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Rockstar "Horrified" By Xbox 360 Bully: Scholarship Edition Issues

ROCKSTAR APOLOGIESWe wrote earlier today of the issues surrounding the Xbox 360 version of Bully: Scholarship Edition, hoping to get a statement from Rockstar Games on the status of either a fix or a replacement plan for those affected. For those not up to speed, the 360 port is reportedly plagued with freezing issues and audio glitches in addition to a less than solid frame rate. Rockstar issued a statement tonight, saying the staff was "devastated" to learn of the issues surrounding the Bully port, something they say didn't come up in the QA process.

Their full statement follows.

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. Respectfully, Sam Houser

We'll let you know of any future developments on the Xbox 360 edition of Bully: Scholarship Edition and hope that Rockstar Games and Microsoft will do their best to address fan concerns swiftly.

9:00 PM on Wed Mar 5 2008
By Michael McWhertor
31,520 views
144 comments

Comments

  • Image of Shindokie Shindokie at 09:17 PM on 03/05/08 *

    Hopefully they don't go the way of Activision and GH3. THis better be fixed sooon because glitches can be fun for so long.

  • Image of slomo788 slomo788 at 09:19 PM on 03/05/08 *

    Older 360s? Hmm.

  • I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, because Rockstar really are a great company who clearly love games for the sake of games, in my opinion.

  • So it sounds like an issue that only affects older 360 hardware revisions? I can believe that, though what I can't believe is Microsoft's certification process being so slack as to allow that to pass by.

  • i smell recall :P

  • Image of slomo788 slomo788 at 09:20 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @karmakid: ... TOTAL Recall!

  • Seems at least like they really are sorry. Ah well, im sure they'll make it up to the people who bought this. Just hang in there guys.

  • Why do a recall? The 360 can go online and has a Hard-Drive (except for the Arcade version but that shouldn't exist anyways so I'm not counting that) A patch via X-Box Live will do the trick, and no disc returns needed.

    I'll take Rockstar's word on this though.

  • ...nice that they seem sorry, but how the hell did it slip out this badly in the first place?

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:23 PM on 03/05/08 *

    See all you Playstation haters who make it out like the PS3 is the one at fault for all the bad ports. The 360 is capable of getting bad ports, too. And this is a port of a PS2 game. Very weird, but yeah, I hope that this makes people realize that just because a port doesn't work out doesn't mean it's the fault of the system.

  • Have to give Rockstar the benefit of the doubt here. Hopefully fixing this doesn't cause them too many headaches.

  • Image of slomo788 slomo788 at 09:25 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @KaneRobot: Maybe they didn't test it on old consoles. I don't think I saw this when I skimmed through IGN's rather positive review of the game either.

    @baked ham: Thank you! Even PC games can suffer from Xbox ports, even though the hardware requirements are much higher than other games of better quality.

  • I'll give Rockstar the benefit of the doubt. They are a fantastic company and I'm sure they'd never let anything like this slip if they knew.

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:25 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @baked ham: Wait, I just read the press release. They're saying that this problem is only on older 360s? So it is the hardware's fault? That's really really REALLY weird. Why would the hardware of older model 360's be cauing this kind of behavior? I thought all 360's were the same except for power comsumption (and thus heat generation and ventilation)... What could be causing older generation 360's to be unable to play this game without glitching?

  • @baked ham: Um, did you read anything in the post? It is 100% the fault of the system. OLD 360's specifically.

  • i don't see any reason that they would need to rush a port of a game from almost 2 years ago. i don't think anyone was waiting with bated breath and i doubt this game was meant to figure heavily in their bottom line, so i'm inclined to actually believe them on this one. if it's region free and they fix these things up, i may pick the game up.

  • God bless Costanza. And McWhertor too.

  • @baked ham: Nice try, but these seem more like genuine technical issues than having framerate issues because the hardware architecture is all zany. Rockstar did not intend for the game to go out this way - stuff like those EA games and Orange Box on the PS3 were not followed by a "we're sorry" from the companies putting them out.

    Of course the 360 is "capable" of getting bad ports, but citing this as an example (and I can see you were anxious to be able to say that) is pretty misguided.

  • This bit of news just brought a smile to teachers in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, South Korea, the Caribbean and Jack Thompson.

  • @ChaosBahamut: Not every 360 owner has broadband internet. And if you're a 360 owner who doesn't have broadband internet, what sort of game are you going to buy for the system? That's right! Single player games. Like...Bully, almost.

  • I need to pick this game up, god I do love gamefly. I do give rockstar some credit in trying to rectify the situation. I am wondering though if they have any old consoles in the studio to test on, it seems now days that studios are looking for the newest hardware they can get their hands on and forgetting the original release equipment.

  • Sounds like someone asked for a faaavorrr...

  • @Foggynotion: Um, do you believe everything companies say about their products? I bought my machine less than six months ago; it has the new graphics chip.

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:30 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @Foggynotion: I corrected myself, if you didn't notice. Saying "Hey, I actually decided to read the press release... blahblablah"

    Yeah. Still, my point resonates. And this isn't really the hardware's fault. It's something else's fault. The capability of the machine is identical, so it's not like it's the fault of the architecture for making the game unplayable. It must be heat generation that's causing glitching. Either that, or Rockstar is full of shit. Because why would a port of a PS2 game cause so much heat that systems glitch up? The whole thing has me so confused & umcomfortable I don't know what to do! I was actually interested in playing Bully for the first time, but I guess I'll have to pass on it for now.

  • @backflip10019: Kudos to Costanza!

  • Sombody is getting fired.

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:32 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @KaneRobot: Well my Mass Effect froze and glitched on my a few times. Other people never reported problems with that. I was playing a brand new 360 that I just got right before Mass Effect came out, and it was manufactured in September 2007. Why did I have issues with it, but not everybody had issues?

    I almost find it hard to believe and accept that this problem is only on older machines. How would they even know that, for one?

  • Sigh and i'm still waiting for an NTSC-J release to actually play it. I mean GTA4 got approved here, Rockstar, can't you bring Bully too?

  • @baked ham: The Wii version is fine.

    I also imagine the 360 version is basically alright and this is just another example of the internet getting all uppity like with the Bioshock aspect ratio and the pre-beta Halo 3 lack-of-anti-aliasing.

  • Rockstar: Boo Microsoft, somehow there are older 360's that actually work?

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:35 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @KaneRobot: Hmm. I was anxious? I wasn't anxious to say anything. I wasn't misguided either. But it did pop into my head to say, thus I said it. I don't take it back either. But, um... does anybody find it odd that the "older 360s" are being blamed here? I think it's a cop-out. It was a bad port and OF COURSE they're not going to admit that.

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:36 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @dowingba: You could be right. I didnt play this game, and for all I know I could play it and have no hitches whatsoever. That'd be cool.

  • Hmm - Well, I'm glad I didn't pick it up today as I intended - I guess I'll wait this out. Still need to finish Vice City Stories first anyway...

  • @Lezard: @slomo788: @Foggynotion:

    This doesn't make sense. Dev kits *are* old X360s. A lot of them date back to before production models even. Test kits are pretty much identical to Rev 1 hardware. In fact, they are engineered to be. It's not like their Xenon kits are all brand-new falcon boards.

  • Image of baked ham baked ham at 09:39 PM on 03/05/08 *

    I now opt out of this discussion, because I just realized how totally irrelevent to me it is. I have not played the game, I won't anytime soon, and I don't particularly care if it was a good port, bad port, or the fault of the 360 that this doesnt work, or the fault of Rockstar, or the fault of EA that their games aren't as good on PS3 as 360, or the fault of the PS3, or whatever. None of it is important. From what Ive gathered, the PS3 and 360 are both capable of running beautiful games, but apparantly the PS3 is hard to develop for, the older 360s are wonky, and no developer is perfect. That explains everything!

  • Image of Sigma-D Sigma-D at 09:40 PM on 03/05/08 *

    There are many third-party companies I respect, but the one I respect the most is Rockstar. Who else would make a statement THE SAME DAY that they received the email? Rockstar would, Rockstar would...

  • @baked ham: I posted it a minute after you. Wouldn't have called you out if I saw you next post. I've just been noticing a lot of people posting who don't even bother to read the article. McWhertor works hard dammit, best read his prose.

    @Campion: I clearly don't. Look right above to see why I even bothered in the first place. But to be honest, Rockstar is one of the few companies that has earned my trust. Rockstar and Enron.

  • Lets hope they fix it. Bully for 360 looks great, and I'd hate to have to settle for the PS2 version, even if that is probably the most balanced and lovingly crafted version.

    I'm waiting before I plunk down cash.

  • Image of slomo788 slomo788 at 09:42 PM on 03/05/08 *

    @ludwigk: From what the article says, the game has problems on some old 360 models. The Rockstar guy also said that he's sorry that the glitches made it through their testing process. I think it's pretty safe to assume that they didn't test the old models, or didn't test them properly. Logic 101.

  • Well, I'm just glad that they're aware of the situation and hopefully they're working on some kind of plan to rectify this issue.

  • I plan on getting my hands on this game as soon as I get my... 4th new 360.

    I just wish Insomniac gave a crap about Ratchet & Clank Future's bugs.

  • I'm inclined to believe that they didn't push out this product before all bugs were adressed, and that these issues are new to their QA people. rockstar has always put a lot of effort into maintaining a high level of quality, despite a few minor bugs (clipping etc) in past gta titles. the ps2 version of bully was pretty solid. hope they can figure this out.

  • You know what? I believe them. Bout time we heard some honesty from a video game company.

  • Explains why the intro movie looked choppy and had tearing and the lockup I experienced about an hour in. lol

    Glad to hear it's at least identified as an issue.

  • Hmm...why would it only effect when played on older 360s? Certainly they're just as poweful as new ones...and Bully's hardly Oblivion...how odd.

  • Well I have to disagree with his statement 'It appears that some older 360s are experiencing framerate issues, freezes and other problems.' I have a Halo 3 Edition less than 6 months old and it has the same issues my buds are. So wouldn't it be easier to say most 360's are affected? Hopefully we will have a solution soon.

  • i thought the intro seemed kinda skippy...

  • Corporate sabotoge by EA to lower the companie's value in preparation for their takeover!

  • I have a 2 month old elite... same problems. Old 360s my lily white arse.