Wireless controller nabs 360 thief; Internet point

Discussion in 'The Recliner' started by Ozbrat, Dec 16, 2008.

  1. Ozbrat

    Ozbrat Retired GC

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    Wireless controller nabs 360 thief; Internet point

    http://games.on.net/article/4627/Wireless_controller_nabs_360_thief_Internet_points_and_laughs


    Never let it be said that gamers aren't creative and industrious people. We find some strange and unusual ways of fixing problems. Take, for example, the recent case of Ryan Ketsenburg, a sophomore construction management major at Missouri State University in the United States. You see, he and his room-mate had just returned back to their dorm room from a student trip and had crashed out - accidentally leaving the door unlocked. In the middle of the night, a thief sneaked into their room and stole their Xbox 360, leaving the wireless controllers behind.

    Ketsenburg, for reasons unknown, decided to flip on the wireless controller. Blink. Blink. Blink. Connect. You see, each wireless 360 controller knows what console it is synced to, thus it won't randomly connect to just any console nearby. It will only connect to the console it goes with until it is physically reset. Realizing what this meant, Ketsenburg then set out to do some detective work.

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    Looking up the product stats on the Microsoft site, Ketsenburg learned that the Xbox 360 controllers have a wireless range just shy of 10 metres. He started by narrowing it down to floors in his dorm. The controller only blinked on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, but not on the third or seventh. This discovery made him narrow his search to the fifth floor. From there, he worked in a pattern, basing it on where the controller lost and regained signal, to triangulate an area where the stolen console had to be.

    Contacting the Police with his rather interesting discovery as well as the college's 5th floor resident Assistant, they proceeded to zero in on the room in the center of the area outlined by the controller. Sure enough, when they opened the door for the room in the center, there was the stolen 360; green lights glowing its recognition of the wireless controller Ketsenburg held in his hand.

    From there, the Xbox 360 was to be seized until Ketsenburg could prove it was his. Confirmation of ownership was made easily when he was able to use his controller to flip the console on and off without touching it. (Not that we haven't all registered our serials in case the console red-rings on us anyway.) Now Ketsenburg is now back to gaming happily with his 360 - well, almost. You see, whoever the unsavory thief was completely wiped his hard drive, so all of his saved games are lost to memory. At least he can re-download his DLC, thankfully.

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    What of the Xbox 360 bandit, you ask? Well, here's the rub. As of right now, there's no word on the perpetrator. Apparently the thief hasn't been back to the dorm since the 360 was recovered. However, as the college has records of who is assigned to each dorm room, the person(s) staying in the room likely won't be difficult for them to track down. Ketsenburg said he'll be prosecuting whoever did it to the fullest extent of the law.

    Meanwhile, in related news, the Nation of Internettia exploded into a schadenfreude inspired bout of "lulz" and demanded "pics or it didn't happen."
     
  2. Hicks
    Amused

    Hicks Retired GC

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    That's great news to get his console back, most times it's gone for good, good for him!!
     

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