The Association of UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) has revealed that games UK software sales are down and that pirated games are costing the industry £1.45 billion a year.

The figure comes from the estimate that for every game legally purchased, one illegal version makes its way onto a gamers' system somewhere as well.

It's possible to get pirated games for the Xbox 360, PC, Wii, DS and PSP, and the PS3 has also been rooted in the last few weeks as well.

Modders usually charge around £40-50 to "chip" your console of choice (if you can't be bothered to try and do it yourself) and then you are opened up to the murky world of copied games that will cost you a fraction of the price of the originals.

Sounds good no? Well, maybe but it is very naughty and if you get caught you could get a hefty fine.

Michael Rawlinson, the Director General of UKIE also points out that it involves you in crime. He said:

"When people play a pirated game that money goes to a criminal, not to the industry.

"That takes away jobs from young developers and graphic designers, so it actually stifles creativity and stops new games coming out."

He says that games aren't overpriced: "These big games, you get 20 to 50 hours game play, which is tremendous value for money.

"A game like Call of Duty could take two years to make and cost millions of pounds. So there are huge sums of money involved in individual games."

Do you play pirated games? If so, have you got a sense of guilt, or do you think the video game industry makes enough money anyway? Let us know using the comments below.