First-ever Switch modding case in Japan ends with fine and suspended jail time

What just happened? A man who became the first person ever arrested in Japan for selling modded Nintendo Switch consoles has been fined and given a suspended prison sentence. 58-year-old Fumihiro Otobe was arrested in January and has just been found guilty by the Kochi District Court. While people have been arrested in other parts of the world for selling modified Nintendo Switch consoles, it had never happened in Japan before Otobe's apprehension at the start of this year. Otobe, a transportation worker from Ryugasaki City, was initially arrested on suspicion of soldering hardware modifications onto circuit boards in used Switch consoles, thereby allowing them to run pirated games. Otobe sold the handheld hybrids online for about 28,000 yen (approximately $195). Each Switch had 27 pirated games pre-installed. Otobe admitted what he had done when he was first charged. He said, "I was curious if people would think I was great for selling modified machines." Police found four modifie ... Read full article.