digibutter.nerr

[Admiral Bobbery]

Taipei officials are on red alert. The Customs Office is currently investigating some Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2 discs totalling 1,865 in number, and the board is trying to verify whether they are pirated copies.

Especially after last month's crackdown, where the Taipei Customs Office had to call in a Nintendo representative to verify a batch of pirated Wii discs, it isn't surprising that the officials are stricter now.

This time around, the confiscated batch is said to amount to as much as US$ 80,000 if sold on the market.

Some would say that piracy is getting out of control in Southeast Asia, but it's good to hear that the Taipei officials are doing their part to snuff it out in their region. Like last month's case, those involved in the actual production or smuggling of pirated discs would be prosecuted under violation of the Copyright Laws.

What's interesting to note here is that the Nintendo Wii console itself hasn't even been officially launched in Taiwan yet. An estimated number of about 200,000 consoles have been distributed though, but that's via import and Nintendo certification. With current duty-free laws in Taiwan, people flying into the country are only allowed to bring with them a maximum of two Nintendo Wii discs. Surely, bringing in 1,865 discs is stretching the "two disc duty-free" rule too much, is it not?

[Super ShadowArticuno]

Why do they do this? Pirated games suck, anyways. What would they sell, Super Smash Bros Brawl 4? Trauma Center 8?

Well, as long as they are trying to stop it...

[Champiness]

All this is similar to Nintendo's Pirating pains in Game Over: How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children. Despite the title, it's surprisingly unbaised.

[Launching Star]

WTF?!? That's all I gots to say.