Xbox 360 brings out the worst in people
posted Nov 23rd 2005 3:40PM
What is it about electronics that brings out the violent side of so many people? First we saw a mob of laptop-happy
Virginians push, claw, and trample each other to score $50 Apple iBooks a few months back, then it suddenly became
dangerous to sport your iPod on the subway,
and now a new crime wave seems to have erupted over the wildly-hyped Xbox 360. iNOMALY has rounded up several stories
of 360-mad citizens across the country who didn't let the restrictive rules of law stop them from snatching up the rare
new console. Not only was a Stafford, VA Electroincs Boutique robbed at gunpoint for a mere two Xboxes, but a
17-year-old North Dakota boy was stripped of his new 'box as he left the store, and a Florida man was X-jacked by two
gunmen as he left Wal-Mart (plus, we also heard about a Rochester, NY couple who were assaulted and robbed of their 360
voucher while standing in line at Best Buy). If this nonsense doesn't stop, pretty soon you're gonna need a background
check to buy a TV, and well-meaning sites like ours will be accused of inciting all sorts of nastiness and mayhem a la
Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath.
[Thanks, Rob]
I hate people who make life so much harder on the rest of us law-abiding citizens.
There is a rumor that a ful Truckload was stolen in Memphis, TN at gunpoint. Police are still unable to locate the truck.
That's Grand Theft Auto.
If they purchased it with a credit card, then they will most likely have the S/N associated with the machine. This will result in police finding the I.P. of the perp when they go on LIVE and eventually should result in an arrest.
If it were me, I would have bought the Best Buy guarantee. Then I could have either hit them over the head with it or thrown it on the ground. If I ain't gonna get it neither are you.
I wonder if they could somehow track the stolen consoles when they try to play online. I'm guessing that it's easily possible, but they probably didn't keep close tabs one the serial numbers or MAC addresses of consoles going out to specific stores.
mabe microsoft is paying people to steal all their defective xboxes before any more problems get leaked out.
I know it's not Microsoft's fault, but this is going to be a PR nightmare for them regardless.
while I think there are people out there stupid enough to actually connect to xbox live with stolen hardware I feel sorry for the person who ends up with the most likely situation.. they buy a stolen xbox off ebay and even though they had no idea that the box was stolen they get blamed when they connect it to xbox live.
while I think there are people out there stupid enough to actually connect to xbox live with stolen hardware I feel sorry for the person who ends up with the most likely situation.. they buy a stolen xbox off ebay and even though they had no idea that the box was stolen they get blamed when they connect it to xbox live.
M$ is partly to blame. Years of development, yet a huge shortage when it's released?? They knew this was going to happen. This was a self-imposed PR nightmare. Hell, they probably wouldn't mind someone being mamed or killed over it, anything to help their bottom line.
Now we will see here the bunch of anti MS ladies saying that all this is Microsoft's fault for making such a cool device.
Umm, the guy w/ the gun is white, smart guy.
Umm, the picture with the guy with the gun isn't actually a Xbox 360 holdup. It is at a 7-eleven, not a retailer of the 360, Elias. And smart guy, shame on you for racial profiling.
I quote the article: "pretty soon youre gonna need a background check to buy a TV".
Why background checks on the honest people WHO WERE ROBBED! What would a background check have accomplished on the people who bought and then were robbed? Nothing.
Background checks don't stop criminals, it just inconveniences honest people.
To both of you-- the guy in the picture is robbing a gas station. Do you think they sell Xbox 360's at gas stations?
See, this is what happens when an item is available in limited numbers. Microsoft created an artificial scarcity and it's done a great job of increasing the crime rate as a result. If they would just flood the market with consoles and get it over with quick, it wouldn't be worth it to these criminals to do any act of theft in the first place because they couldn't sell the consoles for much more than was originally paid for them.
The guy with the gun in 'this' picture is white...but they are robbing a gas station, not wal-mart. #10 is right, it is mean to say, but he is right.
these are all 17 yr old kids who think that grand theft auto is an accurate depiction of real life.
They should have used mail order.
Blaming this sort of thing on Microsoft is as stupid as blaming guns for killing people instead of blaming the murderers who pulled the trigger.
Let me get Jennifer Government on the phone, she'll love this!
The main story mentioned the iBook fiasco in VA a few months back. After moving to Henrico County, a friend asked me to go with him to get a cheap $50 iBook that he wanted to donate to some chinese charity or something like that. Got there and was one of the first 300 people there, but quickly it turned sour as the total tally within an hour had climbed to over 2000 people. It was definently one of the worst experiences of my life, and the worst thing about the whole thing is that all I came away with from that stupid day was this story. To make things worse, my girlfriend's co-worker's bro went there as well. You know those younger brothers that could step in a steaming pile and discover that it's made of gold. He got there and there must have been around 4000 people there by that time, and was walking back to his car when they opened the main gate. The deluge of people churned human masses like water creating turbulance and shortness of breath for those getting trapped at the bottle neck gate. The police were ill prepared and near riot status feelings were being felt by all who had entered. I worte about what happened here after it happened if you want more info......
http://luna.typepad.com/weblog/2005/08/osx_intel.html#comments
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You idiots! How can you possibly say Microsoft's to blame for people BREAKING THE LAW!?
If something is in short supply, it's price increases as demand increases. It's not Microsoft's fault that people have no morals and commit crimes over something so stupid!
"and well-meaning sites like ours will be accused of inciting all sorts of nastiness and mayhem a la Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath."
Well ain't ya? Ain't ya? And proud of it? Ha-ha-ha!
Don't act so innocent, Engadget! You know you love it.
So when Sony or Apple release a product in short supply for PR it's cute ... but when Microsoft does it, it's inciting violence? Nice.
I doubt those guys are gonna find an XBOX 360 at a convinience store.
This XBOX release was a LIMITED release of the machines by MS - designed to create a buzz. The media have been employed to hype the "so-called" shortage in Xbox consoles - some of the stories were out a little pre-mature and most remain unconfirmed. All to attempt to generate a frenzied demand for the console.
However, look at MS's stock price- it's flat! The traders and investors know this was a ploy by MS and are more concerned with the reported defects with the machine and the fact that MS will continue to lose money on the Xbox (MS cost is ~$550US/console to make). If the Xbox was an instant hit, and a must have for Christmas, their stock would soar. Xbox has fizzled. BTW there are a few million 360 machines sitting in warehouses right now.
Things like this sure reveal the fools though, both in the public and media!
The interesting thing here is that many educationalists are concerned with safety on the internet or, more widely, what is sonmetimes referred to as "e-safety". It is clear from these stories about armed hold-ups for X-boxes that one of the unintended consequences of developments in digital technology is a growing need for measures that help to guarantee OFFLINE safety too.
One of the few times that North Dakota will ever be mentioned on Engadget... on such great circumstances too!
Happened in atlanta too. A woman got held up at gun point yesterday for her 360. Was all over the news last night but i couldn't find a weblink to share. Sad sad sad.
-p-
Their real problem is not whether they meant to create a shortage or not, whether crime is their fault or not, but simply whether they can release enough units to take advantage of being the only next gen console maker with a product for the Christmas season.
If you assume that most hardcore gamers either pre-ordered (in which case they now own an Xbox 360, or if they were screwed, can pretty much do nothing about it) or were waiting in line on launch day and got one, then once the Christmas season is over, the real mass market - Parents - will no longer have any incentive to buy this console.
Granted there will always be some that will fulfill their spoilt kid's wishes no matter what, but even these are in limited numbers.
To sell millions you need general consumers caught up in the buzz, and this has certainly happened. But if you're told that the $400 burning a hole in your pocket won't be needed until the end of January or February, then that $400 will be spent on something else.
So it's in Microsoft's interest to do two things. First keep re-stocking stores on a weekly basis, and secondly inform the public that this is what they will be doing (and if you carefully read the news, you will find that this is their plan, to the letter).
They know full well that shortage scare stories may cause a mass sell out on day 1 - but also will actually deter some people from holding onto the money set aside for this purchase.
Once Christmas is over, most parents will simply wait until next year to make this purchase, even buying one of the older consoles to tide their kids over until next year.
Even $300 is hugely extravagent for any special ocassion except the big one - Christmas.
Also parents don't care. They're not hardcore gamers, and although they may want to spoil kids rotten once a year, they will see no harm in waiting until all three next gen consoles are in plenty of supply - next Christmas being that time as the other two are due in the Spring, and that leaves 6-9 months for the frenzy to fade and for stores to settle back down to selling regular numbers - about 10-20 a month.
So if you missed out on Nov 22nd, I guarantee that by next week new shipments will arrive, and if these sell out, the following week and so on until Dec 25th. After that you have the January sales.
After the first week of January passes the hype will be over, and more importantly for Microsoft, the demand for their product.
Sure they'll still sell thousands, but not tens of thousands, at least not until another major gift buying occasion comes around.
If they make 3 million units prior to Christmas and actually get them into the stores, they will have done what they promised. But notice that for the six months after that, they only anticipate selling between 1.5 and 3 million more - worldwide. This means they fully understand they need to take advantage of this unique opportunity (as Sony did with the PS2 launch, but somehow screwed it up due to component problems).
So I am not particularly concerned that I missed standing in line for 24 hours - and thus getting the prize, and certainly won't be over-bidding for this console on eBay - it just doesn't have enough enhancements over existing systems, and the games are just not good enough yet.
If one becomes available on a Saturday afternoon while I'm wandering around Best Buy, and I've still got $400, then my kids will get a great Christmas. If not they'll get something else, in fact probably have a better Christmas, because $400 buys a lot of gifts.
I don't mean to disparage what is probably a great console, but it seems to me that the PS3 and Revolution have more next generation features than the 360. Much of what this can do my kids can already do on their PC - but you can't play Bluray disks on a PC yet (unless you happen to be a hardware engineer for Sony or something) and you can't get cell processor computers.
But this shouldn't take away from what is an excellent product, and probably worth the $300 for the core unit, maybe even the $400 for the premium.
Keith, #14, does it matter? The point is, blacks aren't the only ones who commit crimes of robbery, as Smart Guy seems to suggest.
Everyone mentions that there is a limited number being produced. Bill is smarter than that. He probably has a tons stashed away to be release close to Christmas to spur another mad rush. That way he can keep the cost high and probably post his own truckload on ebay selling at $2000 a piece.
Let's say 80 Xbox 360 fit on a pallet and a Truck can hold about 22 pallets. That is a total of 1760 X boxes. Retail right now is $399 to total $702,240. Sell them for $2000 for a total of $3,520,000 Profit over regular retail $2,817,760. So, almost 3 million profit on ebay and buyer pays shipping.
Hell, if I was Bill I would stash 5+ truckload and sell them all on ebay at $2000.00 and release a few every hour.
There was also a report of a group of armed gunmen forcing someone to take their unwanted Gizmondo portable.
Also, an empty delivery truck was jacked, and later it was filled with more Gizmondos.
Tulio, think Bill cares about selling at a profit or keeping costs high? Don't you think he has enough cash?!
Bottom line for Bill is that he wants his limelight back from Jobs. Xbox needs hype a la iPod. Media and M$ are doing whatever they can to get it - even if that means (i) releasing the product earlier than the competition; (ii) releasing a thoroughly buggy product; and (iii) releasing relatively small quantities of the product at a time of seasonally high demand.
This is all great PR for M$...it's keeping them and their product in the media - everyday.
-pimp
be like me and win it in the every10minutes.com contest and you get it early, dont pay for it, get a free game that i traded in for something i wanted, and no problems =P....then again i cheated my way to the win, but who cares.... I DIDN'T GET MUGGED FOR MY XBAWX!
I work at target. In fact i was the one handing out the 360s. Everyone was friends by the time we opened, even the ones who wouldnt get a system that day. We only had 12 units, first come first served. No fights broke out. It was actually calm, unlike the Ps2 release and probably just like the future ps3.
i don't have a link for this, only what i heard.
i live in rochester, ny, and what i heard of the story was that some guy beat up another guy and pushed around his girlfriend, even though, both parties involved (victim and assaulter) had vouchers for the 360. he thought the guy was cutting in line. man who beat guy flees the scene before cops show up.
problem being, he dropped his voucher. 2 hours later the store calls him from the info he gave them when he got the voucher, to tell him that they have a 360 on hold for him. he shows up. police are waiting and arrest him for assault.
i can't believe the violence that goes on for electronics. much less when you have a peice of paper gauranteeing you one, and you beat up a guy because he might get his 3 seconds before you get yours.
Is this really surprising? What do you expect when the supply is grossly smaller than the demand. I suppose it's a lot cheaper to steal one than it is to pay several thousands of dollars for one on ebay; or spending days and days camping a store for one.
"I hate people who make life so much harder on the rest of us law-abiding citizens."
on a larger scale of immorality stealing an x-box doesn't even compare to what goes on legally in america every day.
"these are all 17 yr old kids who think that grand theft auto is an accurate depiction of real life."
Yes Jack Thompson, I remember the good ol' days back before GTA was released, no one even knew what stealing was! before GTA 17 year olds were incapable of committing a crime, I'm sure the kids in columbine traveled in to the future, stoll an x-box, played GTA with it and then traveled back in time and shot up their entire school.
lol, we took the better approach to xbox mischief. we paid for the xbox 360, we just destroyed it with a sledgehammer infront of the store.
http://www.smashmyxbox.com
This thing is the most overhyped product out there. If there really are shortages anywhere, they sure aren't in the Detroit area. I've been to three different Best Buys and maybe a couple of people at the most were looking at the machines and there were boxes of them piled up for sale. It didn't look to me like they were flying off the shelves, that's for sure.
(sarcasm) How surprising that this happens, since the XBox'es flagship games are not promoting violence and an aggressive attitude! (/sarcasm)
Kevin, maybe M$ purposely restricted supply in high crime areas in hopes that something like this would happen in order to get media face time.. I can't imagine how this would be good PR though because families might be scared to own one for fear of having their house broken into..
Iamgine if Sony stepped up to the plate and released the PS3 tomorrow? wouldn't that just ruin it? I hope they do. Also, what do Marilyn Manson and Black Sabbath have to do with the violence done by these people? they never tell people to steal terrorize. These poor victims will hopefully be compensated by Microsoft. Imagine just plunking down all that cash, and ya think; Maaaan I got IT!!!!, and some asswipe omes alongs and jacks it. What a messed up society we live in. A place where goodies now mean more than people. This is a sad day for gaming, the actions inside the consoles, well, they have matched reality..................sad sad sad day indeed (shakes head)
I work in backroom stock at target as well. Microsoft is pulling some kind of fast one. The store received (supposedly) 50 units 25 of each variant. When they were unpacked the day before the release date, they were one unit short.
I looked at this thing on the floor for a week as the promo model was on display. Honestly, I saw nothing special about it that made me want to go right out and shell out 400 bucks. Sure I might be inclined to get one, providided they get those hot disc and crashing kinks outta the way. But no time soon. Its not important enuff for me to be the first on the block to have one and they games aren't the innovation they were hyped to be. I mean damn same ol same ole.
In closing if you got one more power to ya. if you didn't don't fret cause I don't think a little waiting will hurt you. more are on the way. Just hope your expectations aren't dashed by the reality of it all.
What does anyone expect?! We have the most leanent laws in the world.Criminals come here just to be criminals! If the US government took a more harsh stance on all of this, we would be living in a crime free country like Japan. There people have honor, people here have guns. The US would be the best if we took five criminals a day off of this planet. In a few years things would be great!
What does anyone expect?! We have the most leanent laws in the world.Criminals come here just to be criminals! If the US government took a more harsh stance on all of this, we would be living in a crime free country like Japan. There people have honor, people here have guns. The US would be the best if we took five criminals a day off of this planet. In a few years things would be great!
This must mean more Sony hoolig ... er ... fanboys are switching over to the now-white side. Too much anime and fighting games makes Ji an X-jackin' boy. I'm sure the new PSx rhetoric in response to this story will be: "Oh yeah? When the PS3 is released, my homies be poppin CAPS in those spoiled crackers as they leave the store with their PS3'z yo'. AW SNAP!"
This is a parody of a 360 fanboy message and not meant to be taken seriously, especially my bad suburban pre-teen gangsta-wannbe patois.
Read Jennifer Government! Shallow but partly fun read.
In that context...
I bet it's just a sales pitch. People want these things so bad they steal to get them. What better PR is there?
Hehe.
just fort i wud say that i preordered one of these and the comopany that i preordered it from went bust so it gonna cost me over 700 to get one now :(
First; Who cares, anyone SO DESPERATE to get a NEW system before anyone else is pathetic.
and second, all the negative press the x-box is getting was probaply started by SONY.
#50 - don't buy the 360, and spend that 700 on english lessons.
It's so bad...XBOX
I heard that there was a man who had just picked up his 360 and was going to his truck when he noticed these teenagers following him. He said he jogged to his car, and thought he lost them, until he noticed a car following behind him on his way home.
Apparently they followed him, and when he got out of his car they held him at gunpoint and stole the 360.
It was on local news.
In the end, it's the same story of Robin Hood. Robin Hood steals the riches from the rich and gives it to the poor.
People rob or steal xbox360s and sell it to rich people on ebay.
What I really dont understand is why there is a shortage of 360's in the first place.
I dont mind teling you that I am one of those people who tried just a bit toolate to pre-order and I am told to wait until March MARCH!!!! I went home that day wanted to friggen cry I was soo frustrated. Why the hell wouldnt they ship enough of them so that everyone can buy one, Microsoft makes lots of money and we all get to game 360 style. I am a man who now would turn to crime to get one when just before I was and still am willing to buy one. WTF If I had the chance,I would swipe one too.
Oh and BTW. Your IP is generated in most cases dynamically by your ISP. There is no way to track the xbox360 by serial number or otherwise so be careful with your system because there are hungry gamers like me out there who got screwed by the system.
To answer someone elses question. The reason why we all go so nuts over electronics is because we are all friggen children and these are just bigger and better toys to play with. We are spoon fed commercialism for dinner and Consumerism for desert every day of our lives. Having these toys other then enjoying them makes us feel modern, in the now even. We feel like we can compete with the world and that plays on our survival instincts burried deep down.
Hope that helps
WarHorse
i heard that the 360 is full of glitches and even melting games.
is this true? are their big problems?
jb
So in 4 years, Microsoft sells 20 million units.
In 5 years, Sony sells 90 million units.
And the point of killing someone over an Xbox 360 is?
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/668/668446p1.html
Enjoy!
Ok, people are becoming just a little to desperate. Sure they want the console now, cos its new and better than any other console available but stealing other people's systems who have paid and waited so long for the release is just a disgrace. C'mon, just be patient. If you really want one that bad you should have ordered one in the first place.
Just on a lighter note though, have a look at this :p-
http://www.break.com/articles/xbox360prank.html
Not that an Xbox 360 is worth dying for but the minute the perp pulls a gun then it gives me the right to pull mine. Are you willing to die while stealing a 360? I think not.
A happy guntoting city dweller!
you know... its dumb... people "have to get the new system before everyone else" also pay more, risk their health, risk getting robbed, and also risk dealing with the current flaws.
I'd rather wait 6 weeks to 6 months after the release, regardless of how excited i am about the system, just to prevent putting myself in jeopardy of dealing with the shit that people are going through... melting games... theft... armed robbery...
i have a brain, too bad americans dont.
I love christmas. It brings out the best in people.
Jesus would happy.
"I love christmas. It brings out the best in people. "
It actually does. The woman who was robbed in Atlanta is my mother-in-law. She got off work early, stood in line for 5 hours, and spent almost $600 to give her son a happy Christmas. Even after the robbery, desprite how shaken up she was, she constantly apologized to her son because she lost his present, despite the fact that all he cared about was that his mom was ok. Sure there was one evil &%$* who had only greed, but even the companies onvolved, both Best Buy and Microsoft, have offered to replace the system.
Some people have expressed sympathy and love, and that is what the holiday season is supposed to be about. Others have called my mother-in-law stupid for the way she was quoted in the paper, have called her a fraud and said this was a scam, others made fun of her for taking money out of her retirement fund to make the son she loves happy.
It Xmas brings out the best, and the worst in folks.
Posted Nov 23, 2005, 5:33 PM ET by Eric
You idiots! How can you possibly say Microsoft's to blame for people BREAKING THE LAW!?
If something is in short supply, it's price increases as demand increases. It's not Microsoft's fault that people have no morals and commit crimes over something so stupid!
Thank you Eric, you are so right. Im sick of these immature fools who act like Microsoft is the USSR. I mean for Christ's sake, they introduced mainstream computers/ internet worldwide! Is it so bad that they make some money off a revolutionary achievement? Some people think that just because someone else accomplished something they didnt do, then it is ok to pout and cry and curse them until someone lets them leeche off of them. Blah.
The worst part for the gunmen is when they get back and actually try to USE the 360. At least they can chuck it out back in the alley with a clear conscience, not actually having spent any money on it.
Microsoft sucks I paid for my unit 8 months ago and I still have not gotten it, they should have expected this. Its so stupid to release them when their so hard to keep them on the shelf. I don't agree with the xbox looters but I understand why they are doing it.
Thou shall not steal.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8245092410