The illegal copying and distribution of software, or piracy, costs the video game industry billions of dollars each year, and even threatens the future of game production.

However, one British-based video game publisher, Eidos, has hit back at the pirates in a novel way by not only spoiling their game-playing, but also shaming them on the internet.

Pirates who are playing illegal copies of Batman: Arkham Asylum find thatcrucial control functions in the game have been disabled, rendering the game unplayable.

Players using a ‘cracked’ version of the game discover that the glide function in the game does not work, causing the Batman character to fall to his death.

You can't do this in a cracked version of the game

One such player complained about the so-called ‘bug’ on the support forum pages of the developer’s website.

"I've got a problem when it's time to use Batman's glide in the game. When I hold, like it's said, to jump from one platform to another, Batman tries to open his wings again and again instead of gliding," complained the pirate.

But instead of receiving sympathy and support from other community users and the game’s development team, he received a stern ticking offfrom the forum’s community manager.

"The problem you have encountered is a hook in the copy protection, tocatch out people who try and download cracked versions of the game for free," wrote the Eidos community manager.

"It's not a bug in the game's code; it's a bug in your moral code," he added.

It appears that the Caped Crusader’s war on crime extends beyondcharacters like the Joker to cheeky software pirates worldwide.