NEWS: Burglar caught thanks to Xbox Live

Jeremiah Gilliam of the Bronx has been arrested today after police officers found dozens of laptops, GPS devices and video game consoles in his apartment. How did the cops find him? Because he tried playing one of the stolen Xbox 360s online and signed in using the Xbox Live account saved on the system.

The youth whose Xbox had been stolen, was playing online at a friend's house and saw his own Xbox Live name sign in, prompting the family to call the police who then traced the IP address back to the address where Gilliam was staying.

The criminal was under investigation already for 13 robberies, and police suspect he broke into as many as 200 cars and homes in Westchester County.

"On the day of the burglary, the victim used another Xbox and saw his system was already online," said one of the arresting officers. "At the house, we found Xboxes, PlayStations, GPS units, laptops -- a total of 53 items, including stolen credit cards."

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Gilliam has been charged with grand larceny.

NEWS: Sony's 'Digital Comics' goes live on PSP

PSP and PSPgo owners can now download graphic novels to their handhelds from popular publishers such as Disney and Marvel via the PSN Digital Comics service which has gone live today.

There are currently 550 issues available at launch and prices range from $0.99 to $2.99. There are popular titles such as X-Men and Spider-Man already available.

To download the novels, users will have to update to the latest firmware update, install the reader, and then download what they want.

USAToday adds: I've tested out the Reader with a couple issues of Astonishing X-Men, and it seems to work pretty well. The readers uses an autoflow feature, where users click the directional pad to move between panels. Sometimes, the readers zooms in and out to show key sections of the panel or to get a better view of the text. Users also have the option of manually zooming and moving through the panels if they choose. The comics look sharp on the classic PSP model I used to test the reader.

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NEWS: Gaming console thefts grow exponentially

According to USA Today, citing data from the FBI, gaming console thefts have risen a giant 285 percent since 2007, mainly due to the jump in popularity of consoles in general, especially handhelds such as the DS and the PSP.

FBI representative Anthony Weiner adds: "They seem to become bigger targets for theft. It's the omnipresent, miniature electronics crime paradox: Even as crime goes down, when you have more electronics, you have more theft."

In 2007, overall gaming system thefts was 11,074. That number jumped to 21,732 in 2008 and has jumped to 42,615 so far in 2009. On the other hand, overall property crime (including electronics thefts) has fallen from 10 million in 2006 to 9.8 million in 2009.

Notes Larry J. Siegel, criminologist at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell: "Criminals are rational. They steal things that have high value, are easily transportable and easily sold. The most expensive thing in my house is my refrigerator, but nobody is trying to steal my refrigerator."

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NEWS: 'Bible Adventures' headed to gaming consoles

Left Behind Games, infamously known for their Christian-themed PC games, have decided to expand their games to gaming consoles, announcing the launch of Bible Adventures for the Xbox 360 and the Wii.

The game is not a port of the old NES game by the same name but instead "a brand new game that happens to have the same title, this one set in their "Charlie the Church Mouse" series of educational games on the PC," says 1up.

The new adventure will "educate young children by teaching them academic lessons vital to early childhood development through Bible stories," added Left Behind CEO Troy Lyndon.

"Parents and kids already love the Charlie Church Mouse Bible Adventure games for the PC," Lyndon continues. "Our strategy is to follow Nintendo's example by including up to 18 story animations and mini-games, providing significant value for our customers. We expect our financial projections to grow exponentially as we transition from a PC game developer to a Wii & Xbox developer."

There was no word on why the PS3 was dis-included from the new development.

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REVIEW: The Saboteur

You portray Sean Devlin, a no-nonsense racecar driver/mechanic taking part in a series of German events. In his latest one, he butts heads with a rival who shoots out his tire, taking him out of the race. To get even, Sean and his best friend sneak into a Nazi-occupied motor shop and crash the winning car. They're captured soon afterwards, and the driver who took him out reveals his true colors: he's a high-ranking Nazi officer. He kills Sean's best friend, but makes the mistake of leaving him alive. After breaking out of the stronghold guns blazing, Sean vows revenge and joins up with a resistance devoted to shutting down the Nazi regime in Paris.

The Saboteur uses a sandbox-style free-roaming environment, meaning you can complete objectives any way you wish. There are main story missions, along with side missions that earn you extra cash. You can use this to buy new supplies, weapons and ammunition refills, which are useful during Nazi confrontations. Sean also has other helpful skills, including stealth kills, car driving and hand-to-hand combat. Do these enough in the game, and you'll improve those techniques through a well-structured perk system. This gives you access to new tools and moves, which you'll need for later missions.




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NEWS: Sony unveils PS3 firmware 3.15 with Minis, data transfer

Sony has unveiled the latest firmware upgrade for the PS3 today, version 3.15, which brings two main new features.

The first is the addition of the PSP Mini emulator to the PS3, allowing for playback of the Minis from your home console as well as your handheld. If you own any Minis already for the PSP, you can re-download it free from the PS Store for the PS3.

The second feature is data transfer between PS3s, which Sony explains as follows:

This feature enables you to easily transfer all of your saved data from one PS3 to another. So if you decide to get a new PS3 you can make sure you don’t loose any of your existing content. Content such as games, game save data, and videos downloaded from PlayStation Network can be transferred to the new PS3 system and deleted from the current PS3. Other content, including personal media files (photos, music, videos), can be copied onto the new PS3 and remain on the current PS3 system.

The process is really simple

1. Turn both the current PS3 (A) and new PS3 (B) on and connect them with a LAN cable; PS3 (A) should be connected to the TV

2. On the XMB of PS3 (A), scroll to the Settings menu and select [System Settings] and then [Data Transfer Utility]

3. Follow the instructions on-screen and transfer data

4. After transferring the data, follow the instructions on-screen, and then connect PS3 (B) to the TV to view the XMB

5. If content that was downloaded from PlayStation Store was transferred as part of this operation, you must activate PS3 (B) before you can use the data. Log in to the PS3 system as the user who owns the content, and then select (PlayStation Network) > (Account Management) > (System Activation) to activate the system.

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