A student who was so poor that he could not afford his fees turned to piracy to make ends meet, an Aussie court was told.

Jeffrey Lim, 28, converted the ground floor of his parents' Doncaster home into a work office that held six hard drives, a computer flat screen, three printers, three DVD burners, three computer towers, four scanners and various printer cartridges.

Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday that Lim, a bachelor of science graduate from Monash university, copied and sold hundreds counterfeit Nintendo, Wii, DS, Xbox and Playstation games. Lim told coppers that he made nearly $1000 by selling up to 250 games each week between January, 2007 and December last year.

He was caught by an investigator from Price Waterhouse Coopers because he was selling illegal games from an internet site with an email address. The investigator paid $714 and later found that none of the 138 Playstation 2 games he received displayed any genuine features. Ms Tickey said when police raided Lim's home in December, they seized 2261 games.

Defence lawyer Phil Simpson said Lim wanted to work as a computer technician but could not find anyone to hire him. So he began modifying games for clients, then wrote terms and conditions for the supply of back-up games. But once his business grew, Lim diversified into internet sales.

He pleaded guilty to charges of making, selling and possessing infringing copies of works that each carry maximum penalties of two years jail or $13,200 fines or both. Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg fined him $20,000 on three of the copyright charges.