this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2024
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This dude was selling Pokemans with modified move sets for up to $80 a pop and could now face up to 5 years in prison.

Is this not insane? Or do you think he could face a much less severe sentence and the 5 years prison and $30k just the upper limit for this particular set of crime?

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[–] 201dberg@lemmygrad.ml 37 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Libs cope and seeth when an oligarch that embezzled 12 BILLION dollars is sentenced to death in Vietnam but will nod approvingly when a man's life is ruined for trying pay his rent by modding some pokemans as a side gig.

[–] lil_tank@lemmygrad.ml 31 points 7 months ago

Story : Japan -> 😴

Story: China -> 🤬🤬🤬🤬

[–] SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net 26 points 7 months ago

This punishment is way out of line. Seriously the article doesn't have anything legitimate to compare it to, so it references people who committed burglary as the most similar examples it can come up with - this guy used a hex editor on his own computer and charged for the service. Fuck this law, fuck Japan's one party capitalist state, and fuck Nintendo for good measure.

[–] Shrike502@lemmygrad.ml 25 points 7 months ago

In totalitären RuZZia you get five years for embezzlement of government funds.

I'm free, democratic Japan you get five years for modding a game and minor scamming

[–] DamarcusArt@lemmygrad.ml 24 points 7 months ago
[–] TankieTanuki@hexbear.net 23 points 7 months ago

"You're playing the game the wrong way!"

Nintendo executives solidarity My 9-year-old nephew

[–] taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml 18 points 7 months ago

Bruh there's a whole program called PkHex that you can use to do this for free. You're a dick if you're selling mons for $80.

[–] davel@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 7 months ago

This is about ethics in gaming save data.

[–] Omega_Haxors@lemmy.ml 11 points 7 months ago

For the crime of... modding a children's game...

[–] NikkiB@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

"The 36-year-old allegedly took custom orders for rare Pokémon, and sold the resulting tampered data between December 2022 to March 2023, for up to 13,000 yen ($84) a time on a website that served as a marketplace for video game assets and items. He also offered deals in which six Pokémon would be created for the equivalent of roughly $30 in yen."

How, with GameShark?

[–] taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml 15 points 7 months ago (3 children)

There's a program that you can use to modify Pokémon data, it's fairly easy to do but it's free so idk why this dude was charging people for it

[–] Flyberius@hexbear.net 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

People were willing to pay for it. Seems completely reasonable to me.

[–] taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

People are willing to pay for lots of things that don't need to be paid for, so I'm not sure how paying for data and pixels you could easily do yourself is reasonable

[–] Flyberius@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Because they don't know how or can't be bothered. This is a one man cottage industry. I really do not see the issue

[–] zkrzsz@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I looked up and see that PKHek doesn't have Japanese lang supported. Plus Japan is mostly console, console gamer that is not very good at English + PC skill may need this service.

Not to mention if the guy doing this know the risks involved and charge high. Or people know the risks and don't do it leads to low supply/high demand.

[–] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 7 months ago

It's possible there is an easily available Japanese software for this too. More often than not because of the language barrier the Anglosphere and non-Anglo countries don't interact freely for stuff like this.

[–] ksynwa@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It's just a strange situation overall. If you consider a player who meets the following criteria:

  • plays pokemon violet
  • is desperate to cheat in it
  • yet does not have the technical knowhow to do it themselves
  • is desperate enough to pay for it
  • know where to pay for it as a service

The overlap according to my intuition at least feels incredibly small. Especially considering that you need either an emulator or a hacked and possibly modded Switch to make use of it.

Yet this guy was committing this """crime""" in enough volume to warrant an arrest. It's just difficult to wrap the head around.

I am guessing it was a situation sinilar to what mobile game companies call "whales" where a few players spend an inordinate amount of money for reasons incomprehensible to most people.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

Yet this guy was committing this """crime""" in enough volume to warrant an arrest. It's just difficult to wrap the head around.

I think occams razor here says laws in japan are just fucked up

[–] taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If you're that desperate enough to cheat in a game that you're willing to spend money on it I think there's a much deeper issue there

[–] Flyberius@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

People can spend their money on what they want. The issue here really isn't people paying for Pokémon hacks. It's that the Japanese courts are sending people to jail over selling them.

What do you think the deeper issue here actually is? Disrespecting Pokémon?

[–] amberSuperMario@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 7 months ago

I’m pretty sure you need homebrew to access the save data, so if your switch isn’t exploitable you’re SOL. In that case paying someone to make the mons you want and trade them to you makes sense to me, though no way I’d ever pay $80 for it lol

[–] OmniDeficient@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 7 months ago

It's called innovation. Commies wouldn't get it.

[–] Aria@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 7 months ago

This seems like a completely legitimate business.

[–] bobs_guns@lemmygrad.ml 10 points 7 months ago

5 years for making the pokeman go zoom. Literary 1985

[–] booty@hexbear.net 7 points 7 months ago

i wonder what percentage of people arrested in capitalist countries are arrested for literally doing nothing wrong. it's gotta be like at least 60% right?

[–] Mzuark@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Glorious Nippon suddenly seems less glorious when these fucking losers remember that they still have laws. Also is it normal for them to avoid naming a 36 year old man? It's not like he's a minor.

[–] SSJ2Marx@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

avoid naming a 36 year old man

That's one of the good parts of the system. The accused deserve privacy.

[–] axont@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That always happens in Japan, where the suspects aren't named in police reports to the media. Tetsuya Yamagami's name wasn't known for a few days after the assassination if I remember right (guy who shot Shinzo Abe). The person who set fire to KyoAni is still unknown. I was once told it had something to do with how japanese law enforcement will send cops to tail criminals for a while after the crime, but I have no idea. I don't know the specifics.

[–] Mzuark@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure they named the KyoAni guy, he's getting the death penalty I think

[–] axont@hexbear.net 4 points 7 months ago

Oh, you're right. His name is Shinji Aoba. Everything I read about him suggests he's incredibly depressed and mentally ill. He's a murderer but he's clearly not in his right mind, so the death penalty seems overwhelmingly harsh.

[–] Franfran2424@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 7 months ago

Honestly, they probably wouldn't care if he wasn't monetizing it.

Like, Nintendo is zealous, but mostly when money is on the way.