Suede
07-26-2005, 07:53 PM
...Bully.
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_01.jpg
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_02.jpg
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_03.jpg
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.
Advertisement
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'.
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_01.jpg
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_02.jpg
http://www.rockstargames.com/bully/screenshots/_pix/bully_03.jpg
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.
Advertisement
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'.