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Rockstar Games weekend sale now live on Steam
Rockstar Games steps into the spotlight for a weekend-long Steam publisher sale, bringing price drops for L.A. Noire and the Grand Theft Auto series, among other deals. Starting today, Steam members can pick up the DLC-bundled Complete Edition of L.A. Noire for just $7.49. The four-game (plus DLC) Grand Theft Auto Complete Pack is up for grabs at $9.99, while the entire Max Payne series (including Max Payne 3's Rockstar Pass) is priced at $9.89. Other sale highlights include Midnight Club 2 for $3.29, Bully: Scholarship Edition for $4.95, and Manhunt for $3.29. Sale prices remain in effect through March 17. [Image: Rockstar]
Modders invite the undead to invade Bully: Scholarship Edition
Rockstar Games may not have introduced zombies to its childhood delinquency simulator Bully, but thanks to industrious modders you can see what might happen if shambling corpses were to invade Bullworth Academy. That footage you see above comes from Bully: Zombie Edition, an in-production modification for the PC version of Bully: Scholarship Edition that strips out most of its gameplay elements in favor of a new, as yet incomplete storyline. We'd tell you more about this new zombie-focused plot, but the mod's creators have yet to publicly reveal any details of what it might include. Likewise, the clip above is taken from an early stage of the modification, and should be viewed only as a proof of concept for the game's environments as well as its formerly deceased inhabitants. As of now there's no scheduled release date for Bully: Zombie Edition, but if you'd like to keep tabs on the mod you can visit its ModDB page. Everything you need to know can be found there and presumably that will be where the modification first debuts, once it's complete.
Shop for an item shop in Steam's holiday sale
By now you know the drill for Steam's holiday sale. We'll link incredible deals, and you'll spend tiny amounts of money you didn't expect to spend. For Day 3 (until 1PM ET), the objects of your impulse buying include the quirky item shop RPG Recettear ($6.80), Bully ($3.75) and Just Cause 2 ($7.50).
Top 5: Games for your Day Off
Gaming is a hobby, but sometimes it can feel like a job. As developers try to boost replayability, your gaming commitments can become anxiety-inducing. Just ask anyone who dared to attempt achieving 100% of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. At first, it's a fun and wonderful romp through a vivid world that's just oozing with life and character. By the end, you wish you'd never left Vice City. Did anyone here complete all of Super Smash Bros Brawl? I'm talking Classic Mode with every character, all of the Event matches, the target smashes, and every trophy and sticker available. At a certain point, some games can become an obligation rather than a means to entertainment. Today being Labor Day in the US, let's take a break from completing every mission, collecting every star, and unlocking all bonus content. Sometime between your 11 AM rise from bed and your evening consumption of copious amounts of hot dogs at your family barbeque, take some time to truly enjoy gaming. Here's our Top 5 recommendations. NEXT >> #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } The Top 5 is a weekly feature that provides us with a forum to share our opinions on various aspects of the video game culture, and provides you with a forum to tell us how wrong we are. To further voice your opinions, submit a vote in the Wii Fanboy Poll, and take part in the daily discussions of Wii Warm Up.
Bully is still riling up the Brits
When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies. Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.%Gallery-14099%
Bully ad complaints dismissed by ASA
The UK's Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed complaints that a television ad for Bully Scholarship Edition trivialized bullying. The agency said that although some might find the game's content and name in poor taste, the content of the ad was "unlikely to cause serious or widespread offense."It's funny that the ASA would take the stance that the Bully ads wouldn't cause "widespread offense" when it received a total of 31 complaints. Comparably, the banned ad for Kane & Lynch only received 26 complaints. The extra complaints isn't exactly surprising; remember that the original PS2 version of Bully actually changed its name to Canis Canem Edit when it was released in Europe.
The Wii owners' Sunday shopping guide
This week's Sunday ads bring some interesting sales and deals to the table. Most noticeably, it seems like Bully: Scholarship Edition has had a universal price drop, and now only costs $30. Circuit City is the only store to advertise this, but from checking around at other retailers, the slashed price seems like the rule and not the exception. While $50 for the port might have been too expensive for your tastes, $30 sounds a bit easier to swallow.All the other deals worth mentioning will probably only motivate folks who were already on the fence. Best Buy, for example, is offering a $10 gift card to those who purchase Alone in the Dark. As for Circuit City, the retailer has a handful of $20 games marked down to $15 (Balloon Pop, Furu Furu Park, and Prince of Persia: Rival Swords, namely).Topping it all off is Amazon's "Deal of the Day," which ends at 3am EST. Here you can find ezGear's Wii Rechargable Battery and Charger, which you can use to charge up your Wiimotes. We're not sure how reliable ezGear is when it comes to third-party accessories, but for $10, this dock might be worth a try.Hopefully your wallets will come out unscathed from this gauntlet of deals, but if not, feel free to rant at us for our evil, tempting ways.[Via CAG]Source: $10 gift card with purchase of Alone in the Dark at Best BuySource: Amazon's "Deal of the Day" -- ezGear's Wii Rechargable Battery and ChargerSource: Circuit City (for sales on Balloon Pop, Furu Furu Park, and Rival Swords)
Rockstar patches a problematic Bully
It may have taken longer then a week, but Rockstar has finally been able to push their game fixing patch through Microsoft certification with the roll out of a new Bully: Scholarship Edition patch. The patch, which should be applied the next time a player loads the game while connected to Xbox Live, is supposed to correct the numerous Bully glitches and technical issues that gamers have been experiencing since the game's launch. Hopefully the patch does just that, resulting in a Bully that acts more civil and less problematic. That said, if the patch doesn't fix everything, we know gamers will be vocal and verbally let Rockstar have it.[Thanks, TMlad]
Be a Bully, enter the Drillbit Taylor Play & Win
Owen Wilson's comedy Drillbit Taylor will be making its way to theaters this weekend and to celebrate, Rockstar's Bully is partnering up to offer a Drillbit Taylor and Bully Play & Win. And yes, there is a prize. To enter the Play & Win, you can either download the Drillbit Taylor gamer picture pack or register online and even though Bully is sponsoring the giveaway, you aren't required to play it. All you have to do is register by tomorrow, March 21st and put on your lucky underwear in hopes that get randomly selected to win the only prize available ... a 50" Samsung HDTV. Only offering one prize stinks, but anything is possible guys. You can do it!
Rockstar promises Bully fix by next week
We're sure we don't have to remind any new Bully: Scholarship Edition owners that the game has problems. Heck, we don't even have to remind Rockstar, because they already know and acknowledge the problems. But we do have to tell you that the Rockstar devs are hard at word on a patch which will be deployed as a title update over Xbox Live sometime next week. They also wanted to "apologize wholeheartedly for the inconvenience that this matter has caused some owners of the game". A wholehearted apology and a Bully fix within seven days. Now that's the caring Rockstar we've come to know and love.
Bully: a past of controversy and future of issues
Ironically enough Bully has been one of the industry's main whipping boys since it was first introduced on the PlayStation 2 in 2006. While the recent misinterpretation of the sexual content within Mass Effect has been an industry hot topic in this generation of consoles, the assumptions made about the content in Bully prior to its release were laughably off-kilter. At one point in the controversy industry antagonist, Jack Thompson, argued on G4's The Loop that Bully was a "Columbine Simulator," oblivious to the fact that the ultimate goal of the game is end bullying at Bullworth Academy -- the featured location in the game. While the sandbox nature of the game allows players to be just as much as an advocate against bullies as it allows them to be the ultimate poster child, the internal rules of the game harshly punishes picking on female characters or smaller children. With the recent release of Bully: Scholarship Edition, gamers are treated to a HD upgrade of the controversial title -- or so they thought. Reports are swirling that multiple glitches and game freezing bugs are hindering the enjoyment of the hd-revamp. NeoGAF members have compiled a list of various sources to support the widespread issue. In response, a horrified Rockstar pinned the issues on older Xbox 360 models and assures fans the issue was never caught during quality assurance tests and not the product of a quick release cash grab. The full statement from Rockstar's Sam Houser can be found after the jump. [via Kotaku]
Rockstar working 'around the clock' to quell 360's Bully issues
Having forked over their precious lunch money to recent current-gen graduate, Bully: Scholarship Edition, some Xbox 360 owners have expressed dissatisfaction with the game's technical performance. Though it's unclear whether the issues are widespread, several forum users have noted unsteady framerates, audio glitches and freezing within Rockstar's school daze sim.The company has issued a statement in response to online complaints, vowing to work "around the clock to rectify this situation." A "horrifed" Rockstar president, Sam Houser, pinned the blame on "some older 360s," explaining that none of the technical issues occurred during the game's QA phase. "We would never shove anything out the door - we never have and never will," said Houser. "We apologise to everyone affected for the inconvenience."
Return of Bully means more controversy
Color us not at all surprised. With this week's release of Bully: Scholarship Editon, we're seeing a return of the controversy that swirled around the game upon its original PS2 release in 2006. Emily Noble, president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation, called for the game to be removed from shelves this week, saying "We're asking retailers to be responsible. Yes, they can sell it and make a buck out of this, but is this the kind of marketing that they want to be [doing], selling games that glorify violence?"McGill University's Michael Hoechsmann provided a more rational take, calling attempts to ban the game "flailing at windmills" and saying "As tempting as it may seem, I'm not so certain that banning this will somehow result in a more peaceful and more loving school population."Though we're sad to see this silly controversy rear its head again, we do want to give big ups to Hoechsmann and reporter Jill Mahoney for providing a dissenting opinion.[Via GamePolitics]
Point your pupils at Bully: Scholarship Edition trailer
If you skipped 2006's PlayStation 2 debut of Bully, you missed out on a lot more than a nostalgic video game trip through your long-forgotten school daze. All the drama and legal flailing surrounding the release would have you believe that Bully: Scholarship Edition is the definitive version of Rockstar's homo-erotic, teacher killing sim.It's nothing like that, actually. The true nature of the game, which involves disease-ridden lunch ladies and epic wedgies, can be gleaned from the trailer embedded after the break. Let us know if it's convinced you to enroll in class on March 4th (March 7th in the UK).
Again, Bully becomes the center of controversy
With Bully: Scholarship Edition's upcoming release this March, the anti-bullying activists and UK's media are again throwing a temper tantrum over Rockstar's "controversial" game. Did we mention they aren't happy?When released on the PS2, the UK version of Bully underwent a name change to Canis Canem Edit (that's "Dog Eat Dog" in latin) which was probably an effort by Rockstar to keep the controversy to a minimum. But this time around, the 360 and Wii version will forgo a latin name change and be called Bully: Scholarship Edition and that doesn't seem to sit well with anti-bully activists. And even though Bully is a rather tame game whose story doesn't specifically reward bullying, it's made by Rockstar and deals with touchy subject matter, so this kind of controversy is expected. It's controversy Rockstar is all too familiar with.[Via Game Stooge]
Bully giving atomic wedgies on Wii and Xbox 360 the first week of March
The rumors of Bully's Wii and Xbox 360 semester starting in March were pretty much on the money, with Rockstar confirming North America starts class on March 4 and the UK getting a delayed opening 'til March 7. As is evidenced by the Xbox 360 screenshot above, Rockstar isn't making the awkward teenagers of Bullworth Academy any prettier for their now-gen premiere. The game is pretty much a port of the PS2 version with some improvements -- hopefully the loading times will be one of them.Bully: Scholarship Edition features eight new missions, four new classes and some other minor upgrades like achievements for the Xbox 360 and waggle-added gameplay for Wii. The tuition for this trip to Bullworth will be $50 on both systems. We'd say just pick Bully on the cheap for your PS2, but achievements or waggle will probably make another spin with Jimmy Hopkins on a new system worth it.
Prepare to be Bully'ied this March
Flying low enough to escape our radar, Rockstar recently revealed that the once scheduled for release last Winter Bully: Scholarship Edition will now be hitting retail shelves on March 4th (March 7th for the UK) and will come packed with new content not seen in the original PS2 version. New content like eight new missions, four new classes (biology, music, math and geography), two offline multiplayer mini-games, additional unlockable items and awards. So, if you've had PS2 Bully envy for a while now, then it's looking like your wait was well worth it as the 360 version will be far superior. And the game's $49 retail price tag shouldn't hurt either.
Rumor: Bully's semester on Wii and Xbox 360 begins March 3
Jimmy Hopkins is supposedly ready to kiss the girls (and boys) at Bullworth Academy on Wii and Xbox 360 starting March 3. Bully: Scholarship Edition will feature "new content" and that's still all about we know at this point. Perhaps we'll get a little hands-on time with it at GDC, but we don't even really know if the Wii version will have waggle or if the Xbox 360 version will sport better textures.Although there's still no official confirmation on Bully's release date, several retailers are listing March 3; we're following up with Rockstar and Take-Two for a polite confirmation -- otherwise we're resorting to swirlies.[Via Wii Fanboy]
