It has been just over five years since Rockstar released Bully. It followed the tradition of controversial Rockstar games by putting players in a setting that hadn’t really been explored before then. As a young boy at a boarding school, Bully tasked players with finding their own place in the academy by being a sort of crusader for the little guy, or a straight up bully. A lot of people have been aching for a sequel, and it appeared as if Rockstar wasn’t interested given the number of other games it is, and had been working on. Fear not, Rockstar isn’t necessarily done with Bully, it just needs to find the time to make it.

Ah, summer camp. What person doesn’t remember the time they had in summer camp as a kid. How we didn’t really want it to end no matter how horrible it was it was better than going back to school.

But now you can relive those summer adventures on Gaia Online according to a message Christina Simmons, assistant account executive, public relations over at Mullens PR sent me.

I ventured over to Gaia Online to dress my avatar for camp and checked it out. When you log into Gaia Online you’ll notice a sign near your avatar for camp, you can join one of four camps to represent – Science Camp, Juvie Camp, Fitness Camp or Rich Camp. This isn’t your typical kayaking, kumbaya singing or marshmallow toasting summer camp. Oh, no. There’s plenty of mischievous rivalry going on at camp…

I suppose it’s better late than never in the case of Bully, which is finally going to be released in Japan on July 24, 2008. Bethesda Softworks will be publishing the PS2 Bully and the Xbox 360 Bully: Scholarship Edition overseas.

In case you’re curious, the PS2 version of Bully was released in the US, Europe and Australia in October, 2006. Bully: Scholarship Edition for the Xbox 360 hit those same countries in March, 2008. So it isn’t too bad a delay for the Xbox 360 edition, but very belated in the case of the PS2 one.

I wonder how this game is going to do overseas. It may sell well, but it might also touch a nerve. Bullying in schools in Japan is a sensitive issue…

An international coalition of teachers unions is protesting the re-release of Rockstar’s Bully: The Scholarship Edition for the Xbox 360 and Wii, The Globe and Mail reported.

he ESRB gave both versions of the game a “Teen” rating, which means the game is suitable for ages 13 and older. That’s one below the “Mature” rating for those 17 and older. But that didn’t stop the…

In a recent post at AfterElton.com entitled “The Week in Gay Geek”, writer LyleMasaki takes on the recent controversies surrounding the UK re-release of Bully and Fox News’ coverage of Mass Effect. LyleMasaki writes that the issues taken with Bully (thankfully) have nothing to do with the same-sex kissing in the game, but notes that the Fox News/Mass Effect fiasco was prompted by the (optional) queer content.

From the post:

“the lesbian-inclusive Mass Effect has become a target for conservative pundits. It started when one conservative news site claimed the game had “explicitly graphic” love scenes, with another columnist saying the game “can be customized to sodomize whatever, whoever, however the game player wishes”. Bastion of journalistic credibility, Fox News picked up the story, prompting (Mass Effect publisher) EA Games to demand a correction.”

Gamers who have never experienced Rockstar’s Bully will be given a second chance for this generation’s consoles, as 1UP recently reported that Rockstar will be porting the third-person simulator to the Xbox 360 and Wii consoles later this year (2008).

According to a 1UP preview, Bully: Scholarship Edition will sport improved graphics, additional content and in the case of the Wii, a different control scheme. Although graphical improvements are to be expected given that the original Bully was released for the PS2, Rockstar indicated that they do not intend to place unnecessary emphasis on the Wii’s motion control capabilities that ports (both good and bad) are notorious for, opting to use primarily analog and button controls.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Rockstar at the helm if they didn’t allow players to simulate fist fights with motion controls, which was demonstrated in a fight tutorial. Also exclusive to the updated port is a…

What in the world is Jack Thompson, an anti-game activist and Miami attorney, doing now? He’s not out on the streets warning parents about the evils of video games as usual or attacking the game industry. Apparently he’s trying to take down business who sell video games now according to a e-mails he’s sent to Joystiq.

Recently, Thompson arranged a stinging operation in which he sent his 15-year-old son into a Best Buy to purchase a copy of BioShock, an M-rated video game published by Take Two Interactive. When his son successfully walked out of the store with the game in his hand, Thompson was quick to…

Last Thursday (July 19, 2007) publisher Take Two announced that Rockstar’s popular and controversial adventure title Bully is Wii and 360 bound in an enhanced Scholarship Edition. Aside from promising additional new content and a Winter 2007 release date, details about the new versions are slim.

The original Bully took the PS2 by storm, offering GTA-style sandbox gameplay in a boarding school (and town) setting. Though it caused the usual Rockstar uproar about inappropriate content (especially because it starred a 15 year old kid and was set in a school), the storyline and characterizations were actually quite rich and warm. Protagonist Jimmy Hopkins could be a troublemaker, or an upstanding citizen, depending on how the player approached things.

What’s really interesting is the…