Episode 6 – A Bootleggers Tale

I’m not sure if I have said this yet, but I live in New York City. It is more dangerous than suburbia but less dangerous than the old west. Part of the whole “it being slightly dangerous” thing is that crime happens all around me. Not violent crime… just regular crime. Jaywalking is a big one, everyone does it, and I’d say second is bootlegging.

On a New York City street and even in the subways you can get knockoff designer hand bags, watches, sunglasses, jackets and even sneakers. Yes. On Broadway you can buy fake sneakers… well they’re real sneakers, just not really name brand. There is also an abundance of media you can buy. Almost everywhere people are selling knockoff DVD movies and television shows, and CDs before they come out. I am generally not surprised when people ask me “you want DVD?” No, I don’t want your DVDs… and “SpiderMan” is supposed to have a hyphen.

I have lived here going on five years, and it is something that the entire city has just come accustomed to. But last night, while I was getting pizza something happened. A guy came into the pizza place and pulled some DVD’s from his messenger bag and asked everyone in there individually if they wanted to buy them. That’s not was surprised me. The fact that they were porn surprised me… well only a little. And while this guy was asking if I wanted to buy “Ass Teen 3” I had a thought.

If the advertising companies are cashing in on the video game market, will the bootleggers be next?

I have never seen a bootleg version of Halo 2, and Halo 2 sold more copies than some movies. If someone is going to spend the time to make illegal copies of White Chicks why not use that same equipment to make copies of Need For Speed, or Call of Duty? I can see it could have been a little harder when it was on cartridges. Fine. But now Microsoft and Nintendo are using DVD’s. I can’t imagine that their encryption is that hard to break. We’re talking about the same people whose attention to detail is so great on these knockoff watches that by seeing them side by side you could never tell the original from the fake. (My dad and I both had the same Tag Heuer watch. Mine was the fake his was real and the only distinguishable difference was that I had a blue face and his was black, but I chose that. I swear to you dear reader they are that good.)

Now, it is widely known that you can download old video games in the form of Emulators and Roms onto your computer. You can also download movies, music, comic books, magazine spreads etc. And a lot of that stuff I don’t really want on my computer. I don’t want to read the first 40 issues of X-men on my computer screen; I want it in my hand. The same goes for video games. Sure I could have them on my computer, but if it’s a console game, I want it on that console. Playing it on a computer just doesn’t feel right to me.

If I had the option of buying Halo 3 for 60 dollars, or buying it for 20 on the street it would be a tough choice. I say that because there’s always that chance that I could put it in and its Viva Piñata, or that White Chicks DVD that I spoke about earlier. But that’s the chance you take. Also, I could probably haggle with the guy and get him down to 15. I’ve done it with sunglasses, why not video games?

The video game business is a lucrative one. And I would not be surprised if in a few years I can go to a street corner and buy Final Fantasy XX, right next to the newly released Jenna’s Final Fantasies XXX and Spider-Man 4.