The Canadian Teachers' Federation, a group representing four million teachers in several countries, is calling for the ban of Bully: Scholarship Edition, a game it says glorifies bullying (here we go again...)
"We're asking retailers to be responsible," said Emily Noble, president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation. "Yes, they can sell it and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?"
PC World and Currys have already refused to stock the Xbox 360 and Wii updates, as they did with the PS2 original.
The game's sparked even more rows in the UK by changing its name from Canis Canem Edit back to Bully, which is more than enough to upset middle aged mums who haven't played it.
Niall Cowley, of the charity BeatBullying, said earlier this year: "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."
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."
Scholarship Edition is out in the UK this Friday. We'll let you judge it for yourself, because frankly we're tired of talking about it...
Pah, these people are teachers, they're not a group of people who are renowned for being able to listen to reason or think for themselves.
I'd be more offended if a group of parrots from the local petshop started speking out against gaming, to be honest.
Very true - and none of this is going to have any effect on the games release......but, you have to wonder why Rockstar decided to change the name back - I mean, it did OK on the PS2 as 'Canus Canem Edit', so what is the sense in reverting back to the totally misleading title of 'Bully'? (which really does the game no favours in the eyes of your average Daily Telegraph reader). It's all to get these kind of things coming from the press...Rockstar have done very well out of it over the years!
Either way, I missed it on the PS2, so I really fancy picking this up sometime - I was going to get it on release (not sure whether to get it for my 360 or my girlfriends Wii - haven't seen any reviews for either platform yet), but I've got way too much to play right now and GTA4 is not too far off...could be the perfect game for the wait between GTA4 and the downloadable content..
EDIT: OK, just read the review on here. Pretty much what I expected - it was never going to be groundbreaking!
I'll definitely pick this up, seems to be available at a decent price too. I'm thinking that I'll get it on 360 - I doubt my girlfriend will particularly enjoy it and I've still not seen a review of it on Wii.....I mean, Table Tennis didn't work out too well there and it's still a must-have on 360 in my book
I've played this game and loved it on the PS2 and will snap it up when it gets cheaper. The teachers need to play this game and realise that it's no more mischievous than a Beano comic. I couldn't remember seeing any blood or hear any swearing in that game as far as I know.
They're just relying on the fact that it's called Bully and try and convince uninformed punters that it's another Columbine simulator.
To be fair they don't really help themselves when they call it 'Bully'. People who have no intention of playing it are going to assume its a 'Bully simulator'. If it was called 'Schooldays' or something it wouldn't havent recieved as much negative press, but then Rockstar love that kind of coverage don't they?
Don't defend them - they are ill-informed cretins who make jumping to conclusions look like an art form. If they'd played the game and formed this opinion, then fair enough, but we all know they've never even seen a trailer for it.
My hat goes off to rockstar, who once again have managed to cause contorversy, hit the headlines, and sell even more games.
This time with a name change and a few improvements to, get this, a game that is already out, and sold loads of copies around the world already.
Marketing genius... pure Genius!!!
...This also goes to show that teachers are and always will be behind the times.... Grange hill was right (and showed me how to take heroin, good old Zammo)
If this game is going to banned again then I'm glad I got my copy (360 version) in the post from GAME this morning!!!
And this doesn't help either (from Rockstar themselves):
"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."
Erm... if it isn't really about bullying but about being at school then why call it Bully? Why didn't they call it Bullsworth Academy or Hopkin's School Days or something? Answer: Because Bully is a more marketable and controversial name and we all know Rockstar thrive on controversy.
Don't defend them - they are ill-informed cretins who make jumping to conclusions look like an art form. If they'd played the game and formed this opinion, then fair enough, but we all know they've never even seen a trailer for it.
True, but fair play to Rockstar for exploiting the idiots!
If this game is going to banned again then I'm glad I got my copy (360 version) in the post from GAME this morning!!!
And this doesn't help either (from Rockstar themselves):
"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."
Erm... if it isn't really about bullying but about being at school then why call it Bully? Why didn't they call it Bullsworth Academy or Hopkin's School Days or something? Answer: Because Bully is a more marketable and controversial name and we all know Rockstar thrive on controversy.
This made me think - maybe its called Bully as it's short for Bullsworth Academy, and nothing to do with bullying at all... *shrug*
In a way I think rockstar are being a bit irresponsible in changing the name back to Bully. As mentioned by most of the people on this thread this is obviously just a marketing ploy to get get people up in arms and get the game talked about.
This is all well and good for flogging a few more copies of Bully, but when the media all ready think games "glorify violence" and are leading to the downfall of society or whatever, then rock star are just playing into their hands.
I'm all for not censoring games, but I think by doing this Rockstar are just going to attract more negative views of games and make mass censorship of 18 plus games more likely because the daily mail readers who are too dumb not to buy them for their kids are going to hassle the government into it.
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