British Ratings Guy Defends Bully, Ratings
Well, the forces of reason and reasonableness have won a minor triumph over the footmen of knee-jerk hysteria and uninformed interest-group chicanery this week as a high-profile ratings board member stepped forward to defend Bully. Gianni Zamo, senior examiner for the British Board of Film Classification went out of his way to stand by both the game and its rating – Canis Canem Edit, as the game is known in Europe, earned a 15 age rating from the BBFC. Zamo derided the wanton child-ruining effects some well-meaning but ignorant parties foresaw in the wake of the game’s release:
“Often the truth is far less dramatic than the myth that’s put around it… Certainly Canis Canem Edit is not the monster, demon game that’s going to turn our children into horrific and violent individuals.”
Zamo, one of the few public figures who appears to have any familiarity with the game whatsoever (it is, after all, his job), points out that, to the contrary, Bully is neither graphic nor gratuitously violent (unlike many, many games that don’t get lobbied against):
“It’s much more considered in its approach I would say, and quite carefully balanced in terms of what you can get away with as this character and the consequences of anything you might do… It’s not just a free-for-all, go out and kick the living daylights out of everybody – there are penalties for engaging in anti-social behaviour, so I think Rockstar have been careful to balance it out in that respect.”
Bully for that, Mr. Zamo! Of course, none of this stopped politicians from being stupid asshats, but whatcha gonna do?
BBFC defends Canis Canem Edit rating [GamesIndustry.biz]
tiny dancer
Posted to Video Games on 7 December 2006
Other stuff like this: bully, canis canem edit, ps2, rockstar games, sony, uk
