Paid a visit to the brand new Tesco hypermarket nearby my house earlier today. It’s one of those new concept Tesco stores that are more like shopping centers; there’s not only the hypermarket but also lots of other, smaller shops and restaurants located under one roof.

And like many shopping centers, there’s a store, or in this case an island kiosk selling video games. While I was perusing their catalogue of games (basically binders full of DVD covers), this chap next to me asks for The Force Unleashed (which IMHO is really a poor title…TFU…total f*ck up…anyone?) and tells the sales guy in Malay: “I come from afar, so please don’t give me the wrong disc“.

I couldn’t help but jokingly chime in: “Does that happen often?“. We were all laughing. This shop not only sells current gen consoles along with the PS2, but also GBA SP and GBM knock-offs! I didn’t take pictures because getting everyone one laughing doesn’t mean an automatic license to snap away. If I’m not mistaken the SP knock-offs were called GB King. Wonder if they are of any good.

Although I’m happy to have reached the point where I own original games (for both PC and NDS), I’m in the opinion that pirated video games are here to stay for a very very long time. But before you start throwing brickbats, try telling a mechanic who happens to own a PS2 and earns probably RM 1500 (USD 436) a month about buying original games, and tell me what’s his response ya.