The realm of gaming isn't a stranger to the bootlegging of products, and it appears that a former White House Secretary fell prey to the practice upon purchasing a bootlegged PS4 controller.
Ari Fleischer, a White House Press Secretary for the George W. Bush administration, sounded off on Twitter after purchasing a second PS4 controller on Amazon. However, the additional PS4 controller turned out to be a bootlegged controller that was determined to be incompatible with the PS4 console originally purchased for the Secretary's children.
In his tweet, Fleischer pointed out the faultiness of the peripheral. More significantly, he was particularly accusatory toward China, advising followers to distrust the country because of the controller. While it has since been deleted, the tweet can be seen below.
As can be seen above, Fleischer directed his ire toward China in the tweet, which is pointed out as the culprit due to the "Made in China" label on the back of the controller, pictured on the right-hand image.
For those unfamiliar with the PlayStation 4 controller, or gaming products more generally, it could be easy to miss some of the tells of the above product's bootlegged quality. While the button placement is fairly accurate, the button symbols on the right side of the controller are inaccurate. Instead of the full square, triangle, circle, and "X," the bootlegged controller's symbols are simply cut off halfway.
However, the most telling aspect of the controller's illegitimacy is the symbol on the "Home" button. Rather than the familiar PlayStation logo, the Home button on the bootlegged controller reads "P4." Theoretically, this is meant to stand for "PlayStation 4."
Many responded to Fleischer's tweet. It was mostly met with ridicule, though others took to mockery by criticizing Fleischer's overlooking of the "P4" logo.
In reality, Fleischer is likely not all too acquainted with the PlayStation 4 controller in what was an innocent mistake. Yet, as many gamers know, bootlegged products are plentiful among disreputable manufacturers in the gaming industry that are not concerned with functionality or attention to detail. Hopefully, Fleischer's experience will act as a lesson in paying attention to products bought from third-party sellers on welcoming sites like Amazon.
Source: Kotaku