It is Friday. Bully has come out in Europe and, thanks largely to the tireless efforts of closet panty-wearer Jack Thompson, I have gone from disinterested in what appeared to have been one of Rockstar's throwaway games to very in the blink of an email icon proclaiming me the threatened subject of another of Jack's baseless lawsuits. So what the hell do you think I'm playing this weekend?

I find it decent so far. I'm not quite so enamored of it as Eliza is: to me, it seems relatively clear that it was toned down thanks to the publicity. Yet I also suspect that it's a better game for the outside scrutiny: it certainly does seem to me to be the last gasp of the GTA engine, wrapped up in slightly different trappings. I wouldn't be surprised if this was intended as a disposable Rockstar title. Yet the scrutiny, I think, helped focus it; they seemed to realize that the controversy meant that, no matter what they did with the content, the game needed to be excellent and well-written. And it is well-written. Like Crecente, I find the game's message — if there is meant to be one &mdash' rather muddled; Jimmy Hopkins seems rather transparently tamed. Luckily, I can forget all that, because it has a strong antagonist. Gary? A total fucking cunt.

What about you? What are you playing this weekend? Is it all Bully? Or have less high profile titles sneaked into your list? Florian Eckhardt

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