UK raid uncovers DS carts loaded with $12K of pirated software
by Eric Caoili 
{ Apr 10th 2008 at 12:00PM }
In a raid executed last Sunday, 85,000 "discs" of pirated software and other counterfeit goods were seized at an East Yorkshire market. One notable bit of contraband brought in by the haul was a pile of carts marked Volume 9 DS Games, each cart loaded with £6,000 ($11,859) of DS games according to the Entertainment Leisure And Software Publishers' Association's team of "forensics experts."
The ELSPA reports that the Volume 9 DS Games carts have been circulating for the past month and contain approximately 200 commercial releases, which explains where the £6,000 estimate sprung from (£30 x 200). We did the math -- well, actually, our calculators did the math -- and you would have to mow about 593 lawns to raise enough money to purchase that many games. That is, of course, assuming you're not one of our smart (and handsome) readers who follow our regular posts on video game bargains.
We know a few of you out there are pirates -- you make sure to rub it in our face whenever we lament about overpriced new releases and expensive imports. Have you bootlegged anything close to £6,000 of commercial DS games? Have you packed all those black-market ROMs into one cart to create your own Volume 9 DS Games collection? And how did you end up spending the money that should've gone to the people who worked hard to create the products you filched?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
aliquis @ Apr 10th 2008 10:52PM
The money? I'm very confident they didn't charged £6000 for it.
I think we can all agree that selling and buying pirated software are bad
RupeeClock @ Apr 10th 2008 12:10PM
How do you fit that much data onto a single cartridge? A single rom can range from 16-64mb usually (without trimming), sometimes you get 128mb roms.
Standard cheap memory is usually about 1-2gb, or 1024/2048 mb.
Do the math, 2048/16=128 possible games.
I think what's going on here is the common tactic of taking the same few titles, and renaming them to fill out a big list.
FoliathR @ Apr 10th 2008 12:45PM
I think DSF made a small mistake there.
Seems that the news reporters don't even know that DSes don't run on "discs", happily using the term "Nintendo DS Discs" in their article.
I think the games were sold as a pack on CDs, for people with flash carts to play.
FoliathR @ Apr 10th 2008 12:46PM
*Sorry, not DSF, wanted to type "the source article" but somehow my mind screwed up >.< Sorry Eric and other DSF reporters.
Daniel Ferguson @ Apr 10th 2008 12:54PM
Welll..... I AM a pirate. I own a M3 Real. And I love it. If I see a new game I'll download it and try it. I have 50 roms on my card. They don't stay there too long. I use it mostly for try before I buy. It has saved me from dropping cash on games that suck, But I'm not gonna be rolling in the dough from all the money I "saved." Two Days ago I dropped my DS in the toilet. I wasn't playing it or anything. It fell out of my sweatshirt pocket. So my "savings" from piracy will go towards buying a new DS or getting this one repaired.
reef @ Apr 10th 2008 1:26PM
I just have to say this. If I had two children and a wife to make sure I had no cash in my pockets I'd probably pirate games. I'd probably pirate every US release ever made. And with the Right Flashcart you CAN hold 4-8gb of info which can easily be 200 games. That is to say IF I were to pirate games, I of course Own all my gaes and back them up so that Nothing happens to the original! ;)
Manman @ Apr 10th 2008 1:32PM
I'm a pirate, I don't buy any games at all, I just play downloaded ones. It's awesome. I've got about 200 on my hard drive, and of those about 30 fit onto my flash cart. Quite a lot, but I don't play them all at once. At the moment in between my uni studies and my job I have hardly any time to play, but I'm slowly making my way through Phantom Hourglass, Elite Beat Agents, Picross DS, Simpsons Game and a few others. Next up, the Phoenix Wright series!
The money I don't spend on games anymore is money I can use for whatever entertainment expenses I want, such as liquor, books, going out with friends, so on. It's so great not buying games, I save so much money. DSTT is the best purchase I've ever made.
There, is that enough rubbing your noses in it?
Cory Anotado @ Apr 10th 2008 2:33PM
As a game developer (although not a console developer. I make online games), I absolutely HATE people who pirate games. Guess what? Having games aren't a right. They are a privilege, or less so, a nifty diversion. I can understand not having enough money for food and stealing a loaf of bread, especially when you're well below the poverty line.
But, if you're like Manman up there, who doesn't care that the money from games goes to pay developers so they can make MORE games, I think you're scum. Stop fucking pirating games. If you really want games? You can pay for them like everyone else. You're not special.
Author X @ Apr 10th 2008 3:14PM
And, as an addendum, if you really want games and don't have any money, get a job. Quite a number of people insist they only download x y or z from the internet because they don't have any money with which to pay. But that's no excuse, because most people get jobs and contribute to the economy to earn the money they want for goods and services, and (blah blah, yay capitalism etc) and my point is, when you don't have money and want something, you should get money instead of stealing that something.
I know I'm being rather hypocritical, since I already admitted I download DS games, but at least I know the importance of supporting developers, and I do earn my own money to spend on video games.
Author X @ Apr 10th 2008 2:27PM
You wanna know how I spend the money I didn't spend on Picross, Taiko Drum Masters, and all the other games I pirated?
Well, for one, I spent it Apollo Justice, most of the rest goes to Wii games.
I download when I have to, but when I have money, I usually spend it on video games anyway - especially if it's something I specifically want to support. So there's your answer - all the money I don't spend on video games, I use to buy video games.
hvnlysoldr @ Apr 10th 2008 3:49PM
I want all pirates to put eye patches onto their avatars.
Huh what do you mean I have an eye patch on my avatar since the very beginning. That's ridiculous. I have glasses on my avatar.
iruka @ Apr 10th 2008 6:55PM
I'll admit that I download my games and use R4. But this is probably better than buying those fake carts in the market. If I wanted to pay for the games I play, I'd definitely save up for the original rather than give my money to those who pirated the games and put them in the carts.
And besides, I live in a third world country. My monthly salary could probably be just 1/4 of the average American salary. Games are really expensive here plus they're imported so they're more expensive.
Just a note, I'm also a programmer so I know the feeling of people copying my code or whatever so don't go flaming me. And I am planning to buy original games within the year ;) just let me set aside money from my low income. Waiting for Kingdom Hearts and Guitar Hero... ^___^v
Pie Pants @ Apr 10th 2008 8:09PM
The big problem with these "busts" is they always assume each game is a lost sale.
I've got a R4DS with a few downloaded games on it, for instance. Most of them I'd probably never have bought anyway, and those are the ones I've played once or twice then given up.
The ones I do play and enjoy, I usually buy as well.
Part of the problem where I'm from (Australia) is that retailers here are pretty much getting away with theft themselves. Take something recent, like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for instance. It's listed on the US EB Games site for $39.99, or about $43 australian dollars. The same game from a local store is $70.
Now I know shipping and import taxes will always add a bit, but $27? Come on.
Brent @ Apr 10th 2008 10:35PM
How's this for an argument? If it wasn't for an M3 Lite, I never would've bought a DS or the 10 games I now own. I'm not a big gamer, and the ability to try games out for free made it worth dropping the $150 for a new DS Lite. I never would've risked buying something like that for it to only gather dust after 6 months. A year later, and I love this thing. Every game that I've liked after the first couple hours I buy. I'll probably buy another 10 games in 2008. That's bout $1,000 of my money those hard-working people would never have gotten.
Nobody lost any money, so what's the harm?
Jamar @ Apr 11th 2008 7:02AM
I'll say why I pirate- it's the only way to get DS games in my native language (Chinese). The big game companies have all but forsaken the mainland Chinese market. The fan-translators do all the work and charge nothing for it, making it available online. Then Nintendo/Capcom/etc ride off their work, in a way.
Example- Capcom officially sold the Rockman EXE (Megaman Battle Network) series in only 3 regions- Japan/North America/Europe-Australia. China got screwed. After fan-translations of the first three games got around, guess what happened? The merchandising began. Official Capcom stuff (and McDonalds Happy Meal toys- ironically, they only gave away Forte(Bass) toys, I think; way to scare the kids away to BK or KFC for their next kids' meal).
Ugh. But whatever.
Misty @ Apr 11th 2008 7:20AM
I have an M3DS real. Where does my extra money go? Mostly, to games for the kids, or unimportant things like food and clothing.
We are a 'just past getting by' family. We aren't well off, but we have the occaisonal bit of money to indulge in things with. The kids both have grandparent-provided DSes. I got my partner one the xmas before last, and she and my girlfriend pitched in and got me a red and black one this past xmas (A color you can't yet get in Australia, so is extra special!).
The M3 lets me trygames beforeusing that modest splurgable money. Especially, it lets me test games out before giving them to my children, to make sure they are appropriate and playable; giving them a game heavy on reading is pointless. It also lets us play games together without having to buy multiple copies, which has been nice with things like Pokemon, where we already have two bloody copies in the house.
Plus, I can carry my library with me and not have to worry about losing one of the carts. I have a 2 gig flash card, which holds much more than I will ever need.
Pizza Pasta @ Apr 11th 2008 9:06AM
I think it's wrong to pirate brand new games but I have no poblem downloading club nintendo titles or games that are out of print or impossible to find.
I always end up getting ripped off when I buy an older game off ebay or from a used game shop. I spent $55 dollars on Tetris DS and it dawned on me that NONE of that money is going to Nintendo it's just going into the pocket of the ebay user that bilked me for it.
I should have just downloaded it for free. If piracy hurts the people that sell overpriced used games then I support it.
Unsmartest @ Apr 11th 2008 11:03AM
I have no problem or moral qualms about downloading games for the ds. So many games are straight garbage that if I were to actually pay for these steamers I'd eventually go on a killing spree taking out everyone who was behind the development of Crazy Pig.
The game industry is a whore beast who wants money. They rarely care about quality entertainment. When there is a title that is actually good I dont mind putting down some money for it, but how often is that like 2% of the time?
Tamyu @ Apr 11th 2008 11:15AM
Both my husband and I pirate... But we also buy games. LOTS of games.
The problem with the DS seems to be that for every decent game out there, 20 others are complete and utter trash. It may look nice in a magazine, but until you play it, there is no way to know what it`s actually like. (And don`t say "demo", because 99% of the games never have demos.)
Instead of hopping over to the game shop to blindly pick up a new release that we thought looked interesting, we pick it up on the net, try it out, and if we like it buy a copy to support the makers.
If we don`t like it, no real loss to anyone, as we wouldn`t have bought it anyway - and if the lack of an uniformed hype-only sale makes the designers put a little more effort into making something worthwhile in the next project, all the better.
I wouldn`t buy a CD without having heard part of it and liking it, just as I will not buy a game without knowing that it`s worth playing.
Even after we buy copies of the games we like, we still continue on with the pirated copies. Most of the games we`ve bought have never been removed from their cases. It just feels nice having them.
As for the money not wasted on games we don`t really enjoy... I don`t know where it goes. Possibly on weekly copies of Famitsu, books, and our son.
mini keg @ Apr 11th 2008 11:26AM
All of you complain about having no money to buy new games, and how expensive they are.... if you keep pirating them, the prices will only go up to accommodate for this......
I'm sorry you are families that are 'Just getting by' but I come from one of those myself... and I worked hard, took out massive student loans and went to university.... Plus I think a lot of that is bullshit.... What about all those people out there who are working hard that pay for their shit? what makes you so special? If you need to justify it to yourself that little Tommy wouldn't have shoes if you had to pay for this DS game, whatever, but no one else wants to hear your bullshit story as to why you steal.
Everyone I know who has pirated games is someone who can afford to pay the 30$ for a legal copy....
If you really want to try the game, rent it.
foosnark @ Apr 11th 2008 12:58PM
I'm both a developer and a musician who's released albums. However... I'm an MMO developer so that's kind of pirate-proof, and am very indie so I recognize anyone stealing my music had about a 0.000000001% chance of ever paying for it in the first place. I simply gave my last album away as a free download anyway.
I don't like piracy, and I buy what I use.
I also think anti-piracy efforts are ultimately more harmful to both industries than the actual piracy is.
I own an M3 so I can play homebrew stuff. I thought maybe someday I'd install ROMs of carts that I already own, for the convenience factor of not having to carry those carts around... but I haven't bothered to do that yet.
Ferdinand @ Apr 12th 2008 12:23AM
That particular £6000? I don't know, it probably went towards the Mercedes. I know that the £60 a week I save by pirating PC games gives me my weekend weed baggie and a couple of Es for when I go clubbing. The PS2 modchip, now that beautiful thing provided the seed capital for my first business and my first million (age 24, hell yes). I guess you could say the hacked PSP covers my losses in the casino, which have been pretty hefty lately, but totally worth it - I can't get enough of the high-roller girls you get in there!
I've had my eye on a jetski, anyone recommend a good 360 modchip?
Ethan @ Apr 12th 2008 6:53AM
Er, yay.
Brittany @ Apr 12th 2008 11:16AM
Pirating is very good for trying out games. Like many have said, when you see a game in a magazine it's really hard to tell if it is going to be good or not. You don't want to support a shovelware developer by buying their game then later finding out how much crap it is.
I'm one of those people that will not buy used games because the money made from it is just profit to the seller, not the developer.
Support the developers that deserve it guys, if you pirate all the good games and parents of little kids who don't understand go out and buy all the shovelware for their kids... guess which business is doing better? Guess what kinds of games we are more likely to see more of?
Omen @ Apr 13th 2008 9:22AM
Games!? You can put DS games on flash cards!? All I have is pr0n.
LimaBravo @ Apr 15th 2008 9:36AM
Better late than never.
a) Piracy occurs because games do not cost $2 million dollars to create. Games cost bugger all to create. Game developers/designers/coders/etc need to stop gouging their wages for their really over rated talents. Most kids in their bedrooms do better work than the paid elite at the top of the chain ( see mod scene for details). Now corporate interest in distribution on the DS's unique card system will cut into that BUT ..... How much does a blank DS card cost really ? How much does the burning cost ? GBP£40 a card I dont think so. I doubt it costs £30 either or £20. Mebbe £10 if you including the game costs, the manual & printed covers. Mebbe.
b) Games released in the US in March dont reach UK until April. Their both in same language easier to pirate, play & finish than wait for release in UK.
c) The M3/R4 cards allow connoiesuers to carry there games in one easy to not lose card :D & you can watch films & listen to music & read books & read comics & ....
Why didnt Nintendo figure out a propriety ROM system where only registered owners could play their officially downloaded/installed games on a Nintendo approved 8 Gb ROM card of doom that doubled as a media player.
d) As mentioned earlier, A pirated copy is not a sale far from it. All the titles I own on PC/NDS are pirated first to see if the makers deserve the cash from a purchase.
Seb656 @ Apr 22nd 2008 1:00AM
YAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!! I just found this thread.
I have plenty of DS roms and plenty of prOn. I love my DS. Want to know the truth? Most pirates wouldnt pay for the games anyway. If you told me there was no way to pirate the DS I wouldn't have bought one. I only steal that which I wouldnt waste my money on. I am sorry if your a developer but you will survive (the music industry has). As for publishers, BURN IN HELL!! Espically EA.
Verme99 @ Apr 22nd 2008 10:09AM
Well, I live in a country without official Nintendo representation. I pirate games in my Supercard. How Am I suppose to buy all the games that I want? Import them all? for each import I need to pay 60% of the TOTAL value of the package (including the shipping value).
I think Nintendo is getting enough money from me, since I bought DS, DS lite, GBA and GC systems (this one I bought imports, just cause I got a good scheme in USA to get games cheaper). Otherwise, they woilr never see my money.