If this was someone who just downloaded the game this would be a big deal, but going by that article, this guy had a tleast some involvement in the wii hacking scene and was the first to upload a major game for distribution. I'm not sure how Nintendo figured out he was the uploader, but frankly it sounds like he was sloppy about it and got caught.

oh noes Australians are teh evilz.

It is not fair for one guy to ruin an entire country's opportunity to purchase games. I could understand making Australians wait a week after a game releases elsewhere though. It's not personal, it's just business.

The one guy isn't the only one to blame, he is the one who uploaded it yes, but if noone downloaded it Nintendo wouldn't care. Talk to the thousands of people who downloaded it gaining Nintendo's attention for why they clamped down, not just the guy who uploaded it everyone is guilty who downloaded.

Also it seems Nintendo is the only company serious on cracking down on piracy, rather than EA's completely counter effective DRM, Nintendo goes to the source.

How do Nintendo's actions here show they are serious about cracking down on piracy? They went after one uploader and won. If not him, a dozen others would take his place, some in countries where Nintendo would have difficulty presecuting them. There is no reasonable scenario where Nintendo could prevent this from being leaked on to the internet. Patting Nintendo on the back for going after one moron is one thing, thinking this has a meaningful impact on piracy is another.

How about making an OS for the Wii that isn't a joke security wise, or providing some strong and meaningful deterrant for piracy (like xbla bannings). Or *gasp* allow some of the legitimate functionality that people hack their Wiis to get, so those who want to play import games, homebrew or load games off the hdd don't need to install the homebrew channel.

If there were a magical "stop pirates" button, you would be right, but there isn't.  Pirates will always find a way around so you have to take delight in the little victories.

You are correct that stopping one person will never ever stop piracy but if this starts becoming a habit for Nintendo people sure will think twice before uploading a game to place where just anybody can get access to it.  Again, won't stop everything, but every little bit helps.

Like I said, giving Nintendo a thumbs up for catching one moron and maybe preventing a few people like him from following in his footsteps is one thing. Thinking that stopping and making an example out of one uploader in one country will have any real impact on piracy is completely different and delusional. 

He just ruined his life.

i bet he will just go out and get money from his money tree.. ohh...nvm.

so RIAA= nintendo now?.

I just saw this guy on the news last night and now I actually feel a little sorry for him. He's 24, still living at home and just got a little too excited about getting NSMBWii 1 week before the street date. Hopped on the internetz and told people he had it, they called bull, so he uploaded the title. Stupid yes, but he's now got to figure out how he's going to pay the big N 1.6 million dollars.