Yeap. Digital games suck.

Physical for the win!

@papercut: You ever meet Dan or let him know that you live near him?

@veektarius: yea... I think the "giantbomb corporate overlords" can cover the cost

But seriously now... It is a shame that such a jolly enthusiastic man should have this happen

@seikenfreak: what if they stole the physical versions? At least with some digital service you can re-download them on a new console or pc If a physical version gets stolen you're probably most likely having to re-purchase it.

Good god, that's a lotta shit stolen! Sorry Dan :(

Yeah. I would say "Not Nintendo" for the win here. For Xbox One, PS4, or Steam games your games are tied to your account and your saves are in the cloud so you can just get a new machine and be back to where you were with a little downloading. If Nintendo had decent account policies I would own a Wii U but they are stuck 20 years in the past.

@bigsocrates said:

I just connected all the dots. Nintendo knew that the Wii U wasn't going to sell, so they use shitty digital policies. And now they're stealing back all Wii U's that were mainly digital (and other electronics to break even). Now they hope that people will buy them again. Let us see how it works out for them. The truth is out there!

But honestly sucks to hear about all Dan's stuff getting stolen. Good luck on catching those bastards!

That really sucks. At least they didn't get more. Hopefully the police catch the asshole(s) who stole everything. Also, hopefully Dan gets some proper window stops/locks (and bars if he's willing to go that far) and a new door lock and deadbolt put in at a minimum. Besides that, there's probably not a lot more you can do to keep them out if you don't have some kind of security system in the apartment.

That's a large amount of stuff, feel terrible for Dan. It seems crazy that somebody could steal so much stuff and get away. I really hope his Phone or laptop can be tracked down. I have heard of people being able to track down a stolen item through software like LoJack, I hope this is a possibility.

@senrat: Those individual items aren't really huge or heavy, though. If it were two people and they know generally where to find everything, they could easily have one up in the apartment dropping a single object at a time to a person on the ground and be in and out in under 10 minutes. Even if it's one person, they could still fit most of that stuff into something around the size of a carry-on or small duffel bag.

Wow it is already at 900 dollars.

you gotta wonder what other site's userbase would do this for one of its staff. i'd probably feel a little weird taking it if i were dan personally, but it's still a really gracious move. tbh i'll probably kick in a few bucks anyway as Dan's great.

I'm sure they'll realize the horrible mistake they've made and return the Wii U and One. Heyooooo!!!!

Seriously though, that really sucks. One of the few advantages of living a in small country town like mine is that getting robbed is usually pretty rare, mainly because the list of suspects is so small.

It really is awesome. This is what he gets in return for telling us all his most embarrasing stories at great loss to his character :P

Also, from listening to the Half life Half marathon stream, Danny O'D said Dan has MANY more stories that are unfortunately, not safe for normal human consumption. I think getting him drunk at PAX is going to be the only way we hear the worst of it.

Man, that's the freakin worst. I can't imagine how he feels. You just walk out of your house one day and then return only to find your stuff missing. That sucks.

Kinect just can't get a break.

Hey duders!

I started an IndieGoGo campaign to help out Dan. You can check out the details here. We've already raised about $1,000!

http://igg.me/p/920576/x/8523903

Any money raised over the goal will be donated to Child's Play. Let's help out Dan and do some good for a charity!

Maybe the government can hack into the kinect and get video of the thief?

@danryckert You can probably talk to Nintendo once you get a new Wii U. If you have serial numbers for both systems, they can do the transfer that way.

that effin sucks. I lived in SF for 20 years without every getting robbed, and 5 of those years were in the Tenderloin. What crap luck.

Pretty horrible. I have lived in San Francisco for many years and never had my house broken into. I did have a crackhead in the Tenderloin try to mug me with a knife once, but I yelled at him and he ran away. It's generally a pretty safe city...unless you're in the TL or certain blocks of the Mission or Bayview...well, nevermind. It's average for a city.

Fuck those assholes, feel bad for Dan, seems like a good guy and definitely didn't deserve this.

So you were the one! Cheers duder, great idea and it seems to be going well :) I will prob throw in a few bucks tomorrow after I go to the bank. I would be fucking screwed if all my shit was stolen. Everything I own in the world is in my apartment, mostly all in this room am I am in.

Reminds me of one of the Kotaku guys getting his apartment broken into and every console was stolen except for the Wii U

@seikenfreak said:

Yeap. Digital games suck.

Physical for the win!

He should be able to contact Nintendo and get the issue sorted. Nintendo sucks, because they make you do that. Other digital services would be way better than physical games in this situation.

Glad that people stopped bickering over donations, and glad to see that at least some of the money people seem to feel the need to give will go to a good place. I'll chip in if the goal is exceeded!

It would have been pretty great if they had kept their "Kinect is required" policy.

Yep. Well, my deductible was like 1,100 and I only lost about 600 worth of stuff, but it was still pretty awful to come home to. Pro tip: if you walk in while they're robbing the place they aren't able to take as much stuff.

Getting a couple dropcams and slapping some ADT stickers on my windows and doors was well worth the peace of mind, if nothing else. Burglars just want easy targets.

Also, this is perfect:

Yeah, the peace of mind and sense of security you lose can definitely be far worse than the monetary value of the items stolen.

I'm sorry Dan, stuff like this is a huge bummer, but this right here is fucking gold.

Good job to whoever put this up. I just threw a few bucks at it.... and if anyone feels strongly enough that money given to strangers is only right in the case of charity fundraising, then they are welcome to come prove their point by sponsoring my extra life page...

@seikenfreak said:

Yeap. Digital games suck.

Physical for the win!

Well, if Nintendo was a modern company, they would attach purchases to your Nintendo ID so you can easily re-download your purchases.

That really sucks. It'd be horrible to know a stranger had been in my house when I wasn't there and taken a bunch of my stuff. I hope Dan's alright.

I am constantly afraid of this happening to me. Stay safe out there, kids; people be cray-cray.

Well sucks that things like this happen but not gonna lie that Kinnec tweet made me laugh more than it should. Hope Dan is able to get all his saves from nintendo and the rest of the consoles.

@themanwithnoplan: the crazy thing is that he said it happened while him and his roommate were home sleeping. Woke up and the window was wide open, on the third floor!

Nintendo: Impossible. Xbox One and PS4: Easily.

My house as robbed when I was living with four friends in dublin. Guy broke in through third floor skylight, landed on top of one of my friends, robbed us blind, then stood on my friends hand as he exited through same window. We had been drinking, and there was no way he was gonna wake up. We only realised the next day after he said "by the way, which one of you was messing around jumping on top of me in the middle of the night?

As I kid I saw the aftermath of us being robbed 8 times in 4 months by the same bunch of smackheads. Ironically, they landed in prison the weekend we left Gateshead.

Can someone tweet this to @danryckert? It has some useful tips for these kinda of things, and he may be able to get the serial number from Sony for his PlayStation stuff.

Friggin savages.

I will say this, many home robberies are inside jobs with someone knowing you have stuff worth taking. Especially when we are talking about game consoles, and such. Be careful Dan.

I hope you are coping the best you can, Dan. Its seems like a tough and frustrating thing to go through.

Prayers for you.....whether you want them or not.

Oh jeez, that's even worse!

That ain't rad.

Well that's terrifying.

I would donate but I'm pretty sure he makes more money than I do, and I still have a lot to spend on textbooks.

Psssst, Dan, if you're reading this...get an Android phone next time.

Wth man, I didn't think SF was that bad. I would flip the F out if someone took my gaming "devices"! ...I'm flipping out right now, just by thinking about it . *Breathes into bag*

Sorry to hear this, utter scumbags, hope they catch them soon.

You're an awesome duder.

i feel bad for them and all but i dont feel the need to give them money especially because they are not my friends or family and if they aren't asking for it..i dont even know them....just seems weird to do...

Wow, this is awful. I'm glad Dan and his roommates are okay. Can't imagine what a burglary must feel like.