Wal-mart stops Bully pre-sales under pressure [Update 1]
by Kyle Orland 
{ Aug 17th 2006 at 4:25PM }
[Update: John Simley from Walmart media relations contacted Joystiq to clear up the ciircumstances behind the Bully pre-order situation. Simley said that Wal-mart policy is to not carry any unrated or Rating Pending games for pre-order or sale, in-store or online. This decision was made recently, Simley said, but just reflected on the web site starting this week, hence the pulling of Bully pre-orders. The policy is in response to consumer's concerns, Simley said, and had nothing to do with any letters or lawsuits from Jack Thompson.]UK news site The Register is reporting that Wal-Mart has stopped taking pre-orders for the controversial game Bully after a lawsuit filed by Jack Thompson in Florida circuit court named the retailer as a defendant. Thompson targeted the big box store for "recklessly pre-selling Bully to children with no age rating having even been affixed to the game."
Though Wal-mart wouldn't confirm to The Register that the halt was in response to the complaint, the timing is certainly suspect (we're still waiting for a response to a request for comment from Walmart). Thompson has also reportedly sent letters to Amazon and Toys R Us requesting they stop taking pre-orders for the game.
Thompson's argued that pre-selling Bully to children is "akin to a pharmaceutical company selling a new and controversial drug without prior FDA approval." This seems a little ridiculous to us -- assuming the game is rated M before its release (a relatively safe assumption), any store that took pre-orders could simply refund the money and refuse to give the game to any unaccompanied child that comes to pick it up. Preventing the 83 percent of console game purchasers that are adults from reserving a game just because children may try to get it seems to us like too draconian a response.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jecrell @ Aug 17th 2006 4:29PM
People shop at WalMart? God save us all.
--- @ Aug 17th 2006 4:31PM
Low low prices. I can't resist.
reebo @ Aug 17th 2006 4:32PM
"akin to a pharmaceutical company selling a new and controversial drug without prior FDA approval."
No, it's like pre-selling a game that hasn't been rated yet.
Todd @ Aug 17th 2006 4:32PM
Congratulations Jack! You've just shined the spotlight on this game and have insured that it will sell like crazy no matter how good it is. That's what controversy tends to do to something.
Vazel @ Aug 17th 2006 4:32PM
That guy is such a fucking dumbass.
Craig @ Aug 17th 2006 4:34PM
I've actually found a new respect for Walmart. Their site was the only one taking orders for the new Phoenix Wright shipment after Amazon delayed my order 3 weeks. Still can't see myself shopping at the actual store..Their selection is shit.
Gonzo @ Aug 17th 2006 4:37PM
Okay I'm starting to think that this Thompson d-bag works for Rockstar games. This is some great free advertising just before the game comes out. I just pre-ordered my copy just to make sure I get it and I know quite a few people who weren't all that interested in GTA San Andreas until this idiot made a big deal about the Hot Coffee. If he wants people to stop buying these games, he should just shut his stupid pie hole. What he and these other "morally superior" (yet socially intolerant/intolerable) morons have to realize is that these games do more to releave people of rage and frustration than build it.
Has he been disbarred yet?
OtakuCODE @ Aug 17th 2006 4:38PM
"akin to a pharmaceutical company selling a new and controversial drug without prior FDA approval."
...except for the fact that drugs can be dangerous and have a signficant impact on a persons life, whereas games are entertainment and do not affect people in any substantive way.
Am I the only one who finds the irony that Walmart was bullied by Thompson, an experienced and mean-spirited bully in every sense of the word, to stop preorders for a game called Bully? Someone else has to have noticed...
flyguy @ Aug 17th 2006 4:39PM
"I've actually found a new respect for Walmart. Their site was the only one taking orders for the new Phoenix Wright shipment after Amazon delayed my order 3 weeks. Still can't see myself shopping at the actual store..Their selection is shit."
Wal-Mart tries very hard and has put alot of money into their site. Amazon, well, can do anything they want because they're Amazon.
OtakuCODE @ Aug 17th 2006 4:41PM
Todd: Thompson is quite aware. He was the guy who got 2Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" album declared obscene and taken off the market (temporarily, until that was declared unconstitutional like everything else the unpatriotic and fascist Jack Thompson promotes always is). He is an old hand at this.
potato @ Aug 17th 2006 4:42PM
Did Jack Thompson just bully Wal Mart into taking Bully away?
My brain's about to explode.
ZB @ Aug 17th 2006 4:43PM
OtakuCODE, yeah, you just beat me (ha!) to it. Damn.
How does anyone know the age of people pre-ordering the game? Do the give credit cards out to people under 18 now? Do kids not lie about their age anymore?
I call shenanigans.
Seriously though, no one should ever shop at Wal-Mart in any way for any reason.
Jay @ Aug 17th 2006 4:44PM
I'm not sure this game will get an M rating ... it depends on the language. There's no blood, no sex, and if there is no language an M rating would be uncalled for ...
It should be rated soon making the suit moot. You know ... moot, kind of like Thompson.
chris w @ Aug 17th 2006 4:45PM
explain to me how being able to pre-order a game with a credit card is allowing minors to get this game. last time i checked, credit cards werent being issued to minors.
His premise is baseless becaouse I doubt parents would unkowingly say "okay" to their child if he asks for a pre-order to bully.
Dave @ Aug 17th 2006 4:46PM
Who cares if Wal-Mart refuses to sell Rockstar games? Kids know that, if they want to play for real, they can just buy a gun in the Wal-Mart Sporting Goods section and go nuts.
Jack Rosineau @ Aug 17th 2006 4:48PM
Yet again this issue comes up. The ONLY solution to this (and it is a very, very good one) is to GIVE THE ESRB LEGAL BACKING. Here in the UK it's illegal for a store to sell a BBFC rated game to a person under the age on the sticker.
Offenders could be fined or worse, lose their licence to do business. If this really was the case in the USA then these stupid news stories would stop, as would the people who stand up in court and testify against video games.
p-diddy @ Aug 17th 2006 4:55PM
Ummm, Jack, that is not the only solution. Here's another one: parents actually paying attention to what their kids buy and play.
*gasp* the horror!!
-p-
OTAM @ Aug 17th 2006 5:00PM
So kids are pre-ordering Bully?
Ok well,how do the kids get to Walmart,do 12 year olds walk up the highway to Walmart?Then,where does a kid get $50?
If the parents acted like parents then they would ask why their kid needs to goto Walmart and what they are using the money for. Then see what the game was when they had to drive the kid back up to Walmart to pick it up on release.
Of course that's not the way it goes,parents want games to babysit for them,so they need people like Jack Thompson to make sure there isnt content like this in the games so they can be assured that anything they grab off the shelf and give their kids is good without ever second glancing or researching about it.
OtakuCODE @ Aug 17th 2006 5:02PM
Jack Rosineau: America was founded upon the idea of giving the government as little power to use their guns against the citizens of the country as possible. While the great majority of us have since lost this vision, we're still not at the point where we think the guns of the government should be pointed at the head of a store owner just because they sold a videogame with some red pixels and artificial simulated violence between lifeless archetypal electronic representations of people to a kid.
Government is a gun. That is how they exert their power, and how their power is maintained. Any person should be less cavalier about giving them more of that power for less than a life-or-death reason.
Raz 4 life @ Aug 17th 2006 5:04PM
Parents make the difference!
IanC @ Aug 17th 2006 5:10PM
Walmart's page is back up
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3942977
Pash @ Aug 17th 2006 5:13PM
Jack Thompson can suck it.
Halladay @ Aug 17th 2006 5:22PM
Unless people are getting some killer pre-order goodies, why are people pre-ordering this? There'll probably be a zillion copies on shelves come release day.
abbas @ Aug 17th 2006 5:27PM
Why isn't Saints Row getting any attention? The demo is full of profanity and it can be downloaded by a 13 yr old.
Tyler @ Aug 17th 2006 5:29PM
Is this guy ever going to stop? Although I hate Wal-Mart as a rule, even I wouldn't expect them to so easily cave to something like this. People are giving Jack Thompson way too much weight to throw around by doing exactly what he wants, paying attention to him. The man is a useless spec on the Earth.
socrates @ Aug 17th 2006 5:32PM
Just wait until Hot Chocolate Milk hits. Naptime will never be the same again!!!!!
I really think the government should appoint a council of actual gamers who can explain simple facts to them that they might otherwise not get. Thus, someone would finally realize that "oh, you know that Hot Coffee thing? In order for someone to mod their PC or PS2 in order to actually access that little bit of deadend code, they would have to be so adept at computer knowledge that they could easily work around any parental control, and see full blown real porn by going to google images and searching...well...ANY FUCKING WORD."
Republicans! Ruining all the good shit.
ResidentGamer.com @ Aug 17th 2006 5:35PM
Jack has been sending us press releases all day yesterday. You should read ResidentGamer.com more often so you won't be a day late and a dollar short Joystiq.com
Jack-off Thompson @ Aug 17th 2006 5:35PM
Jack Thompson: Hey you Wal-Mart Exec, come here drop your pants and grab your ankles please.
Wal-Mart Exec: Yes sir.
Jack Thompson: Hey you Illegal alien heres $10 that should be enough for some KY get me tube por favor.
Illegal Alien: Si Senor
...........
Kaiser Soze @ Aug 17th 2006 5:35PM
4,5,7,8 I couldn't agree more with you. Especially you Vazel. Apparently Jack Thompson wants a Stalin alike communist society where big heads like... Well, Jack Thompson, tells you what is good and what is bad. Or what should be legal, and what shouldnt. I dont think he likes the idea of "A FREE CONTRY"... Like you said Vazel. That guy is a f...... d...a..
digitalFrequency @ Aug 17th 2006 5:36PM
hmm... he does have a point though. aren't pre-orders like 10 bucks and u pay the rest once you get the game? it's rather easy for underage kids to just slip in a $10 reservation payment... as for the comment about 12 year olds having 50 bucks on hand, while it might not be realistic for that to happen, it is highly probable that 14-16 year olds to have that kind of cash since they can be working some job at a movie theater or a supermarket.
so how can we solve this problem? it's not that bad with movies since you don't preorder tickets before a movie started (if you did, it'd be in person or over the internet requiring a credit card).
the easiest way to solve this problem is simply reject the final purchase of the game come release day to minors and refund their reservation hold. while this might seem problematic for game store reservation systems, it fixes the problem... and if the parent picks up the reservation for them, then it's not our problem anymore.
another way to resolve this is to have a pre-rating system... usually by pre-order sales, there is enough content to hopefully speculate a rating of a game and regulate reservation requirements from there.
don't get me wrong, i'm not a fan of jack thompson, but inside all his rants and raves from his megaphone called red herring, there are some niches and gaps that can be resolved in a not-so-extreme fashion.
otakucode @ Aug 17th 2006 5:42PM
digitalFrequency: A 14 or 16 year old with a... job? Are you high? Parents don't let their kids have jobs. They could be abducted, raped, killed, or, even worse, see a nipple if allowed to experience the real world. 14 to 16 year olds, like every kid under the age of 18, are micromanaged to an abusive degree nowadays with no less than a handful of extracurricular activities going at any one time. Kids that have an hour or two of free time in the evening are viewed as dangerous. Thanks to the media and parents own rampant unfounded paranoia, children are boxed up and insulted from the real world so completely that they graduate high school without knowing how to do their own laundry, cook for themselves, or even handle a knife without maiming themselves. That's speaking of 'normal' suburban kids, mind you, poor kids and neglected kids might get to have jobs and get a titanic jumpstart on life over the more 'well off' kids.
Lots of places have already or are currently moving to raise the driving age to 18. Teenagers are increasingly being infantilized, and belief that a violent videogame could so deeply disturb them that they would be driven to a life of crime is only part of that process.
Huzzah!! @ Aug 17th 2006 5:57PM
Geez who F-ing cares. It's just a game based on a kids movie. How bad could it be.
Todd @ Aug 17th 2006 6:01PM
"they graduate high school without knowing how to do their own laundry, cook for themselves, or even handle a knife without maiming themselves."
I would argue with you that this isn't the case until I moved into an apartment complex in a college town. I've seen students that can maintain a 4.0 average, but don't know that eggs go bad and you can't fill up a clothes dryer and expect it to work.
Ratchet the Lombax @ Aug 17th 2006 6:03PM
Oh well no big loss for me anyway as I can't remember when the last time I went to a spral-mart. If kids want the game they will get it it's not that hard. I will get the game for my son since he loves the GTA series so much he will like this one. Oh and he is only 10yrs old and I am fine with him playing these games. Mostly because he is raised to know the difference between right and wrong. Maybe MR. Thompson should stop pointing fingers at the game companies and start looking at the parents. There is violence and disturbing behavior in all forms of media be it games, movies or music so why just pick on one form. I think R* likes to see him coming, yes he is a little annoying but look at all the free publicity he brings to these games.
Ervin @ Aug 17th 2006 6:14PM
#1 doesnt wal-mart like sell more games then anyone else?
otakucode @ Aug 17th 2006 6:16PM
Huzzah!!: Bully is not based on a movie. And if it were based on the movie "Bully"... that's certainly not a kids movie! Some friends plot and kill a bully at their school... generally not considered kid-appropriate faire. If you were attempting to make a joke off "The Ant Bully" movie coming out soon... well, it was poorly formed and not very funny.
Ratchet the Lombax: Thank you for being a sane and good parent. Your kid will have a big advantage in the world over the little balls of ignorant fear being raised by other parents. My parents knew me and were quite lax with me about the movies I could watch when I was around that age and Rambo was my hero. To this day, I have never been in a fight, and I remember movies like the Rambo series, Red Dawn, and the like with great fondness.
Jabrwock @ Aug 17th 2006 6:54PM
Hate to call BS on Walmart (ha!), but over 300 games that are "Ratings Pending" are still available on Walmart's website, complete with pre-order buttons. Go to Walmart's website, click on any video game platform, and sort by "coming soon", "ESRB rating pending", and you'll see dozens of titles, each one you can pre-order.
So why was Bully the only "RP" game pulled from the catalog if it was a catalog-wide policy decision?
Ben @ Aug 17th 2006 8:36PM
otakucode: Are you high? Or just so naive and sheltered that you have absolutely no idea what goes on in the real world? I had a job when I was 16 and I was definitely not a "poor" or "neglected" kid. It's what normal kids do if they want money. Not everyone has parents like you described just because you and your friends do. Or if, God forbid, you actually are an adult, I sincerely hope you don't have kids because you obviously have no idea how to raise them. If kids under the age of 16 don't even get more than an hour of free time a day, why is it I see so many of them at malls, restaurants, on the street, etc. And yes, lots of kids go off to college and don't know how to do their laundry and cook. Why? Because they didn't want to learn how. My mom did all my laundry and cooked all my meals when I was growing up, but I still learned enough between home ec. classes and my own brain that I didn't "maim myself with a knife". Finally, your argument might earn you a little more respect if it didn't say that children are "insulted from the real world".
FSK405K @ Aug 17th 2006 9:25PM
Thank you, Jack Thompson.....I wasn't going to try the game, much less buy it. Now that you've got your panties in a bunch, I realized it's probably something I want to play and own. I just preordered it on another website a minute ago.
Evan @ Aug 17th 2006 10:02PM
The problem is that Walmart is the only store in many towns for people to buy games, music, and movies. Walmart does not sell some CDs because of explicit lyrics, and therefore many people don't have access to those CD. Because of their monopoly in many towns, Walmart can effectively censor what the residents can see and hear.
(Also, not everyone has a credit card and therefore cannot order online. For some, it's Walmart or nothing.)
jack thompson @ Aug 17th 2006 10:15PM
Wal-Mart stopped selling Bully in response to my suit, period. They had been preselling Bully with no rating for a year. They didn't know about their policy for a year? Please.
Jack Thompson
PS: It's my pleasure to stick it to this reckless retailer.
jack thompson @ Aug 17th 2006 10:17PM
By the way, it's fascinating that the cowards who run Joystiq can manage to dial up Wal-Mart but don't have the intestinal fortitude to call me. Figures.
Jack Thompson
Undertaker @ Aug 17th 2006 11:46PM
OH REALLY Jack, is that a fact?
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5065271
As they say, you sir, are a liar, and can go fuck yourself.
Consider yourself Pwned Bitch!
Undertaker @ Aug 18th 2006 5:48AM
Ohhh JACK? Look what I found.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3942977
Sorry jack, but your BS doesn't fly here.
Undertaker @ Aug 18th 2006 5:56AM
Oh, and Guess what,
Heres someone else whose selling it.
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=281319
So, are they next punk?
I'm looking forward to seeing you getting smacked down in court again, just like Alabama and Just like Louisiana.
jack thompson @ Aug 18th 2006 6:15AM
Dear Joystiq Chatroom Morons:
See if you can follow this, but I doubt it:
Wal-Mart was selling Bully until I came along. The sales have stopped. All of the links above that you weirdos have offered prove that. Look at the Wal-Mart link. It's not being sold anymore. Why? For the reason the Wal-Mart spokesman has given you jerks: They got caught selling it without an ESRB rating. And since you can't read things at any other site, here is a fact for you folks here: I have written two other retailers and asked them to stop selling Bully because it has no ESRB rating. That should occur shortly.
You all have been owned, not I. Jack Thompson
Ratchet the Lombax @ Aug 18th 2006 6:55AM
Gees real mature there Jakie boy. I was half supporting you on this particular issue because selling something before a rating has been determined is not a good ideal. Since the parents are unaware of the ratings before the preorder. But with all your name calling doesn't make you sound good. By name calling and such you don't lend any credibility to you cause. As far as Why the joystiq people won't call you, the way I see it is would you ask someone that calls you a jerk for their opinion. Remember you get more flies with honey than with vinegar. Not saying that the joystiq people are flies. Lastly why do you care what we "idiots" post in the comments section of a website run by "jerks". It must bother you alot since you post here alot.
P.S This is a comments section not a chatroom now who looks foolish?
Ross @ Aug 18th 2006 7:15AM
"You all have been owned, not I. Jack Thompson"
ROFLMAO *dies laughing*. Jack Thompson saying "Owned". Thank you Mr.Thompson, for making my day so early in the morning before school, I'm sure my friends will be amused by your oh silly antics. Also..
Jack Thompson, YOU are the coward!
Why? You've gotten Wal-mart to remove pre-sales of Bully, how could you be a Coward? Because...
YOU DON'T PICK ON ANY OTHER DEVELOPERS. If you say theres tons of Violent games, how about you..oh I don't know..do something about it? God of War! Resident Evil 4! Millions of games that can be accessed by children who have crappy parents.
But why don't you go after these developers? Simple, because you're scared. You're scared to mess with these people. It's alot easier to mess with Rockstar Games since they've been a scapegoat for politicians everywhere. It would be easy for someone of your stance to manipulate people into believing Rockstar Games is filled with evil people trying to turn our children in Terrorists. Its easy to convert the Ignorant, who have never played Grand Theft Auto, but shall believe anything you say, because you have grey hair and wear a suit.
Mr. Thompson, if you really want a career in this, please pick on some other developers too. With games like Dead Rising, God of War, Resident Evil 4, Hitman, you have alot of stuff to mess with. Don't be a Coward. Oh..
For the sake of your children, stop. I'm pretty sure your son is going to get bullied if people find out his dad is Jack Thompson. So for him, please stop being such a douche bag?
-Ross Castro
Undertaker @ Aug 18th 2006 7:58AM
So, lets see, A quick check on the Retail radar shows the following.
1. Walmart, expects first bully shipment on the 15, at mindnight, for sale the next tame.
2. Best Buy, Same story.
3. Same for Game stop and eb games.
4. Game crazy, Expects first shimpment on the 16 and will start selling on the 17.
5. Only retailer who is not known is circuit city, but then again, video games is not as big a part of there bussiness as it is other stores.
6. Also, target is an unknown factor, as they have a very limited video game selection to begin with, and most of it's usually family friendly.
So, that pretty much shows you to be a lair and a fraud jack, but then again, thats no suprise now is it.
If your wondering were I got this info, It's simple. I have a friend who runs the local gamestop, another who works at game crazy, and my cousin is in retail back in my home town. I had them investigate this for me through the retail channels. The result? It's what you see above.
As I said jack. Consider yourself PWNED, Bitch!
Undertaker @ Aug 18th 2006 8:07AM
Oh and Jacky boy, heres something else. Remember your little feud with Amazon, maybe you should start that back up.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=br_ss_hs/002-3101313-2820824?platform=gurupa&url=index%3Dblended&keywords=Bully&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
Seems amazon is selling the game as well. Oh, and since you like to tout your "Victories" all the time, how bout this little reminder of the massive failure that was your book?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1414304420/sr=8-1/qid=1155902593/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3101313-2820824?ie=UTF8
Heres a recap since I know you failred general reading comprehension as well,
Book status: 143,000 in books at current.
Lowest rank in books: 550,000 or lower
Now, by way of comparison.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593075413/sr=1-1/qid=1155902716/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3101313-2820824?ie=UTF8&s=books
Penny arcades second book: Current status? 421 in books overall.
Thats right jack, a couple moron Gamers have a more popular book then you, buy over a hundred and thirty thousand ranks.
Your a failure jack, and this is just a last desperate bid to stay in the spot light.
Oh, and BTW, Adam sessler Pwned your ass on G4.
Fuck off and get lost, we don't want you HERE!