Bully

Even before Rockstar had a chance to show off their school ‘em-up sandbox game the knee-jerk reactionists were knee-jerking like knee-jerking was going out of fashion. Knee-jerk. In short, a game named Bully would feature just that – bullying - with you controlling every aspect of the nasty core subject. But it's not and there's so much more to it than mindless violence. Do ignore the contradictory image above, of course.

Ugly scribbles and meaningless drivel? Or prophecies that predicted the future of gaming?

If you should take away anything from the last few days of this weeklong anniversary feature, it’s that the PS2 is damn near unstoppable. 10 years after its North American launch, the thing is still on store shelves, with new games still produced every so often. But while the PS2’s story doesn’t end with 2006 or 2007, these were the years when the PS3 debuted and rose to prominence, and the industry’s interest was correspondingly pulled toward current-gen, HD-enabled consoles.

Even with increasing competition from the new breed, though, the PS2 still had a few massive hits left in it – just not as many as we’d gotten used to. So, rather than stretch 2006 and 2007’s relatively thin PS2 lineups out over two days, or drag things out into the PS2’s increasingly dry twilight years (post-2007, it’s been tough to find 10 decent PS2 games, let alone 10 great ones), we’re going to finish out our recognition of the black box's best with the collective bang of the last two years it spent at the front of the pack...

Criminals. Superpowers. Criminals with superpowers. For a genre that's all about being able to do anything, sandbox games have become mighty predictable. But you only have to look back as far as the end of the last generation for the antidote to the industry's myopia. Bully. A game that few people talk about now, but which remains easily the equal of GTA IV in terms of playability. It needs a sequel. Here's why...

Above: Today, we’ll be listening to “The Slingshot” from the Bully soundtrack

We loved Bully’s story, its world, and righting wrongs with our trusty slingshot and pocket full of stink bombs. But we also loved the game’s music, which is one of the most overlooked soundtracks we’ve come across. So turn up your volume and open your ears as we continue our audio adventures with today’s Game Music of the Day…

Then we thought, “why stop with Street Fighter?” There’ve got to be a billion goddam skeletons creeping through virtual graveyards just begging to have their toothy visage slapped on the immortal internet. Who are we to deny them such a privilege? So, without further yammering, we present, just in time for Halloween (y Dia de los Muertos), the biggest batch of skelleys you’ve ever seen...

When the Puritans began settling down in North America during the early 17th century, they didn’t practice cosplay. Those were dark days - dark, costume-less days, filled with famine, toil, and a depressingly short supply of free candy. It would take nearly 200 years for Americans and Canadians to finally embrace Halloween as a mainstream event - and it was mostly thanks to a flood of Irish and Scottish immigrants in the late 19th century.