Queensland gamer to pay $1.5 million for copying Nintendo Wii game

A Queensland gamer has been ordered to pay $1.5 million after he illegally copied a Nintendo Wii game and uploaded it to the internet ahead of its release date.

But the company has said the copyright infringement will affect future Australian release dates, and said upcoming games may take longer to reach local stores.

James Burt will pay the company damages after both parties settled out of court, including a legal bill of $100,000.

It is understood he came to obtain the game when working at a shipping company.

Nintendo applied for a search order, which required Burt to give up the locations of his computers, disks and electronic storage devices. This order also included the disclosure of his passwords to social networking sites and email accounts.

The game in question was the New Super Mario Brothers Wii, released last November. Nintendo said the title was a highly anticipated release for the company, and Burt’s actions caused a significant loss in revenue.

The game was scheduled to be released worldwide starting in Australia, prompting the high levels of anticipation. Usually, most games are released here several weeks or even months after an international release date.

But the company said the unusual move of releasing the game in Australia first may not be repeated as a result of the case.

“Nintendo Australia is always pushing for games to be released here at the same time as the rest of the world, so we were pleased to get New Super Mario Bros. Wii before anyone else,” a company statement said.

“Unfortunately, due to the actions of this individual, future release dates may be affected for Australia, which is disappointing for us.”

Nintendo said it was able to use new technology to trace Burt’s location after the game was uploaded, and that the uploading of the game posed a significant threat to the company.

“Fewer sales of Nintendo’s hardware and software systems means fewer resources that Nintendo, its licensees, developers and publishers have to create and market new video game products which is ultimately to the detriment of video game enthusiasts.”

“Nintendo will pursue those who attempt to jeopardise our industry by using all means available to it under the law.”