More console-related crime to stuff the stockings

By Darren Murph | December 18, 2006

Filed under: Gaming

At least with the Wiinjuries popping up left and right, they’re primarily self-inflicted wounds that don’t involve the police, but it seems the Xbox 360 (and old Xbox, sometimes) and the PS3 are jacking up crime rates in cities everywhere. While we already knew hot game consoles brought out the absolute worst in people, we’ve got two more stories to persuade you to watch your back when snagging that last unit from the store’s stockroom. After lucking up and grabbing herself an oh-so-coveted PlayStation 3 in a Florida retailer, Missy Robinson was followed to her home and held at gunpoint (along with her brother). Of course, she intelligently surrendered the console in exchange for safety, but she’s not apt to go console hunting again anytime soon. On the Microsoft side, dedicated thieves “burrowed through the back wall of the video game store and stole 13 Xbox 360 game consoles.” Notably, employees reported a scattered mess of PS3 boxes, but when the bandits realized they were all empty display cartons, they jacked the Xbox 360 assortment in order to not go home empty-handed. Look folks, we realize the markup on eBay is fairly extreme, but it’s probably less costly than the bail money you’d need to put up after pulling a stunt like this.