1P Start

Reports are all over the Internet today that the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition is basically broken, with gamers complaining that the game is prone to continually freezing up and suffering all kinds of glitches.

Rockstar may have released their first game which isn’t pleasing gamers everywhere, and the reason? Because due to a lazy development port from the Playstation 2 to the Xbox 360, and a massive failure in the Quality Assurance testing process, the game has been released on to the general public with faults which can kill the game, and certainly make it unplayable.

There were rumblings across various gaming forums about problems with the game, but until a poster on Neo-Gaf pulled all of those together, they were too spread to indicate a serious problem.

Then, gaming news site Kotaku got wind of the story, and used their power to bring the issue to the attention of Rockstar Games, who have issued a statement explaining the nature of the problem, and promising to work towards a solution.

Spokesman Sam Houser told them:

“We have just become aware of the issues people are having with Bully Scholarship Edition on Xbox 360. It appears that some older 360s are experiencing framerate issues, freezes and other problems. You have our word that we never experienced any of this in QA - in any of our offices or at Microsoft. I am horrified, and we are now working around the clock to rectify this situation.”

“Thanks to Neo-Gaf for bringing this matter to our attention. We love our games and put a huge amount of energy and care into making them all that they can be. We would never shove anything out the door - we never have and never will. We apologise to everyone affected for the inconvenience.”

I don’t really know what Rockstar games and Microsoft can do about the situation, short of recalling every game at their own cost, and going back to QA testing. Maybe it’s possible to release an issue solving patch via Xbox Live, although that wouldn’t suit everyone.

What’s clear is that this situation should never have occurred in the first place, and with the amount of resources at Rockstar’s disposals, a shoddy product should never have been allowed to enter the retail sector.

At least we can be thankful that due to the power of the Internet, the issue couldn’t be ignored due to a lack of cohesion amongst dissatisfied gamers, and that Rockstar were forced to respond to the issues quickly.