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The Controversial History of Bully - GVMERS

SnapShot

Member


In many respects, the open-world genre that Rockstar Games innovated sparked an overwhelming amount of controversy throughout the last two decades. This much especially holds true since bans and the ceaseless discourse surrounding violent video games continue to plague Grand Theft Auto. Red Dead Redemption is no stranger to similar criticism. And it doesn’t help that players of these franchises typically assume the role of career criminals, men who for one reason or another often find themselves partaking in deplorable acts. But Bully once saw the company exercise its free-roaming expertise beyond the realm of criminality to craft a different kind of sandbox adventure, one wherein over-the-top violence did not sit center-stage.

Bully still received far more than its fair share of backlash, however. The name alone ruffled the feathers of various organizations, politicians, and anti-bullying activists around the globe. Before the public had even seen the game in action, a series of relatively tame screenshots caused a stir, culminating in Bully being dubbed a Columbine simulator.

Yet, despite the contrived drama, this particular Rockstar project remains secure in its status as a fan-favorite. It’s rather unique, too. In between schoolyard-level mayhem, classes, and the occasional clever prank, players adopt the role of hero, standing up to bullies, though never actually playing the part. As such, Bully is more than a misunderstood classic, a game whose pre-release existence was bombarded with the most undeserving negativity.

This is the history of Bully.
 

AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
Will watch later, but the moral panic around this game was very real in the UK. They actually had to change the name to Canis Canem Edit (dog eat dog) over here because of the outrage (edit: this is not true). The press and uptight mothers were convinced that this game was going to result in an unprecedented wave of school bullying inspired by a cartoonish, over-the-top American private school simulator, complete with wedgies, swirlies, marbles and slingshots. Meanwhile, most UK school kids were already doing far, far worse away from the prying eyes of their parents on a daily basis. Source: 14 year old me.

Then absolutely nothing happened, as usual, so less than two years later they released Bully: Scholarship Edition with zero alarm.

Incidentally, remember when it was the conservative types that wanted to ban everything? Those were the days.
 
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Will watch later, but the moral panic around this game was very real in the UK. They actually had to change the name to Canis Canem Edit (dog eat dog) over here because of the outrage. The press and uptight mothers were convinced that this game was going to result in an unprecedented wave of school bullying inspired by a cartoonish, over-the-top American private school simulator, complete with wedgies, swirlies, marbles and slingshots. Meanwhile, most UK school kids were already doing far, far worse away from the prying eyes of their parents on a daily basis. Source: 14 year old me.

Then absolutely nothing happened, as usual, so less than two years later they released Bully: Scholarship Edition with zero alarm.

Incidentally, remember when it was the conservative types that wanted to ban everything? Those were the days.

We weren't even allowed Ninja Turtles, Had to be Hero ones.
 

Kuranghi

Member
We weren't even allowed Ninja Turtles, Had to be Hero ones.

Its funny, I am in the UK and in my 30s so only could've watched the Hero turtles version back then, but if I sing the song I usually say "...ninja turtles...", was there a Turtles music album?

I still remember "The Simpsons Sing the Blues":


It was weird later in life listening to the original jazz tracks, weird memories of the lyrics.
 

TheContact

Member
Then absolutely nothing happened, as usual, so less than two years later they released Bully: Scholarship Edition with zero alarm.

this post is somewhat facetious since the main cause of the hearings were to establish some kind of self-accountability, but it's interesting to see that this spurred massive outrage in our government
hqdefault.jpg


but this doesn't (not that i think it should)
3488808-mortalkombat11-fatalities-promo.jpg
 
Its funny, I am in the UK and in my 30s so only could've watched the Hero turtles version back then, but if I sing the song I usually say "...ninja turtles...", was there a Turtles music album?

I still remember "The Simpsons Sing the Blues":


It was weird later in life listening to the original jazz tracks, weird memories of the lyrics.

Same, I remember it as Hero Turtles, just sing it as Ninja turtles. Don't know if the movie was Ninja or Hero, but the cartoon and toy figures were Hero.

Also Weren't allowed blood in Mortal Kombat on the Snes.
 

Soodanim

Gold Member
Incidentally, remember when it was the conservative types that wanted to ban everything? Those were the days.
Good old Jack Thompson trying to fuck things up in America and even getting involved in matters in the UK. I was happy when he got disbarred, everyone knew he was full of shit.
 

GymWolf

Member
The only controversy here is that we don't have a sequel.

Same for manhunt.
 
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01011001

Banned
Will watch later, but the moral panic around this game was very real in the UK. They actually had to change the name to Canis Canem Edit (dog eat dog) over here because of the outrage. The press and uptight mothers were convinced that this game was going to result in an unprecedented wave of school bullying inspired by a cartoonish, over-the-top American private school simulator, complete with wedgies, swirlies, marbles and slingshots. Meanwhile, most UK school kids were already doing far, far worse away from the prying eyes of their parents on a daily basis. Source: 14 year old me.

Then absolutely nothing happened, as usual, so less than two years later they released Bully: Scholarship Edition with zero alarm.

Incidentally, remember when it was the conservative types that wanted to ban everything? Those were the days.

thats absolutely not why they changed the name.

there is a german comedian/film director/producer named Michael "Bully" Herbig, and he basically threatened to sue them over the copyright of the name "Bully" as used on an entertainment product.

he had a Show called "Die Bully Parade" and later one called "Bully & Rick" and his nickname Bully was synonymous with his person in germany basically

that's the only reason they changed it in all of Europe. Later it was still just re-released as Bully when the remaster came out because I guess they thought he was bluffing and or wouldn't win the case if he went through with it (maybe they even talked it out behind the scenes, who knows)

edit: just googled it, he actually tried to sue them when they finally just released it under the name Bully with the remaster, and he lost. so I guess Rockstar's lawyers saw that coming and were confident they would win.
at the time the remaster came out he also didn't have any shows currently running on TV using the name Bully, I bet that helped R* with their case.
 
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AV

We ain't outta here in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space
thats absolutely not why they changed the name.

there is a german comedian/film director/producer named Michael "Bully" Herbig, and he basically threatened to sue them over the copyright of the name "Bully" as used on an entertainment product.

he had a Show called "Die Bully Parade" and later one called "Bully & Rick" and his nickname Bully was synonymous with his person in germany basically

that's the only reason they changed it in all of Europe. Later it was still just re-released as Bully when the remaster came out because I guess they thought he was bluffing and or wouldn't win the case if he went through with it (maybe they even talked it out behind the scenes, who knows)

edit: just googled it, he actually tried to sue them when they finally just released it under the name Bully with the remaster, and he lost. so I guess Rockstar's lawyers saw that coming and were confident they would win.

Well I'll be damned, I didn't know any of that. I just remember the outrage here at the time and reading about the name change, so I assumed they'd done it for that reason. Thanks for the info, that's interesting.
 

GymWolf

Member
I have a Wii copy of Manhunt 2 which I have played on Dolphin emulator on PC without problem, wiimote and all.
Yeah, i was talking about a sequel for the saga in general, but just for the record, i didn't liked manhunt 2 that much.
 
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HotPocket69

Banned
Still one of the coolest OSTs of all time. Shawn Lee said back in fucking 2010 that he had already written most of the music for Bully 2. Of course, that’s when we were also eagerly expecting Agent so who knows if it was true or not.

I remember the controversy quite well upon its release, especially coming off of Manhunt and The Warriors (The most underrated R* joint). Funny enough and controversy be damned, the game really felt more to me like an homage to the John Hughes high school flicks from the 80s than anything else.










Reinstalling the PS4 version on da 5 now. Thanks OP!
 
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