Over 12,000 black Nintendo DS Lite Systems Stolen

Wowzer writes "$2.32 million worth of black Nintendo DS Lite systems stolen in Hong Kong when their shipment making its way from China, where the DS Lites are made, to Europe where the black DS Lites are launching on June 23rd. The Hong Kong police suspected that the black DS Lite units sold in Hong Kong recently were part of the same theft and offers one million Hong Kong dollars ($128,840 or 102,138) to anyone with a tip. So next time you see one being sold on eBay from Hong Kong, give the cops a call."

Comments

is a black DS included?

[gEvil (beta)]

Is a black DS lite included in that 1M HKDollars? If not, count me out...

Re:is a black DS included?

[jongi_ct]

Just bought one here in South Africa for ZAR-20, which is $3.3, it is being sold by Nigerians on black market, I knew anything comes out of these chaps(Nigerians) is stolen :-). I need a number wher I can reach the Police, please reply

Re:is a black DS included?

[h2d2]

Dear Friend

My name is Amaandu Butaani and I am the head of the secret police of the order of the stolen merchandise sale in Nigeria. Recently my capitan got hold of a large container with overt 5000 Nintendo GameCube DS LITE version. I can ship them to your doorstep with FedEX, in return you can send me one (1) Ipod VIDEO version. Please reply with your social security number and complete bank informacion. My wife and children in great danger, and so my life.

Your friend,,,,
Amaandu Butaani

Re:is a black DS included?

[Anonymous Coward]

Brain: One million dollars can buy many black DS lites!
gEvil: Explain how!
Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services.
gEvil: Woo hoo!

Re:is a black DS included?

[KDR_11k]

Not necessarily, black DS Lites aren't being sold in the US.

Re:is a black DS included?

[x_MeRLiN_x]

Was has the United States got to do with anything? Or is the US using HKD instead of USD now?

Re:is a black DS included?

[Webler707]

http://cgi.ebay.com/DS-Import-Nintendo-DS-System-c onsole-Graphite-Black-NEW_W0QQitemZ8292690900QQcat egoryZ75555QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That didn't take long.

Re:is a black DS included?

[Schemat1c]

http://cgi.ebay.com/DS-Import-Nintendo-DS-System-c onsole-Graphite-Black-NEW_W0QQitemZ8292690900QQcat egoryZ75555QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That didn't take long.

That's a regular DS not a lite.

Re:is a black DS included?

[KDR_11k]

I assumed that gEvil belongs to the large group of Slashdot users that reside in the US. Not that the black DS Lite is supposed to be available in HK, either.

Re:is a black DS included?

[mpfife]

(complete with authentic terrible grammar and misspellings!)
From DR CHARLES PIEDO
Auditing and acounting unit
International bank of Africa
Attn: JOHN SMITH

I am DR CHARLES PIEDO, the director in charge of auditing and accounting section of international bank of Africa Lome-Togo in west Africa with due respect and regards.

During our investigation and audting in this bank, my department came across a very huge number of black DS's belonging to a deceased person who died on November 1997 in a plane crash and have been sitting dormant in his account with this bank without any claim of the fund in our custody either from his family or relation before our discovery to this development.

Meanwhile all the whole arrangement to put claim over this equipment as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased, get the required approval and transfer this money to a foriegn account has been put in place and directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your intrest and willingness to assist us and also benefit your self to this great business opportunity.

I will not fail to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk free. On smoth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitiled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer.

Yours faithfully, Dr CHARLES PIEDO

Re:is a black DS included?

[Khaotix]

uh
I'll take 3.

Thanks :D

Finally!!!

[numbski]

*Looks at RIAA/MPAA*

*points*

THOSE ARE PIRATES! GOT IT!?!?!?!!

Sheesh. I'm gonna go get some coffee now. :P

a great opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

...to capitalize

Rule #4 of Acquisition: buy stolen goods, they're cheaper

Currency symbol?

[Anonymous Coward]

one million Hong Kong dollars ($128,840 or 102,138) -- 102,138 what?

Re:Currency symbol?

[voice_of_all_reason]

This is a common fallacy in reports about companies getting robbed. They always state the loss of (units x price), when all they really lost was (units x cost).

Re:Currency symbol?

[gEvil (beta)]

Wow, so you didn't even bother to read the summary. Good job!

And to whichever mod modded the GP 'offtopic,' it's a perfectly valid question. Knowing which currency the 102,138 number is in would help. I'd look it up in TFA, but fucking Websense won't let me.

Re:Currency symbol?

[Fusione]

I wonder how much the buzz this will generate will affect the demand. People start talking about a DS lite shortage, then they panic. The terror! The Fear! Ahhhhhh! *Ahem* I can see Nintendo actually making more money off this than what they lost.

Re:Currency symbol?

[Anonymous Coward]

They lost all the profit they could have made. That's money that would have been in their pockets that won't be there.

Re:Currency symbol?

[mlk]

Euro (Follow the link) I wonder if /. can handle a Euro symbol?

* Ohh, yes it can, wow I'm supprised!
* thought not.
(*Delete as required)

Re:Currency symbol?

[Cougem]

Not at all. If they only have enough resources to make a certain number of units, and they've forcasted a certain profit coming from them, and are relying on that profit, then if a large proportion of those units a lost, then it can cause a lot of problems. Yes, they've lost the money it took to create the units, but they've also lost the profits, which they may not be able to make up for some time.

Re:Currency symbol?

[rgravina]

102,138 Euro. For some reason if you enter the Euro symbol into your comment (or at least if you use the character from TFA), it gets stripped out.

Re:Currency symbol?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the case of games machines, it's quite common for these units to be shipped at or below cost, because the company expects to recoup the money from games licenses.
So in this case they may have lost more than (units x price)

Re:Currency symbol?

[aktiveradio]

Did a search on ebay for 12,000 black Nintendo DS Lite they aren't up there yet.

Re:Currency symbol?

[ichigo 2.0]

That's RIAA logic. We don't do that here.

Re:Currency symbol?

[Dorceon]

Same thing happens to Japanese text. It happened to a post of mine where I was trying to explain that you can say Wii in Japanese using archaic kana.

Re:Currency symbol?

[hex0016]

Maybe /.'s software requires the Euro's escape sequence (the code with the ampersand at the start and semicolon at the end).

Re:Currency symbol?

[heinousjay]

Bah, I typed up a reasoned comment explaining why your position was ridiculous but I think it would have been lost on you, so I'll just call you a retard and take the downmods.

Re:Currency symbol?

[KingBraden]

No, its taking into account opportunity cost of the stolen goods. Not just replacement cost.

Under your calculation if I were to steal a good then I would only have to pay restitution for the actual cost to produce. Which is just silly.

Re:Currency symbol?

[KDR_11k]

€? If it shows, it works.

Re:Currency symbol?

[I Like Pudding]

one million Hong Kong dollars

I bet the guy who announced that had his pinky firmly planted in the corner of his mouth

-------

ALRERNATE BIZZAROWORLD CYBERPUNK BONUS EXTRA POST:
Shouldn't those be "kongbucks"?

Re:Currency symbol?

[Taimoor]

Um... sorry, that's a common fallacy, but not one supported by the current statistics, much less Nintendo's company policy.

Nintendo Corp. never ships game units at or below cost. As a matter of fact, IIRC, the xbox is the only system to have ever been sold below cost, and that's because microsoft put a whole effing PC in there. (Although Halo was a good multiplayer game...)

--Nick

Re:Currency symbol?

[reanjr]

Well, I'm no economist, but there would at least be amortized loss exceeding cost of production if the units can not be produced in time to have enough units at launch. So if there is a shortage of black DS lites, then there IS loss over and above the cost per unit.

Although, their insurance will probably pay for it. I doubt it's even Nintendo that lost anything, but rather the shipping company which would have insured the goods.

Re:Currency symbol?

[MS-06FZ]

Just 102138. It's a non-unitized scalar. Unfortunately, official recognition of this type of conversion has wreaked havoc on international trade economies, as non-unitized scalars may be multiplied, fed through arbitrary functions, etc. and then converted back to familiar units of currency with rather unconventional effects.

Re:Currency symbol?

[ichigo 2.0]

If we take opportunity cost into consideration then we have to accept RIAA's claims of the same as well. As reanjr pointed out, there is the possibility of additional cost because of a possible shortage, but I do not accept "all the profit they could have made" as a loss. It could very well be that everyone in Europe suddenly decided that the DS Lite sucks and wouldn't buy one, in which case the loss is only the cost to produce the units. Opportunity cost is what the RIAA calculates when they assume that every pirated copy is a lost sale. Yes, under my calculation you would only have to pay restitution for the cost to manufacture. You would however go to jail/pay fines for stealing the good as well, which IMO should be enough of a deterrent (it's not like a person who has to resort to stealing cares about the size of possible restitutions, because he can't afford to pay them anyway).

Re:Currency symbol?

[jdbartlett]

Hmm, how much did it cost to make an N64? I remember back when I lived in the UK I scooped up a brand new N64 at a local Argos for 40 GBP (back when the pound was 1.5 dollars, not 1.8 dollars!)

Re:Currency symbol?

[idontgno]

Well, the ampersand-entity for Euro used to work.

€

It still does. Use the string sequence "€" (without the quotes, o'course) and you'll get a lovely € symbol to adorn your Euro-centric monetary discussion.

Re:Currency symbol?

[Jason1729]

From the summary: "$2.32 million worth of black Nintendo DS Lite systems stolen in Hong Kong when their shipment making its way"

So you didn't even read the first line of the summary before wrongly accusing someone else of not reading the summary. Nice irony.

Re:Currency symbol?

[PeelBoy]

102,138 Jr. Bacon Cheese Burgers.

Re:Currency symbol?

[gEvil (beta)]

If you'd actually bother to follow the thread (yeah, I know--it's a really really hard thing to do), you'd see that voice_of_all_reason was directly responding to a question asking what currency the 102,138 was in--a value that refers to the bounty being offered, not the value of the stolen goods. To respond to that question with a comment about the value of the stolen goods makes no logical sense. So voice_of_all_reason was either answering a question that wasn't even asked, or he was referring to a value that had no place in this particular question. Either one of those doesn't particularly bode well for him. And to call my response ironic shows that you're not particularly following things too well, either.

Re:Currency symbol?

[rgravina]

Ah yes, the HTML entity for Euro. Would be nice if Slashcode could recognise the Euro symbol when entering in plain text (or Japanese/other language text as an earlier post mentioned)... It seems that Slashdot uses the iso-8859-1 charset.... Would be great if they switched to unicode... then users could comment in any language, or mix languages in the same post. Perhaps Slashdot wants to stay English only though for practical reasons, or the admins are just lazy, or both?

Well that's just brazen..but refreshing!

[BlackCobra43]

Grand grand larceny...of GAMING CONSOLES! When's the last time you heard THAT?

Re:Well that's just brazen..but refreshing!

[Monkeman]

Grand Theft Auto made them do it.

Re:Well that's just brazen..but refreshing!

[PeelBoy]

I hope GTA4 is based in Hong Kong.

Not Politically Correct

[computechnica]

They prefer to be call African-American DSs.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it doesn't matter what they prefer to be called. That's what you have to call them either way, or else you're not PC.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

African-American DS Lite's stole my bike!

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong but funny.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[iainl]

Except that you Americans are only getting white ones (insert alternative racism joke here). And here in Europe, where the machines were supposed to be going, you're more likely to find someone take offence by calling them American than Black...

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

This is totally off topic, but I have to ask. What are black people called in Europe? African Europeans?

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

Not sure what the PC way of descibing a black person is, but most the time they're called by their names.

Its only racists and the PC brigade that worry about anything else

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Cecil]

Generally, they're just called "Europeans". Go figure.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Andrew Kismet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_(people)

As far as I know, "black" is fine as long as you mumble it, and don't say it in an aggresive tone.
African-American is hardly used, and terms like negro are just a no-go area. Generally, if you know their precise race, it's easier and politer just to say that - African, Jamaican, or whatever.

Political Correctness is fussy and awkward and depends on the person. With my friend Alex, he gets wound up if I call him black, but "Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, nigga?" is funny... odd fellow.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

So you describe people solely by their place of origin? Sounds like you are the racist here my friend!

Re:Not Politically Correct

[otis wildflower]

Call me Robert DeNiro then, cuz them DSes is teh secksey...

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

IC4 males :-)

Re:Not Politically Correct

[reanjr]

As history has shown us, America will simply buy its African American DS Lites from European countries who import them from farther lands.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[reanjr]

Can't go wrong with Negro. It's technical (as in Caucasian is technical for white) and it just means black in two major world languages (Spanish and Protuguese). It can also be used in a quaint, historical manner. As an added bonus, prefixing it with "What up..." tends to make it socially acceptable, and racially agnostic.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[be-fan]

Ah, the "color blind" contingent.

You guys are so naive. Race matters enormously in the real world. It matters in small ways, and it matters in big ways. Pretending otherwise is just burying your head in the sand. You don't have to get hung up about it, but pretending it's not one of the most important characteristics in a person's life is silly.

Re:Not Politically Correct

[Anonymous Coward]

They are "made" color blind by the media, it helps minorities compete when they are allowed to be highly ethnocentric and whitey is not ;)

Catch 22

[mfh]

This could be a PR stunt, because any thief stupid enough to steal ALL the black DS units would never be able to sell them without getting caught. On the other hand... maybe Nintendo should hold off on shipping more?

Here's a mugshot of the evidence.

Re:Catch 22

[Valthan]

Just a note, that is the wrong pic. That is one of the Regular black DS, where they are saying the Black DS Lites were the ones stolen.

Re:Catch 22

[emorphien]

that would be an interesting approach.

Re:Catch 22

[nsmike]

Um, that's a black DS. Not a DS Lite.

Re:Catch 22

[MrSquirrel]

Yes, because filing a false police report is the way to get people to buy your product. No, it's not Nintendo's doing. Why would you delay your own product being launched by saying "they were stolen" to make them sell better when... get this... DS LITES ARE ALREADY SELLING WELL! Yes, several retail outlets were out of stock when I checked (NewEgg was out of stock too). Also, your logic that "any thief stupid enough to steal ALL the black DS units would never be able to sell them without getting caught" is flawed because... get this... there are more black DS lites than the ones destined for Europe. Yes, Nintendo has already released the black DS Lite throughout Asia. Selling them there would be easy as... say... stealing thousands of black DS Lites (oh wait, they already did that).

Re:Catch 22

[Cougem]

That's a picture of an original DS in black. What's been stolen is a batch of black DS lites , the new style.

Re:Catch 22

[Xeirxes]

Apparently everything that happens to Nintendo is a PR stunt nowadays :D

Re:Catch 22

[ichigo 2.0]

Eh, I don't think they stole all the black DS lites, 12k units would not be enough for the European release. :P

Re:Catch 22

[fithmo]

Here's a mugshot of the evidence.

That is NOT a mugshot of the evidence. That is the orginal "super-fuggin'-ugly" style Nintendo DS. This story is about the Nintendo DS Lite which looks more like this.

Here is a comparison for those that have trouble telling the difference between the two models.

Re:Catch 22

[reanjr]

I don't know about that. When US got black GBAs, I think the nationwide release numbered about a dozen judging by availability.

Re:Catch 22

[Joebert]

Haven't you guys ever heard of spray paint ?

How can people tell them appart?

[Ignem]

So how are people buying one on ebay supposed to know wether or not it was part of the stolen shipment?

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[blueZhift]

That's a very good question. My guess is that since the theft is relatively high profile, that eBay may feel obliged to shut down all auctions of black DS Lites for a while. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if Nintendo itself made such a request. In any case, anyone trying to sell any of the stolen DS Lites is likely going to attract more attention than usual for a while and has a higher risk of getting caught. Knowing this, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try to get a black DS Lite on eBay right now since you wouldn't know and may even end up having to give the DS back if it turns out to be part of the stolen shipment.

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[ericspinder]

So how are people buying one on ebay supposed to know wether or not it was part of the stolen shipment?

Well, first of all, considering that it's a 'new product' one shouldn't be seeing it all that often. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but many consumer electronics have what's call a serial number, which may uniquely identify a particular unit. So, here's your oppurtunity to get a fancy new DS system, and collect a $120,000 reward, so get shopping. Of course, if you do find that your unit is stolen, and since recieving stolen goods is a felony...

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[kcbanner]

Well the ones that were stolen were black...

And the ones out now are white...

You do the rest :D

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[Mister Whirly]

"So how are people buying one on ebay supposed to know wether or not it was part of the stolen shipment?"

How do you know anything you buy on eBay isn't stolen??

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[arashi no garou]

and since recieving stolen goods is a felony...

Depends on (1) where you live and (2) the value of the item. In my state, it's a misdemeanor if it's under $500 worth of stolen goods, felony above that amount. That said, stealing is stealing, and I for one wouldn't want to risk getting caught just to get one a tad bit early.

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[damienl451]

Well, aren't you supposed to KNOW that something is stolen to be convicted of receiving stolen goods ? Else, it does not make any sense: how I am supposed to know that the guy who owns my local electronics store hasn't sold me a stolen DVD player ?

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[houghi]

So how are people buying one on ebay supposed to know wether or not it was part of the stolen shipment?

The same way you check anything on Ebay to see if it is stolen.

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[AcidLacedPenguiN]

$0.99 no reserve?

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[Lehk228]

you have to know, or a reasonable person should have been able to figure it out. crackhead selling "used" TV's out of the trunk of his car? yea you'll get busted buying that. buying from a consignment shop? not so much

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[nickheart]

IANAL, but "Due diligence (also known as due care) is the effort made by an ordinarily prudent or reasonable party to avoid harm to another party or himself. Failure to make this effort is considered negligence. Quite often a contract will specify that a party is required to provide due diligence." -Wiki

You are requred to follow resonable steps to ensure that you are not purchasing something stolen. For example, you walk into Best Buy, you can assume that products on their shelves are not stolen. But some guy walks up to you on the street and say's "hey buddy would you like to buy a watch real cheap *show forearm*" you should probably request some sort of proof that he acquired them legaly.

I would be willing to trust a local electronics store, especially when it's new in box. If you have some concern you could always call the manufacturer and see if the S/N has been reported stolen, but yeah, you are requred by law to make sure you're not purchasing stolen property.

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[rjshields]

"Felony" doesn't even mean anything in Europe.

Re:How can people tell them appart?

[meringuoid]

So how are people buying one on ebay supposed to know wether or not it was part of the stolen shipment?

They're not legally available anywhere yet. Release date is the 23rd.

The thieves could wait until then to put them on eBay, but they then lose a lot of the exclusivity value.

Exchange value

[Rob T Firefly]

$128,840

That works out to 1,288 1UPs! Count me in! *puts on overalls and moustache*

Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[johnthorensen]

"So next time you see one being sold on eBay from Hong Kong, give the cops a call."

This is just a fucking stupid thing to say. First off, lots of electronics are sold on eBay from Hong Kong. The chances of one DS Lite being part of a stolen shipment is not great enough to warrant calling the cops every time you see one. Secondly, to think the authorities aren't watching eBay themselves is pretty ignorant. Of *course* they're watching eBay, in addition to a million other outlets.

Finally, just which "cops" is the poster suggesting you call? Because seeing as how this theft occured *in Hong Kong*, I doubt that anyone besides the authorities there even care. Your local deputy, and even the FBI, don't give a shit.

Ignore this advice and avoid wasting everyones' time, including your own...

-JT

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[voice_of_all_reason]

Finally, just which "cops" is the poster suggesting you call? Because seeing as how this theft occured *in Hong Kong*, I doubt that anyone besides the authorities there even care. Your local deputy, and even the FBI, don't give a shit.

This reminds me of a scene from a Lord of the Rings mud I used to play. It had a law system handled by NPCs for when players have been robbed or killed.

So one day this Hobbit wanders into the headquarters of the Bywater Bounders to make a report. "Ahem, yes..." he begins. "I'd like to report Sauron for murder..."

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[donnacha]

He was joking .

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[foobsr]

the authorities there

Imagine those are part of the game. Evil cops and such ...

CC.

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[Anonymous Coward]

Seeing as how Black DSes are only authorized to be sold in Europe, I'd say that somebody selling one from Hong Kong (grap a map, people) are probably stolen.

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[iainl]

Although it does occur to me that the black model is exclusive to Europe (white worldwide, and two shades of blue for the far-east being the other options). So in fact there really shouldn't be a lot of black Lites coming from Hong Kong sources.

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[Anonymous Coward]

You see that thing flying way over your head ? ...

... that was the joke ...

/me *ducks*

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[phpWebber]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=humor

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[laxcat]

The June 23rd launch in Europe is the first time the black DS Lite will be available in the world. As it is not yet June 23rd, it is pretty safe to say that ANY BLACK DS LITE YOU SEE WAS IN SOME WAY STOLLEN. And there is a very, very high probability that it came from this stolen shipment. We're talking about a very unique product here, not something that's readily available.

Granted, the trouble one would have to go through to contact the Hong Kong authorities is significant, however there very well might be /. readers who are from Hong Kong reading this, whether they are in America or Europe or (gasp!) Hong Kong. Contacting the proper authorities would not be nearly as difficult for them. Someone from Hong Kong and living would have particular interest in this, seeing as how it means they most likely won't be getting their black DS Lite.

I'd like to thank you, though, for your valiant efforts to protect us and our valuable time.

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[laxcat]

"Someone from Hong Kong and living" = "Someone from Hong Kong and living in Europe"

(dammit!)

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar*

[Turn-X Alphonse]

I wish I had mod points, best post I've read in a long time.

Mod underrated to boost Karma not funny.

HK police contact info

[mincognito]

So next time you see one being sold on eBay from Hong Kong, give the cops a call

Considering the reward involved i would contact the HK police directly if you have any info:

email: pprb@police.gov.hk
phone: + 852 25277177 (police hotline); +852 25277887 (Organised Crime and Triad Hotline)

Re:HK police contact info

[fithmo]

NARC!!!!

Grammar grammer gramma

[kccricket]

Something is seriously wrong witht that first sentence. Remove the descriptors and it breaks down to this:
"Nintendo DS Lite systems stolen when their shipment to Europe where the black DS Lites are launching on June 23rd"

Were they stolen on the ship by pirates? I don't understand.

Re:Grammar grammer gramma

[Rob T Firefly]

"Nintendo DS Lite systems stolen when their shipment to Europe where the black DS Lites are launching on June 23rd"

What they're trying to say is, "Somebody set up us the theft, you have no DS to ship make your time."

Re:Grammar grammer gramma

[eluusive]

I'm as confused as you. I'm usually forgiving if I can make sense of it, but that sentence is just terrible.

Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[asdotcom]

According to this article (and a few other places on the web) there aren't even supposed to be black DS Lites. Is there a different color set that hasn't been reported? Colors were supposed to be Crystal White, Ice Blue, and Enamel Navy.

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[GalionTheElf]

All DS Lites available for purchase in Europe (just a few more days now :D) will be black

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[Valthan]

They were launching White and Black versions in eurpoe only..

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[asdotcom]

Did they give a reason why? Do any other countries/regions get special colors?

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[martinmarv]

Nope - some are black, some are white (at least in the UK).
amazon.co.uk and again (although you can possibly get them cheaper elsewhere - importing the white one from Australia, for example)

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[GalionTheElf]

No reason given but IIRC everyone except Europe got white ones although I'm sure all colours will get released everywhere eventually.

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[GalionTheElf]

Yup sorry I stand corrected. From the wikipedia entry:

On February 10, 2006 Nintendo revealed the color schemes of the DS Lite upon launch. Available in Japan: Crystal White, Ice Blue and Enamel Navy.[7] However, due to manufacturing problems only the Crystal White was available at its launch; the other two colors arrived on March 11, 2006. In North America, Nintendo has announced that the DS Lite will only be available in white (named 'Polar White') at launch. In Europe, the system will launch both white and black editions. Other colors may eventually be released, as is customary with Nintendo's handheld gaming systems.[8]

Re:Uh... black wasn't even in their color set.

[masklinn]

Wrong, Europe will have both Polar White and black DS Lites at launch (note: USA only have Polar White at the moment)

Serial Numbers

[Detritus]

Assuming that the police have a list of the serial numbers, the thieves may have a hard time unloading their loot without being caught. "I bought it from some guy off the back of a truck" is not a good defense to buying stolen goods.

Re:Serial Numbers

[voice_of_all_reason]

Thief rings scratch the serial numbers off guns. I really don't think they'll have any qualms about doing so with a game boy.

Unless you're implying that I've missed out on some sort of law that makes owning an electronic device without a serial number equivalent to High Treason.

Re:Serial Numbers

[Xzzy]

law that makes owning an electronic device without a serial number equivalent to High Treason.

Gamers are pretty serious about taking care of their stuff. Try to sell them a device that's been defaced and you just might hear some angry words. There might even be discussion of violence. As we all know, once you get to that point high treason is just around the corner.

Re:Serial Numbers

[whoop]

One of the great things of the DS is the internet play. Nintendo just has to ban the MAC addresses/serial numbers for those units and buyers lose out on that part of the fun.

Re:Serial Numbers

[Detritus]

I wouldn't want to be a storekeeper with a dozen Nintendo DS Lites on the shelf, all with missing serial numbers. How are you going to explain that to the police?

Re:Serial Numbers

[Anonymous Coward]

> I wouldn't want to be a storekeeper with a dozen Nintendo DS Lites on the shelf, all with missing
> serial numbers. How are you going to explain that to the police?

Stick some random numbers on the back - unless shopkeepers are supposed to make a note of the typeface and design of serial numbers for every item they stock. It would be hard to show that you knew they were stolen because of that.

Re:Serial Numbers

[Mister Whirly]

"Gamers are pretty serious about taking care of their stuff. Try to sell them a device that's been defaced and you just might hear some angry words."

That is, until the gamer finds out he can buy it for half the retail price...

Re:Serial Numbers

[ichigo 2.0]

Even if the police had a list of the serial numbers, how would that help buyers? And do you really think the cops will start inspecting every DS lite they see people carrying around?

Re:Serial Numbers

[KDR_11k]

I think you'd already have trouble with explaining why you have a large stock of items that aren't sold anywhere and the only shipment available on the market is a stolen one.

Re:Serial Numbers

[ElleyKitten]

That is, until the gamer finds out he can buy it for half the retail price...

Yeah. I love my games, and I try to keep them all pristine, but if someone offered me a DS lite for $50, the lack of a serial code wouldn't bother me* at all. Especially since the serial code is probably on a sticker, and could come of quite cleanly.

*I would, however, be bothered by stealing from Nintendo. *crazy fangirl*

Re:Serial Numbers

[voice_of_all_reason]

Ideally, you don't have to. The great thing about an adversarial justice system is that the onus is on the police to prove your items are stolen, not for you to prove they are legit.

Just kidding, that's not really how it works. And if you don't cooperate, they'll just sieze them and destroy your business out of spite.

Re:Serial Numbers

[Anonymous Coward]

Rumor has it that the DS Lites weren't stolen by pirates in order to sell them. During the night, the shipping vessel was boarded at sea by a small gang of ninjas (sporting the Sony logo on their backs) led by Ken Kutaragi. They frightened the crew by displaying a variety of discarded PS3 boomerang prototype controllers, and then proceeded to dump the entire DS Lite shipment into the foaming aquatic depths. Afterwards, a note was found attached to a DS Lite laying next to a daised crew member. It was pinned to the DS via the stylus stabbed through its touch screen and read, "HAHAHAHA! Nintendo tried to copy the Sony PSP by releasing a black hand held. We showed them! The DS is irrelevant! Wait fo the PSP2 running on cell. It will be like a home computer that you can take with you!" Signed, Crazy Ken.

Ninjas

[Skidge]

I'd blame ninjas. They'd obviously go after the black DS Lites, since they'd go better with their outfits.

Re:Ninjas

[infosec_spaz]

Either the Ninja's or a bunch of angst ridden teenagers who wanted them to match their entire wardrobe.

Re:Ninjas

[mrogers]

I agree that ninjas are the likely culprits - I tried to inform the Hong Kong police about my suspicions, but when I reached for the phone I discovered that my right arm had been neatly severed from my body.

Re:Ninjas

[bstrunk]

The reason we know it wasn't ninjas is that this story is just being reported as a theft. No guards were discovered missing limbs, so it couldn't have been ninjas.... Unless they took the bodies with them.... Those crafty ninjas!

Re:Ninjas

[Anonymous Coward]

OMG!!!!
That's so, like, horrible!!

Re:Ninjas

[F�an�ro]

Wrong, They were obviously pirated. Damn product pirates.

Give the cops a call??

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhh. So what you saying is..narc. That's charming.

Mugshot

[mfh]

Yes, please add the word LITE in your photo. Otherwise -- they both fit the same description.

Whoa whoa whoa....offtopic??? How?

[numbski]

Someone pirates a bunch of DS Lites. Quite literally so.

I crack a joke about piracy.

But I'm offtopic. WTF mods? Come on....

Yeah right

[voxel]

That's probably the phone number to someones girlfriend, and the other number their hot sister.

Re:Yeah right

[Mayhem178]

You mean like Ali? And Ali's sister?

Re:Yeah right

[KDR_11k]

No, that number got DELETED!

Re:Yeah right

[Mayhem178]

Baleeted! Delteated! Dacheated!

Re:Yeah right

[zanglang]

Yeah that would be fun, but they're not. Note that the chinese text in the first few links actually list a few hotline numbers to call when reporting crime etc.

Call 911 now

[Glacial Wanderer]

Check out this auction. I don't know about you, but I'm calling the police as soon as I'm finished typing. Oh wait I almost forgot that would turn me into an irrational knee jerking reactionary.

Re:Call 911 now

[BaseLineNL]

They're pre-ordering it on that auction.

Re:Call 911 now

[Anonymous Coward]

the sellers name is even "pc expert of all trades" then if u ignore pc, you realize that this means he's an expert thief, and clearly behind the theft of 12,000 units of black DS lites. case closed i win, that will be 1 black DS lite thank you.

How not to steal a DS 2

[Fubar411]

Oh, I can't wait for this one. Posts every 5 minutes about how they're going to get the Corona gang and how the cops don't care. Vigilante justice for all!

To whom it may concern:

[timster]

I am currently looking for a black DS Lite at a, uh, reasonable price. Please contact me as soon as possible if you happen to have a, er, glut of such items that you are just looking to get rid of, no questions asked.

remember the stolen good pricing scheme

[Anonymous Coward]

30% of retail value is what they are worth on the black market
so should be a bargain if you don't want support/warranty

Re:Mod parent off-topic

[networkBoy]

I think this might actually qualify as pwnage.
funny really, as I couldn't find anything to use my mod points on and they expired yesterday.
-nB

Re:Mod parent off-topic

[numbski]

Y'know, I don't generally care what I'm modded, but that is just the most brain-dead moderating I've ever seen. I had to say something.

Re:Whoa whoa whoa....offtopic??? How?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you call that a joke...

Oh okay mods

[BlackCobra43]

I hadn't realized talking about the theft of gaming consoels in a story about the theft of gaming consoles was offtopic. My bad.

Unfair

[assassingod]

I don't want to seem selfish here, but I think that's totally reckless of the theives. I'm not going to guess their motives for stealing them however I think it's pretty obvious. I was very excited to here than Europe was getting the exclusive Black DS Lite, and i've been dying for the release date to draw ever closer. How am I supposed to know whether i'm getting a Black DS Lite or not. EndRant();

HA!

[mfh]

Yeah but would thieves sell them in Asia or Europe?

Apple charges extra for black...

[Speare]

Funny, Apple charges extra for a black iPod or a black MacBook. Now Nintendo is claiming that black DS Lite units will be more rare, and thus the market will probably inflate their value. I'm not saying the companies are gonna merge, or anything.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[abigsmurf]

Nintendo are extremely strict when it comes to profiteering. Any supplier found to be selling above the SRP will find it extremely difficult to get any future stock. This includes mass Ebay sellers

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[Khaed]

Maybe Apple stole them in order to recycle the black casings! omg conspiracaaaay!

I'm surprised I didn't see a "once you go black" joke yet. C'mon /.ers, I'm trying to avoid work here.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[MemoryDragon]

The funny thing is, that the new ds has a very appleish design, seems like nintendo has hired the same designers this time. could be sold with any apple would not make a difference except for the logo.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[Phroggy]

This isn't the first time. The G4 Cube came out at about the same time as the Nintendo GameCube, and before that I remember seeing Nintendo systems in translucent plastic iMac colors.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[Anonymous Coward]

You're an idiot if you think that Apple invented the concept of multi-colored products, let alone black ones.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, Apple doesn't charge extra for black iPods. Some resellers do though.

Re:Apple charges extra for black...

[fithmo]

Well, the DS Lite does come with the same "Fuck, I just bought (the old) one!" feeling that you get about a week after buying an Apple product.

Yes, black IS in the color set.

[Rachel Lucid]

Black is currently a Europe-exclusive color. Says so right on Wikipedia.

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[Anonymous Coward]

On February 10, 2006 Nintendo revealed the color schemes of the DS Lite upon launch. Available in Japan: Crystal White, Ice Blue and Enamel Navy.[7] However, due to manufacturing problems only the Crystal White was available at its launch; the other two colors arrived on March 11, 2006. In North America, Nintendo has announced that the DS Lite will only be available in white (named 'Polar White') at launch. In Europe, the system will launch both white and black editions. Other colors may eventually be released, as is customary with Nintendo's handheld gaming systems.[8]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_ds_lite (and a few posts up)

Oh yeah it says so right there, if you can't read anyway

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[Mister Whirly]

"Black is currently a Europe-exclusive color."

Heh, not anymore.....

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[Rachel Lucid]

Mmkay, I just picked up a DS lite yesterday, and I'm looking at the product bar on the back... What do you think the odds are that the systems are set up for Europe-region-only in terms of cards and wifi?

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[Anonymous Coward]

Handheld consoles don't have region locking. People take them on holiday...

The only exception to this that I'm aware of is UMD movies on the PSP. Gee thanks, Sony! I would have bought some Japanese discs while I was there, but it's your loss.

I personally have a UK DS with games from UK, US and Japan, the one thing I've ever had to use with it is a UK->jap/US power plug adaptor to charge it.

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[freakmn]

I believe the GP mentioned WiFi, which has a few more available channels than are available in the US. I know that this means that it wouldn't be crippled like a US version is, but otherwise it wouldn't matter.

Re:Yes, black IS in the color set.

[MemoryDragon]

The DS does not have region codes, and Nintendo even advertises that feature heavily...

yeah..

[Anonymous Coward]

get them while they're hot!

Re:Whoa whoa whoa....offtopic??? How?

[numbski]

Actually, it translates to "the lameness filter thinks I used too many caps, so I had to type something else in order to get the post to submit". :P

That, and I'm going to sit and frantically reload slashdot, but hey...

BUY'm all up!

[erroneus]

Maybe they'll think again before trusting China to manufacturing expensive stuff again? Or are they still cheaper to make in China even with the added losses of these units?

Re:BUY'm all up!

[Anonymous Coward]

johnthorensen, here's another candidate to that suggestion ranking of yours. Good chances for making it to the top I'd say..

Surely not all HK ds's are stolen?

[moron4hire]

There must be legitimate vendors selling on ebay as well?

Re:Surely not all HK ds's are stolen?

[meringuoid]

There must be legitimate vendors selling on ebay as well?

Not black ones, not for another week. Black DSs are coming out in Europe only, on 23rd June.

(Can you tell who's got a pre-order at Amazon and has been watching the calendar for weeks?)

Re:Whoa whoa whoa....offtopic??? How?

[Anonymous Coward]

livin up to your sig i guess?

I found the guy!

[spankey51]

This Guy has them!

Historic parallels?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is a black DS lite included in that 1M HKDollars? If not, count me out...

I imagine similar conversations took place amongst early Southern American plantation owners and their traders. Just another example of DS whitey trying to keep us down...

Re:Historic parallels?

[Eccles]

Well, once you go black...

Re:Mod parent off-topic

[Mister Whirly]

Welcome to Slashdot...

Think about

[coleblak]

the beowulf cluster those babies would make. *and* Will they run linux?

Re:Think about

[KDR_11k]

Of course they can run Linux. What are you thinking?

Re:Think about

[AndrewNeo]

The scary thing is they do run linux, and they have the wifi working. So, you actually could cluster them..

count me in!

[jaimz22]

"So next time you see one being sold on eBay from Hong Kong, give the cops a call." no way, i'm going to buy it chances are it will be cheaper!

Re:count me in!

[Anonymous Coward]

no way, i'm going to buy it chances are it will be cheaper!

Dur dee hur hur. Except if you are good at math you'll realize the reward money far exceeds the difference between a legit and stolen console...

Re:count me in!

[jaimz22]

dude! ninjas stole the DS's don't you read the comments!

1.) you can't catch a ninja
2.) they'd kill me for turning them in
3.) i'm not a pirate so i can't defend myself from a ninja

Re:count me in!

[WilliamSChips]

Just download some songs from LimeWire and then you'll become a pirate.

Re:count me in!

[Anonymous Coward]

Arrg, worked for me, it did.

Re:Stupidest suggestion *evar* - AHAH!

[WFFS]

Well, of COURSE he'd say that, since JT is part of the criminal ring... I'mma keep my eyes on eBay...

Another rule

[KDR_11k]

Being caught is not profitable.

A Sopranos connection?

[VorlonFog]

I'd be on the lookout for Paulie Walnuts and his buddys selling these ultra-cheap on the streets of NYC and NJ.

You're living behind the times

[KDR_11k]

Ever since the N64 a 1up goes for 50 coins, not 100. Probably inflation as 1ups have been getting more and more common these days.

Re:You're living behind the times

[Rob T Firefly]

True, but I'm more of a SMB3 type of guy. *puts on a customized Tanooki suit with "JUST POWERED UP - NOT A FURRY AT ALL" embroidered across the front*

When Kutaragi goes bad

[Rosebud128]

Damn you, Sony!!!

My first thought was something similar

[Weaselmancer]

"So next time you see one being sold on eBay from Hong Kong, give the cops a call."

First thing I thought was, "Well, I might call and I might not - depends on what the reserve price is." ;^)

Triad Essentials

[CooleyAndy]

3 things a Triad must have. A cell, a blade, and now a Black DS lite.

I didn't do it

[MooseTick]

As a side note, I have a connection who independently has obtained around 999,999 - 1,000,001 very dark brown(almost black) DS Lites and is looking to unload them cheap. Any parties interested can contact him on via PicoChat.

Re:I didn't do it

[Anubis_Ascended]

And here I thought that PictoChat was ad-hoc only, and not online (assuming, of course, that some hacker group didn't figure out how to get it online)?

Re:I didn't do it

[Anonymous Coward]

It is ad-hoc only. GP was being facetious.

Odd.

[e03179]

That's odd. When I found the shipment there were only 11,999 black DS Lites in there.

Stolen?

[Maradine]

Item #5667815901
----

1 Truck
Big-ish, holds about, I don't know, 12,000 Pop-tarts boxes.
Registered in Hong Kong (License: MTHRLOD) Buyer responsible for tag and title.
Comes with full tank.
Might want to sanitize the back.

$50 OBO.

China's piracy problem

[strider2k]

China has a big problem concerning piracy. If tourists and locals are buying $1 "real" dvd without hesitation, what makes them think they'll report it to the police. So, I doubt the DS Lite is going to have any problems being sold. China, Malayasia, and I think Thailand have huge problems with this issue. Last time in China, one could buy the entire Snoopy collection of cartoons for a thrifty price. How about 10 dvds of Stephen Chow movies with about 4-8 movies per dvd? Very cheap indeed.

Re:China's piracy problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I seriously doubt China's problem is a problem for China. If China *really* wanted to, there would be no piracy. Bottom line is, piracy is good for China's economy so long as the majority of pirated goods are foreign, which it is. The fact is, China puts far more effort into stamping out Falun Gong than then do in stamping out copyright and trade infringement. I have no evidence to back this up, of course.

Tony Soprano

[MBraynard]

.... unavailable for comment.

Re:Mod parent off-topic

[MustardMan]

that is just the most brain-dead moderating I've ever seen.

you must be new here.

soon to appear on eBay:

[johnty]

Brand New "WHITE" Nintendo DS System NR L@@K not PSP PS3 Sony

wow

[revery]

The Hong Kong police suspected that the black DS Lite units sold in Hong Kong recently were part of the same theft and offers one million Hong Kong dollars ($128,840 or 102,138) to anyone with a tip.

Wow, $128,840 or 102,138?

I'll just take the number please. Now, if I can just get 456,542 I'll have s complete set...

Re:Ninjas (insightful)

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, ninja comments belong here, you insensitive clod!

What's the hype for?

[DrXym]

A DS Lite is a Nintendo DS in a smaller form factor. If you own the latter, what the hell are you doing buying another one? If the original was great, what's the urgency to replace it? If the original was bad, then perhaps you shouldn't be buying another one.

If you're a new buyer, why the sudden clamour to buy something which has been out there in a slightly larger format for over a year now?

Either way I don't get it. These things aren't going to disappear overnight.

Re:What's the hype for?

[Anonymous Coward]

The DS Lite has nicer buttons, the layout is better (my hands don't cramp while playing anymore), the screens are brighter, the unit is smaller. Hard to tell the difference from a picture -- you really need to hold one.

Or just keep posting crap about how everyone else is stupid for wanting something you don't :)

Re:What's the hype for?

[bigdavesmith]

I personally held off on buying a DS because of the design. Now that it has been fixed, I'll be buying one for myself and my girlfriend. The DS lite is the product that should have been put out to begin with. You could argue that it has a lot of old tech (802.11b not the least of it), but I don't need bleeding edge to whoop up on my buddies in Mario Cart.

And actually...it appears they did disappear overnight ;)

Another marketing ploy...

[rAiNsT0rm]

1. Get a massive quantity of your top selling product stolen.
2. Report to news/media outlets.
3. Free publicity
4. ???
5. Profit?

I really think companies need to find better ways of creatively advertising their products... oh, wait this is for real.

Well, at the very least it is reverse descrimination. I mean why only steal the black ones...

what is a MAC address

[Anonymous Coward]

You may want to read up on what a MAC address is and how far it goes when using a network (like the internet).

[SPOILER]the MAC address is not sent beyond the gateway[/SPOILER]

Re:what is a MAC address

[az_bont]

Even if your MAC address is not sent beyond the gateway, your unique gamer ID number for any particular game is a combination of your MAC address and a hash value associated with the game. As one of those is a known value which remains constant, it shouldn't require too much effort on Nintendo's part to generate a list of gamer IDs for each online game and match them up accordingly.

Re:what is a MAC address

[whoop]

If you read another 16 characters, you would have seen another reference to a machine-specific method of identification. I will give you though that I do not know the absolute specifics of Nintendo's protocols, but I have seen games send repetitive information in the body of a packet. The point is there is some most likely some identifiable code for the machine Nintendo can ban when a stolen device tries to access their service. Heck, I could even go so far as to start a scare that Nintendo will download code to shut down the device permanently when it sees it has been stolen. That'll learn them.

A lesson for all you little leaguers at home: don't buy black market DSes because only you can lose.

Insurance?

[Tetravus]

I don't know if the units were insured for full retail value or less, but a big chunk of the cost is going to be caught by Nintendo's (or the shipper's) insurance company.

If they pay out the cash quickly, it may even work out in Nintendo's favor (given interest rates and an average time to pay for merchandise ordered by retailers of about 90 days...). Actually, that's not likely but it is possible.

Re:Insurance?

[PeelBoy]

When does that ever happen? This is insurance companies we are talking about.

For sale 12000 foldable Sony PSP

[faramir_fr]

It's all in the subject

They're not stolen...

[x-vere]

Come now. The Black Nintendo DS Lite are highly skilled ninja. They don't want to be found...

Cool, are they being sold for cheap?

[ylikone]

I need to pick me up a few of these if they are going for cheap. Underground black market rules!

The Chinese? Stealing? NO WAY!!!

[Electric Eye]

This sort of thing never happens in China. No corporate piracy, no theft of trade secrets, no counterfeiting industry... No...

These units will probably turn up in the hands of "Nuntenda" a new Chinese gaming company formed to sell handheld gaming systems.

Politically incorrect headline

[Anonymous Coward]

please change the headline to: Over 12,000 african-chinese Nintendo DS Lite Systems Stolen

Those things are long gone.

[MaWeiTao]

It's safe to assume these DS Lite's won't be showing up on eBay. And if they do, these guys aren't stupid, they'll be selling them from various nations around southeast Asia. It's also very likely the units have been sent back into China as well and are being sold through local markets. Unless someone makes the mistake of drawing too much attention to themselves it's not too likely they'll be discovered. I'd be surprised if the units were still in Hong Kong.

I read a story quite a few years ago about car thefts in Hong Kong. Thieves would steal high end cars, load them up on speedboats the same night and ship them off to clients. By the time the owner discovered the car was missing the car was already in another country, assuming it hadn't been cut to peices for parts.

If they put that much effort into a legitimate business I have to imagine they'd be quite successful.

Re:Those things are long gone.

[AndyL]

A legit car delivery service/dealership would require about the same effort, but they'd have to pay for the cars.

So long as they're confident they're not going to get caught I'd say they're more successful commiting crimes.

Sarcastic Version : Yea, because if you live in Hong Kong and you work hard, you're almost certainly being paid a lot.

Tough Choice

[Joebert]

Buy a few from the black market for cheap, get beaten with dirty socks full of soap by my pals when no games get released for them.

Report the seller for a million bucks, get beaten with a combination of dirty & clean socks full of soap by a bunch of people I don't know when the units get locked in an evidence locker.

Fuck it, I'm buying a PS3...

Re:Catch 22 - Wow are you naive.

[Anonymous Coward]

lived a sheltered life much? never be able to move them? please, no problem.

I know where they are at!

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriusly, they are at:

Temple Street
Yau ma tai
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Now where's my reward at?