MGS3 Demo Nabbed From Sony E3 Stand?

Ant writes "GamesRadar.com is reporting that a Metal Gear Solid 3 demo was stolen from the E3 videogames expo by nefarious exhibition attendees, as, allegedly: 'L.A. Convention Center security staff were left flat-footed and red-faced yesterday as two unknown perps had it away with a copy of the MGS3: Snake Eater demo... The code snatchers were able to gain access to the PS2 demoing Snake's hotly anticipated jungle rumble by cracking the perspex case on one of the pods on the Sony stand."

Torrent link?

[wheresdrew]

=o)

Should've been in the article:

[Mahtar]

A representative of the LAPD was quoted as saying, "!" before running after some footprints.

Re:Should've been in the article:

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, immediately after stealing the demo, the thieves hid in a secret area unreachable by cops and knocked on the wall repeatedly for three hours, while cops walked back and forth around it saying "Huh, what was that."

Re:Should've been in the article:

[linzeal]

Only to have a man with dark sunglasses get the perps to break through the wall by finishing a show tune [amazon.com].

Re:Should've been in the article:

[simoniker]

I wanted to link this image [ibiblio.org] in the story, as shown on the Gaming Age forums, but didn't manage to get permission from the author before the story ran. Classic.

for hours

[cgenman]

The thieves were chased for hours by a one-handed police officer named Magnum, the half-brother of the thief's cousin's ex-roommate. Little did they know they were actually trapped in a twisted game masterminded by a group only known as KCET... And KCET was happy...

Right, Mr. President?

Re:Should've been in the article:

[Anonymous Coward]

Eyewitnesses also stated seeing two suspicious cardboard boxes in the vicinity.

Re:Should've been in the article:

[Spleener12]

Actually, for footprints they just say "?".

What would really amuse me would be if some of the cops were discovered unconsious lying over a Japanese porno mag with a tranquilizer needle in their crotch missing only their ID.

Re:Should've been in the article:

[Raven42rac]

Or stuffed in a locker. Or chopped in half by an invisible ninja. Or eaten by ravens.

Re:Should've been in the article:

[fallingdown]

I wish I had mod priledges so I could give that the "funny" it so righly deserves.

In other news...

[Babbster]

Gabe and Tycho [penny-arcade.com] of Penny Arcade fame ended their time at the Ubisoft booth early today.

Re:In other news...

[Grey Ninja]

What idiot mod modded parent as offtopic? He's OBVIOUSLY found the culprits. *duh*

Suspects?

[Tezkah]

The LAPD are investigating the incident and are looking for two 19-20 year old males.

In other news, everyone attending E3 was held for questioning by the LAPD.

Hrm

[Anonymous Coward]

To be totally serious, doesn't anyone else think this may up the security and tighten who they'll let in E3?

oh well

[August_zero]

Yeah, but then honestly how many of us are in any danger of getting to go anyway? I mean oh no, I won't be allowed into a conference that I will never attend anyway.

Now for those of you that are in positions in which you might have gotten to go but now won't because of this, my condolences. I have a cardboard box you might be able to use to sneak in with if you still want it.

So it goes

[August_zero]

I have some friends that work retail and while most of them are fairly tolerable, I know the types of people that work in game stores and most of them fit your description right up to your little off topic stab at Nintendo there, Old hat I know but there does seem to be an audacious echo in the room doesn't there?

I always assumed that the clerk passes are not given out as such as much as EB or Gamestop get a certain number of passes to attend the show which they distribute amongst their sales districts wit

Re:Hrm

[MMaestro]

doesn't anyone else think this may up the security and tighten who they'll let in E3?

You mean not let local store managers with almost no interest in gaming attend? Madness!

*rant I once knew a (former) EBGames store manager my area who had to attend a company conference down in Las Vegas. It was all expenses paid plane ticket first class, 3 days hotel, food and transportation arranged. Instead he blew it all so he could bring his girlfriend down (this guy was so NOT a gamer...) there himself and ended up

Re:Hrm

[The Barking Dog]

To be totally serious, doesn't anyone else think this may up the security and tighten who they'll let in E3? Why? Even if they lost the demo of *one* game (albeit a hotly anticipated one, I'm sure, at least among the PlayStation crowd), by not letting in tons of gamers they would lose the viral marketing potential. They'll post on discussion boards. They'll talk in IRC. They'll tell all their offline friends. On the other hand, what they should do is invite in just a few of the unwashed, Cheeto-eating gam

The true pirates

[elasticwings]

First sea pirates, then computer pirates, now shoplifting pirates...

Again?

[Gothic_Walrus]

Crap...does this mean that they're going to delay the game for months to rewrite the multiplayer and the other stolen code? Damn thieves...I want my Half-Life now!

Wait...this is Metal Gear? In that case, never mind...

I heard..

[JazFresh]

I heard they called in the US Army to find it [wired.com].

Does the writer know what "code" means?

[RotJ]

I doubt that the demo discs had the actual game code sitting there in a readable format. It was probably just the game binaries and media. Sure, you could say they stole the "code" because they can use a disassembler to read the assembly code, but that applies to any program. Stealing the code and stealing the game itself are two completely different things. Which is why Valve got into such a hissy fit because their actual code was stolen and not just a beta release.

Re:Does the writer know what "code" means?

[kyz]

Fun fact - the European version of ICO has an objdump of the game executable right there on the DVD. While it's not source code, we do get all the filenames of the source code, and all the labels / method names, etc.

It's really interesting. For example, you get to see exactly which programmer coded what, as they all kept the code in their own directories. And they really did call Ico and Yorda just 'boy' and 'girl' in their code. The story must have been made up by the marketing department.

Re:Does the writer know what "code" means?

[WWWWolf]

And they really did call Ico and Yorda just 'boy' and 'girl' in their code. The story must have been made up by the marketing department.

Or they started coding it before they wrote the story in detail, or even came up with the names. Might not surprise me at all.

Re:Does the writer know what "code" means?

[gl4ss]

do you know what 'code' means?

binary code is code still...

Re:Does the writer know what "code" means?

[RotJ]

Yes, I know that binary code is still code, which is why I said, "Sure, you could say they stole the 'code' because they can use a disassembler to read the assembly code, but that applies to any program." I've never known anyone who can read straight binary. The characters in the Matrix could probably do that, but they all wear sunglasses. (That last part wasn't meant to make sense.)

When the Doom 3 demo was leaked, I didn't recall news reports saying that someone hijacked the Doom 3 code. When people

Le source code

[Forkenhoppen]

Something tells me that we could be seeing a lot more game companies investing in source code insurance....it does exist, right?

Seriously, when a previous company I worked for went to E3, they made a point of ensuring that no developer computers were used for front-line demonstrations. It's just common sense not to have your source code, much less any of your company's development intellectual property, sitting there on the same computer you and your highly-fatigued coworkers are showing to the masses.

Re:Le source code

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, because everyone stores code on the display PS2, right? Oh, and the media ALWAYS gets its terms right when reporting on stuff like this. Sure.

Two kids snarfed a one-level demo disc from an unattended kiosk. There's your story. Don't try to project your shortcomings onto Konami.

It wasn’t theft...

[dickiedoodles]

It was copyright infringement...oh wait

ESR Knows his shit.

[Curtman]

by cracking the perspex case on one of the pods on the Sony stand.

You see! Now those are crackers. Leave the hackers [catb.org] alone.

Warez!

[evilmuffins]

Oh boy, can't wait to leech this one!

I would have figured that...

[HaloZero]

...security on the game itself would have been better. Like, modchip that PS2 such that the chip provides a code in ROM that allows that DVD to read only in a PS2 with THAT chip. I dunno, just a thought, not that it matters _now_.