2 Arrested in Retail Game Piracy Racket

Several Pandora’s Cube stores in Maryland and Virginia were raided last week and 2 were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement and conspiracy to traffic devices to circumvent technological protection measures.

The stores were selling what they dubbed “Super Xbox” consoles. These modified video game systems from the software giant not only included larger internal hard drives, but also came pre-loaded with 15 games and sold for around $500. Store operators weren’t shy about the products either, as many were on display in establishments’ windows.

Essentially computers, the systems were also loaded with disc copying software that allowed consumers to copy additional games to the unit, further ignoring copyright law. This could come as a big win for the video game industry, who blames piracy for billions of lost revenue each year, although no numbers have been officially released.

The news of the bust comes hot on the heels on Nintendo’s big court win over the sale of third party devices that utilize Nintendo software and intellectual properties, many of which can be found at malls across the country, especially during this holiday season. The units are compact game systems that feature 20 or more games, easily plug into the television and come as self contained joysticks that resemble controllers that originally came with classic game systems of the 80s and 90s.