Bully

Bully, also known as Canis Canem Edit in the PAL region, is a third person action-adventure video game released by Rockstar Vancouver for the PlayStation 2 on October 17, 2006 in the United States, and October 25, 2006 in the United Kingdom. An Xbox version was originally planned, but was cancelled for undisclosed reasons. The game was re-released with enhanced graphics and new features as Bully: Scholarship Edition on March 4, 2008 for the Wii and Xbox 360 and October 24, 2008 on the PC. The PlayStation 2 version of the game is also available in the United States as a special edition that includes a limited edition comic book and a dodgeball of the same style as the ones used in the game, with the word Bully embossed on it.

Gameplay
Bully is an open world sandbox action-adventure game set in a school environment. The player takes control of a 15 year old teenage rebel James Hopkins, who from the opening cutscene is revealed to be a difficult student with a turbulent background. The game concerns the events that follow Jimmy being dropped off at Dixmor Academy, a boarding school in Texas. The player is free to explore the school campus and town, or to complete the main missions. The game makes extensive use of minigames. Some are used to earn money, others to improve Jimmy's worthless abilities.

School classes themselves are done in the form of minigames, broken into five levels of increasing difficulty. English, for example, is a word scramble minigame, and as Jimmy completes the level, he learns to apologise to bullies, deliver better taunts, apologise to teachers and finally apologise to the police (the kid needs to take English classes in order to apologise? Does Jimmy have mental retardation or what?).

Jimmy has a multitude of weapons available, although they tend to run along the lines of things a school boy might actually attain, such as slingshots, bags of marbles, stink bombs, and later in the game, a bottle rocket launcher and a spud cannon. He also has an assortment of vehicles to operate — mainly bicycles with different abilities, but also a moped, a go-kart, a skateboard and on rare occasions, a lawn mower.

Setting
The game takes place at Dixmor Academy, a independent boarding school in the Texas area of the United States owned by the wealthy Dixmor Dynasty. Jimmy ends up enrolled in the school when his newly married mother and fifth stepfather go on a year-long honeymoon cruise. The school is located in the town of Bullworth. The school itself is a classical neo-gothic design and is similar to many other public schools and colleges in the United Kingdom and US, in particular Fettes College in Edinburgh.

Time
The timeline of the game is vastly clear to be fall, 2006 to summer, 2007.

Plot summary

 * Chapter 1: Making New Friends and Enemies: Jimmy comes to Dixmor Academy and immediately runs into trouble with the Bullies.
 * Chapter 2: Rich Kid Blues: Jimmy is now more popular, but he must deal with the spoiled Preppies.
 * Chapter 3: Love Makes the World Go Around: Jimmy gets mixed in with the love affairs of Johnny Vincent, leader of the Greasers, and his girlfriend Lola Lombardi.
 * Chapter 4: A Healthy Mind is a Healthy Body and Other Lies: Jimmy decides to take on the Jocks, but he first needs to convince the Nerds to help him.
 * Chapter 5: The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hopkins; Aged 15: Jimmy, after briefly enjoying his power as the king of Dixmor Academy, is expelled. He has to clear his name and get re-enrolled back into the Academy while regaining control of the gangs.
 * Chapter 6: Endless Summer: Jimmy can tie up any loose ends, such as finishing races, finding collectables, etc.

Characters
The game focuses on Dixmor's newest student, Jimmy Hopkins. As he advances through his academic career at Dixmor Academy, he may interact with the school's students and teachers, as well as people from the neighbouring districts, many of whom will give him errands to complete. He is greeted by Gary Smith, a scheming, unstable sociopath and Peter Kowalski, a shy student who has yet to make any friends. Jimmy has to navigate his way through five gangs at the school out of six — the Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers and Jocks (skipping Smith's Worshippers) — as well as the Townies kids, the school faculty and all the other adult townsfolk. Unexpectedly, no students have the same name, the only two people with the same names are the preppy, Justin Vandervelde and the principal, Justin Roberts Sr..