I must say I disagree with the majority in this thread - the 1.5 million $ is far too overblown fine for such an act. Sure, the guy did a stupid thing, but mostly all people do stupid things. His stupid act ruined his whole life, and the mistake wasn't such dreadful as killing or heavily injuring another person.
Let's face it - atleast 50% or more of those 50 000 ppl wouldn't buy the game anyway. They have to have a modded Wii to be able to play the game, and we all know that 90% people with modded Wii's ain't too keen on buying many original games. So, saying that N lost 50 000 sales is stupid.
There is a reason why people pirate games. IMHO, no game should cost more than 30$, and most shouldn't be more than 15$. It's the companies greed on one side, and peoples passiveness on the other that we have current situation. A game in my country costs 1/8 of the normal salary. If there wasn't a digital distribution like steam and other means of importing games, I doubt that I could afford to buy games.
Companies like Nintendo ain't so noble and righteous either, with price fixing, patent infrigiment and other acts in the gray area. But, opposed to this poor guy, they have large lawyer teams which "make everything go away".
While I agree that if you broke the law, you should pay for the deed, but pay accordingly to the crime. And this one is waaay off. A lifetime of slavery to the 1,5 million debt. Not fair at all.
.
