Anyone been into a market that has soo many knock offs or game modders working?

...Normally, we would have to rely on the internet so all of our acekards, mod chips, or that tiny stall in a simple market to buy our knock off shampoos...


Not this market, I saw r4 cards (different types and prices) in at least 15 stalls, and 3 of those stalls offered mod chips!

While there I managed to find one who does gamecube mod chips, and another who got me my SD card adapter for my psp (no more money for you sony) as well as shell parts for psp (needed a new battery cover for mine, it was white on a black system...and it didn't have the sony logo, a plus XD)...

It got me wondering-how long can these guys and gals keep runnign without legal complications (one was offering copied wii games, I know copied because no one would sell ssbb for 15 bucks...more like 70 )?!


As well as knock off branded shampoos soaps, etc (some are stolen, one super market actually sends security teams in to get back stolen stuff) and the funny thing about it all ?


...The police go there all the time, just to clamp your wheels if you've been speeding or got a parking fine!

(got lucky-one speeding ticket from long ago, wonder if they would let me off again next time...)


Before today (or years ago for that matter, went there 4 years ago but thought nothing of it because I wasn't into the mod scene) all I knew was places that sold import games and the freeloaders to play them, and one little mod shop...that overcharges on the parts (they wre asking to mod my psp for 60 bucks...these guys offered 30 for it...not that I paid them to do it when I could do it for free...).


Are these stalls and shops even legal?
BTW, it's australia, not sure if it's a good idea to name which market all this was in...

 

Psw! That's a common sight here in the Philippines!

There's this mall Called Greenhills where modders ACTUALLY set up shops that brazenly offer modding or even pre modded consoles. And there's this area in Manila called Raon where the street is lined with stores specializing in the illegal electronics trade ;D

 

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the primary language of the Philippines? I... I have to visit!

 

It depends where you're going, we have alot of languages here.

But if you'll be going to the Capital, it's Tagalog & we use English as a second (foreign) language.

 

Ah yes, my mother's coutry, she got me a so-called cheap pokemon sapphire...cartridge was wrong, and it cleared itself...

But the gb games lasted longer, especially donkey kong land from years ago!

What was worse, it was onyl about $10 bucks cheaper than in aus...what a rip!

I know the stalls with stolen stuff ain't legal, hence the shop recovery teams storming in every now and then...but sheesh!


As for the language, I wish I knew it, all i know is tagalog is one of many dialects, phillo's learnt the american way of speech (and why my accent mistakes me as a southern american) and the word baboi (meaning pig) which is fun to use on people, but not if full blown sentances can't be used....


I heard there is one country where they advertise ds flash card on tv, one of the other asian countries....sounds insane!


Oh well, when it comes to markets like that, it's mostly in the, um, poorer areas or even just the ones that are ignored for some reason (this market should be watched more than just for speeding fines and clamping them whislt shopping!) though I do wish they had more mod shops that had psp stuff...want a new shell, I don't want my psp to look stock since I'm still agaist sony as a gaming company (the battery cover without sony on it was great...and a matching colour XD) and I want lower prices...they are all agaist each other!


One tried to con-me into buying a knock off memory card, he said it was real, but this little kid (who I assume was family to him) said something, and then went "whoops" when I was asking, something like "what knock offs?"


And then the guy I was asking had the nerve to give me a bussiness card and told me to come back next time when I told him I'll think about it...jesus what the hell!


WHO DOES HE THINK I AM I COULD RUN A STALL IF I COULD DO MORE THAN PSP HACKING!


...with half the profit going to romulation XD (seriously it may not be legal but if I did I swear this site deserves it, wish my money wasn't so tight...dam part time crap pay...)

 

Greenhills (in the Philippines) is by far, NOT a hang out for people below middle class, the place is an actual mall, harboring the illegal side of things.

 

...shows how much western world cuture has altered my pespective, different countries, differnt rules eh?

I wish I could visit...but then again, why bother, I got my gear, just need cheap cases for my old NES carts after dad threw out the boxes (which would have been worth ALOT if kept)...

 

The Philippines are awesome!

 

awesome in corruption and copycatness...

 

Here in South Africa we got those too. I was walking past the one stall once, and saw a police officer actually having a fat chat and laughing away with the guy who was selling pirated PC games. They were talking about Diablo 3. The cop ended up buying a couple games. It's really strange to see that. They sell all sorts of rip offs here. I got DC shoes for one fifth the price of the originals and they look exactly the same. They hack PSP's, mod 360's, sell the latest pirated games etc. The funny part is they actually have original games too, of the exact same pirated copies they sell. What can you do hey, pirates always find a way.

 

South Africa is awesome!

 

Well the pirates need to copy those games somehow, eh?

Why I could do it tool with the random tools I have downloaded...but I don't know anyone dumb enough to sell to


Kidding

As for the cop, that isn't corruption-it's not really his job now that I think of it, pirated stuff is the job of the people who make it (ie supermarket chain sending loss prevention officers to do raids on this market...hence why as I now see why the modders are doing so well, no one to bother them XD )

I just wish I knew more of the places around aus...sick of the standard psp casing, and I hate (and lack the ability to) using online shopping!


And Waylonn, where your from is AWESOME too if you look around hard enough...if your desperate go to china, the stereo typical KING of pirated stuff...no offence but even if there is a country worse, it's still preety bad, hell that's why nintendo had to make modified game systems, like the gba sp ique or the ds ique (not that they would have worked...much)

 

Well technically I think it should be his job. Piracy is illegal. That means it's against the law. A police officer's duty is to protect infringements on the law. Hence, he should be doing something about it. He could report the guy, give him a warning, arrest him, call for backup...whatever. The point is, it just somehow doesn't seem right. I'm not really complaining because I myself got some games from there for my PC, but I just feel the police should at least do something about it. Working on the same principle, they could just walk past a robbery and instead of intervening, inviting the robbers for a round of beer. It just seems wrong.

 

The Netherlands are shit if your searching for illegal stuff, except for whores and drugs...
Over-protective laws FTL