TEENAGERS as young as 15 will be able to buy a controversial bullying game when it goes on sale in York later this month.

The computer game has been widely condemned by anti-bullying campaigners, but has been granted a 15-rating by the British Board of Film Classification.

Producers have ditched the original title Bully and renamed it Canis Canem Edit - Latin for Dog Eat Dog.

But campaigners in York and North Yorkshire say that is not enough, and are unhappy about the game going on sale.

Bullying expert Nathalie Noret, of York St John University, said: "While it's a positive move that they've changed the name from Bully, it does not change the fact that they are selling a game that promotes bullying and shows people beating people up.

"Children are going to see this and see it is about school, and hopefully it will not be replicated in the playground."

Ms Noret, a lecturer in developmental psychology at the university, added: "They have changed the name, but not the content of the game.

"The manufacturers are saying this is a part of life, but it's not a nice part of school life and it undermines bullying to make a game of it."

Liz Carnell, of North Yorkshire charity Bullying Online, said she was glad the game seemed to have been toned down, but said the game still portrayed unacceptable violent behaviour.

She said: "If you behave like this in school, it's assault and you are likely to get in trouble for it.

"It's not something we think is acceptable. Teachers find it hard enough to keep discipline in schools - we do not need this kind of behaviour.

"We do not want children in school going round hitting people with baseball bats - what kind of society do we live in that suggests this is acceptable?"

The game is currently subject to a legal battle in Florida, where campaigners are trying to ban the game's sale.

Producer Rockstar Games has repeatedly defended the game, which they say is actually about fighting back against bullies.

A spokesman has said: "There's no blood at all in the game. There's no physical damage. Nobody dies in the game. There are no guns."

"Anyone over 15 knows that hitting someone with a baseball bat is going to cause serious head injury and would not copy it just because they saw it in a video game.

"I'm pretty sure no parent will be giving this to their five-year-olds."