PS2 held ransom for gas money
by Kyle Orland 
{ Feb 28th 2007 at 6:55PM }
Having trouble getting your deadbeat friend to pay you the money he owes you? Just take his game system and see how fast he comes running with the cash.
That was the strategy apparently taken by an unidentified man who stole a PlayStation 2 from Des Moines resident James Kloppenburg while he slept. According to a short article in the Des Moines Register, "Kloppenburg told police he could have the game machine back if he repaid money he owed for gasoline." We can only assume that if Kloppenburg knows who he owes the gas money to, he also probably has a pretty good idea of who took his system. Still, according to the police report, Kloppenburg later decided not to press charges against the suspect.
Why drop the charges? Maybe the ransomer threatened to harm Kloppenburg's precious PS2 if he didn't back off. Maybe Kloppenburg decided to steal back his system vigilante style. Maybe Kloppenburg just paid back the gas money and now everything's hunky dory. Whatever the case, one thing's for certain -- when debts come between friends, it's always the innocent game consoles that suffer most.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Altec @ Feb 28th 2007 7:11PM
I don't know how much gas money he owed, but what would really frighten me if the PS2 had my memory card stuck it with 500+ hours of stuff saved.
Losing all my precious milestones I've achieved for the past few years would be truly heartbreaking.
Mr Khan @ Feb 28th 2007 7:27PM
for Dreamcast, GameCube, and Saturn, the console was irrelevant, the save data was all that was irreplaceaple
With the N64, it was the games themselves that had to be saved at all costs
Now with the Wii, i would have to worry about losing my data with the console, unless i back it up on my PC (like i did with all my GC/DC/Saturn data)
Anyone know where i can get a PC SD Card Reader? (brick/mortar stores that sell them, i hate buying online) Something along those lines so i can copy/paste my Wii saves to PC?
Anon @ Feb 28th 2007 7:41PM
2: What the hell does any of that have to do with the article?
Rubang B @ Feb 28th 2007 7:52PM
This article ALMOST made me burst into an uproar of laughter. But I contained myself. It was very dangerous. I'm at work, like, working or something.
REUYL @ Feb 28th 2007 8:40PM
@ 1:
That exact thing happened to me and many other people when Sony sent out a glitched Viewtiful Joe demo disc a few years ago that erased all memory card data.
ill trooper @ Feb 28th 2007 8:57PM
A few years back, my friend and I had an office here in NYC, and we would have nearly ritualistic post-lunchtime grudge matches in FIFA World Cup '02 on the PS2, ending several times in controllers being smashed against the wall.
Anyway, my friend is an film/video editor and was editing a big project for a director friend of ours, and was also deeply into the FIFA Wars at our office. He was leaving town for a few days and needed to feel confident that my friend would stay on task while he was away, so he threatened to take the FIFA disk with him - "not necessary," we assured him, as all three of us played a long hard night of FIFA before he left, leaving the office at around 3am...
Bumbling in at around 11am, we decided, "fuck that guy, let's have lunch and fit in a few matches before you get back to editing!" only to be greeted by a Post-It note inside the game's empty case saying "GET BACK TO WORK, ASSHOLE."
We sulked away, my friend finished the first edit on time, and we went the next three days without FIFA, not knowing that the game disc was actually hidden only a few feet away inside a kitchen cabinet.
I still have that post-it note, to keep me on point when I'm losing focus on a project...
Dan @ Feb 28th 2007 9:12PM
taking the whole console is a rookies mistake. The hall mark of a good console attack is restricting the theft to 'small but essential: scart leads, control pads etc. That way, the broken, useless husk of a machine in the corner serves as a tear inducing reminder every time the victim is in the room
:)
Sly @ Mar 1st 2007 2:40AM
A Saturday Evening Post Norman Rockwell Painting. Cool with a PS2!
Farseer @ Mar 1st 2007 9:57AM
#2 Mr Kahn,
You should be able to pick up an SD card reader at any electronics store for around $25 or so. You said you don't like shopping online, but I found a great little guy on amazon.com that reads SD, MiniSD, and MicroSD cards and is extremely portable.: (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000652LUG/002-6923971-2011218)
Most card readers rest on your desk and have a long cord that you connect to the back of your PC. This little guy fits in your pocket. Either way, SD cards are are cheap, and the SD card readers are cheap, so they are a great successor to the old 1.44MB floppies. (and more easily reused and carried than burnable CDs)
Farseer @ Mar 1st 2007 10:00AM
Now if only you could transfer your Miis and VC games to SD. That's my biggest beef with the Wii - your VC purchases are locked to the console. Sure there are pirates out there, but come on - how many times have they charged us for these games? (and I suppose that Miis can be saved to a Wii remote, but an SD card is more portable)
kip @ Mar 1st 2007 1:38PM
@Mr Kahn
I think Radio Shack carries adapters like that too. I got something like this off NewEgg, that installs in a 3.5" bay on your PC and reads pretty much every type of card (which I needed to read the memory stick for my Sony digital camera): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820106001
Even with shipping it was cheaper than anything they had at Best Buy or CompUSA.
Get a bike. @ Mar 1st 2007 6:14PM
What kind of cheap-ass asks his friends for gas money? Are they 17? Don't have a car if you can't afford it, or get it up front.
Shadow @ Mar 2nd 2007 6:19AM
Get a bike: Who ever said he asked for gas money? More than likely the person who stole the PS2 was nice enough to drive the other person around in his car under the agreement that the person would pay him back for gas money. When the guy didn't pay up his gas money he stole his PS2.
This isn't much of an unreasonable scenario. Under normal circumstances I don't charge people gas money, but there are a few instances when I've driven some friends around a signifigant ammount, and so I'll ask for gas money. Especially with gas prices so high, I can see why he would steal the PS2.
Also, the guy probably dropped the charges because he only got the police involved to give the kidnapper a scare into giving back the PS2. It also probably worked. I know if the police showed up at my door asking for a PS2 I had stolen I would probably give it up.