Copyright is a big deal in Western society. You can’t just make a slightly worse version of decent product, put your own sticker on it and sell it for considerably less money. Some men in suits get very angry, send you a harsh letter and inevitably get another man wearing a wig to make you pay them lots of money for hurting their feelings.
That applies to all areas of commercialisation. You can’t just cheaply clone the BMW X5 and call it the Shughuan CEO, for example. Unless you happen to live in China, where the government insists it looks totally different and you must be insane.
You can't do that...
Video game consoles are perhaps the biggest victim of shameless yet hilarious clones, next to RayBan sunglasses and watches. Here are eleven of the biggest Chinese rip-offs.
Chintendo Vii
One of the most famous fake Chinese consoles due to mainstream media attention, the Chintendo Vii is a blatant knock-off of Nintendo’s record breaking Wii. It doesn’t even try to pretend that it’s something unique.
The Vii, which is legit enough to have its own Wikipedia page, competes rather successfully in the plug ‘n’ play market. Like the Wii, it employs motion control, but seems to be more into cats than Miis.
Nintendo PolyStation
An all-time classic. There are several iterations of the PolyStation out there, but none more hilarious than the Nintendo PolyStation, which takes the appears of a PlayStation 1, the box of the Nintendo 64, games from Namco and a cartridge like that of the Super Nintendo, which is inserted under a lid you’d be expecting to place a disc into.
Super PolyStation 2
The PolyStation continued to match the PS2 and the PS3, but it’s the Super PolyStation 2 that is most intriguing because of its cool name. The Chinese clearly thought Nintendo had gone down the ‘super’ path again with the successor to the Nintendo 64, and we’re sure glad that at least someone did.
Super Megason IV
Where to even begin. Aside from having the coolest name ever, the Super Megason IV seems to promise flying above the world whist shooting lasers and wearing Call of Duty glasses. That’s totally rad and it includes an extra cartridge!
TreamCast
The TreamCast is the closest thing we have to a legit console, as it was a modification of the original DreamCast, rather than a blatant knock-off. It was notable for its portability, made possible by its attached screen, but that didn’t make it any more legit. At least it played actual DreamCast games.
PopStation Portable
The PopStation doesn’t offer much in the way of fun, but it does kind of look like the PSP. Okay, a very cheap PSP, but its price reflects that.
iReadyGo Much 3G
The Much 3G is the most recent knock-off that’s currently available to make the list, as a clone of the ailing PlayStation Vita. The Android-based device also looks to be one of the more quality fakes; although, that isn’t really saying much.
Neo Double Games
The Neo Double Games isn’t much better than the POP. Actually, it’s pretty much exactly the same thing. Generally terrible, but a fairly accurate redesign of the hideous phat DS.
JXD S5100
The JSD S5100 from Jin Xing is currently in development. It was announced shortly after Nintendo revealed the 3DS XL in Japan and shares a striking resemblance to the Wii U. This Android device seems to be independent of a TV-based console, and doesn’t yet have a release date. It might even come out before the Wii U!
Arcade Game Box
This monstrosity is a mash-up of the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Only it doesn’t play fake games from either console. Instead it plays Game Boy, Neo-Geo and a bunch of emulated arcade games.
Okay then.
WiWi
We’ve already included the king of fake Wii consoles -- and there are a lot of them -- but it is hard to overlook the WiWi as one of the most shameless knock-offs, even if only for hilarity sake. It took an already immaturely funny name, doubled it, and made us chuckle again. Say it out-loud. Go on, do it.
Pretty funny, huh? It’s rivalled by the likes of the MiWi and WiNi and actually pretty much any combination of Wi and another two letter word ending in ‘i’.