Nintendo Wii Fanboy

When will the UK stop freaking out about Bully? If you guessed "Never," "Probably not anytime soon," "Not in this lifetime," or "Is that a rhetorical question?" then you're on the right track.

The newest slew of censorship whinings stemmed from a commercial for the game, which some people found "offensive," "distasteful," and (insert negative adjective here). The ad featured typical Bully shenanigans: destruction of property, wedgies, and so forth. The Advertising Standards Authority received thirty-one complaints about the commercial in question, as a handful of folks were upset that children could easily see it on their tellies.

Take Two blames sensationalist media coverage for the complaints, and as for the ASA? They don't seem too worried, as the organization declined to take any action regarding the ad. Even so, Take Two has no plans to run it again in the future.

To see the "offensive" commercial for yourself, just click past the break.

Poor Rockstar -- the games publisher and developer just can't get any love in the U.K. Britain not only bullied Bully the first time around, forcing the game to change its name to Canis Canem Edit, but The Telegraph is now criticizing the new Wii and Xbox 360 versions. The latest gripe comes fresh after the Manhunt 2 controversy, which has yet to be resolved completely.

The Telegraph disapproves of the game because it "features a shaven-headed pupil who torments fellow students and teachers at his school." Like many video game critiques, this opinion is mostly inaccurate and also alarmist. An organization known as BeatBullying is also unhappy with the new Bully, claiming that Rockstar tried to bribe them for their support with a donation. Certain retailers like PC World and Currys refuse to even carry the game.

Rockstar is known for pushing the envelope with edgy games, but we have to imagine that they're tired of all these headaches by now. We know we certainly are.

Over the years, the games industry has developed the irritating habit of cramming all of its best software into the last three months of the calendar year. The inevitable result of this is the dreaded post-Christmas lull, whereby the first quarter of the following year is severely lacking in noteworthy titles.

Despite this trend, Q1 2008 content on the Wii looks good. Like, really good. And as if No More Heroes, SEGA Superstar Tennis, The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, Harvest Moon Heroes, SEGA Bass Fishing, and some Nintendo fighting game you may have heard something about weren't enough to placate the Wiimote-wielding masses, now GameStop has Rockstar's Bully: Scholarship Edition listed for a U.S. release on March 3rd.

Which is awesome news, if it turns out to be true. Now all we need to do is convince Take-Two that the Wii is worthy of receiving some GTA lovin'.

[Via Go Nintendo]