Nintendo whinges about EU price-fixing fine

Nintendo is contesting a fine levied at it by the EU in 2002 for price-fixing, saying it was "illegal" and arbitrary.

The European Commission in 2002 fined Nintendo and seven European distributors a total of €167.8 million for colluding between 1991 and 1998 to raise prices of games and consoles in the region.

"The penalty was unfair, illegal, even shocking," Ian Forrester, a lawyer for Nintendo, told the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg yesterday. "This remains one of the biggest single fines in EU competition law."

Countering, Xavier Lewis, a lawyer for the commission, told the court: "The fine was not of a capricious nature, or based on wild estimates. This fine was for an infringement that was considered very serious."

Hey, Nintendo. You know what is illegal and shocking? Ripping off millions of customers across an entire continent for the best part of a decade, getting caught, then not even having the good grace to just pay and shut the f**k up. VG247's thought for the day, there.

The case goes on. And on, and on...