a ban on this would actually go and play it before shouting about it! I hate it when idiots go to the press with no evidence at all (shown here by the fact that they say you play a bully in the game).
PC World. Currys. The Dixons group, whatever. They're all scum of the earth anyway so who cares if they sell it or not? As most people are saying, you'd be an idiot to buy games from them. Or anything for that matter...I've been that idiot in the past on four occasions and everytime I've been shafted somehow
I got some really good ideas from the PS2 version on how to go about "Bullying" people. I had never bullied anyone before but after playing this game I was inspired to start.
I watched an episode of Dexter last night - now I'm thinking about paying a late-night visit to the work colleague who ate my sandwiches
I don't know why everyone is getting so bent out of shape, I mean we all get 3 lives to start with anyway. Might as well make the most of them. I'm personally looking forward to being able to use the pwnsword once I've completed life, this time around.
Off topic, but I must agree about the ads. They've gotten progressively worse. First they just sat there at the side of the screen... then they appeared at the top as well, then they started making noise, then they started popping out and covering the screen, and now they just open up wherever the hell they want... usually right on top of the paragraph you just started.
Lets just all take CVG's hints... They don't want us to read their articles, they want us to feck off down the cinema and watch crappy sequels!
this stuff annoys the hell out of me. i agree that in the wrong hands these games can be bad but most of us are aware enough that they are made for people who don't want to do the stuff in real life. give it a rest.
Question should be will anyone notice? Who actually buys games from PC world or currys with their price mark up?
Silly move to go back to Bully name, having never really been interested in this game I am not sure what pranks can be carried out. But after all this attention in the media I may go out and get it .......just to p**s them off
i dont buy from there its a s**thole i buy games from game or gamestation
Question should be will anyone notice? Who actually buys games from PC world or currys with their price mark up?
Silly move to go back to Bully name, having never really been interested in this game I am not sure what pranks can be carried out. But after all this attention in the media I may go out and get it .......just to p**s them off
i dont buy from there its a s**thole i buy games from game or gamestation
errr...thakns for that beautifully put insight into your life!
Seeing as this thread as gone off topic a bit Im going to join in.
The popups are really annoying and make me less likely to buy what ever crap they are trying to peddle. The bladestorm one annoyed me the most especially opening mulitiple windows and not knowing where the sound was coming from :/
I buy my games from either play/hmv/virgin(now zavvi?) and only from game if they mark it with the wrong price. The putting a seal on the game which if broken means you cant bring it back no matter the reason was a step to far for me.
I got some really good ideas from the PS2 version on how to go about "Bullying" people. I had never bullied anyone before but after playing this game I was inspired to start, it has really changed my life. Next week I'm going to have a go at stabbing someone and after that I may plant a Nuclear bomb in the Hoover Damn.
Yeah I know what you mean, I'm suing Nintendo becuase after playing Mario Galaxy I felt an overwhelming compulsion to go to my local Morrisons and jump on all the mushrooms.
So, umm, tell me, who buys games from Currys and/or PC World then? I couldn't give a flying fupp about these sort of shops not stocking certain games, to be honest. I get 99% of my games online - so when I see the highstreet stores acting like this, I feel no sympathy for them when they moan about how they're losing money to online retailers... GOOD!!
well folks,it's official. england,this sceptered isle,is now one of the top cat countries. manhunt 2,no more heroes,bully... i'm dreading the edited gta 4 that we'll HAVE to put up with and resi 5 WITHOUT the decapitations (i guarantee that capcom will 's**t out' in europe). it's a moot point but these games have age ratings,don't let little t**tty play them. is this s**t to protect the children!? they're all shooting eachother and THEY need protection!? f**k off.
Bah. Even if the game did encourage bullying, (which it doesn't) I can't see the fuss anyway.
"Bullying" is an important part of the growth and development of children, and has provided an important part in the evolution of the society we live in for thousands of years.
Demonizing it, and pretending you can stop it will just just lead to a society full of dysfunctional adults.
This panic over the supposed (non)content of this game is just another symptom of the interfering 'nanny state' that's slowly destroying the fabric of British life.
"Bullying" is an important part of the growth and development of children, and has provided an important part in the evolution of the society we live in for thousands of years.
No it's NOT.
Making children aware of what they can do in bullying situations can do an awful lot to resolving it. We CAN do something to stop bullying, you're simply doing the opposite of demonizing it by making it the perceived accepted "norm".
At the end of the day, I reckon games get this kind of treatment cos w****rs in charge still think games are for kids. They always say s^^t like that. Like with Resi 5 being a game that's gonna train kids to hate and kill black people and that type of nonsense. Because adults don't play these games and games aren't made for adults. Its f^^^ing ridiculous!
Granted, I don't care for the games Rockstar make cos but other games like Resi 5, No More Heroes and stuff being censored etc is just getting stupid. The UK really is a cat island
"Bullying" is an important part of the growth and development of children, and has provided an important part in the evolution of the society we live in for thousands of years.
Yeah, after all what's a bit of misery for the child being bullied? Who cares if they start harming themselves? They commit suicide: well they were a waste of space anyway.
I really hope your comment on bullying was meant to be sarcastic like mine was otherwise it's clear you've never been bullied yourself (you're probably the bully instead). The effects of bullying can last for years, destroying self confidence and the ability to form relationships with other people. You really need to get your head out of your bottom. Maybe then you'll realise the true effect it has on it's victims.
Let's smother and over-protect the kids so that they one day grow into adults who haven't got the first idea of how to cope with adversity or conflict.
Sounds like heaven, if you want an society full of faceless drones who will fall over the first time somebody tries to steamroller over them in a working environment. Which will happen.
You're free to disagree with me, but there are hundreds of behavioural psychologists out there who are saying exactly the same thing I just did.
For your information, I was bullied at school over a few years, and I know first-hand how merciless kids can be. Of course, I was a normal, emotionally healthy child, so I dealt with it, and became a stronger person as a result.
All those kids who self-harm or worse as a result of bullying, quite frankly don't have the emotional resources to deal with the Real World, and shouldn't be let anywhere near a school, or society at large, for their their own good.
Of course, I'm not going to go out on a limb and say that "all bullying is good". There are certain standards of behaviour that should always be abided by, and any "bully" who causes any real harm should always be dealt with, but this whole campaign to stamp out bullying completely will do more harm than good in the long term.
Let's smother and over-protect the kids so that they one day grow into adults who haven't got the first idea of how to cope with adversity or conflict.
Sounds like heaven, if you want an society full of faceless drones who will fall over the first time somebody tries to steamroller over them in a working environment. Which will happen.
You're free to disagree with me, but there are hundreds of behavioural psychologists out there who are saying exactly the same thing I just did.
For your information, I was bullied at school over a few years, and I know first-hand how merciless kids can be. Of course, I was a normal, emotionally healthy child, so I dealt with it, and became a stronger person as a result.
All those kids who self-harm or worse as a result of bullying, quite frankly don't have the emotional resources to deal with the Real World, and shouldn't be let anywhere near a school, or society at large, for their their own good.
Of course, I'm not going to go out on a limb and say that "all bullying is good". There are certain standards of behaviour that should always be abided by, and any "bully" who causes any real harm should always be dealt with, but this whole campaign to stamp out bullying completely will do more harm than good in the long term.
I think it depends on whether it's some kid calling another kid fat or if its the full on entire class ruining someone's life bullying
I don't advocate bullying, but all these groups wanting to stamp it out are just another example of kids getting wrapped in cotton wool.
I was bullied at school, and I don't mind admitting it. When I went to tell my parents about it, I was just told to "hit him and he'll leave you alone!", so next day I stood up to the bully and was left alone after that. Sounds simple but it worked for me...
These days you hear about how kids are stressed due to exmas, how they're stressed due to bullying, how they're so innocent and need protecting from the horros of the world... s**t, if kids are so innocent, what about the ones that killed Jamie Bulger, what about the ones who killed that guy over an argument about vandlism, what about the ones who mugged an old lady 2 streets away from where I live and she lated died of a heart attack?
Thing is if you say anything about these incidents then it's down to games, or movies, or tv... it's never down to the fact that the law wraps these little tw*ts in cotton wool and protects them so well that they know they can do what the hell they want without any real punishment...
I don't advocate bullying, but all these groups wanting to stamp it out are just another example of kids getting wrapped in cotton wool.
I was bullied at school, and I don't mind admitting it. When I went to tell my parents about it, I was just told to "hit him and he'll leave you alone!", so next day I stood up to the bully and was left alone after that. Sounds simple but it worked for me...
These days you hear about how kids are stressed due to exmas, how they're stressed due to bullying, how they're so innocent and need protecting from the horros of the world... s**t, if kids are so innocent, what about the ones that killed Jamie Bulger, what about the ones who killed that guy over an argument about vandlism, what about the ones who mugged an old lady 2 streets away from where I live and she lated died of a heart attack?
Thing is if you say anything about these incidents then it's down to games, or movies, or tv... it's never down to the fact that the law wraps these little tw*ts in cotton wool and protects them so well that they know they can do what the hell they want without any real punishment...
WOW, totaly agree!
all the guys in my flat right now agree too, and in my personal opinion, that post made the most sense of this debate.you, peteuplink, should be aplauded, huzzah!!
Let's smother and over-protect the kids so that they one day grow into adults who haven't got the first idea of how to cope with adversity or conflict.
Hmph. I quite *clearly* said that we need to educate our children, not wrap them in cotton wool. There's a massive difference.
However you look at it, bullying is not acceptable in any form. It certainly doesn't breed character or any of that pseudo-military crap.
If we accept it, acknowledge it, and do something about it, we can do a lot better.
What's ironic is that Bully is being treated as some horror of bullying game, when it could be used in a positive light to highlight bullying.
But as is the case with everything, that aspect is always lost in favour of the more negative option.
I don't advocate bullying, but all these groups wanting to stamp it out are just another example of kids getting wrapped in cotton wool.
I was bullied at school, and I don't mind admitting it. When I went to tell my parents about it, I was just told to "hit him and he'll leave you alone!", so next day I stood up to the bully and was left alone after that. Sounds simple but it worked for me...
These days you hear about how kids are stressed due to exmas, how they're stressed due to bullying, how they're so innocent and need protecting from the horros of the world... s**t, if kids are so innocent, what about the ones that killed Jamie Bulger, what about the ones who killed that guy over an argument about vandlism, what about the ones who mugged an old lady 2 streets away from where I live and she lated died of a heart attack?
Thing is if you say anything about these incidents then it's down to games, or movies, or tv... it's never down to the fact that the law wraps these little tw*ts in cotton wool and protects them so well that they know they can do what the hell they want without any real punishment...
I agree wholeheartedly. I was in a similar situation when i was younger. Got to secondary, we fought, i won and then there was a respect. He stopped bullying too. Not sure him holding it all in was the best of things though. He's in a mental institution now.
ive just read all the posts, and even the people who are really strongly against bullying, you yourselves are bullying thr people whose opinion slightly differs to your own. how you ask. well in this PC country we live in, you are trampling over another persons opinion, instead of letting them have their say and then arguing or making points against. you are simply insulting them or telling them they are wrong. does that make you a bully when you are clearly bullying. no it doesnt, and thats just the point people are trying to make, this country has gone far too far down the PC road. its come to the point where you cant even argue over an opinion without someone ( in this case me ) pointing out that you are in fact "bullying" someone. this country is a joke, it mollycoddles all the baddies and persecutes the good people who stand up to the naughty people. rapists and murderers get less time in the cells than some fraudsters ffs. if someone breaks into your house in the dead of night, and you jump them, you can be done for assault. people need to stand up for themselves, if you want to be a doormat your whole life then that is what you will be and you can expect to be walked on. i was picked on at school, i use the term picked on because it was just a "bigger boy" throwing his weight around, calling me names, shoving me around etc. it wasnt bullying bullying, he wasnt strapping me to a goalpost every lunch and rubbing dogsh*t in my face. one day i turned round and belted him, he never looked at me again. he then went onto the next kid he thought fit to pick on. my point is is if every kid stood up for themselves, or if teachers or parents did their jobs better, then the naughty boys or girls would have noone to pick on or they would be in big trouble if they did.
ist the whole premise of bully that you are taking on bigger and meaner kids? I would have thought any victim of bullying might enjoy some virtual revenge but what do i know?
Let's smother and over-protect the kids so that they one day grow into adults who haven't got the first idea of how to cope with adversity or conflict.
Hmph. I quite *clearly* said that we need to educate our children, not wrap them in cotton wool. There's a massive difference.
However you look at it, bullying is not acceptable in any form. It certainly doesn't breed character or any of that pseudo-military crap.
If we accept it, acknowledge it, and do something about it, we can do a lot better.
Agreed. If bullying was as beneficial as some people make it out to be, we would have a country whose population was confident and assertive. Instead we have a population who suffer with apathy, the inability to stand up for themselves and a willingness to avoid conflict wherever possible. At the end of the day, there are other ways of developing a person's character, whether encouraging competition in sport, or giving people the confidence to speak out during discussions or school presentations. The fact of the matter, bullying is meant to do the opposite and all too often it works. In extreme cases, where the bullying persists and is often ignored by teachers, the child may feel so isolated and alone that they may take action to end their life just to escape it all. At the end of the day, none of us want kids to be wrapped in cotton wool. What we want is to give the child confidence to go to the teacher when they're being bullied and know it will be dealt with instead of being swept under the carpet.
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. they think banning this game will stop bullying? or make things better? theres alot worse out there on the telly. its like saying a school drama cant have bullying in, because it could give kids ideas, but ive never heard a word from the anti-bullying campaigns about that.
