p2pnet - rss feed: Rockstar ‘Bully’ angers Canadian teachers
p2pnet news | Games:- "Bully: Scholarship Edition" is the latest version of the Take-Two Rockstar video game.
With Canis Canem Edit (dog eat dog) as its motto, it’s designed for Xbox 360 and Wii.
It’s the brainchild of Rockstar’s development team in Vancouver, BC, Canada, but, We don’t want it here, says the Canadian Teachers’ Federation.
Take-Two and Rockstar are behind the notorious Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt series, versions of which have been banned in different countries as gratuitously violent and sexually explicit.
"We’re concerned. It’s the re-release of ‘Bully’ … that glorifies, from our perspective, violence and bullying," says the CTF, according to CTV, which goes on:
"The excerpts Rockstar released on the game’s website don’t look much more violent than a classic ‘Bugs Bunny’ or ‘Simpsons’ episode. There are knees to the groin, exploding firecrackers, itching powder, stink bombs and people slipping on marbles."
The games industry friendly Entertainment Software Ratings Board rated "Bully" for teens 13, citing, "Animated Blood, Crude Humor, Language, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence," says the story, adding:
"University of British Columbia education professor Don Krug is surprised the game rating allows kids as young as 13 to buy it, but said he doesn’t think a ban is the solution.
" ‘If we end up banning it, it’s probably not going to go away. It’s probably going to become something kids are going to want even more and we put it into a format where we can’t address it (openly)’."
When it was released in 2006, "Florida’s Miami-Dade County School Board called on retailers not to sell the game to minors and required the school district to warn parents about potentially harmful effects of playing violent video games," said Fox News.
And, "Some have expressed fears that the game is ‘a Columbine simulator,’ a reference to the deadly 1999 shootings at a Colorado high school," says USA Today.
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Also See:
CTV - Teachers put off by revamped ‘Bully’ video game, March 4, 2008
released in 2006 - Rockstar Bully, ’schoolyard fisticuffs’, August 10, 2006
Fox News - ‘Bully’ Video Game Already Getting Heat for Violence, August 10, 2006
USA Today - ‘Bully’ hits schoolyard, for good or bad, August 9, 2006
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March 6th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Games far from a columbine simulator… Overreaction for an overreactive nation.
March 6th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
here’s a quick solution.
How about we force the Conadian Teachers Federation to play the game and see if it makes them more violent.
I think the Teachers and School Boards need to stay out of politics and concentrate on actual teaching.
No one wants to here their ten cents.
Their solution to difficult children is Ridilyn(might have got the spelling wrong), what the hell is that going to teach kids…. lets see, if something is wrong with you take drugs. That might explain why kids these days are so into drugs.
March 6th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
yeah, right, “violent” video games are “evil”…
hypocrites, then what about the violence-through-a-tube that are most movies?. Nooo, nobody attacks them, hollywood is sacred.. And what about the brainwashing the school system does to easily accomodate the future workers in a boring job?. Isnt that violence too?, mental violence?.
For what I have seen in real life, I instead think that the so called “violent games” help people deplete their violent emotions.
March 6th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
OMFG! Canada has a Jack Thompson!
March 6th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Columbine was a horrible event. That being said I think that comment just shoots down all possibilities of having an adult conversation about this game. I was bullied back in school and I can tell you it’s no fun. Having said that I would play this game if I had it, and still be no more near shooting any school than I have been thus far. It’s incredible how these people who are supposed to teach us and our children about wrong or right get upset when something like thioscomes along. They should understand fiction when they see it.
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
This is ridiculous. For any country to try and ban a video game is really sad in the 21st century. Just watching regular cable nowadays kids can see every kind of explosion, sex, etc. Plus, with the internet, kids can eventually get a hold of anything they want.
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm
You know what I think, I think it’s stupid that they want to ban this game. They don’t allow knees to the groin but they are fine with teenagers stabbing people in games such as Prince of Persia? This world is screwed up.