Whether it means to or not, Rockstar Games always manages to get into a tangle with some well-meaning person or group. After the furor over the Hot Coffee patch for GTA San Andreas, Rockstar Games faces another impending lawsuit. This time it is over a new game called The Bully.
The basic idea behind the game is your run of the mill schoolboy full of mischief. The school is called Bullworth Academy and the boy Jimmy Hopkins. His life is a sad one, with his mother running off on her 5th honeymoon. As Jimmy Hopkins, you have to survive the life at Bullworth’s where bullies abound. You also have the ultimate goal of reaching the top of the social ladder. You can do this by standing up to bullies, playing pranks, winning girls over, standing up to mean faculty members, and all those things that would make you popular in campus.
That would, of course, mean doing some things that a “nice” boy isn’t supposed to do. All in all it looks to be a promising game. For sure, the high school geeks won’t pass up this chance to get their revenge – albeit virtually.
So what’s the fuss all about? There is this lawyer from Florida who is making a lot of noise about how the game can corrupt children and how it can give negative ideas. Some parents will certainly agree with him. I for one, though, would wait till the ESRB assigns a rating to The Bully before saying anything. If they rate it so that children can’t easily get their hands on it then no big deal! Anyhow, let’s wait and see if this will blow over. The Bully is due to be released this October by the way.