I laid into the kid with a flurry of punches, including a punishing uppercut I'd been taught by an alcoholic Vietnam vet. Wham, wham, wham: Pretty soon I'd pummeled my opponent into the ground. And for my brutal finishing move?

I leaned over and gave him a hand up. I lectured him about the importance of not bullying defenseless kids, and he apologized, promising that he wouldn't be such a meanie any more.

So starts a slightly spoiler-ridden, but very good article about the truth of Bully (Canis Canem Edit if you're nasty), Rockstar's latest progeny. The thrust of the piece is clear: by reacting solely to the title of the game, all those protesters and Jackasses were only setting themselves up for embarrassment. In Bully, you are not the bully. You're morally sound. You get in trouble for hitting girls.

So what does this say about Rockstar? I posit that this was some serious ninja shit by the R* boys, and that they knew exactly what they were doing with this title, and the near complete dearth of actual marketing. I think they knew that all they had to do was whisper the sweet B word into the ether, and it would eventually reach the right ears: ears attached to empty heads and load mouths. And I'm not talking about bloggers, shockingly.

Rockstar has struck a huge blow for the cause. They gave the enemy a shovel and just watched them dig. When the game comes out it will be important to keep covering it, rubbing it in that the Jackasses were wrong.

We have an opportunity here to take some serious territory. Don't let me down. Eliza Gauger

Bully for You [Wired]

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