Part 4

This guide covers Part 4 of Bully: Scholarship Edition, detailing neighborhood prefixes, item abbreviations, and the game's development history, including Xbox 360 bugs.

Hey there! Welcome to Part 4 of our Bully: Scholarship Edition guide. We're going to break down some of the abbreviations you'll see used throughout the game and in this guide, plus touch on some of the history behind the Scholarship Edition release.

First off, you'll see items and collectibles abbreviated like this:

• G&G Cards are marked with "GG" (e.g., Card [XXX-GG34]).
• Gnomes are marked with "N" (e.g., Gnome [XXX-N24]).
• Transistors are marked with "T" (e.g., Transistor [XXX-T3]).
• Errands are marked with "E" (e.g., Errand [XXX-E5]).

I've included coordinates for items and weapons using the game's fold-out map, but I'm writing these directions as if you don't have the map at all, just in case you picked up a used copy without it. Also, remember that completing Geography classes will put collectible locations on your main map, making things a bit easier!

Neighborhood Prefixes

To help you navigate, we use these prefixes for different areas:

• BAC - Bullworth Academy
• OBV - Old Bullworth Vale
• BLT - Bullworth Town
• NCV - New Coventry
• HVA - Happy Volts Asylum
• BSI - Blue Skies Industrial Area

A Little Background on Bully: Scholarship Edition

Being a big fan of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, I was really interested in "Bully" when it first came out on PS2. While it has a similar free-roam feel to GTA, its tone and gameplay are quite different. It's definitely not the "Columbine simulator" some lawyer once called it; it's actually a really fun game with tons to do.

One of the coolest things about "Bully" is how the people in the game react. They feel alive, often getting into weird and funny situations. You can interact with them in ways you couldn't in GTA – greet them, taunt them, play pranks, kiss them, or even just beat them up. The missions and side activities are pretty straightforward, which actually makes the game less frustrating and more enjoyable.

Then came "Bully: Scholarship Edition" for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PC. The graphics got an upgrade, and there was more content, including new classes, characters, clothes, and missions. However, the Xbox 360 version had its share of problems, which we'll get into next.

The Xbox 360 Bugs

The Xbox 360 version was ported from the PS2 original by Mad Doc Software (now Rockstar New England). When it launched in March 2008, it caused some controversy, not for its content, but for the crashes and glitches players experienced. Rockstar Games quickly released a patch (1.03) that fixed things for most, but actually made it worse for some.

On top of that, Microsoft was dealing with its own issues with the Xbox 360, particularly the infamous "Red Ring of Death," indicating hardware failure. This was often due to thin motherboards and poorly designed heatsinks causing heat damage. Early Xbox 360 units, especially the Xenon models, were prone to this.

Unlike the original Xbox, the 360 had optional hard drives, mainly to keep costs down. The available drives were usually 20GB, and the idea of installing games wasn't as common then. Considering how much of the new content in "Bully: SE" was Christmas-themed, why didn't Rockstar just delay the release to the holidays for better marketing? Because they had another massive game coming out in April 2008: "Grand Theft Auto IV."

GTA IV shattered sales records and had multiplayer, drawing a lot of attention. If "Bully: SE" had been delayed, players would have been too busy with GTA IV to notice it. So, "Bully: SE" was released early to give it a fighting chance, with the idea of fixing issues over time. Unfortunately, Rockstar only went as far as the 1.03 patch.

In 2017, "Bully: SE" got a reprint with an Xbox One banner. However, it wasn't a new version optimized for the Xbox One; it was just the original Xbox 360 disc, as the Xbox One is backwards compatible. I checked it out, and it's the exact same version from the initial 2008 release. In the past, Rockstar would sometimes update re-releases with bug fixes or content changes, like they did for "GTA: Vice City," but that wasn't the case here.