Dont mess with Nintendo

[nelots]

"Nintendo pirate to pay $1.5m

A Queensland man will have to pay Nintendo $1.5 million in damages after illegally copying and uploading one of its new games to the internet ahead of its release, the gaming giant says.
James Burt, 24, of Sinnamon Park in Queensland will pay Nintendo $1.5 million after an out-of-court settlement was struck to compensate the company for the loss of sales revenue.
Nintendo said the loss was caused when Burt made New Super Mario Bros for the Wii gaming console available for illegal download a week ahead of its official Australian release in November last year.
Under Australian law, copying and distributing games without the permission of the copyright holder is a breach of the Copyright Act.
Nintendo applied and was granted a search order by the Federal Court forcing Burt to disclose the whereabouts of all his computers, disks and electronic storage devices in November.
He was also ordered to allow access, including passwords, to his social networking sites, email accounts and websites.
The matter was settled between Burt and Nintendo last month.
Burt will have to pay Nintendo's legal bill of $100,000, the Federal Court in Melbourne ordered on January 27.
Nintendo said in a statement today it was able to trace Burt by using sophisticated technological forensics after the game was uploaded to the internet.
"Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise our industry by using all means available to it under the law," it said.
Piracy was a significant threat to the gaming business and the 1400 game development companies who contribute to providing games for the company's platform.
Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin said the illegal upload had marred the release of the new game, which Australia was able to get ahead of other countries, which was unusual.
"It wasn't just an Australian issue, it was a global issue. There was thousands and thousands of downloads, at a major cost to us and the industry really," Ms Lappin said.
"It's not just about us. It's about retailers and if they can't sell the games then they have to bear the costs associated with that.
"Once it's on the internet it's anyone's really."
Ms Lappin said globally the company had a major network against piracy.
AAP"

source: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/game ... -np4i.html


Oh snapt!

 

[Furry]

Lolpwnt if that was me... id Flea to like japan or something and get a job at nintendo then steal more stoof ;D

 

[Bucket]

No mention in the story about the ability of the guy to pay the fine now or ever. It's all very well penalising the guy 1.6 million but if there is zero ability to pay the fine it's a bit bobbla

 

[Black Racoon]

Hang on... so its not jsut because he copied the game, exactly how did he steal it..? If he infiltrated their servers and robbed them of it......

 

[Trigger Happy]

It was released in Australia later than the rest of the world, so he probably got it from one of those other countries and then ripped/uploaded it from Australia.

Cheers

 

[nelots]

No mention in the story about the ability of the guy to pay the fine now or ever. It's all very well penalising the guy 1.6 million but if there is zero ability to pay the fine it's a bit bobbla

It'll be handled like child support payments. He'll be forced to pay a percentage of his salary each week or month until he either dies or pays out the debt.

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

LOl he got owned but honestly who hasnt downloaed illegal information/software these days. The problem is rising costs while lower salaries, so you expect people to buy games for $100 OR fork up that same price (electrical bill, CD/DVD cost etc) for say 10+ games for many platforms...seriously you do the math here. Companies do the math so the are the winners in the end so why cant others do that...perhaps we should start calling hax/illegalality on companies for cheating us normal workers for supersized costs for items...maybe we should take them all to court.

 

[nelots]

LOl he got owned but honestly who hasnt downloaed illegal information/software these days. The problem is rising costs while lower salaries, so you expect people to buy games for $100 OR fork up that same price (electrical bill, CD/DVD cost etc) for say 10+ games for many platforms...seriously you do the math here. Companies do the math so the are the winners in the end so why cant others do that...perhaps we should start calling hax/illegalality on companies for cheating us normal workers for supersized costs for items...maybe we should take them all to court.

Where do you come up with all these stupid statements???
$100 per title is cheap when you take into perspective that it most likely cost Nintendo hundreds of millions of dollars to develop one title let alone the production and advertising costs.

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

LOl he got owned but honestly who hasnt downloaed illegal information/software these days. The problem is rising costs while lower salaries, so you expect people to buy games for $100 OR fork up that same price (electrical bill, CD/DVD cost etc) for say 10+ games for many platforms...seriously you do the math here. Companies do the math so the are the winners in the end so why cant others do that...perhaps we should start calling hax/illegalality on companies for cheating us normal workers for supersized costs for items...maybe we should take them all to court.

Where do you come up with all these stupid statements???
$100 per title is cheap when you take into perspective that it most likely cost Nintendo hundreds of millions of dollars to develop one title let alone the production and advertising costs.

It costs BOBBLA all for major companies to develop things IN THE END. The bigger the company the more they will produce and the more they will want to rip money of normal citizens. Ita all about profit for them and what ever the economical changes, or wages of people in countires, they will NOT lower their EOFY (end of financial year) profit $$$...only increase it. This is the general equation that companies/businesses follow. Why do you think banks have increased the rate few times aleready just after we barely got past recession...because they want to keep their net profit OR increase it...they dont want to lose money and like hell they will do anything in their power to benefit their own.

 

[nelots]

It costs BOBBLA all for major companies to develop things IN THE END. The bigger the company the more they will produce and the more they will want to rip money of normal citizens.

Shows how much you know about business.
For starters "IN THE END" may as well cost them nothing but to start a new project they'll require millions. Larger developers are capable of producing more titles because they have a constant cash flow to fund their projects. I doubt any of them are 'ripping' consumers off since developers take years to complete a title which costs them millions to finish and support. So where do you think the money comes from to pay all the expenses during the development phase???

Ita all about profit for them and what ever the economical changes, or wages of people in countires, they will NOT lower their EOFY (end of financial year) profit $$$...only increase it. This is the general equation that companies/businesses follow. Why do you think banks have increased the rate few times aleready just after we barely got past recession...because they want to keep their net profit OR increase it...

Of course the main goal of any business is to make money and increase profits, any business that doesn't will most likely be one of those failed statistics.
In relation to banks interest rate hikes, they do that in accordance to official Reserve Bank rates.

they dont want to lose money and like hell they will do anything in their power to benefit their own.

Now what kind of business will be happy to purposely lose money???

 

[Frogma]

It was released in Australia later than the rest of the world, so he probably got it from one of those other countries and then ripped/uploaded it from Australia.

But in the article it said:

Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin said the illegal upload had marred the release of the new game, which Australia was able to get ahead of other countries, which was unusual.

Dunno, pretty badly worded tbh.

The problem is rising costs while lower salaries, so you expect people to buy games for $100 OR fork up that same price (electrical bill, CD/DVD cost etc) for say 10+ games for many platforms...seriously you do the math here. Companies do the math so the are the winners in the end so why cant others do that...perhaps we should start calling hax/illegalality on companies for cheating us normal workers for supersized costs for items...maybe we should take them all to court.

Salaries going down you reckon? heh. As for everything else you wrote I'm sure it's all wrong but I can't comprehend enough of what you said to pull it apart.

It costs BOBBLA all for major companies to develop things IN THE END. The bigger the company the more they will produce and the more they will want to rip money of normal citizens. Ita all about profit for them and what ever the economical changes, or wages of people in countires, they will NOT lower their EOFY (end of financial year) profit $$$...only increase it. This is the general equation that companies/businesses follow. Why do you think banks have increased the rate few times aleready just after we barely got past recession...because they want to keep their net profit OR increase it...they dont want to lose money and like hell they will do anything in their power to benefit their own.

This is hilarious, it's like you've just discovered capitalism. Firms want to make profits? no kidding? "This is the general equation that companies/businesses follow." hahaha. You've certainly got them sussed. As for them "ripping money of normal citizens" I assume you are still referring to what you see as "supersized costs for items". Lol they can't just set the price at whatever amount they want, it's price elasticity that sets it. If their market research told them they would sell enough copies at a lower price to make a larger gross profit than at a higher price they would set their prices lower. There isn't some prick sitting at a desk who decides to charge a lot to "rip money of normal citizens".

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

There isn't some prick sitting at a desk who decides to charge a lot to "rip money of normal citizens".

Companies will do anything NOT to lose money, including hiring 'pricks' to run them. This case for nintendo is not about getting money BUT about trying to scare people not to pirate their software.

Just ask yoursefl WHY people do it (obtain illegal material/software) from internet. I can tell you its because of two things:

1) Its much easier to obtain.
2) Costs virtually nothing.

Now think why Napster was "forced" to change their site to release legal material which you have to pay for by say monthy fees...because companies got scared that their yearly profit would be less and thus filed a legal suit with Napster. IMO this deal fits well with the above two points which I outlined in terms of consumers following them.

Companies will always be the frontier of ripping people of and the longer the chain from 'product line to shelf in shop' is the more the consumer would have to pay so what better way than buy/download directly over internet at lowest price. This kind of behaviour by consumers (downloading illegal material) will always be used and one case, heck even lots of cases, will not stop it. In the end we (consumers) are the ones who will be buying the product(s)...and instead download illegal material is a way by which we say....IT COSTS TOO MUCH!

 

[Trigger Happy]

It was released in Australia later than the rest of the world, so he probably got it from one of those other countries and then ripped/uploaded it from Australia.

But in the article it said:

Nintendo Australia managing director Rose Lappin said the illegal upload had marred the release of the new game, which Australia was able to get ahead of other countries, which was unusual.

Dunno, pretty badly worded tbh.

Oh my bad. I read it as the other way around. The gist of my post is still there though, he got it before it was released in other countries and hence the upload would be before it is out. Thanks for pointing that out though frog :)

@death, If you started a company and some douche came along and started stealing your merch and sold it a flee market for half the price, wouldn't you want to sue the pants of the twat to get that money back? Now I get the internet and digital media is completely different, but farout please don't start arguing on this topic it is simply too huge to even get started on and it will just end in flames.

Cheers

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

@triggs I have no intention in starting flame wars between my POV and others BUT there have been numerous occurances of companies charging too much for their product and BANKS are worst of them. As for me selling merhcandise...I would do it at a reasonable cost that would not force other to try and sell it at lower costs than mine.

I dont want to pay $100 for a new game and alot of other people would agree with me...its just too much IMO and the price CAN be lowered but it wont because companies will never consider lowering their bench mark $$$ gain.

Good business means customers are happy and I would not be happy with a $100 tag on a new game so obviously some people (not talking about myself; i just dont buy it or wait till the price goes down) might consider "other method(s)" obtaining an item at a lower price....I bet some of you have in the past.

 

[nelots]

@triggs BUT there have been numerous occurances of companies charging too much for their product and BANKS are worst of them. As for me selling merhcandise...I would do it at a reasonable cost that would not force other to try and sell it at lower costs than mine.

Triggerhawk said someone stole your merchandise and sold it at half your price. Learn to read and respond to other peoples posts please.

I dont want to pay $100 for a new game and alot of other people would agree with me...its just too much IMO and the price CAN be lowered but it wont because companies will never consider lowering their bench mark $$$ gain.

Do you even understand why they need to sell at an inflated price for at least the first quarter of the products release???
Advertising and promotions costs are astronomical thus they need to sell new products at such a price. They don't set the price on what they feel like charging.

Good business means customers are happy and I would not be happy with a $100 tag on a new game so obviously some people (not talking about myself; i just dont buy it or wait till the price goes down) might consider "other method(s)" obtaining an item at a lower price....I bet some of you have in the past.

That's why you're not the targeted consumer for new release products, the initial promotion is aimed at fan boys and those with deep pockets.
Maybe work harder and one day you'll be able to earn above award wages?

 

[Frogma]

Just ask yoursefl WHY people do it (obtain illegal material/software) from internet. I can tell you its because of two things:

1) Its much easier to obtain.
2) Costs virtually nothing.

Now think why Napster was "forced" to change their site to release legal material which you have to pay for by say monthy fees...because companies got scared that their yearly profit would be less and thus filed a legal suit with Napster. IMO this deal fits well with the above two points which I outlined in terms of consumers following them.

Wow some more brilliance. People like free things? What a revelation.

As for me selling merhcandise...I would do it at a reasonable cost that would not force other to try and sell it at lower costs than mine.

Unfortunately if you were CEO of Nintendo this would put you in breach of the company policy to maximise shareholder earnings. Just about every company has this policy in different wording. If you actually think Nintendo would make more money by adopting this tactic then you would no doubt be contradicting a team of market researchers hired by Nintendo to look into this.

I dont want to pay $100 for a new game and alot of other people would agree with me...its just too much IMO and the price CAN be lowered but it wont because companies will never consider lowering their bench mark $$$ gain.

As nelots pointed out there evidently are enough people willing to pay $100 to make it a worthwhile exercise.

Good business means customers are happy and I would not be happy with a $100 tag on a new game so obviously some people (not talking about myself; i just dont buy it or wait till the price goes down) might consider "other method(s)" obtaining an item at a lower price....I bet some of you have in the past.

Having happy customers is just a part of good business and would probably be outweighed by making sh*tloads of money. I certainly have used "other methods" to get media but not every consumer has the know-how.

Death you seem to think that Nintendo would make more money by increasing the price of their games. Not always. I can guarantee if they charged $300 a game they would lose a lot of money (and im not talking about piracy!)

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

There is a reason why piracy is on the increase and its basically due to the two points which I pointed out previously. Companies will have to restructure the way they sell their products to meet the requirements of consumers...but they will do it in such a way that they will NOT lose on it and hopefully the consumer will also benefit from the lowered docet price.

Seriously preety much every person who has access to internet and decent knowledge of computers has illegaly downloaded software and honestly people are getting fed up with the high docet price and lack of availability of items they want. I still remember when EBgames first opened up..hardly any games would sell at discounted prices... and now there is always some special on games which are few months to nearly a year old, or older. i myself have snapped up good deals on some major games:

- C&C: TB& KW for $30 each after 6months
- Crysis and Crysis:Warhead both for $50 after nearly a year
- New 007 game for $20 after few months
- Bioshock for $20 after a year
- and alot more for prices around $20-40 in general.

Just shows that EBgames is restructuring their sales so that it brings back customers. Just look at the t***t websites and when new games come out and see how many people are actually downloading it...people prefer to get it via net than pay the prices...so dont you think people prefer to obtain the items from home and at virtually zero cost THAN having to drive to the shop and buy them? I dont mind driving but I will definetly NOT buy games for those kind of prices...and they have gone up from last year(on average game price).

 

[nelots]

There is a reason why piracy is on the increase and its basically due to the two points which I pointed out previously.

Sure it has nothing to do with the availability of broadband?

Companies will have to restructure the way they sell their products to meet the requirements of consumers...but they will do it in such a way that they will NOT lose on it and hopefully the consumer will also benefit from the lowered docet price.

So you haven't heard about this new craze thats sweeping across the globe, I think its called e-commerce. You know, like selling things over the internet!!!

Seriously preety much every person who has access to internet and decent knowledge of computers has illegaly downloaded software and honestly people are getting fed up with the high docet price and lack of availability of items they want. I still remember when EBgames first opened up..hardly any games would sell at discounted prices... and now there is always some special on games which are few months to nearly a year old, or older.

How do you expect a relatively new business to start by off-loading their new release stocks at discounted prices???
Theres a time line which all products follow where by they start off at its optimal price and slowly decrease as it ages as new models or titles are released.
I thought that would be common sense to people......

Just shows that EBgames is restructuring their sales so that it brings back customers. Just look at the t***t websites and when new games come out and see how many people are actually downloading it...people prefer to get it via net than pay the prices...so dont you think people prefer to obtain the items from home and at virtually zero cost THAN having to drive to the shop and buy them? I dont mind driving but I will definetly NOT buy games for those kind of prices...and they have gone up from last year(on average game price).

Restructuring??? No, thats just business which I'm guessing you have no idea of so I'll put it simply by saying business's will heavily discount outdated old stock to make room in storage to store new stuff.
Finally, prices go fluctuate depending on various factors. For now its the norm to blame every single price hike on the dreaded GFC.

 

[Death_Reincarnated]

The bottom line is that people prefer to obtain software/information via the net and at literally at zero cost EVEN doing it illegaly. Broadband has only allowed for larger items to be obtained at a faster pace due to increase in size of information/software.Companies are slowly restructuring to use internet to sell their product, which suprisingly reduces cost.

Simple example is Steam selling their keys for the orange box for like $20 over the net (all you need to is download the software). So if you think about it it costs $20 to make the game and another $40 to create it physically and send it to the shop. Just think about it; $10 profit (per game from the $20 it costs to make it) for the company so obviously at most half that price went into making the game (from selling the key for $20)...im sure you can add the numbers up. NOW take into the account that this is AFTER quite some time after the game launch. Like I said the docet prices are TOO HIGH and companies invovled from product creation to shop shelf arrival WILL always increase the price unfairly and the consumer will be the one who is treated UNFAIRLY.

I know how companies work and all they care about is PROFIT...regardless of how its obtained...well majority of them anyways.

 

[Frogma]

The bottom line is that people prefer to obtain software/information via the net and at literally at zero cost EVEN doing it illegaly.

EVEN doing it illegally? you can do it legally too ya know?

Like I said the docet prices are TOO HIGH and companies invovled from product creation to shop shelf arrival WILL always increase the price unfairly and the consumer will be the one who is treated UNFAIRLY.

I know how companies work and all they care about is PROFIT...regardless of how its obtained...well majority of them anyways.

What the hell is a fair price? how high is too high? companies care about profit? No sh!t.