Ten Xbox360 Dev Kits Stolen In Germany

[hey69]

>> Heise.de, a german news site, is reporting about 10 stolen Xbox 360 development kits (XeDK). ZakMcRofl on the xbox-scene forums translated the news to english:

According to reports of the news magazine Spiegel ten top-secret prototypes, so called development kits, of the new console Xbox 360 have been stolen from Microsoft. The console won't be released until december 2nd [in Europe], just in time for the christmas business.
The devices came to germany from Hongkong together with other Microsoft products on "Air Delivery pallets" in a neutral packaging. From a storehouse in Düren they were supposed to be shipped to game developers.
Just a few days after the theft pictures of the new console surfaced on the internet. Meanwhile the Austrian Bundeskriminalamt in Viena and the public prosecution authority Bonn are investigating the case.
So far (some) homes and offices in Niederösterreich (Austria) and in Troisdorf (Germany) have been raided (searched) and three consoles have been confiscated. The remaining seven devices remain lost.

let me say whhahahuuahuhaua.... aah, that was funny, organised crime going after defkits...damn those criminals

 

[Johnny_Physics]

I really don't belive it's organized crime, it's probably one or more guys that works for a shipping company or the postal service that put two and two together and snatched the kits. Stealing things from your workplace like that is not uncommon.

 

[mckmas8808]

But beta kits. Can you even play real games on betakits?

 

[pegisys]

But beta kits. Can you even play real games on betakits?

probably not, but the people that put the pics up makes modchips, so they may be able to have a modchip waiting around launch if they can find exploits

modchips are probably big business, especially if they have the first one on the market, so it could fall under organized crime

 

[V3]

But beta kits. Can you even play real games on betakits?

You can play beta games perhaps

 

[hey69]

it IS organised crime

those devkits ended up with modchip developers. its a millions $ business.

 

[ecliptic]

They will only get a slap on the wrist in Europe.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

If they're found they'll get a prison sentence for theft if convicted. Seems a crazy idea to steal something and then broadcast it as a mod-chip developer in the hopes you'll be able to sale wares based on researching your theft.

 

[hey69]

as long as they arent stupid enough to put the remaining stolen devkids on EBAY

 

[Carl B]

Wow this has to hurt for Microsoft. The notion that the 360 couldn't be penetrated or was somehow unmodable were always a laughable concept, but to have dev kits enter 'The Scene' and the source to have been a theft so bold as to target Microsoft Europe itself - it's the stuff of cheesy movies!

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

Y'know... considering how much trouble it is for 3rd party devs to even get ahold of a working devkit at this stage (beta or otherwise), I'm wondering why the hell there were that many devkits in a warehouse in the first place.

 

[hey69]

eeh... what do you expect actually?
bill gates himself flying them all over the world with his private boeiing accompagned by 3 f-15's and one nuclear submarine?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

It does label MS the worst IT corporation in the world for keeping secrets though doesn't it? As if the multitudes of leaks about XB360 weren't enough, there's now been hardware leaks! That's got to be a first!

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

eeh... what do you expect actually?

I was more referring to the number of them. It's safe to presume that the stolen 10 was probably a small fraction of the number of devkits was actually stockpiled in the warehouse at the time -- they were probably all a single shipment going out at once. Given that's the case, where the hell are the rest of them? -- especially when smaller 3rd party houses are asking for them 1 or 2 at a time, and still getting a "sorry, no, try next month" as their usual reply.

Granted, being in a 3rd-party, non-AAA, non-launch, small developer, I expect never to be told the truth about anything at anytime, but all the same... I'd rather be told that we're pondscum in the distribution chain than be led on.

 

[Alpha_Spartan]

I say we shoot em. But then again, I think we should leave em alone. I'd like to see the looks on small time modder's faces when they find out that they'll first need a dremel or a blow torch to mod their X360.

 

[ERP]

I was more referring to the number of them. It's safe to presume that the stolen 10 was probably a small fraction of the number of devkits was actually stockpiled in the warehouse at the time -- they were probably all a single shipment going out at once. Given that's the case, where the hell are the rest of them? -- especially when smaller 3rd party houses are asking for them 1 or 2 at a time, and still getting a "sorry, no, try next month" as their usual reply.

Granted, being in a 3rd-party, non-AAA, non-launch, small developer, I expect never to be told the truth about anything at anytime, but all the same... I'd rather be told that we're pondscum in the distribution chain than be led on.

Your Pond scum move on.....
Final kits are around in quantity for at least some devs, if MS are as organised as they were last time around, getting them is more a question of random luck than anything else.

 

[Acert93]

Wow this has to hurt for Microsoft. The notion that the 360 couldn't be penetrated or was somehow unmodable were always a laughable concept, but to have dev kits enter 'The Scene' and the source to have been a theft so bold as to target Microsoft Europe itself - it's the stuff of cheesy movies!

Allard's recent interview indicated they expect it to be hacked now. He not only stepped back on some of the comments from before, but said, "We know it will be hacked" and they just wanted to detour more people a number of ways. Some of it is hardware related, and others are giving a lot of the features people wanted (like basic media player).

He even deals with the fact, "Yes people are going to hack it to pirate games. We cannot completely stop that. But 2% is better than 5%". That is just a summary of what he said. So I think they are backing off their "unhackable!!!11" mantra!