Maker Defends School 'Bully' Video Game

In this undated handout image released by Rockstar, a still scene from the videogame "Bully" is shown. Rockstar Games is set to release a new title on Tuesday called "Bully" where players assume the role of Jimmy Hopkins, a 15-year-old wannabe tough guy who thinks he's the big fish in the pond, until he enters Bullworth Academy. (AP Photo/Rockstar) (AP)

Earlier this week, he persuaded a circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County to play "Bully" himself and determine if it should be sold to minors.

"The premise of Bully is that it is sometimes acceptable to deal with bullying by becoming the ultimate bully," Thompson wrote in his complaint. "This was the dynamic at Columbine. It has been the dynamic in other tragic instances of school violence."

The judge ultimately saw no reason to restrict sales and dismissed the complaint on Friday.

Rockstar was embroiled in a different ratings controversy last year after a hacker uncovered a hidden sex scene in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

Meanwhile, several pending lawsuits blame Rockstar and parent company Take Two Interactive Software Inc. for real acts of violence.

Last month, relatives of three people slain by a 14-year-old on newsman Sam Donaldson's New Mexico ranch sued Rockstar for $600 million, claiming the crimes would not have occurred had the teenager never played the violent game.

Another $600 million case in Alabama against Rockstar, Take-Two and Sony blames "Grand Theft Auto" for the 2003 murders of two police officers and a dispatcher at a rural police department.

In both cases, Thompson is the attorney for the plaintiffs.

Joan Bertin, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship in New York, said newer forms of media have always been targeted for society's problems _ because they're new.

Comic books were blamed for juvenile delinquency in the 1950s, and similar arguments have been raised over the years against rock and rap music, she said.

"It presents the perfect irony about censorship," she said. "People who want to censor things don't really think about them. They just want the subject off limits. They're into creating taboos."

The game's producer, Jeronimo Barrera, said "Bully" influences came from Hollywood movies such as "Sixteen Candles" and novels like J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" _ a coming-of-age book that has been one of the most banned since it was first published more than 50 years ago.

"We want to be on the same equal footing with other media because then we wouldn't be having all these problems that we have with our critics," Barrera said.

Controversy won't end with "Bully." Coming up in a few weeks is "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories" for Sony's PlayStation Portable system. And sometime late next year, Rockstar plans to release "Grand Theft Auto IV" for the new generation of consoles from Sony and Microsoft Corp.

A visit to the Manhattan headquarters of Rockstar Games reveals a playful, laid-back workplace that typifies many other video-game offices.

Employees in jeans, sneakers and T-shirts ride their bicycles on the hardwood floors or bounce a basketball, maneuvering between stacks of cardboard boxes. Vintage arcade machines line one wall, while in the distance employees in cubicles hover over their computers.

The developers at Rockstar may be the ones feeling bullied, but they vow to continue making the games on their own terms.

"We usually pick things that are really difficult to do," Barrera said. "In this case, it was the experience of your school days in this living breathing world. We're not the types that do market research. It's more from the heart. We have a passion for what we do."