SPOnG just came off the phone with the guys at Rockstar UK, who just confirmed for us that the controversial title, Bully, will definitely be released in time for Christmas this year. The game is now a PS2 exclusive, with the company dropping the Xbox flavour.

Further details on the game are not yet being released, but we were promised that we will be seeing a lot more on the title ‘very soon indeed’.

It's around a year ago that SPOnG reported on the initial press backlash against Bully, somewhat bizarrely emanating from the UK’s usually fairly liberal Guardian newspaper.

Earlier this year we also told you how our old friend, anti-games campaigner and shameless self-publicist, Jack Thomson was also jumping on the anti-Bully bandwagon.

As such, it seems that Rockstar battened down the hatches and concentrated on what it is best at - putting out damn good videogames. In the past two month’s we’ve had our favourite sports game of the year, Table Tennis, as well as the PS2 version of the best-selling PSP game, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.

It's certainly superb news to hear that the Rockstar guys are getting back into a “bit o’ Bully”. SPOnG will be the first to tell you more about the game as soon as we get it, which is going to be in a matter of weeks, so keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, let us know how you think how Rockstar’s PR company might go about generating some valuable coverage on the title. SPOnG suspects that "wind up the Daily Mail and the 'Disgusteds of Tunbridge Wells'" could well be the first bullet-point on the mainstream PR strategy for Bully.

Not that there is any need to wind up middle England over adult-themed videogames. They seem more than capable of getting themselves all into a ‘ban these evil games’ lather at the merest sniff of their offspring coming into contact with 18+ games.

Of course, SPOnG would advise them, as responsible parents, to ensure their children don’t buy or play 18+ games. But that would just be too obvious, eh?