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Thursday, 31st May 2012
In Japan Entertainment News,
Nintendo game pirate arrested in Japan
Police in Japan have arrested a man on suspicion of video game piracy, the first arrest of its kind in the country.
The man, who remains unnamed, is suspected of selling Majikon adapters – cartridges for the Nintendo DS that allow illegally downloaded games to be installed on an SD memory card and played on the handheld games console.
In a statement announcing the incident, the Japanese video games giant said that the arrest was made in the Aichi region of the country.
The development comes following an amendment to the country's Unfair Competition Prevention Act that made it illegal to sell equipment that allowed users to bypass a console's security controls.
Majikon devices were made illegal in Japan some time ago, but until recently anyone caught selling them would not face criminal charges.
In the UK they were sold under the R4 name until a court order banned their distribution. Similar bans exist in other European countries.
Meanwhile, Nintendo is continuing preparations for the launch of its next generation games console the Wii U, which is expected to be released in time for Christmas 2012.
Written by Mark Smith
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