Captain Jack Sparrow's popularity proves that everybody loves a good pirate, but not when they're stealing money from hard working developers and gaming companies.
A 38 year old man was found guilty of breaking Copyright Law by the Kyoto District Court on Monday for using the internet to distribute pirated software for the Nintendo DS.
Yoshiaki Asagiri was sentenced to spend two and a half years in prison, and a total of 9.13 million yen in fines and damages - a total of over $96,000 USD. Ouch!
According to the ruling, by Judge Junichi Tochigi, Asagiri distributed pirated DS software online over July and August last year. Said the Judge:
You trampled over the hard work of those copyright holders who paid the costs of producing these works and caused a great deal of damage.
This is still a big issue in a lot of countries, and always will be - pirated software is still being bought by the millions, so it's good to see people like Asagiri get exactly what they deserve.
[source mdn.mainichi.jp]
Comments (206)
This story is... AWESOME!
The old man judge picture scares me, lol...
EDIT: Hah, fir-...dammit Twilight! XD
That's whatcha get for being illegal!
Thanks TwilightV, it always brings a smile to my face when I see a pirate like this get his just desserts!
guy from the six flag comercial got another job! LOL!
don't drop the soap
@BB Thrilla
It does look like him xD
It's good that they are tracking down these people.
Devs work hard and pay alot for a game to be published.
When I read the first part, for a sec I thought it was talking about the former user Captain Jack Sparrow.
judge scary...must...not...look...at him
Only wish I could hear that jailroom conversation.
"So what you in for? I robbed a bank and I killed seven people."
"I set fire to an aparment complex. Killed 50. What about you new guy?"
"I illegally copied video games and sold unofficial copies to the unsespecting public.."
"..."
In other news, I have not seen a person act like Tingle so accurately no matter what he talks about as well as SUPERZELDAMAN.
Me: Hello Mr. Scary Judge, wanna be my friend?
Mr. Scary J: NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Me: runs away in terror
Mr. Scary J: You looked into my eyes, I shall haunt you eternally!
Me: That means were friends?
Mr. Scary J: No
Me: Want some pudding?
Mr. Scary J: Yes, the pudding of your doom.
@BB Thrilla
hahaha you are right, it look like his secret twin brother.
About the news, I think he deserves it. Meaning stealing is stealing.
Back on topic, he deserves it.
@11
Ha! You're right, I hope he never changes that avatar. (Also, someone broke the forums again)
He got what he deserved.
What is Corbie doing with those forums, that silly little man
What has happened to the forums!? Is Nintendo Life falling apart!?
They should hire an extra technical director to help Ant. There is only so much that one person can do.
the japanese take there games seriously i guess i feel no pitty for a guy that dares sell pirated ds games, they should have given him a old public decaption to make a point
exactly, atleast they are getting to do the time for the crime... sadly it may never be caught on all...
O.O I didn't create that complaining thread, Aquateen did!
What's going on?
That judge sure looks angry. He must really love video games.
LOL @GabeGreens.
Also, did Chunky Droid post this? Congrats on your first article.
That man on the picture is hot!
He got what he deserved and is anyone else having trouble with the forums on the site?
^Yes. I think Ant (technical director) is messing with it.
@Supermarioman-Yes, I think Nintendo Life is messed up. They need to hire an extra technical director, or people will begin to leave Nintendo Life.
when will the forums b fixed this is killing me i LOVE the forums and am VERY bored waiting for the DSi Facebook Update...
About time people are gettin nailed. Hopefully they will start busting all the pirates on ebay.
This kind of stuff needs to be happening in Hong Kong, China, and Korea, not just Japan.
I'm all for piracy, except when it comes to game piracy. Those guys can burn at the stake for all I care.
Did I mention i'm going to be the Pirate King? >:3
"I put pirated video games on the internet for people to download illegally."
Erm from the article I read it could well be:
"I arranged a factory in China to re-produce popular DS games for me to sell as the real thing"
The problem is the details are very vauge and not always translated correctly for instance " Chinese woman" refers to a woman living in China (they may not even be Chinese).
Still in a way it is a shame the only cases we get over here are people selling R4s with gamez bundled and people using peer to peer (thus distributing) to download music then being too dumb to accept the out of court fee and getting unpayable fines thorwn at them in a court room.
Bootlegs should be the number one target of the industry then tackle everything else.
That picture makes me think that there's a spot on my shirt.
EDIT: What's up with the forums?
Hence why I don't pirate DS games.
Everything else, well...
I'm crying right now about the death of the forums.
This will be remembered as 'Black Monday'.
Come on, which one of you lot broke Nintendo Life.
EDIT: ooops, forgot there was a topic here, erm... mass piracy is bad!
NESGamerpro, your right about it killing music and probably ruining hundreds if not thousands of lives at the same time and will Nintendo Life put up something explaining the forums.
Maybe they say should change the title to: Guy busted for Ds piracy, but more importantly, our forums are down and Mr. Scary Judge wants the pudding of your doom!
If it the forums do not come back up soon, I guess we will be moving to another forums website...
Hey guys, Corbie just told me why the forums have crashed. Nintendo Life's server cannot handle the user traffic anymore, so they are moving Nintendo Life to a new server. But, the website is SO BIG, it is going to take awhile. I guess this will be an unofficial topic until Nintendo Life's forums are back up.
Server overload, eh? Being popular is a burden.
Take it from me.
"Being popular is a burden. Take it from me." -warioswoods
No, thanks.
You guys are funny. They're working on it now. It will be back soon. We're just trying to get everyone banned that we don't currently like. There were a lot more than we thought.
Are you male or female?
@Corbie, Warioswoods, and VGP-LOL. I also played Sexy Poker today and it is horrible.
Thanks for taking the fodder for us, SuperSonic. I guess I'll stick with real strip poker then.
Three word story
Nice. Always great to see a pirate go down.
I will be glad when the forums are back.
I haven't tried out Sexy Poker yet. I did grab the Art Style game to give it a go. I've been busy working on Game Boy reviews and game pages and admin stuff, so no Nintendo Download reviews for me this week.
The reason Sexy Poker is so horrible is because it has no replay value whatsoever. You can complete the main game in about a hour or less if you are really good at poker. All the girls look like anime girls! I'm going to review this game on my blog, so keep an eye out on my blog. I did bought Tecmo Bowl [VCA] and Overturn.
@Corbie
Sounds like a pretty good week to skip.
Hey dudes, do me a favor and keep Nintendo Life down.
Only joking, good luck with the migration guys. Yay!
I guess pirates didn't hijack our forums afterall!
sooo does anyone like coffee??
Was he actually making money from this? If so then the sentence is justified but otherwise I feel it's a bit harsh and while I cannot condone piracy to call it evil is a bit over the top.
Also, in what way has piracy killed music? Since the advent of peer to peer file transfers people have been exposed to music that they wouldn't have heard otherwise and studies have shown music downloaders on average buy more albums. Plus artists make most of their money from touring and merchandising rather than record sales as the main chunk of that money goes to record labels who (indie labels excluded) don't care about music at all but just about making money. I'm not using the music example to condone what this guy has done in any way, I'm just saying that it annoys me both as a music fan and a musician when people say piracy harms music.
@SuperSonic1990 How's Overturn? I've been thinking about getting it. Oh, and Corbie,would you like a cookie?
So Corbie are we going to be loosing several of our members? Also are you going to delete half of the forums cause of being duplicates? I was going over Community Rules again and noticed that multiple forums was something you all didn't want on the site. Finally are you warning people before banning them?
@nintendoduffin
Yes, he was making money off those pirated copies. He ain't no Robin Hood, he's just a robber.
All your forums are belong to me.
I was only kidding about the banning. We're just trying to make the site better and faster. We'll have the forums back on soon.
Good, because I'm out of cookies.
Oh Corbie you had me scared about getting banned for making forums that may already exist. Are you all posiibly putting in the user reviews by anychance
@Corbie..... good deal. Im not complaining or anything but the last couple of days the Forums have been crashing out on me for some reason. Guess it wasn't my computer after all. Lovin the GB reviews though. Keep it up guys.
Well, the companies have the right to punish those pirates, they're robbing them after all.
Oooh, so that is what happened to the forums. No hurries, just get it right.
@VGP
Oh! Really, I celebrated my birthday last saturday too , but I only got: a "real" size stuffed Bulbasaur, the first Resident Evil novel book, and half of Klonoa (I paid $27 of its $45 price tag), I'm envying you know grrr .
@Xkhaoz-I haven't played it yet but I will play it tonight. I might even review Overturn on my blog.
Is this Sparta?
Everyone seems to have fourm withdraw.
Better get those forums up again, or I'll have to start embedding my Wii Music videos right here.
For most of you, that'd be comparable to being forced to watch someone's vacation slides.
Hey guys I'm back from playing Overturn.....WTF!?!? What happened here???
ok so quick question since everybody is here where is the updated Opera Web Browser for the DSi it's not in the shop?! wasnt it supposed to come with the update or something?!
@bubby
I updated mine from the shop -- does it not show up for you? Under DSiWare and the Free category?
I shouldn't be worried about the forums while I'm at work, but I sure miss em
@Xkhoaz: That's because I took them all! MWAHAHAHA!!! I'm sad about the forums... I went there looking for a good topic and saw... JIBBERISH!!! I gasped once again and went back to watching Corner Gas again.
I'm getting the update right now.
Wow... I agree with you completely... That guy is such a jerk for doing that.
@warioswoods i dont see it what did it say? all mine says is downloaded... ?
Forum withdrawal! Chuck Norris is God! I don't like football! And I have a Sega! But which one???
@4. chunky_droid Yeah, looks like the law finally played a trap card .

Edit: I leave my computer for a few hours and the forums fall apart. "It's ok forums I'm here for you"
@Dicesukeinuzaka
I lol'd. I really like original yugioh.
This is going to be the most off topic comment section ever!
Well, it's only 'cause the forums are broken. This is our temporary forum page.
Does anybody remember my forum asking if I should buy a PS3 or just get Wii Games, I made up my mind just to keep buying Wii Games, no need for HD!
Well, if we're gonna be off-topic...
What's your favorite Final Fantasy?
Mine is a four-way tie between FF4, FF5, FF7, and FFX.
Your favorite Chuck Norris facts!
Chuck Norris' first job was a paperboy. There were no survivors.
I pirate games if it's easy and safe. (I.e., not current-gen games.)
@ Blue Protoman: Sparta? THIS. IS. AMERICAAAAAAAAAA (sort of)!!!
this whole WEBSITE was broken when I first came to it...
Darn.
But this guy got exactly what he deserved. I hate these idiots. Buy the games. Alot for the DS are worth the money.
@92: I agree there is no need for HD, but if that's the only reason you have to not buy one you are missing out on some fun titles you'll never see on the wii But to each his own
@Dicesukeinuzaka: Ha, I can see it now. The judge (in his best DAN GREEN voice): YOU'VE ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!
Okay, anyone wanna start placing bets on how long the forums are going to be down? If so, I say they will be back up at about 7:00 AM usa eastern time
@93. Mickeymac: FF3 was pretty cool with all the classes to choose from, but I never completed a FF game so I don't really know.
Tonight at 1:00 central time
Sometime soon, I hope.
thank you PhoenixSage and Sonicmaster
So...who has pre-ordered Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days?
@dicesukeinuzaka
EDIT: Aw, forget it. I can't post images.
Awesome! How do we hijack it?
But Corbie we want to continue hijacking Nintendolife's board!
I kind of hope the forums don't come back up so that we can continue to be off topic without getting banned for once
Hey does anybody remember when VC-Reviews and WiiWare-World combined with Nintendolife for the first time! What a beautiful and chaotic day!
@Corbie: GameFAQs is blocked at work lol
Yep, it looks like while the forums are broken, the banhammer is at bay.
So, Corbie, will you be doing the Golden Sun review or will somebody else?
I remember the days leading up to the site fusion. When we were racing to get everything done. Crazy time. I even remember adding that question about "curling up in the fetal position" to Damo's article.
And yeah, I'm doing the Golden Sun review. I just finished putting together the game pages for it and Wario Land 4.
Yay Corbie! That's awesome! Haha, seeing those screenshots made my day. I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it. It'll be a must-read for me.
Yay Golden Sun! Yay Nintendo Life! Yay!
I wonder what's wrong with the forums, anyway. Just a glitch, maybe?
Will everything be lost?
I don't think anything will be lost. Just take calming deep breaths. And yeah, PhoenixSage, I thought it was about time for some Golden Sun goodness on here.
Piracy is not all bad, interesting reading.
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/01/dutch-government-study-net-effect-of-p2p-use-is-positive.ars
I'm probably not the first to say that judge picture is creeping me out.
Just downloaded Majoras Mask...wow...
@MetalMario
Mr. Scary Judge: THEN I HAVE FULFILLED ONE OF MY TWO LIFE GOALS. Now to get the pudding of GabeGreen's doom...
@GabeGreens: Hmmm...pudding.
I want pudding now. Where are the Snack Packs?
@Feraligatr: 3rd article, I wrote the 100,000 sold in Australia, and the Telltale Games one with the pitchforks .
I leave for like 6 hours and come back excited my article gets over 100 posts so quickly, then realise 95% of the comments are forum based, lol! I love you guys!
Yes, it is definitely time for some Golden Sun love; I can't agree with you more about that, Corbie. It'll be very cool to see a review of the game, I can't wait!
Yay again!
@MetalMario: In my doom
@PheonixSage: He could give the game a 1 you know? You wont be too happy then, I think.
Do you love me?
@GabeGreens: I know Corbie will give it a fair review, and from what I've seen of him around Golden Sun-related topics, I don't think I need to worry about that.
My doom is vanilla chocolate swirl, sorry
@GabeGreens: I highly doubt it would get a one.
Look! I'm posting words!
@GabeGreens: Aw, all I have that's swirled is Chocolate Caramel.
I want to get Golden Sun, if I could get my things shipped sooner, I could get my gameboy to play it. Woudnt it be cool if it got released on a Virtual Handheld for the DSi?
Look! I'm posting words!
@Chunky_Droid: Aren't you glad that we chose your article to post our random nonsense?
@Dicesukeinuzuka
Yeah, I really liked FF3, too. I'm still playing through it, but so far it seems like it'll become one of my favorites.(so far it's my second favorite )
Just one question: How is the DS version?
Glad to hear about the Golden Sun review...because honestly, that's one of those games where I could never understand how so many other people liked it so much. A keen insight is greatly appreciated.
I'd say an 8.
@chunky_droid: Sorry, sir. lol
I can always exchange my doom for another flavor at Super Target, Ill go there right now, anyone want something while Im there?
Can you get me a points card? BTW I got Legendary Starfy today. Lovin it so far. Gotten all secret areas and chests in the first area. In area 2.
I'll have what Corbie's having and some Swedish Fish. Maybe some Gummi Bears, too.
OH! And Scooby-Doo Fruit Snacks!
Oh, and some sour gummi worms would be good too.
Ok let me make a shopping list
Vanilla pudding of my doom for Metal Mario
Gummi Worms for Corbie
Keep the requests coming!
@SonicMaster: Oh yeah, that game is really great! It's over way too soon, though.
Heck, every good game is over too soon.
@GabeGreens-You are enjoying Majora's Mask? It is one of the greatest games ever made.
Vanilla pudding of my doom, Gummi Worms, Swedish Fish, Gummi Bears, and Scooby Fruit snacks for Metal Mario
Gummi Worms for Corbie
Points Card for SonicMaster
Keep em comin
A Unicorn
At Supersonic: No, my wow was expressing how atrocious the game is
Actually it is amazing, better than Ocarina from what Ive played. Im thinking of reviewing it after completion. Always wanted to try reviewing.
@GabeGreens: LOL.
Vanilla pudding of my doom, Gummi Worms, Swedish Fish, Gummi Bears, and Scooby Fruit snacks for Metal Mario
Gummi Worms for Corbie
Points Card, and a Unicorn for SonicMaster
Keep Em CoMinG
The DS game was great, I had it over a year ago though, but from what I remember it was good, you are still in the over world when you leave a town and I liked it more than IV because there was more freedom in your characters. I don't think I got very far in the game, my brother also played the games (I think on the same save file) and so I wasn't able to follow the story all the way. Last I remember doing was using some shrinking spell to get into a small cave or something, and there was also and invinsible dragon I had to use magic on I think instead of normal attacks to do damage. and thats all. Over all I really can't tell you how good the games was because I didn't play the original, and I'm not a huge rpg fan, but the game was still good.
A $1,000,000 apology card for me for forgetting my sour gummi worms
Now, you're broke, no more shopping list
Season 3 of Prison Break if they have it on sale please
My own personal nursing home
Vanilla pudding of my doom, Gummi Worms, Swedish Fish, Gummi Bears, and Scooby Fruit snacks for Metal Mario
Gummi Worms for Corbie
Points Card, a Unicorn, a $1,000,000 apology card for me for forgetting his sour gummi worms, and a personal nursing room for SonicMaster
Season 3 of Prison Break if they have it on sale for Jerichoholic Josh
It IS SUPER Target. Keep em...you know
Cool, try this out.
Go to google image search, type in your username and then imagesize:60x60 and your avatar will be there.
Some of them are old versions of your avatar, though. Like mine before pixelman edited it.
At SonicMaster, sorry, but that is all I can buy for you for now, my allowance is not infinite and there is other people who want stuff too!
I need some more Pepsi! I'm running low on Nintendo Points!
I'll take a nice PS3 if you have the money, if thats too much just add another Gummi Worms to your list
@metalmario
I did that and my avatar was the first result! So awesome.
@WolfRamHeart I dont think they are giving them anymore, I used to win everytime, now Ive put tons of those bottle caps in a row and lost. Something smells fishy in here. Im at the seafood section in super target
@metalmario
Didn't work for me :C
Somebody mind making me an updated shopping list, Im tired...
@SonicMaster: Yeah, I got you too when I typed in MetalMario. Because one time you wrote @MetalMario.
WAPOo-!
See ya every one I'm going to sleep. z Z Z....
@Dicesukeinuzuka: Hmm, yeah, for some reason yours comes up with jbrodak's avatar.
mine doesnt come up either, at all
@GabeGreens: I got yours before, actually. It was a picture of your old Mario parade-type avatar.
Gabe Greens here's your shopping list:
PS3 and Gummi Worms for Me
Gummi Worms and Pepsi for Corbie.
A points card, unicorn, $1 Million Dollar Apology card for not getting sour gummi worms, and a personal nursing room for Sonic Master.
Pepsi for WolfRamHeart.
Season 3 of Prison Break in they have it on sale for Jericholic Josh.
Vanallia Pudding of my doom, Gummi Worms, Swedish Fish, Gummi Bears, and Scooby fruit snacks for Metal Mario.
There you go
Thank you!!! Im so gratefu... runs and leaves Supermarioman the burden of updating my shopping list
Yeah, I don't know why the old versions of the avatars come up. Kinda weird. But if you click on the old avatar twice to see the original image, it shows your updated avatar.
Going to sleep, bye...ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ
@Supermariofan: I'll also have one of everything in your avatar.
Thinks Green Gabes, for nothing that is. Anyone else want anything else?
Also MetalMario I own one of everything except the SNES becuase mine recently broke and I have had a hell of a time tracking down another one of them.
Yeah, I got all of those too, but my NES doesn't work as well as it used to.
Good thing the Virtual Console is there, though. I get alot of those hard-to-get-working games now. Just need a few more, and I'll be able to play them all with ease.
But nothing beats playing with the original controller...
Hey Corbie, by any chance did your game blog get hacked?, my link takes me to a wierd site,
I know what you mean by the feel of the original controller, nothing beats the handcramps of the old NES pad does it
No, I loved that rectangle. The greatest rectangle of all time. I wish we could get a working Classic Controller that looks like the NES, SNES, and N64 controllers. That would be so awesome.
I gotta get to bed, everyone or just MetalMario in this case. It's past 2:00 in the morning!
Okay.......hmm....everyone is going to sleep now. I'm all alone....I think...
....maybe I'll get off as well....and play Super Mario 64 DS.
WHAT'S THAT?! The wind....oh wait. It's just the fan.
Yay! Serves him right!
I'm not in bed.
Oh, hi guys. I wasn't lonely for that minute.
Nope. It's 2:12 AM exactly. Good morning, everyone.
@Dicesukeinuzuka
Well then I'll tell you the differences:
Graphics - The DS version is in Full 3D with completely redone art by the more recent FF Character and Backround Artists
Story - The story is more fleshed out, but it still holds true to the original, for the most part
Characters - The characters in the NES version were generic "Blank Slates", with only the slightest bit of Backround info and no development whatsoever. Naturally, they felt they had to make the characters more "fleshed out" in the remake
The Battle System - I...don't know about this one, honestly.:
Battle Speed - Battles apparently go a lot slower in the DS remake, so I've heard.
Difficulty and Encounter Rate - Not sure how/if this was effected.
Classes - There are now more of them, and many of them have been rebalanced. What was once the generic starter class is now an uber-powered "secret class", and what wer once the uber-classes and the useless classes have now been toned down to a perfect balance.
I already know that the first three are negatives, and the last one is a big positive. All I need to know about are the other 3. So, here we go:
How does the new battle system work? I haven't the slightest idea.
How slow are the battles? I am a patient man, but that patients can only be stretched so far.
How difficult is it? How often do you run into enemies? If it is too hard, and battles are too frequent, then combined with slow battles, my patience will likely run thin.
It's only 1:13 here.
That user-reviews section sounds fun...I might do one of Super Mario 64.
Here's a question for you all. Do the moral and ethical justifications for not pirating games still apply when a company no longer profits from those games? i.e.Is it OK to download gameboy and gameboy colour ROMS seeing as no money is made from them?
@FATEM
Nope. It's still not okay, since it breaks copyright laws. You have to wait until the copyrights run out before they're "okay".
I don't know how you could be stupid enough to do things like that, though. It's free games, but you are bound to get caught and have to pay more than you ever would have for all those games.
@MetalMario
Well, truth be told, policing the internet is incredibly difficult, and copyright laws of old games that no one currently profits from tend to go unenforced. But yes, pirating new DS games seems like a very risky gamble.
Random Question: Is Final Fantasy: Anneversary Edition for the PSP any good? I wasn't a fan of the GBA remake, but if this is better, then I might just get it instead of waiting for the NES version to hit VC.
And would it be worth it to buy a new copy of Final Fantasy 9 instead of waiting for it to hit PSN?
...huh. And to think: Only a little over a year ago, I didn't even like RPGs, especially Final Fantasy.
hey whats with the great forum depression of 09???
you guys cant worship me properly wihtout them
anyone awake for water warfare???
If you didn't like the GBA remake of FF, you'll probably not like the PSP version. It's better, but not that much. I personally think it's the best version of the original Final Fantasy game, but that's just me.
Is it an update or just moving to a different server?
Be careful twisted, you may be one of those they took this downtime to delete.
I posted this awhile ago but it sort of got lost Sorry for repost but I think you want to read the link. And if you had... ignore.
Piracy is not all bad, interesting reading.
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2009/01/dutch-government-study-net-effect-of-p2p-use-is-positive.ars
@wolframhart: I don't mind! I wonder what the most amount of posts on a single item is? I've only seen it hit 200 twice. Now the forums are back you will all abandon me! 'sniff' lol
"that's illegal you know"
If you are going to be a pirate, at least don't be stupid enough to PAY for it! Lol.
In Japan it's actually legal to download pirated works, but uploading them, not so much. This man was placed in prison and slapped with a fine because he put them out there.
This might not be the best place to ask anymore, but Corbie, how are you enjoying the Art Style with the newfangled name?
I personally hate people who download games online, or use mod chips and hacks to get stuff for free.
Piracy also eventually feed other forms of crime further "up" the food chain including drug crime. That in turn leads to fatalities.
kids thats what happens when you use the R4 card
StarWolf: I cant let you do that, Yoshiaki Asagiri!
LOVE the new avatar, Starwolf
I say that should be the new judge for the next Phoenix Wright game!
@Corbie
Thanks for the info, mate! Guess I'll just wait for the original to come to VC, then.
Poor guy.
That guy got what he deserved. I'll have nightmares for weeks after seeing that judge XD!
Only two and a half years? ****er got off light. It should be something like 10 years minimum. Let these pirating jerkoffs know that we won't tolerate them.
now they just need to stop everyone else
it's 8:47 here
Well that's what happends.
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