Rockstar's Bully Gets a T Rating

[Shawn Andrich]

Rockstar's Bully Gets a T Rating

The ESRB now lists Bully as rated T(Teen) on the official site, despite concerns from watchdog groups.

Set to ship on October 16th in North America, Bully has been given a Teen rating from the ESRB. Teen suggests that the content will be suitable for ages 13 and older, according to the site [http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp].

One month ago, Wal-Mart had pulled [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/7.34046] Bully from their website, supposedly in an effort to crack down on unrated games. They have since placed it back online [http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3942977], which suggests that an ESRB rating is sufficient for the world's largest retail chain.

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[Graham Templeton]

Everything we've ben hearing about Bully suggests that it's a cute, light-hearted game in which you - wait for it - do NOT play a bully! You play a mild troublemaker who actually sticks up for the bullied kids, giving the real bullies a sound thrashing.

Rockstar are great marketers. Announce a game with no details, knowing that people will jump all over it, then make them eat their words when it's utterly inoffensive.

 

[Goofonian]

didnt bully get a name change to 'Canis Canem Edit' - Latin for 'Dog Eat Dog'?

That was for the European release.

I have no doubt that someone or some group will have a big whinge about this saying that the ESRB ratings system is too lax and can't be trusted and needs replacing and/or controlling. All of course despite the fact that bully is looking like being one of the least questionable titles around at the moment, let alone to come out of rockstar.