Thinking of pirating a copy of your favorite game? Better think before you act. James Burt of Queensland was charged with pirating a copy of Super Mario Brothers Wii and has reached an agreement with the courts. He was fined pay $1.5 million AU (approximately $1.31 million U.S.) for his act of stupidity and may have cost Australia gamers the chance to have Nintendo games released in advance of the other regions of the world. Typically, Australia fans must wait longer than most for gaming releases, but a trend to change that may have been ruined by James Burt. Nintendo officials had this to say:

“Unfortunately, due to the actions of this individual, future release dates may be affected for Australia, which is disappointing for us.”

According to officials, the game was first made available for illegal download on November 6, 2009, which was a full week before it was released in Australia. Nintendo was able to catch the pirate by using advanced technology designed to identify illegal downloads and traced the information directly to Mr. Burt. Hopefully for the sake of the gaming fans in Australia, Nintendo will not punish the entire region for the acts of one misguided individual.