David Cameron: Piracy costs us

Do you care about games piracy? Ever bought a knock off game for a few quid just because it was at the market and everyone else was buying it? Does that make you a criminal?

ELPSA say yes it does. Oh, it does. They've welcomed comments from Conservative Party Leader David Cameron in which he recognised the scale and impact of copyright theft, its effect on business and the need for a more robust Intellectual Property (IP) framework.

The debate rages on almost every video gaming forum the web has to offer as to whether or not there is ever a justified case for video game piracy or indeed if it's a glorified method of sticking it to the man. An age old past time that could hardly be described as a modern form of rebellion ... I see a few silver heads nodding.

But how will piracy effect Nintendo's Wii? Traditionally the big N have steered clear of the mainstream piracy threat by using cartridge based mediums that are much harder to work with for scallywags. This time around though, not only are they 'doing the disc thing' but they're doing it full size, opening up the doorway for much more work to be done on the Wii unit. By creating regional gaming zones, some are saying they have encouraged region chipping and modded Wii units. Some Chinese Wii units are reportedly modified to play US or Japanese games, with games themselves being sold for as little as $1.30.

However, the overriding news isn't that piracy seems to be effecting the Wii right now, or that it's ever likely to. With organisations such as ELPSA and recognised figures like Cameron on their side, chances are that the seas will continues to grow increasingly choppy for pirates who fancy themselves a haul of pieces 'a silicon.