• News

    Bully Ads Are A-OK With ASA

    31 complaints against a TV ad for Take-Two's Bully: Scholarship Edition were dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority. The complainants said that the ads "glorified and trivialized" bullying, but the ASA found that the ads themselves were not in violation of any standards.

    According to GamesIndustry, the ASA did find the game distasteful, but was not glorifying violence because of its "comic and exaggerated" nature:

    "Although many might find the name and content of the game to be in poor taste, the content of the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence," it said.

    ASA dismisses Bully advertising complaints [GamesIndustry.biz]

    4:20 PM on Wed Jul 9 2008
    By Leigh Alexander
    987 views, 15 comments

    Latest by Captain_Sarcastic: I can't believe people are still complaining about Bully, you'd think they would find another crusade by now. more »

  • traces of nuts

    Judge Says Jack Thompson Guilty Of Misconduct During GTA, Bully Trials

    According to a report from GamePolitics, the judge who presided over Miami lawyer Jack Thompson's Bar trial has recommended to the Florida Supreme Court that he be found guilty on 27 of 31 charges of professional misconduct. Of the 27 recommendations of guilt, twenty-one are from a suit related to Grand Theft Auto and four are from an attempt by Thompson to have Rockstar's Bully declared a public nuisance.

    The Bar trial judge, Dava Tunis, found the violent video game activist guilty of misconduct such as "Engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation." The state Supreme Court will have to make a ruling based on those recommendations, with a disciplinary hearing planned for the first week of June.

    Jack Thompson Guilty on 27 of 31 Misconduct Charges, Says Bar Trial Judge... FL Supreme Court Must Now Rule [GamePolitics]

    6:20 PM on Tue May 20 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    165,750 views, 144 comments

    Latest by Ky-Guy: Finally! They are going to bar the crap out of Jack Thompson. more »

  • brazil

    Brazil Gets The Memo, Bans Bully

    Judge Flavio Rabello has barred the sale of Bully in Brazil, following requests for its banning from a youth centre in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. State prosecutor Alcindo Bastos says the reason for the game's banning stems from the fact "the aggravating factor is that everything in the game takes place inside a school", which is apparently "not acceptable" considering how much fisticuffs feature in the game. Distributors and retailers have 30 days to comply with the order.
    Brazil judge bans 'Bully' [globeandmail]

    11:30 PM on Thu Apr 10 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    1,338 views, 56 comments

    Latest by Freakeeg: I can see that a lot of brazilians (including me) are complaining about this fact. But now I wonder, why more »

  • rockstar games

    Rockstar Acquires Mad Doc Software, Turns Them Into Rockstar New England

    Rockstar Games has snapped up Mad Doc Software, the team that handled development duties on Bully: Scholarship Edition for Xbox 360 and Wii. Guess that buggy 360 version didn't leave too sour a taste in the Rockstar family mouth. Based in Andover, Massachusetts the studio will now be known as Rockstar New England, making it the fourth North American arm of the Take-Two publishing label. The new Rockstar New England is said to have "a particular focus on artificial intelligence and networking", potentially good news for online offerings from the pub. Congrats to the ladies and gentlemen in Andover. The full press release, with a bit more info, is right after this short break. More »

    4:20 PM on Fri Apr 4 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    2,163 views, 27 comments

    Latest by ca$h: I hope they bought them so they could fire them all (well, at least their programmers) for the crappy Bully more »

  • bully

    Bully Patch Needs Patch?

    Before I go on, we haven't heard squat about this from any of you, but others have, so who knows (UPDATE: Ok, we've now heard from plenty of you experiencing these problems). Commenters on Larry Hryb's Microsoft blog have been complaining that the update intended to fix a bunch of serious issues with the 360 version of Bully instead leaves many of the game's glitches unaffected, and some users have even reported it's made things worse. Shame, really. Feel free to post below how it's all gone for you.
    Thursday news 'n stuff [Microsoft, via Eurogamer]

    8:20 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    3,874 views, 80 comments

    Latest by RemyDuvalle: @Gadgetron: And even then, unless you know the ins and outs of most of the features in the game, to more »

  • bully

    Bully 360 Patch Arrives

    Rockstar's promised patch for those experiencing issues with the 360 version of Bully has finally arrived. It's a fairly small update and will fix all those frame rate, audio and other petty annoyances. And now if you'll excuse me I have some boys to kiss. In the game, not in real life. Well maybe in real life to, who knows. I'm feeling saucy today.

    2:40 PM on Thu Mar 20 2008
    By fdemarco
    4,566 views, 54 comments

    Latest by JohnnyD57333: Bully works fine for me. However, as a side point, from day 1 my Elite needs to be warmed up more »

  • patches

    Rockstar Readying 360 Bully Patch

    Rockstar's Bully: Scholarship Edition came out of the oven a little half-baked, with frequent lock-ups, audio glitches, and a generally poor frame rate severely ticking off gamers and downright horrifying the developers. Thankfully Rockstar was able to overcome the horror and get to working on a fix.
    We are very aware of the problems some people have been experiencing with the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition and have been doing everything within our powers to resolve these issues as quickly as possible. We will be releasing a title update through Xbox Live within the next week that we are confident will rectify the problem. We apologize wholeheartedly for the inconvenience that this matter has caused some owners of the game.
    While I'm sure we all appreciate the rapid response, next time try to make sure your game works before selling it to people, 'kay?

    10:20 AM on Fri Mar 7 2008
    By Mike Fahey
    6,895 views, 82 comments

    Latest by outbackerdave: Well I never said anything about being sane. Though I appreciate the concern. ;) Now if I had Crisis Core in more »

  • mea culpa

    Rockstar "Horrified" By Xbox 360 Bully: Scholarship Edition Issues

    We wrote earlier today of the issues surrounding the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition, hoping to get a statement from Rockstar Games on the status of either a fix or a replacement plan for those affected. For those not up to speed, the 360 port is reportedly plagued with freezing issues and audio glitches in addition to a less than solid frame rate. Rockstar issued a statement tonight, saying the staff was "devastated" to learn of the issues surrounding the Bully port, something they say didn't come up in the QA process.

    Their full statement follows. More »

    9:00 PM on Wed Mar 5 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    33,619 views, 144 comments

    Latest by Zakuen: Damn, apparently my 3 week old Elite 360 is old already. :( Who knew. more »

  • xbox 360

    Bully: Scholarship Edition Sounds Like It Should've Been Held Back [UPDATE]

    Canis canum edit? More like caveat emptor, kids. We're hearing the Xbox 360 version of Rockstar Games' Bully: Scholarship Edition could stand a few more weeks in the lab, according to reports of bugginess from unsatisfied owners of the game. Reports of game killing lock-ups and audio glitches abound at message boards across the internet, with a handful of readers writing in to vent about their own issues. More »

    5:40 PM on Wed Mar 5 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    13,600 views, 100 comments

    Latest by v00deux: @Campion: yeah, i saw that odd quarter-turn myself. and the standing characters "seizure-ing" but I've not had it lock up more »