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[SlasherJPC]

anyone want to cross reference reviews for the 360 version and see if any of them mention this problem? ive always had a suspicion that most game `journalists` read the pr statement for a port like this and copy and paste the bullet points.

Well IGN has video reviews for both 360 and the wii version with plenty of gameplay in the mix. No one mentions any freezing.

 

[Costanza]

More reports:

http://boards.1up.com/zd/board/message?board.id=games&thread.id=626697
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=25845
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/po...-bully-has-game-ruining-glitches--73769.phtml
http://xboxer.tv/2008/03/360_bully_a_crash_ridden_mess.html
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=942199&topic=41783996
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=942199&topic=41783188

 

[Smokey]

This is dumb.

I wanted to get the 360 version b/c it seems like a game that would be genuinely fun to get achievements in, but wow..way to go on the port.

Looks like it's the Wii version for me. . . which could still be fun with the controls.

:/

 

[SlasherJPC]

More reports:

http://boards.1up.com/zd/board/message?board.id=games&thread.id=626697
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=25845
http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/po...-bully-has-game-ruining-glitches--73769.phtml
http://xboxer.tv/2008/03/360_bully_a_crash_ridden_mess.html
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=942199&topic=41783996
http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=942199&topic=41783188

Its spreading!!!!!!

Hell I went to throw in another good 2 - 3 hours just to see if mine will freeze now.

 

[monkspider]

Good work on exposing this Costanza.

It is definitely rather curious that all the major review outlets have missed this problem. Rush job or not, I have to think this serious of a problem wouldn't have made it past QA either. I just wonder if this bug somehow came up extremely late in the development process, after the review versions had been sent out.

 

[supercake]

This is terrible, and I sure as hell hope news gets out about this. Thing is, whenever a console game has problems of freezing or bugs, there's never an outcry or recall, just a lower review score. Bully is a great game, and it sucks for people who passed on the Ps2 version to get shafted on what should have been an upgrade.

 

[Costanza]

Good work on exposing this Costanza.

It is definitely rather curious that all the major review outlets have missed this problem. Rush job or not, I have to think this serious of a problem wouldn't have made it past QA either. I just wonder if this bug somehow came up extremely late in the development process, after the review versions had been sent out.

GamePro gave it a 3.5/5 which seems fairly low for what the game should average. Unfortunately the review isn't online.. does anyone have the magazine to see what they said about it?

 

[Mr Spliff]

I have had one freeze fo far and one mission glitched on me. I was supposed to give an item to an NPC and I just stood there, After 2min I realized something must be wrong and I couldn't get out of the encounter. However, the blades still worked and I was able to get back to the dashboard, lost some gamplay time though :-(. I guess I will have to compulsively save to protect my progress in the game. I doubt there will be a performance patch but here's hoping that there is a possibility anyway.

 

[Costanza]

I have had one freeze fo far and one mission glitched on me. I was supposed to give an item to an NPC and I just stood there, After 2min I realized something must be wrong and I couldn't get out of the encounter. However, the blades still worked and I was able to get back to the dashboard, lost some gamplay time though :-(. I guess I will have to compulsively save to protect my progress in the game. I doubt there will be a performance patch but here's hoping that there is a possibility anyway.

Weird, my freezes have been total system lockups where the only thing that works to get out of it is turning the system off.

 

[dyls]

I just can't believe that so many 360 owners are buying this. What happened to that high horse everybody was on about how terrible it was that the Wii was getting PS2 ports? Guess it only applies to the system you don't like.

 

[SlasherJPC]

I just can't believe that so many 360 owners are buying this. What happened to that high horse everybody was on about how terrible it was that the Wii was getting PS2 ports? Guess it only applies to the system you don't like.

The game isn't simply a port persay. The visuals are totally revamped and its a damn good game. Whats wrong with 360 owners buying something unique and different then most? If you can name me another game with the setting of Bully, please do.

 

[Mr Spliff]

Weird, my freezes have been total system lockups where the only thing that works to get out of it is turning the system off.

Yeah, that was the actual freeze that happened, I was in the middle of a fight and had to restart. But then I had the NPC glitch afterwards. I'm not sure if you got the impression that they were two different instances. It sucks that so many people are having problems, they haven't been so bad for me that I can't play the game but I don't won't to worry about it locking up as it detracts from the fun. I'll say it again, I really hope there will be a performance patch.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I just can't believe that so many 360 owners are buying this. What happened to that high horse everybody was on about how terrible it was that the Wii was getting PS2 ports? Guess it only applies to the system you don't like.

What in the dang are you on about?

a) I never got to play Bully
b) Bully is said to be awesome
c) Bully is released on my primary console
d) I buy Bully

I don't see where any of your suppositions factor into that.

 

[Threi]

What in the dang are you on about?

a) I never got to play Bully
b) Bully is said to be awesome
c) Bully is released on my primary console
d) I buy Bully

I don't see where any of your suppositions factor into that.

I think what he is trying to say is that what you just said applies to Wii owners as well, yet they get trolled and laughed at for it.

I think the whole thing is stupid, people shouldn't feel guilty about their game purchases, but he does have a bit of a point.

 

[Costanza]

Yeah, that was the actual freeze that happened, I was in the middle of a fight and had to restart. But then I had the NPC glitch afterwards. I'm not sure if you got the impression that they were two different instances. It sucks that so many people are having problems, they haven't been so bad for me that I can't play the game but I don't won't to worry about it locking up as it detracts from the fun. I'll say it again, I really hope there will be a performance patch.

ah, ok. didn't catch the "and".

If this story actually gets out there through some of the big sites (which I don't really see why it wouldn't), I'd say we have a big chance of R* giving us a patch. If it just stays confined to forums... I dunno.

 

[chubigans]

What in the dang are you on about?

a) I never got to play Bully
b) Bully is said to be awesome
c) Bully is released on my primary console
d) I buy Bully

I don't see where any of your suppositions factor into that.

Reminds me of the time a few 360 owners were pleading for PS3 owners to boycott the Orange Box due to it being an "inferior port".

This is a bit different though...I don't think anyone expected such a mess of a port as it is now, coming from Rockstar.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

Reminds me of the time a few 360 owners were pleading for PS3 owners to boycott the Orange Box due to it being an "inferior port".

This is a bit different though...I don't think anyone expected such a mess of a port as it is now, coming from Rockstar.

I seem to remember urging everyone to buy it anyway because it was fucking awesome regardless. And I don't think the problems were this gamebreaking.

 

[mentalfloss]

Wii version when price drop or used.

 

[Mrbob]

Hopefully Bully 360 gets patched soon, otherwise it sounds like this game needs to be recalled.

It will need to anyway.

The bigger question is, how the hell can reviewers let this pass? They always talk about how they review games with the idea in mind of spending their own 50 or 60 dollars on the product. Sounds like a bunch of crap to me when something like this passes and people waste their hard earned money because the games industry was afraid to speak up on its problems. They wanted their GTA4 exclusive so they couldn't talk about it more than likely.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I'm guessing the "major" news markets are waiting to hear from R* one way or another before they run the story. It's definitely out there.

 

[Costanza]

http://digg.com/xbox/This_is_absolutely_pathetic_Bully_SE_for_the_360_is_broken digg it!

 

[Brandon F]

I just can't believe that so many 360 owners are buying this. What happened to that high horse everybody was on about how terrible it was that the Wii was getting PS2 ports? Guess it only applies to the system you don't like.

The difference is that 360 has kinda proven itself over the years with a constant stream of high quality next-gen offerings from outside publishers, so the need to depend on last gen port-ups is mostly garnish at this point.

Wii however, outside of Nintendo staples, does tend to rely heavilly on ports, mostly because it's a wasteland of nongame crap and well...crap. (With so few exceptions)

 

[BravoSuperStar]

Add me to this list of people experiencing lockups, audio glitches and framerate issues on the 360. I wish I could return it for the Wii version. =(

 

[Costanza]

Add me to this list of people experiencing lockups, audio glitches and framerate issues on the 360. I wish I could return it for the Wii version. =(

I think I'm going to give R* till tomorrow to at least issue a statement... if they don't then I'll bitch at Best Buy to let me exchange for the Wii version. Right now I have no urge to even play the game.

 

[SlasherJPC]

I think I'm going to give R* till tomorrow to at least issue a statement... if they don't then I'll bitch at Best Buy to let me exchange for the Wii version. Right now I have no urge to even play the game.

Its really a shame to see so many people having issues. (game looks damn good on 360 and its hella fun) I can't help but feel its either a certain setting issue, hard drive issue, or bad disc, something that throwing the wrench in the gears. I will be playing my copy more tonight to see if anything happens.

 

[firehawk12]

Damn, maybe I'm glad I didn't buy the game yet. Still, I had high hopes for this.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Fuck, I was really looking forward to this. What a cock-up. Is this patch-able?

 

[Beer Monkey]

Fuck, I was really looking forward to this. What a cock-up. Is this patch-able?

Every 360 game is patchable. It's pretty shite to need to patch a single-player game though, as ~40% of the platform owners don't have it online.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Every 360 game is patchable. It's pretty shite to need to patch a single-player game though, as ~40% of the platform owners don't have it online.

Yeah its pretty balls that games have to take this route now adays. Oh well... So I'm guessing I'm the only one with Bully on 360 that hasn't had any freeze up issues?

 

[Costanza]

Yeah its pretty balls that games have to take this route now adays. Oh well... So I'm guessing I'm the only one with Bully on 360 that hasn't had any freeze up issues?

Keep playing.. I'm sure you'll get one.

 

[domokunrox]

Wii version owner, no problems so far.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Keep playing.. I'm sure you'll get one.

No NEVER! lol. Will see what happens. When was the earliest the game started freezing up for you?

 

[Costanza]

No NEVER! lol. Will see what happens. When was the earliest the game started freezing up for you?

Couple missions before Halloween

 

[FlyinJ]

I've had two hard freezes now. Once during the yuppie fight outside the kid's house where they're throwing eggs at you out of the window, and another when I started fighting some kids downtown... I think it was near the northern bike shop. Both of these required me to restart the 360.

Add to this a ton of audio glitches... both repeatable (the loud, stuck sound in the boxing gym) to dropped and skipping audio all over the place.

Another fun one- ride your bike to the beach house at night. Every time you press A to pedal, the spotlights in the background and the lighthouse light flicker off and on.

Also, the framerate gets really, really bad in town. I've seen it drop to the sub-10s.

 

[Psychotext]

So have there been any reports of problems from PAL 360 owners?

 

[Costanza]

So have there been any reports of problems from PAL 360 owners?

I don't think it comes out till the 7th over there

 

[Costanza]

A bunch more people reporting it...

http://forums.xbox.com/18888355/ShowPost.aspx
http://forums.xbox.com/18893618/ShowPost.aspx

Yes! I'm getting total lockups at random times. How do we go about getting this fixed? Did we get bad copies of the disc? The only other time I've had this happen is with Mass Effect, but those freezes were due to the RROD.

Mine is freezing too. One thing that I have noticed is that the game isn't kicking my system's cooling fans up to the highest level. Maybe this is causing it to overheat and freeze up. Is this the case for anyone else?

I have a launch system and it goes to the highest fan speed for pretty much every other game that I have ever played.

Yup...Ive had 2 freezes in my first 90 minutes of play so far

I have also sent an email to Rockstar tech support... we shall see if they give a damn... 4 freezes so far

I've had two freezes so far, also only 90 or so minutes in and in two different places. The first time I found out the hard way that it wasn't autosaving (lost an hour or so of progress). The second took place 20-30 minutes after loading the game up again, before I even got back the point where I'd frozen up before. Hope this is something they can patch quickly!

I played for about 90 minutes and the game froze once. Didn't freeze after that, so hopefully it was just a fluke thing.

I've had two freezes so far: Once RIGHT after Gym 1, and the second as I was heading back to my dorm after Gym 1.

It'll roll the intro cutscene fine for 15-20 minutes (Was hanging out clothes and cleaning) but the second I start gameplay, it seems to freeze in 20 minutes.
Woe is me, Rockstar best get on the case. I'm not willing to miss out on this for long! *looks for a length of rope*

PS: What way do you have your console sitting? Mine was vertical...

Froze up on me 4 times within 5 hours....VERY fun game, but this is just SICK!!! I waited along time for this to come from PS2. This is Bulls*#t Rockstar! I can't wait for GTA IV. (Sounding as sarcastic as possible)

es, in addition to the terribly messed up intro (audio/video skipping all over the place like they were rubber bands trying to harmonize with each other) and the random achievements, my game has frozen during load twice now, at which point it tells me to insert the game disc (I can hear the disc stop spinning about 45 seconds before this message both times). Both times when I hit the open tray button it just sends me back to dashboard and all progress is lost, I have learned to save often the hard way :/

It frozed on my too in the 1st chapter when I had to escort Algie pissed me off to didn't saved lost all of my progress.

I co-sign to this thread. Mine froze after the first Gym class game. This will (if possible) need to be dealt with; swiftly.

Mine froze up 4 or 5 times also. I dont know if this has anything to do with it but I have been playing offline and it has not froze up yet. You might try that but I may just be getting lucky.

I'm so glad to see these messages. When I loaded up Bully yesterday the game crashed in about my first 20 minutes. I also noticed the sound skips all the time and the music skips too. It was so bad I had to stop playing. This game has serious issues. I thought it was my box. Thanks for everyone reporting there issues, im no longer worried. On another note what the heck is the hype around this game, even without glitches this game seems very very disappointing. I really dont have that Rockstar quality feeling AT ALL.

I had three freezes in about 5 hours of total play. It really bugged me too, because the game froze when I really wasn't doing anything but walking the halls or outside with an empty trouble meter.

I just seen the other thread which was made about the game freezing,i was gonna make a thread myself becuz it was just so wierd how i bought a brand new game without any scratches of course and my game is freezing like ever 10-20 min.Im glad to see im not the only one with the freezing problems but im just happy its not my xbox either cuz i was gonna go get a new copy of bully tommorow and if my game was still freezing i was gonna end up getting a new console but the only thing was i tried playing other games and they played fine plus my 360 always played my games fine without any problems.

But anyways are there any people whos bully doesnt freezes and does rockstar know about this yet so maybe they can come out with an update or sumthing to fix this.I was really excited about this game and planned on playing this game over this game all week.

Yes, my game has been freezing and I sent Rockstar support an e-mail last night. I suggest you do the same because if enough people complain, they'll likely do something about it. I am disappointed this is happening. I was torn between Wii and 360 versions, but the idea of achievements put me on the 360 side. Maybe I made the wrong choice this time around... usa@rockstarsupport.com

plyed for 'bout 2 hours and i froze once...so i'm not as bad as some...



Also did anyone have trouble taking it out of the case? It was stuck and the CD was bending I thought i was going to break the dam thing....Angry []

FWIW...I had 2 freezes about 15 minutes apart from each other, the first was about 20 minutes into the game. After the second freeze I played for about an hour with no freezes at all.

I played it for a few hours last night and I did not have a single problem. I played it a bit this morning and it froze on me 2 or 3 times.

2 Hours last night, one freeze. Don't think I've had a game do that before, except when my 360 went belly-up entirely, but we know what happened there - it had nothing to do with the game!

 

[AgentOtaku]

.....wow....just....wow

 

[FlyinJ]

I actually noticed that my fans weren't running at full speed when playing the game as well. Anyone else notice their boxes being suspiciously quiet while playing?

I really hope this game isn't slowly cooking my box into RROD. Ugh!

 

[speculawyer]

They're all the blame. And so is Microsoft, because they let shit like this slip through a LOT. It's astounding how bad their QA is.

They are all to blame.

And you know who else I blame? IGN! Why did they give the 360 version 8.7 but the Wii version that runs better 8.0? Those reviews pushed me toward the 360 version. :-(

 

[ascully]

I played for 3 or 4 hours earlier no freezes (360) but the sound stutters like hell in places.

 

[Jammy]

They are all to blame.

And you know who else I blame? IGN! Why did they give the 360 version 8.7 but the Wii version that runs better 8.0? Those reviews pushed me toward the 360 version. :-(

Very true. That, combined with the controls, should have at least made the scores similar. But different reviewers grade things on a different scale. To me, I'd rather have the Wii version because of the controls and more constant framerate. The glitches and freezes in the 360 version just clinches that. I also wonder if IGN360 even played the game if they didn't encounter anything fishy like this.

 

[Brandon F]

It sucks too because knowing a 360 version exists makes revisiting the PS2 version an impossibility. I'd sadly just as well not bother playing this game than return to old hardware.

 

[FlyinJ]

Costanza (or anyone else with the 360 version of the game)-

Can you guys check if your 360 fans are running at high speed (normal DVD-in game speed) by listening to the fans compared to other games?

Also, can you post what region you're in?

It sounds to me like the fans not being on are frying the system causing it to crash. Maybe PAL versions don't have this bug?

 

[Costanza]

Costanza (or anyone else with the 360 version of the game)-

Can you guys check if your 360 fans are running at high speed (normal DVD-in game speed) by listening to the fans compared to other games?

Also, can you post what region you're in?

It sounds to me like the fans not being on are frying the system causing it to crash. Maybe PAL versions don't have this bug?

I'll check now.

 

[Costanza]

I tried it compared to LOST: Via Domus and it sounds the same. I'm in NTSC.

 

[hokahey]

I'm terrified of all the issues with the 360. I'd love to own one but I'm not going to sit around nervously waiting for a game to ruin it.

 

[FlyinJ]

I tried it compared to LOST: Via Domus and it sounds the same. I'm in NTSC.

Interesting. I definitely noticed a difference in my fan noise compared to playing Frontlines. Do you have a loud system in general? Mine is a mid-range loud (no where near as loud as my launch system, but still loud).

Given the general instability of the game, with lockups and audio glitches happening in random places, it really points to the entire system being unstable/overheating.

 

[Costanza]

Interesting. I definitely noticed a difference in my fan noise compared to playing Frontlines. Do you have a loud system in general? Mine is a mid-range loud (no where near as loud as my launch system, but still loud).

Given the general instability of the game, with lockups and audio glitches happening in random places, it really points to the entire system being unstable/overheating.

I've got an Elite and it's much quieter than my old system... anyway, maybe I was wrong.. it does sound different now that I went back to Bully.. like I can hear the disc drive but not the fan.. where in LOST it was both.

 

[Psychotext]

I'm terrified of all the issues with the 360. I'd love to own one but I'm not going to sit around nervously waiting for a game to ruin it.

Almost all the stories of games ruining the 360 tend to be people thinking a game killed their 360 because they were playing it when the machine died.

As we all know though, the 360 is perfectly capable of killing itself.