"Bully" Case Goes Global

October 14, 2006

Jack Thompson's unprecedented legal challenge to Rockstar's upcoming release of Bully made news around the world this week.

Thompson himself cited coverage by the BBC, which was given access to an unfinished version of the game. While noting Thompson's objections to Bully, the BBC included extensive comments on the game from an unnamed Rockstar spokesperson. The news service also pointed out that public nuisance suits of the type filed by Thompson typically address issues like environmental pollution.

Thompson cited the BBC's access to the game in an appeal to Florida's Third District Court, which was immediately denied. The attorney claimed that Rockstar's making Bully available to the BBC for preview negated arguments of prior restraint of free speech raised by attorneys for Take Two.

The Bully saga also showed up in news coverage as far away as India and the North Korea Times.

We wonder if Kim Jong-Il pre-ordered?

Posted in Controversial Games Video Game Critics

Comments

Submitted by Matthew (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 12:02.

I was indifferent to Bully to begin with. It looked like it could be kind of cool, but could also be a major flop.

Jack Thompson encouraged the world to see what the game is really about: Childish pranks and novel ideas regarding the way the game responds to you.

I've since preordered it. Thanks, Jack!

Submitted by PlayItBogart (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 08:23.

This is made funnier by the fact that I got loaded and watched that movie last night.

Submitted by sqlrob (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 08:29.

"The attorney claimed that Rockstar’s making Bully available to the BBC for preview negated arguments of prior restraint of free speech raised by attorneys for Take Two."

OK, can somebody explain this logic to me. I just don't get it.

Submitted by Michael James Nock (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 09:07.

@ sqlrob:

or me.

Submitted by Siftr (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 09:51.

Thompson is funny because he thinks that the reason R* wasn't giving him a copy was because they couldn't, they weren't giving him one because they didn't WANT to. :D

Submitted by neolube (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 10:18.

Maybe is going for the "I may not win, but I will just confuse the shit outta everyone. Thus making it look like I am martyr in this grand conspiracy to corrupt todays youth."

It could also just be classic JT rearing its head when he is on the losing side again. Lots of incoherant ramblings of a tool.

Submitted by x(wai)x (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 12:31.

The review at IGN convinced me that it might be a good game, but I wouldn't have even been interested enough to read that review if it weren't for John Bruce stirring up all this fuss.

Submitted by Kajex (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 13:42.

So wait.
Jack says that Take-Two, having delivered a beta version to the BBC for a preview, negated Prior Restraint, even though Prior Restraint refers to material that is commercially and publicly released? That's like letting Roger Egbert watch an unfinished cut of a potentially good movie- nobody else is watching it, and in the case of Roger, nobody important.

Submitted by Terminator44 (not verified) on Sat, 10/14/2006 - 16:30.

Great. Now if we go to nuclear war with North Korea, the politicians and Jack Thompsons already have a game to blame. ;)

Submitted by gamemaster$$$ (not verified) on Sun, 10/28/2007 - 19:22.

im sick of people blaming games for violence.Violence has been around before games fuck it was around before tv and all you cunts who think diffrent can blow me

Shout box

Zen: I felt Brutal Legends was a funny & beautiful look at the world of rock from Double Fines point of view. The only parts I wasn't hot for were the RTS bits as it felt forced. Otherwise fantastic.02/12/2012 - 1:34pm

DorthLous: Passed 1.5M$. And I'd also say that Brutal Legend is far from being a bad game. I just think it was a few levels under what people expected from the people working on the project.02/11/2012 - 8:25am

Technogeek: Brutal Legend wasn't bad so much as "marketing had no idea how the game actually played", causing it to suffer accordingly.02/10/2012 - 10:38pm

RedMage: It looks the CIA's website has been DDOS'ed. Anon?02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

RedMage: Brutal Legend.02/10/2012 - 7:52pm

ddrfr33k: Has anything Tim Schafer ever made been of crap caliber? I'm struggling to think of one...02/10/2012 - 7:37pm

Guamish: I think it is in good hands. Tim did a game for the GDC award show and that was fun for how short it was.02/10/2012 - 12:22pm

Andrew Eisen: It'll be tragic if the game ultimately sucks.02/10/2012 - 12:17pm

james_fudge: $1.3 million02/10/2012 - 11:32am

Uncharted NES: Germany Says It Won't Sign ACTA [Update: ... Yet]- http://tinyurl.com/7r2twrg02/10/2012 - 11:21am

Andrew Eisen: Damn. Double Fine's Kickstarter fund has already passed a million dollars.02/09/2012 - 8:16pm

Andrew Eisen: Audrey didn't quote the sassy parts. Here's IGN's article: http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1218359p1.html And here's my original post: http://tinyurl.com/7y68a3902/09/2012 - 7:50pm

james_fudge: I hope you some said something sassy! Where's the link?02/09/2012 - 7:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey, neat. IGN quoted a blog I had writen only two hours earlier. I certainly timed that one pretty well.02/09/2012 - 7:38pm

Andrew Eisen: Toki Tori has been added to the Humble Bundle for Android.02/09/2012 - 5:11pm

james_fudge: Thanks for the heads-up DorthLous02/09/2012 - 4:33pm

DorthLous: Will do, my apologies.02/09/2012 - 4:14pm

Andrew Eisen: I appreciate the heads up but please keep typo alerts to the specific article's comments or PMs.02/09/2012 - 3:33pm

DorthLous: The title says 30, but in the article, the developer says it's like a 20% net tax http://www.gamepolitics.com/2012/02/09/developers-call-facebook-currency-transaction-fee-thirty-percent-tax02/09/2012 - 2:43pm

Uncharted NES: If they actually release Final Fantasy XI for PlayStation Vita, then I will consider buying one.02/09/2012 - 12:13pm

All shouts

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