Game up for computer pirates

By JOSIE CLARKE consumer reporter

A public campaign to stamp out computer game piracy aims to save the software industry up to $30 million a year.

A pile of 3000 counterfeit discs were bulldozed at the bottom of Queen St yesterday to mark the campaign's launch.

It was a public display that organisers hope will raise awareness about piracy issues.

The New Zealand computer game industry is worth about $60 million a year, with an extra $20 million to $30 million lost annually to piracy.

Yesterday's demolition is part of a larger anti-piracy programme set up by the Interactive Software Association, which has hired a private investigation company to track down dealers and buyers.

Isanz executive officer Garth Wyllie said it was important people realised software piracy was a crime that could carry a jail sentence.

At least 200 counterfeit operations have already been closed down and six people convicted with the help of the electronic crime section of Auckland police.

Isanz had already noticed a sizeable drop in the number of people openly selling pirated games.

Daniel Thompson, operations manager for Auckland Investigation, said that investigators found most of the games through the Trade and Exchange publication.

A smaller number were found on internet trading sites.

Most pirated discs carried viruses and could corrupt hardware.

Some included pornographic material.

Most of the fakes had arrived from Singapore, often months before they had been released in the United States; others had been "burned" on home computers.

Fakes could be easily spotted by their cheap price ($15 to $25 compared with $45 to $100 for a real disc), and were usually without the holograms embedded on discs manufactured by licensed dealers.