The rampant piracy of games on Nintendo’s handheld console has suffered no significant setback after the company’s deal with major online merchant sites to stop selling R4 chips.

The problem lies in the fact that R4 chips can go into a Nintendo DS cartridge slot, which allows illegally downloaded games to be played on the portable gaming device. eBay and Amazon, in May 2009, agreed to change their user policy in order to prevent the modified chips being sold on their respective websites.

A steady decline in DS game sales has been reported by the company since the introduction of R4s. But Nintendo Australia managing director, Rose Lappin, thinks otherwise.

“It hasn’t really reduced [the sale of R4s]”, Lappin said. “In fact, we have seen the upswing of R4s, particularly in Australia”.

The DS range of handhelds, has sold over 100 million units worldwide. The popularity of the devices makes it an attractive target market for modified gaming chips imported to Australia.

Nintendo has been distributing numerous cease and desist letters to online retailers.

“It is only if people persist in doing the wrong thing and sell illegal goods infringing our copyright, we will take action”, said Lappin.

“We have been fighting piracy for 20 years and we are not prepared to lay down and allow it to happen because the cost is too great”, he added.