Chipped Consoles Seized in Record Swoop

Taxpayers put game-copying chavs in hot water.

The powers that be in the UK games industry, ELSPA, have announced the "biggest ever seizure of chipped consoles anywhere in UK", revealing that they've shown the fruits of their labour to newly appointed government Minister, Ed Balls. Yes, Balls.

The 'chipping' or modifying of game consoles has long been a legally grey area. On the one hand, chipping a console has traditionally allowed gamers to play imported software from Japan or America - a right that is largely protected under European law (even if it voids the warranty on the console). But modern consoles typically play a lot of imported games automatically (just like many DVD players play DVDs from anywhere these days), which begs the question - why chip new consoles? The obvious answer is to play illegally copied games.

An early morning raid at a Halifax car boot sale last week, which led to the largest console chipping seizure ever discovered in the UK, was shown to the newly appointed Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. The goal, says the announcement, was to highlight the "excellent use government funding in the fight against video games copyright crime".

Mr Balls, who is said to be one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's closest allies, was invited by West Yorkshire Trading Standards chief Graham Hebblethwaite, to see for himself the results of 'Operation Poseidon' which was essentially funded by taxpayers, in the interest of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

The discovery came about after a raid on the town's car boot sale, where a 23 year-old man was chased down and arrested. Later in the day, at the man's premise, authorities unearthed a staggering 246 Wii and 168 Xbox 360 consoles with a retail value in excess of £125,000.

Also seized from the property in the joint operation were: 19 PSPs, 12 DS Lites, six PlayStation 2s (Slimline and standard models) and six PlayStation 3s, along with computers used for the duplication of copied discs, the chips themselves intended for the chipping process, 300-400 copied games discs, and £5,000 in cash.

The original operation at the market had resulted in two further individuals being arrested for selling copied DVDs and CDs. A total of over 5000 discs were seized with a retail value of over £50,000. All consoles have now been sent to ELSPA's Anti-Piracy Unit for "forensic examination".

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA commented: "I congratulate West Yorkshire Trading Standards and west Yorkshire Police for what stands as a landmark seizure of chipped consoles and illegally copied discs. The scale of the operation and the removal of counterfeit material from the market place will have an immediate impact on local businesses in the area."

Graham Hebblethwaite, Chief Officer of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: "Copyright crime is driven by greed and causes a loss of millions of pounds to retailers of West Yorkshire and to members of the music and entertainment industry every year."

Kikizo Staff