For some time now, Nintendo has been railing against the R4 mod cartridge for its Nintendo DS console. This cart allows users to download DS games to a mini-SD card, and then play them, via the R4, on their handhelds – and it’s become disturbingly popular amongst DS owners.

Now, DS owners in Australia may struggle to get their hands on one. That’s because Nintendo just won a lawsuit against an Aussie distributor of the device. RSJ IT Solutions has now been ordered to stop selling the R4, and pay Nintendo AU$520,000 (US$466,752) damages to Nintendo. Two other individuals named by Nintendo, Patrick Li and James Li, have been fined AU$100,000 (US$89,760).

This is the second time in the last few days that Nintendo has enjoyed success against game pirates. Last week, in a ludicrous example of a punishment not fitting the crime, James Burt – one man – was ordered to pay corporate behemoth Nintendo AU$1.5 million (US$1.3 million) for uploading a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii to a file-sharing site.

On the face of it, this decision seems more justifiable. After all, these guys were in it for profit (unlike poor Burt), and probably cost Nintendo a hell of a lot more game sales.

I would say it’s a blow for the DS homebrew scene, which produces plenty of legal, free, and excellent software, but if you’re knowledgeable about Nintendo DS homebrew, you probably know that other, similar cartridges are available.

[iTNews, via Joystiq]

Nintendo wins another battle against piracy in Australia is a post from: The Inquisitr

An Aussie gamer who illegally uploaded a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii has been ordered to pay maker Nintendo AU$1.5 million ($1.3 million) in what many are calling a landmark decision for game companies. James Burt, 24, will also have to pay a further AU$100,000 in court costs. In Mario terms, that’s a lot of gold coins.

In case you hadn’t guessed from the title, I find this utterly ludicrous, and a perfect example of how punishments for game piracy are vastly disproportionate to the crime.

Let’s get this straight from the beginning, before I haul out my soapbox: what James Burt did was wrong, and he deserves to be prosecuted. Piracy is theft, and it should be tackled by the law. It damages the games industry, and often seriously affects smaller developers and publishers. I don’t blame Nintendo one bit for taking action.

Yet there’s punishing somebody, and then there’s completely ruining their life. Burt, who works at a Brisbane freight forwarding company, will now spend the rest of his life paying back this ridiculous fine – at 24, he is essentially tied to a colossal debt until the day he dies.

Is that a morally justifiable punishment for somebody who uploaded a $50 game without even attempting to make a financial gain? Once again, the law is an ass. (As an aside, New Super Mario Bros. Wii recently sold its ten millionth copy. I think Nintendo will get by, with or without James Burt’s lifetime earnings.)

Oh, I know the counter-arguments already. Through his foolish actions, James Burt cost Nintendo revenue from sales of the game. And that’s true, he probably did. But how much revenue? Nobody knows. Nintendo Australia head Rose Lappin has since said that Burt’s upload was downloaded by more than 50,000 people around the world, causing what she called “untold losses.”

“Untold” is the key word here. Lappin has no way of demonstrating that all 50,000 downloaders would have bought the game – it is simply unprovable. Yet that hasn’t stopped the courts from dropping a completely arbitrary fine on Burt. Until we get a proper study of how piracy actually affects sales of games, then this kind of thing will happen again and again.

Game piracy is a crime. Like all crimes, it requires a punishment that fits.

[Via The Daily Telegraph]

So wrong: Aussie game pirate told to pay Nintendo $1.5 million is a post from: The Inquisitr