This is what a Majicon device looks like.

Gpara's Majicon Investigation Battalion first searched for game pirates on Tokyo's train system. For their second investigation, whose results were posted at Gpara yesterday, they went into the place one might assume to be the pirate breeding ground -- Tokyo's electronics capital of Akihabara.

This investigation was conducted on July 26 -- a Sunday, typically a crowded day for the Akihabara. Agents spent the day from 11:00 to 20:00 looking around the area, in train stations, in fast food chain restaurants and electronics shops, and out on the street. As with the train test, if they saw someone playing a DS, they'd approach in search of evidence of Majicon use.

If Gpara's anecdotal data is to be trusted, you should probably forget any biases you might have had about this part of town. In the 100 people the site spotted, only 5 were using Majicon. All five were men. Only one used a DSi. Three appeared to be in their 30s with the other two in their 20s.

But Akihabara doesn't get a clean rap just yet. The site managed to find three shops actually selling Majicon devices. It gave these shops code names: G, S-R, and M. There were also a couple of street vendors selling the forbidden device.

Let's end this on a more heartwarming note. Midway through the day, the site spotted a parent and child playing Dragon Quest IX together via DS Lite. They were using legit versions of the game.