British press gives more free advertising to Rockstar Games over new game "Bully"

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - British press gives more free advertising to Rockstar Games over new game "Bully"

Posted: 8/3/2005 6:23:43 PM EDT

You know, I played San Andreas on PS2 and wasn't really taken with it like I was Vice City. Then Hillary decided to hate it so to the game store I'm going. Now it looks like Rockstar is doing a new game that I will be simply because it makes somebody else angry.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15664744&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=beat-the-bullies--a-new-low---the-video-game-that-makes-it-cool-to-be-a-bully--name_page.html

BEAT THE BULLIES: A NEW LOW ..THE VIDEO GAME THAT MAKES IT COOL TO BE A BULLY
By David Edwards

A SKINHEAD thug wins a bloody playground fight with a classmate, before hunting down a teacher as his next victim.

This is Bully. A new video game that's been called the sickest ever, a sadistic orgy of violence where you win points for being the most vicious yob in a reform school.

News of the game's release comes as research suggests that playing violent video games makes youngsters more aggressive.

And it appears in the same week as the Daily Mirror launched the Beat The Bullies campaign, backed by X-Factor judge Simon Cowell.

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Horrified child welfare campaigners and teachers' groups are calling on the government to ban the Bully game.

Liz Carnell of campaign group Bullying Online says: "This game should be banned. I'm extremely worried that kids will play it and then act out what they've seen in the classroom.

"Bullying is not a game by any stretch of the imagination. We have around four suicidal children contacting us every day."

Two million children in the UK are bullied at school, with 40 per cent enduring abuse twice a week or more.

And the effects can last a lifetime. One in 12 youngsters is so traumatised that their education, relationships and even their job prospects are affected.

Between 10 and 15 children each year commit suicide after being picked on.

Steve Sinnott, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, says: "If this game lives up to its billing, the company is behaving very irresponsibly.

"Awarding a prize - even in the form of points - for bullying should not be promoted."

Before the game hits the UK shelves it must first be approved by the British Board of Film Classification.

Spokeswoman Sue Clark says: "It sounds likely the game will come to us and we will then have to decide whether or not to give it a certificate.

"If we refuse a certificate it cannot be sold or supplied."

But this is unlikely to prevent its release as to date the BBFC has only once failed to certificate a game.

This was in 1997 when it refused a rating for Carmageddon, in which players are encouraged to run over pedestrians.

And even that decision was later overruled by the Video Appeals Committee.

Bully will therefore in all probability be on sale before the end of the year.

Adrian Brown, of ChildLine, says: "Rockstar describe Bully, as 'brutally funny'.

"They may intend their game to be tongue in cheek, but ChildLine knows that for thousands of children bullying is just plain brutal and certainly not funny."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, says: "After a meeting between ministers and industry representatives in December, 15 and 18 certificates on the covers of games have been doubled in size to draw parents' attention to their content.

"This is an issue that the government takes extremely seriously."

Rockstar remains unrepentant. A spokesman said: "There are no easy answers for the real-life problem of school safety.

"But we believe the stories in video games should be judged like other works of fiction and recognized as entertainment.

"Bully is a fictional story that portrays a comic and exaggerated view of a boarding school told with merciless tongue-in-cheek humour.

"Anyone concerned about content should experience the game first hand and also understand the certification system which provides age-appropriate ratings and content descriptions so parents can make informed choices."

SICKEST TOP 5
1. Manhunt The player controls a resurrected murderer who must kill as many people as possible using the most extreme methods.

2. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas A hoodlum vies for supremacy over rival gangs.The player can kill corrupt police officers using chainsaws, swords, guns and knives.

3. Hitman 2: Silent Assassin Initially a simulation of the 1984 attack on the Golden Temple at Amritsar where hundreds of Sikhs died, it was withdrawn and an edited version released.

4. Soldier Of Fortune II: Double Helix Focuses on a mercenary employed by the US Government to fight terrorism. There are 32 areas of the body where victims can be shot, with a variety of gruesome results.

5. Postal 2: Apocalypse Weekend A recently sacked games developer goes on a kill spree. Points for hacking enemies to pieces using a machete, scythe or sledgehammer.

Now I think that top 5 list is a little off, but whatever.

Posted: 8/4/2005 12:58:37 PM EDT

[#1]

www.rockstargames.com/bully/

Posted: 8/4/2005 1:12:39 PM EDT

[#2]

Uh oh, a new videogame will come out designed for older people which may warp the fragile little minds of children.

Lets disregard for a second that if a kid gets his hands on the game his parents aren't doing their jobs, and lets also disregard the fact that inatimate objects don't force people to do things (because when I played DOOM it sure made me want to go kill people, just like whenever I pick up a gun).

Whatever.. BAN IT! FOR THE CHILDREN! (who shouldn't be able to get copies.. SHUTUP!)

Posted: 8/4/2005 1:14:13 PM EDT

[#3]

I wonder if all the crack-smoking, drug-dealing, bitch-slapping, cop-killing rap "entertainment" is banned in that country as well.

Posted: 8/4/2005 1:14:37 PM EDT

[#4]

The Hitman series was awesom. How can one person tell another what they can and cannot play? Just becuase its a video games doesnt mean its for kids

Posted: 8/4/2005 1:30:18 PM EDT

[#5]

I'm so buying that

Posted: 8/4/2005 1:34:16 PM EDT

[#6]

It's almost as if they're reading "Fahrenheit 451" and somebody's saying, "Hey, I've got on idea ..."

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - British press gives more free advertising to Rockstar Games over new game "Bully"

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