Jack Thompson has filed a petition asking Wal-Mart and Take-Two to give him an advance copy of Bully so he can assess the game.
The petition filed with the 11th Judicial Circuit Court asks Wal-Mark and Take-Two to give Thompson an advance copy of Bully in order for him to carry out an independent third-party assessment of the game. This assessment will determine whether or not the game constitutes a public nuisance in Florida and therefore could be banned.
"If Bully is indeed safe for children's play, then petitioner will be the first to say so," Thompson said. "If it is not, then not only will the underlying action be brought sounding in Florida nuisance law, but also possibly and most likely in fraud as well."
AdvertisementThompson is angry that Wal-Mart has been taking pre-orders for Bully even though the game is yet to receive a rating from the ESRB.
"The ESRB refuses to say and appears to be withholding from the public the rating of the game in order to quell controversy for its corporate collaborator, Take-Two," said Thompson. "This withholding of rating information from the public about a game that the ESRB has had for over a year is outrageous, made more so by the fact that Wal-Mart is actually pre-selling Bully with no rating whatsoever for the game, to anyone of any age!"
Thompson later likened the act taking Bully pre-orders to a "pharmaceutical company selling a new and controversial drug without prior FDA approval." He also accused Take-Two of starting "a new wave of successfully orchestrated harassment" against him.
Bully is scheduled for release in October exclusively for the PlayStation 2.
Exnor wrote at 13:34 on 17 August 2006
This guy is seriously messed up :/
Comparing un-approved contravertial drugs to a video game - how can he be serious?
Mozz wrote at 13:37 on 17 August 2006
How can a game actually be considered a public nuisance?
TomO wrote at 13:45 on 17 August 2006
I think he secretly loves games and is just trying to get hold of the game early.
xboxer wrote at 09:46 on 18 August 2006
i think hes speaking a load of tosh,
Personally speaking i can't wait to get my hands on it, from rockstars past games (excluding table tennis) they are on to a good thing yet again, I suspect the sales are going to be massive :) good on ya guys for breaking from the norm and trying to bring something different to the gaming masses. I'm sure your bank accounts will more than reflect this :p