Italian Authorities Investigate Retro Reviewer for ‘Advertising’ Anbernic Handhelds—Possible Three-Year Jail Sentence Over Copyright

Wow, so yeah, here’s a real head-scratcher for you. This dude, Francesco Salicini—ring a bell?—found himself tangled up with Italian law folk. Why? Well, supposedly for giving some promo love to Anbernic game consoles on his YouTube spot, Once Were Nerd. These aren’t just any gaming gadgets—nope, they’re retro handhelds from Anbernic, and man, they play those classic Nintendo and Sony games. But there’s a twist—they ship with these microSD cards jam-packed with copyrighted games. Yikes, right? Salicini insists, he’s just the messenger, pointing out hardware, which he says is totally unsponsored. Not even a whiff of an affiliate link, so he says.

Oh, and there’s a video on this. It’s got one of those long-winded titles, you know, “MI HANNO DENUNCIATO. ADDIO o ARRIVEDERCI?…” or something. Wish I could say it rolls off the tongue.

So here’s the deal: Francesco’s got this cloud over his head called Article 171 ter of the Italian Copyright Law. They’re throwing big numbers around—€15,000 fine, maybe three years in the slammer. Maybe… They’re looking into it, and from what I’ve heard, they’ve nabbed a bunch of consoles—30 or so, with flashy names like Anbernic, TrimUI, and Powkiddy. Oh, and his phone too! Courage, right? Conversations with handheld makers and all, seem like they got it all.

Six months or so is the initial peek they’re taking. Who knows what comes next—case dropped, heads rolling? Meanwhile, poor Francesco could see his YouTube world crumbling, even while things are still shady in the proof department.

Now, dig this: everyone knows Nintendo don’t mess around when it comes to their stuff. Copyright hammers and gavel slams—it’s their style. You tubers tread lightly or feel the squeeze. Repos on GitHub gone, Yuzu emulator branches vanished, and Ryujinx—goodbye. Speculation is a fun party game, right? Nintendo, Sony, or both could be lurking behind Salicini’s curtain, but who really knows?

Let’s talk about this big beef—game studios and game-loving hardcore fans. It’s all about the emulators. Studios clutch their library tight, even the oldies. But hardware? It’s on life support. Emulators sometimes feel like our last line of defense. Think about it—a few decades down, how do we keep these digital memories alive? Emulators say, “Hey, I’m here,” and game studios go, “Not so fast, partner.”

By the way, if you’re not catching Tom’s Hardware yet, maybe you should hit that Follow button on Google News. Fresh-off-the-press stories, reviews that dig deep—straight into your digital lap.