15,000 Counterfeit Nintendo Products Seized in Mexico

According to the press release from Nintendo of America, Mexican authorities have confiscated 15,000 counterfeit Nintendo products from a market in Guadalajara, Mexico.

August 17 2007 - Mexican authorities conducted raids today against 12 alleged distributors of counterfeit Nintendo® products in a major "fayuca" (contraband) market in Guadalajara. Authorities seized 15,000 counterfeit Nintendo products, including 4,500 counterfeit Wii™ game discs.

The Guadalajara raids follow other Nintendo actions in Mexico during the past few months. Last month, Nintendo worked with customs agents to stop a shipment of more than 5,500 counterfeit Nintendo products entering Manzanillo, exported from China. Prior to that, Nintendo assisted local authorities in a raid of the San Juan de Dios market in Guadalajara, where 23 stores were shut down and more than 56,000 counterfeit Nintendo products were confiscated, including 11,000 counterfeit Wii discs.

"Mexico is Nintendo's largest market in Latin America, where the problem of video game piracy is widespread," said Jodi Daugherty, Nintendo of America's senior director of anti-piracy. "Since January, Nintendo has worked with law enforcement agencies worldwide to seize 100,000 counterfeit Wii games."

Earlier this month, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents executed 32 federal search warrants in 16 states as part of an investigation into the alleged sale and distribution of illegal Wii modification chips designed to circumvent the security embedded in the hardware and allow users to play counterfeit Wii software.

Nintendo and its developers and publishers lost an estimated $762 million in sales in 2006 due to piracy of its products.

If you haven't heard it yet, some guys got irked when our Wii-GameCube article reached GamePro. One reasoned that our article could have affected how Microsoft, Nintendo, and other companies would deal with gamers in the Philippines. Blocking of credit cards, IPs, and racial discriminations are just the few effects our article has "supposedly" caused...

Posted by AngelsCircle

If you haven't realize it yet? Our gaming is affected by that article. Microsoft block our locally issued credit card in buying in xbox live marketplace and our IP are recognized already to be block in downloading video medias because they do not trust us anymore. That article reaching gamepro website will have an impact on Wii gamers using their credit card to pay for Virtual Games downloadable and other things an ordinary Nintendo Gamers usually have.

How many gamers in xbox live will have a negative feedback on their gamertags once the other foreign players learned they are filipinos because they have bad impression of us because some articles like that stating we are modders and we are reverse engineer even most of us are not? An article like that has a greater impact against xbox gamers locally than those of Nintendo gamers because of the online persecution are extended thru audio means also in xbox live.

Damage has been done and all of us has to live with it now, Another nail to our crosses and another nail for the coffin of our gaming recognition with Halo 3 is coming to the xbox and more online games coming for the Nintendo with our country is listed as one of the location that can be chosen as seen in Pokemon Battle Revolution but all of that will hang in balance after that articles impact.

Well this raid in Mexico doesn't affect my relations with my Mexican online buddies, and neither should yours. Regarding the blocking of credit cards, companies have been doing this before. Not just Microsoft. Heard or PayPal?

Game companies know how rampant piracy is in Asia, and our simple article wouldn't affect their decisions if they wanted to give official support to Philippine gamers or not. Nintendo knows how rampant piracy is in Mexico, so why do they still offer official support there?

(Via Destructoid)