“Bully,” scheduled to be available for the PlayStation 2 but not the Xbox, plays up the unpleasant social interactions, frivolous cliques and bizarre teachers that can mar anyone’s high-school experience. Nerds wear green, preppies wear dark blue, and jocks wear sports jackets. Of course.

Like other Take-Two games such as “Grand Theft Auto,” “Bully” lets the player explore the fictional world, choose actions that help or hurt people, and experience the consequences. But early reviews suggest it’s a relatively nonviolent game: there are slingshots but not guns, and punishment for skipping class is detention.