Bully is still riling up the Brits

by Candace Savino { Jul 9th 2008 at 11:00PM }

When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.

The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies.

Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.

To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.

Gallery: Bully

[Via Game Politics]

Tags: ad, britain, bully, bully-scholarship-edition, canis-canem-edit, censorship, commercial, great-britain, rockstar, scholarship-edition, take-two, uk

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Garu @ Jul 9th 2008 11:20PM

Ello! What's all this? Bunch of wankers, they is! Go eat yer bangers and lay off Bully ya twits!

Spencer @ Jul 10th 2008 12:36AM

Has anyone pointed out that bully's about overcoming bullies and general assholes for the most part and the kid's actually a good guy?

SoshiKitai @ Jul 10th 2008 2:03AM

Most people never get that far when they accuse games.

By "that" I mean: Play the game.
(this isn't true just for parents, it's also true for whiny gamers)

TheCoats @ Jul 10th 2008 10:15AM

This is on my list of favorite games........

TheCoats @ Jul 10th 2008 10:18AM

check this from metacritic:

"Ardnas S. gave it a 0:
This is a disgusting game! it should not exist, there is enough violence and bullying now without encouraging more of it with a video game, shame on you!"

I lol'd

Mike @ Jul 10th 2008 11:13AM

You know, when some folks call for video games to carry social messages and contemporary themes to help raise the genre, Bully is that kind of game. It's an ironic critique of high school life, social structure and puritanism. It's executed in such an over-the-top style that it's hard to take anything that happens in it seriously.

It isn't a mindless shoot-em-up, its a game with heart that provides a darkly comedic look at what it feels like to be a teenager.