Rockstar working 'around the clock' to quell 360's Bully issues

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Mar 6th 2008 at 7:20AM }

Having forked over their precious lunch money to recent current-gen graduate, Bully: Scholarship Edition, some Xbox 360 owners have expressed dissatisfaction with the game's technical performance. Though it's unclear whether the issues are widespread, several forum users have noted unsteady framerates, audio glitches and freezing within Rockstar's school daze sim.

The company has issued a statement in response to online complaints, vowing to work "around the clock to rectify this situation." A "horrifed" Rockstar president, Sam Houser, pinned the blame on "some older 360s," explaining that none of the technical issues occurred during the game's QA phase. "We would never shove anything out the door - we never have and never will," said Houser. "We apologise to everyone affected for the inconvenience."

Tags: Bully, Bully-Scholarship-Edition, Glitches, Ports, Rockstar, Take-Two

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Marry me Mario @ Mar 6th 2008 7:41AM

If this game has so many bugs in it, how did it get released? What were the testers and quality control personnel doing exactly? I thought Rockstar was better than this.

A monumental fuckup that is bound to fall on several people.

C'mon Rockstar....you can do better than this.

Prick @ Mar 6th 2008 7:55AM

Did you even read the newspost?

Marry me Mario @ Mar 6th 2008 9:53AM

If it is the older 360's that have the problem fine. But should the NOT test the game on ALL variations of hardware just to be safe?

Amazing I critisize a 3rd party company yet you yolkles still vote me down. Bitter, little fanboys you are.

Andy S. @ Mar 6th 2008 2:03PM

It's hard to test on all older variants of the hardware if that older hardware has RRODed. And considering that most of the consoles Rockstar owns are likely used for QA, they're probably running at least 40 hours a week, and would have died (and been replaced) a long time ago.

Or do you know of a super-secret cache of working first-batch 360s somewhere?

Burnt Meatloaf @ Mar 6th 2008 3:53PM

@Marry me Mario: If you think multiple SKUs is bad, how about multiple manufacturing batches?

If developers do silly things with the hardware, even tiny timing issues will result in odd behavior and even crashes. Rockstar has some work to do.

To be fair, a few other 360 games have had issues with older consoles, but really, chronic problems are almost always caused by sloppy coding and not following the specs.

jefffff @ Mar 6th 2008 10:30PM

What do they mean by older consoles. I have an elite and my game just forze. AGAIN. Does it mean pre-falcon?

Brucie B @ Mar 6th 2008 7:45AM

Just Blame the 360 why don't ya!

naxe @ Mar 6th 2008 9:20AM

yea iam just glad its not the Ps3 for a change.

its funny how everyone is quick to point the finger. everyother game works fine. but they want everyone to believe older 360's are the cause. It's called being LAZY and doing a half-ass'd port of a Ps2 game.

i don't expect much from rockstar. i love their games. but i come to expect bugs and glitches.

Matt B @ Mar 6th 2008 9:44AM

PS2 more powerful than 360 confirmed.

klitorisaurus @ Mar 7th 2008 12:06AM

Ha! Yeah I wonder if the MS fanboys over at gametrailers.com will make 360 vs. Ps2 showdown video?!

Nigeria: the graphics have amazing gameplay @ Mar 6th 2008 7:55AM

A glitchy port for a glitchy console.

Does the Wii version suffer from this, I was thinking of getting it when I got some money.

D_Average @ Mar 6th 2008 9:40AM

nope, wii version runs great!

dave smith @ Mar 6th 2008 7:59AM

I like to see a President respond in this way; nice job. EA, are you taking notes? So, what's the difference between the old and new 360's?

eight @ Mar 6th 2008 8:24AM

You like to see a response like this? He tried to say "my bad" but then turned around and blamed hardware. He didn't take responsibility for their huge error.

I have a near launch console and it plays all my games just fine. Does Bully have some Mystical powers that only consoles bought in the past 6 months utilize?

onesidezero2481 @ Mar 6th 2008 8:33AM

what a disappointment... already traded my 360 copy in with Frontlines for Army of Two.

baby sea tuna @ Mar 6th 2008 8:35AM

Just out of curiosity, how much of a hit did you take on that one-day-old game?

Also, how is AoT?

onesidezero2481 @ Mar 6th 2008 8:51AM

ha dude at gamestop it was already down to $20!!! but i ended up getting $25 out of it cuz i traded in 2 360 games. some kinda deal going on...

as for army of two... i highly recommend it. just made it through somalia, afghanistan, and some of iraq last night and it is everything i'd hoped it would be. make sure you play with another person though... i played a little with an a.i. partner and he is retarded. humans FTW!!!!!

Marry me Mario @ Mar 6th 2008 10:00AM

FYI,

If you complain to the manager that you got the game as a gift and it is STILL in new condition...he will give you FULL credit for it. Trust me, inventory is inventory whether it is defective or not. All the manager has to do is send it back to corportate on his next defective shipment.
If that does not work...ask for the DM's number. You will definently get a FULL refund.
But if somehow that fails...call 1-817-424-2000 and complain that you were NOT taken care of by the manager or the DM. Make sure to get the store number and the district number from the manager and or district manager 1st.

I used to be a DM for this company and I know 1st hand that the managers are told as are the DM's that unless it involves CASH....do what the customer asks.

I hope this helps.

Saneless @ Mar 6th 2008 10:41AM

I never understand why people do this. If you went on amazon or Ebay you could've gotten $40, but I guess getting 40% less is easy to do when you're lazy.

onesidezero2481 @ Mar 6th 2008 11:09AM

@saneless

i did it cuz i wanted army of two yesterday and my little experience with ebay has been less than stellar... i know i took a loss but it helped me get army of two without paying any "money". so mind your own business and continue to shop victoriously my mannnnnn

@marry me mario

thanks a lot man... very helpful. only problem is they know me so well in there and its typically the same guys working everyday. but i will try...

Marry me Mario @ Mar 6th 2008 11:47AM

oneside,

If you are a regular then the manager should definitely take care of you, just tell him what I told you. If not, go to a different Gamestop...they are everywhere.

I was once forced by Corporate to give a FULL store credit refund to a customer who brought in a N64 with NO BOX, and the system was clearly used and dirty. The serial #'s matched up so Corporate decided to appease the customer. They will do almost ANYTHING to keep the customer happy. After you get your way you will get the standard line of "we will do this for you just one time" which means until you bring us something else.

baby sea tuna @ Mar 6th 2008 8:35AM

Huh...I guess I'm glad I didn't pick this up the other day, then. Anyway, with Smash Bros. Sunday and Condemned 2 next week, something tells me it'll all be okay.

onesidezero2481 @ Mar 6th 2008 8:35AM

i've heard on neogaf the wii version is fairly bug free... you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

other than how you're going to have time to play it with smash bros. brawl right around the corner... :)

Brodie-san @ Mar 6th 2008 9:06AM

Someone in QA is going to get a *beating*. They only tested it on the newer 360 model?

Seriously people, you can't blame the 360 on that. The game should have been tested on all known versions.

And this is coming from a PS3 "fanboy". You can't pin blame on a machine you didn't bloody test it on (and should have).

Brucie B @ Mar 6th 2008 9:36AM

Dude do you get it?
They shouldn't have to test it on a launch & new console. There the SAME. (besides minor updates)

jefffff @ Mar 6th 2008 9:09AM

How is this not widespread. It is mentioned as the biggest factor in the 1up review.

Godmil @ Mar 6th 2008 9:18AM

I wouldn't have thought there would be any technical difference between the Xbox models. I wonder what is causing this.

kyle @ Mar 6th 2008 9:53AM

That is bullshit, older xbox 360's?????

My bully copy has frozen like 20 times in two days with a handful of graphic glitches, on my Xbox 360 elite, HARDLY an older xbox 360!

ChooChooCharlie @ Mar 6th 2008 6:24PM

How old is your elite? Because I got my premium in October of last year - hopefully that's "new" enough. I was going to get Bully this weekend, but now I'm worried.

kyle @ Mar 6th 2008 10:07PM

Don't get me wrong...You should definetly get the game, its only 49.99 and it fucking rocks. Its frozen on me a couple times but its one of the best games I have played in a long time.

I got my system in a little less than a year ago

Blazur @ Mar 6th 2008 10:02AM

Is it really possible that older versions of the 360 could lead to unstable performances in games? I'm no console developer, but I have a hard time accepting that. Unless there were major firmware upgrades, it would same a game would perform the same on all generations of the 360.

Jason @ Mar 6th 2008 10:16AM

Thats funny, it ran fine on my PS2 almost 2 years ago...

Saneless @ Mar 6th 2008 10:44AM

Well I guess there's hope yet for my getting this game if they fix the framerate issues. It never should've happened to begin with, though.

bendak @ Mar 6th 2008 10:48AM

I have 8 hours played on it so far without a single freeze or "significant" glitch of any kind. There was never anything that prevented me from continuing the game or having to re-load or anything. My 360 is a launch unit without having any RROD yet so I am not sure what he means by older 360s... mine is as old as you get (manufactured september 2005!!)

KindaGamey @ Mar 6th 2008 11:14AM

I think I crashed once, but that was it. That game is really fantastic, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

Should developers really be concerned about 'older models' since the hardware is supposedly the same? Isn't that like saying we tested the 2007 Prius for airbag protection but we didn't test the OLDER 2007 Priusi?

Well, I guess I answered my own question -- they should. But it sounds like Houser was really taken aback and was genuinely embarrassed. Give em a break. They will be anointed kings when GTA IV comes out.

Co @ Mar 6th 2008 11:36AM

Microsoft is to blame. There shouldn't even be multiple SKUs.

freecajunlove @ Mar 6th 2008 11:37AM

Stay on topic or leave

Babel @ Mar 6th 2008 12:18PM

Actually, just leave.

freecajunlove @ Mar 6th 2008 11:36AM

Interesting... First MLB 2K8 is released with serious glitches, and now Bully... Maybe it is old hardware...

Jeffrey Morgan @ Mar 6th 2008 12:05PM

I love this game so far, but as for problems: on my new Falcon Elite the game did freeze once or twice requiring a reboot. Horizontal tearing was dreadful during the opening cinematic, but has not been noticeable during gameplay. Worst of all, the loading screens are rediculously frequent and long. Graphics are not as good as I would have liked. Nevertheless, the gameplay is lots of fun.

Luka M. @ Mar 6th 2008 12:29PM

the framerate is not good on my box but it's playable.

WickyWoo @ Mar 6th 2008 2:25PM

My 360 is a Falcon board, and I have had 3 hard locks on the game

License to ill @ Mar 6th 2008 2:37PM

Release a re-hash with no-to little improvements = Lazy money grab.

Not that I care I didn't buy this game on last gen systems, definitely have no interest in it now...

Steve @ Mar 6th 2008 6:15PM

Bugs? Ok sure I can accept they crop up in QA. Poor performance? Uh-uh, you can see the trailers and even the TV commercial that the framerate is crap - much worse than you'd expect for the quality of graphics.

If they couldn't be bothered to make a moderately upgraded PS2 game run more than 20fps on an XBox360 one wonders what else could have made it in...

nick @ Mar 6th 2008 9:35PM

What glitches? I haven't encountered any thus far since I picked up Bully this week. And as far as older consoles go, mine is 2 years old, and has never been repaired. My only complaint with Bully is the one of the controls used to run is also the same control to alter the camera angle. It's kinda annoying if you swith the camera angle when you didn't mean to.

Now if you want to talk about glitches, let's talk about Rocketmen Axis of Evil. I've never played a game that felt so rushed. Sound glitches. Video glitches. And on the initial levels. Did anyone play test THAT game at all?

refinedsugar @ Mar 6th 2008 10:53PM

I've been to three gaming sites within minutes and no one has the brains enough to do a little homework, do some fact check, some info digging, to find out Rockstar didn't even handle the 360 port! It was outsourced to Mad Doc Software who has a spotty track record already.

hvnlysoldr @ Mar 11th 2008 2:22PM

I want him to apologize for using the British spelling. He's after all an American citizen now.

GreyFox @ Mar 20th 2008 7:25PM

I explained the situation to the manager at my local EB Games and after explaining whats wrong and how the patch wasn't coming out on time (I returned it the day before the last news article saying its coming) he gave me full credit for the game which I put towards GTA4. No loss to me really and I couldn't be happier unless I got a full refund.

I actually wanted to give the Regional a call because he was nice enough not to bust my balls over it but I don't know where to find that info. Should I though?