"Semos" unos chorizos

Xbox 360 SDKs stolen in Germany

10 developer kits stolen from warehouse; three recovered by Austrian and German police.

The release of the Xbox 360 is just weeks away, but Microsoft has been shipping out software developer kits for the next-generation console for months. One batch of SDKs arrived in Germany in August to help developers there work on games for the platform, which launches in Europe on December 2.

To help deter theft, the machines were put in unmarked packages when they were stored in a warehouse in Düren, an industrial city on the Ruhr River in the western state of North-Rhein-Westphalia. However, like so many antitheft countermeasures, Microsoft's efforts failed. This week's edition of the German news magazine Der Spiegel reports that several weeks ago, 10 Xbox 360 SDKs were stolen from the warehouse.

Luckily the authorities received a lot of help in finding the stolen SDKs--from the thieves themselves. Der Spiegel reports that within days of the theft, pictures of the SDKs appeared on the Internet, letting police track down their source. As a result, Austrian and German police raided several homes in North-Rhein-Westphalia and in neighboring Austria, where they recovered three of the stolen SDKs.

Unfortunately, seven of the SDKs remain at large, something Microsoft can't be too pleased about. The company has touted the Xbox 360 as much more piracy-resistant device than the current-generation Xbox, which is based on standard PC hardware, making it more vulnerable to modders. Of further concern is that Germany has been home to some of history's most notorious game hackers, including the prime suspect in the infamous 2003 Half-Life 2 code theft, who was arrested in 2004.

When contacted by GameSpot, a Microsoft spokesperson would only say the company "is aware of the issue and [is] taking appropriate actions with the local authorities."

By Tor Thorsen -- GameSpot