While there were millions and millions of people that wanted to drop their hard-earned cash for a copy of Call of Duty: Black Ops this year, it seems there were also millions and millions of people who didn’t… but still felt they were entitled to enjoy the game. As a result, the PC version of Black Ops ended up being recorded as the most pirated game for the entire year, despite only launching in November. At over 4 million downloads, it edged out Battlefield: Bad Company 2, which launched all the way back in March.

Black Ops also managed to make the Top 5 list in terms of illegal Xbox 360 downloads, but that version was topped by four other titles, including Dante’s Inferno, which took the top “honors” for 360 with nearly 1.3 million downloads. Black Ops also just missed the Top 5 list for the Wii, which was instead led by Super Mario Galaxy 2‘s nearly 1.5 million downloads.

You can view the Top 5 most pirated games for PC, Wii, and 360 after the break.

PC Game Downloads on BitTorrent in 2010

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops (4,270,000) (Nov. 2010)
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (3,960,000) (Mar. 2010)
3. Mafia 2 (3,550,000) (Aug. 2010)
4. Mass Effect 2 (3,240,000) (Jan. 2010)
5. Starcraft II (3,120,000) (Jul. 2010)

Wii Game Downloads on BitTorrent in 2010

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (1,470,000) (May. 2010)
2. Wii Party (1,220,000) (Oct. 2010)
3. Donkey Kong Country Returns (920,000) (Nov. 2010)
4. Kirbys Epic Yarn (880,000) (Oct. 2010)
5. Red Steel 2 (850,000) (Mar. 2010)

Xbox 360 Game Downloads on BitTorrent in 2010

1. Dante’s Inferno (1,280,000) (Feb. 2010)
2. Alan Wake (1,140,000) (May. 2010)
3. Red Dead Redemption (1.060,000) (May. 2010)
4. Halo Reach (990,000) (Sept. 2010)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops (930,000) (Nov. 2010)

TorrentFreak

Related Posts

• 
  Call of Duty: Black Ops Wii bound, says USA Today
• 
  Call of Duty: Black Ops companion game coming to DS
• 
  Call of Duty: Black Ops playable in 3D

If you’re wondering why Nintendo recently took on the massive endeavor of joining forces with 54 different game software developers to take on R4 importers, now you know! The Chinese-made devices, which allow the DS system to illegally upload pirated software, are being blamed for a 50% drop in sales in the Europe region. Now, while piracy doesn’t always mean stolen revenue (as some users have no intention of purchasing the games if piracy is not an option), nonetheless Nintendo holds the R4 responsible for “trillions of yen” in lost sales. Though given the number of sites selling R4 devices that I was directed to in the mere 30 seconds I spent looking for a post image, I’d say brand integrity is a valid issue!

Asahi
via Kotaku

Related Posts

• Nintendo Cracks Down on Piracy Operations in Hong Kong
• Nintendo software sales surpass those of rival Sony
• Nintendo goes to US government for assistance against piracy

A recent piracy raid in Quebec, Canada brought to light just how severe the punishments for piracy can be under Canadian law. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police released a statement reminding the public that, “Modifying a console or computer is consider an illegal act under Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code and is punishable by imprisonment for up to ten years.” There is a small amount of ambiguity it the law that allows for leniency, but it’s pretty much down to whether or not authorities can say your tampering had illegal intent.

Be safe, don’t modify your consoles to play pirated games… or else by the next time you’ll be checking game blogs, we’ll have gone through about a dozen Nintendo handhelds.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
via Kotaku

Related Posts

• 
  Canada becomes world’s third largest game maker
• Wii (and PS2) control January sales in Canada
• Nintendo Canada may be quietly revealing Brawl info

Results of a survey released by UK trade association The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) reveal some interesting attitudes toward video game piracy by UK developers. First and foremost, the majority of the developers surveyed do indeed think that piracy is both a problem for their business and a problem that is increasing as time goes on – kind of a no-brainer. More interesting was the level of concern voiced – 60% find the threat of piracy to their survival as a company to be low. Finally, there was a 50/50 split between developers who think the government should step in to stop piracy (by restricting or cutting broadband access to suspected pirates – a long-running series of debates throughout the world) and those who feel they can curb it on their own through expanded distribution channels and new revenue models. These are paradigm shifts we’ve already been seeing as digital distribution has become mainstream, along with an increase in ad-supported models.

TIGA

Full Results summary:

Q1: Is piracy of videogames a problem for your business?
Response: 60% responded Yes, 30% responded No, 10% responded Dont know

Q2: Do you agree or disagree that people who persist in illegally swapping copyrighted files of music, films and games on the internet should have their internet connection slowed down and ultimately severed if they ignore the warning letters to stop?
Response: 50% responded Yes, 50% responded No

Q3. In relation to your business, is the problem of piracy increasing, decreasing or constant?
Response: 10% responded Increasing, 10% responded decreasing, 80% responded constant

Q4. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is scarcely noticeable and 10 is imminent threat to business survival, where would you put peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing?
Response: 60% responded 2 or 3, 20% responded 4 or 5, 10% responded 8 and 10% didnt respond

Q5. Is P2P something you expect to be a threat in 5 years time?
Response: 50% responded Yes, 50% responded No

Q6. What practical steps can you as a business take to ameliorate any impact of (P2P)?
Response: 40% didnt respond, 50% (or 83% of those who did respond) indicated they would Change their business model, predominantly citing Digital distribution, Direct customer relations and Good value and service as the key steps. 10% responded greater piracy control through Government schemes.

Q7. Are you considering different ways of doing business as a consequence?
Response: 50% responded Yes, 30% responded No and 20% responded Dont know

Q8. If yes to question 7 please specify.
Response: Of those that responded 75% stated Digital Distribution, subscription based services and/or ad supported free games, 25% indicated they would work with publishers to address this.

Q9. Is Digital Rights Management an irrelevance, a solution or a problem?
Responses: 50% responded An Irrelevance, 30% responded The Solution, and 20% responded The problem

Related Posts

• DS piracy case costs man 2.5 years
• 
  Piracy blamed for 50% drop on DS sales in Europe
• Nintendo backs WTO and U.S. fight against piracy

Yoshiaki Asagiri has been in the business of bootleg DS games for just about a year now, and it looks like that is where his piracy streak will end. Asagiri was sentenced to 2.5 years jail time and fined around nine million yen (which, if my calculations are right is around $100,000) for selling copied DS games via download from his website. Interestingly enough, he also sold bootleg designer goods  a la Chanel and Louis Vuitton to score some cash.

Andriasang.com

Related Posts

• Wii piracy making a splash on other side of the pond
• Could online gaming help end console game piracy?
• Waterfield DS Lite Case

…And by seas, I really mean “C”s which, of course, is referring to the courts. Nintendo, and a handful of other developers, have started fighting back against imported “R4 Revolution” for DS” cartridges that allow for easy uploading from the Internet. According to Nintendo the device is:

causing severe damage to our company and software makers, and this is something that we cannot possibly overlook.

It’s nice to see companies actively fighting back against products like this, unless you use one of course. A list of other companies joining Nintendo in the battle after the break.

Arc System Works
SNK
Capcom
Koei
Jaleco
Square Enix
Sega
Taito
Takara Tomy
Tecmo
Hudson
Bandai Namco Games
The Pokémon Company
Yukes
Level Five

Kotaku

Related Posts

• Nintendo Cracks Down on Piracy Operations in Hong Kong
• Nintendo takes top spot in UK
• Nintendo backs WTO and U.S. fight against piracy

He contacted Nintendo and, after a few days, received a reply that Nintendo had indeed received his email and would be in touch. You can bet they’ll be working together to patch the system in the near future thanks to Bushing. Give that man a round of applause.

HackMii

Related Posts

• Nintendo mistakenly sends Club Nintendo Metroid email
• Team Twiizers releases new Wii exploit
• Wii storage problem? Fixed… soon