Xboxic is reporting that Bully is once again stirring up controversy, this time in the United Kingdom. Though Jack Thompson’s attempt at calling it a “Columbine Simulator” failed, it was forced to be called Canis Canem Edit (Latin for “Dog eat dog”) in the UK.
Well, this time, they’re sticking with the original title in the re-release, Bully: Scholarship Edition, and now educators and politicians are having their way to get sound bites and editorial pages.
“We’re deeply concerned that all the work in cutting out bullying and cyber bullying in school does not seem to have made any impact on the consciences of the makers of this game.
“The dialogue about the pernicious effects of bullying appears to have been ignored. It is an encouragement to violence and intimidation, and those things have a major impact on schools.”
Of course, these persons never played the game, and most of the game is defending other students from bullies, and attempting to be a bully yourself is met with appropriate punishment. Furthermore, in order to advance your character’s skills, you have to go to class.
But that doesn’t make a good sound bite.
