PS3 Fanboy

Two men have been arrested and found guilty for being a part of quite possibly the biggest PS3 heist in history. Partizan Zejak and Nard Paloka, two men originally from Albania (uh oh, GTA IV jokes abound ... ) were unanimously convicted for the theft of 1,440 PlayStation 3 consoles in Grange Park, Northampton, UK.

The incident occurred in May of last year at a NYK Logistics warehouse where Paloka and Zejak used to work. NYK Logistics, a contracted distributor for Sony, said that 25 pallets containing PS3 consoles went missing since then and have not been recovered. The amount of merchandise stolen totaled up to £700,000 (US $1.4 million). That's a huge pay off; way more than any GTA IV mission could ever offer. Nice try guys, but now you're paying for it.

[Thanks Andy!]

It wasn't too long ago that someone was killed over a PS3, and now we're hearing about teenagers getting kidnapped, tortured, and possibly sexually assaulted all because of a game. This tragic story starts off with two teens heading to a bus stop after school last Friday in Baltimore. At the bus stop, the two were allegedly coerced into a car by four suspects, blindfolded, taken to an unknown location, and then tortured. The suspects were looking for information on a missing PS3 system and an unnamed game.

When the two teenagers couldn't provide their kidnappers with information, they were then released and strangely given $20 for a ride to a hospital. The teens suffered from burn marks and stab wounds. One of the suspects, Christopher Johnson, has been arrested and charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault. Police are still on the search for the other three suspects.

We're really hoping not to hear another story like this anytime soon -- or ever, for that matter. It's really depressing to hear about videogames being linked with violent crimes. These recent stories, however, have nothing to do with videogames influencing/conditioning violence upon people; instead, these stories have only proven that games have played a passive role as objects of desire while these criminals and their already innate decadent behavior are the real cancer of society.

Read: Softpedia
Read: MSNBC

Being a protective console owner is one thing, but taking obsessive love for one's system to violent ends is a whole other ballpark. Take the story of Edward Keith Stoddard Jr. who was arrested last night in Dade City for murdering his neighbor over a missing PlayStation 3. He's accused of murdering neighbor Douglas F. Abrams when the two were arguing over the PS3 in question on April 24.

It's such a sad thing to hear that someone had to die over something so trivial. Sure, most of us love our systems, but not enough to kill for it. It's not clear whether the PS3 was the only reason for the murder, but even if it wasn't, it wouldn't matter. The story would end the same -- someone's dead, the other's in jail, and the PS3 still missing.

[Via Digg]