Hand Over The Console: The Fake PS3 Theft And Other Crimes

When the new Play Station 3 came out, people were doing anything they could to get a unit for themselves. People were camping out all night, pre-ordering, looking online for deals, absolutely anything. They'd stop at nothing to lay their hands on a PS3 gaming console. Some have been known to resort to illegal means.

Take the case of two 19-year-old employees at a Gamestop in Elk Grove, a suburb of Sacramento, California. They grabbed four machines and then told the management that armed robbers had busted in and taken them. Of course they were caught, and now they are facing some serious charges: embezzlement, burglary, conspiracy and filing a false police report. Those turned out to be pretty expensive gaming consoles.

Here's how it went down. The day before the PS3's were to be released, the Gamestop employees called the police, saying that they'd been held up at gunpoint, and the robbers took the four coveted gaming consoles. The police won't divulge any particular details, but someone tipped them off that the robbery was a conspiracy of some sort. Also, there was evidence that wasn't consistent with their stories, indicating that they hadn't planned things out as well as maybe they should have.

At first, the police suspected the guys knew the masked gunmen. Then, they figured out that there weren't ever any masked gunmen at all, and that the two had simply taken the machines. They were arrested within a few days, but that didn't stop all the game stores in the metro area and even beyond from hiring extra security to keep tabs on things.

What happened to the machines? They were probably sold on eBay. Nobody knows, actually, and probably nobody will ever know. They were gone instantly, and the perpetrators used the money to get themselves out on bail.

This isn't the only PS3 theft. Here are some of the other stories of desperate people taking the law into their own hands, risking their freedom and livelihoods to get a free video game console:

-In Hawaii, a man in an SUV pulled up, got out, and hit a total stranger with a baseball bat, demanding that he turn over his PS3. The attack was unsuccessful, so the man got into his SUV and drove off.

-An 18-year-old in North Carolina stole two PS3's from another student, and when confronted by the police, they shot and killed him! According to the official reports, the police shot his dog, too.

-In December 2006, robbers stole 180 PS3's out of a warehouse in Nakashi, Japan. The theft occurred in the middle of the morning sometime and will cost Sony more than $80,000. The Japanese police are now investigating the theft, and trying to determine if it might have been an inside job.

-After a woman in Florida got her brand new PS3, a man followed she and her brother to her home and held them at gunpoint, demanding she hand over the console. She did what any reasonable person would do - she handed it over.

-Some hardcore thieves actually came into a gaming store by burrowing in the back way, and stole 13 consoles that turned out to be just display boxes. When they realized they had ripped off a bunch of empty boxes, they went back and grabbed some XBox 360's.

In addition to these stories, there have been reports of muggings and robberies as people camped out to get their brand new PS3 units. The PS3 is expensive and a bit tough to get your hands on, but is it really worth the risk?

Marcus Creyton writes on game console systems. He is a PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii enthusiast. For information, guides, cheats on PS3, Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360 go here: http://gameconsolekingdom.com