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Ah, the Chinese leniency on piracy. We all chuckle when pictures of the latest blatant rip-off of better known, superior products are circulated on the internet ( the GM-219 doing a fantastic job of really resembling a PSP but with none of the power or cool quota benefits ) and few gamers haven’t run across a ‘multi-game’ cartridge in their time.
However, while we may gawp at the number of pirated games down at the local car-boot sale, piracy is simply a way of life in China. Which would perhaps explain why those arrested in a large F.B.I bust all hail from that fair country, with more than 60,000 illegal goods found ready to inject into the hungry market. The products, under the name of ‘Power Player’, contained dozens of pirated versions of popular Nintendo games such as Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, and Duck Hunt.
Although 60,000 goods were found, authorities stated that between September and December 2004, the defendants imported 27 cargo containers holding more than 280,000 counterfeit video game systems. Posing as Toy Distributors, F.B.I agents uncovered the whereabouts of various warehouses from the dealers, making arrests shortly thereafter.
Nintendo was predictably enthusiastic, no surprise to gamers given their last crackdown on even legitimate sales of U.S and Japanese games at import shops, revealing that the raids are the latest in a long line of criminal actions that they are currently supporting.
