Florida Judge Rejects Ban of Bully

Following a Miami judge's decision awarding anti-game lawyer Jack Thompson the right to preview a copy of Rockstar's upcoming PlayStation 2 title Bully, Miami-Dade County judge Ronald Friedman today decided not to ban the controversial game from being sold in the state following its release on October 17. Thompson had originally requested that both retail chain Wal-Mart and Take-Two to provide him with an advance copy of Bully in order to have "an independent third party" play the game in order to decide if the game should be considered “a public nuisance” within the state of Florida. According to a report by PC enthusiast site Ars Technica, the judge was shown approximately two hours of Bully's content before handing down the decision, explaining that the controversial title did not feature gameplay or content that warranted it being banned under the aforementioned laws. In an email sent to political game action site GamePolitics, Thompson commented that, following the judge's decision, he “filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus” requesting for the Third District to override Bully's production in lieu of what he called “a real hearing on the TRO (temporary restraining order).” According to Thompson, however, this appeal was denied. He also commented in the course of his email to GamePolitics: "When kids start showing up in ERs with slingshot wounds at the hands of Bully enthusiasts, don’t blame me."