'Vlambeer got stolen,' Ridiculous Fishing dev says

Cameras, laptops and at least one indie developer's debug kit and game code were among the items stolen during this week's E3.

Rami Ismail, co-founder of indie darling Vlambeer, said his backpack was swiped at the Figueroa Hotel's pool bar, a popular post-E3 hangout for developers, early Thursday morning. Inside the bag were a laptop, two iPads, a PlayStation Vita, a Vita test kit, a Kindle Fire and his connectors and cables. The bag also had code for Vlambeer's upcoming Luftrausers.

"Basically everything Vlambeer is in the bag," he said. "So it kind of feels like Vlambeer got stolen. We have good backups. We take good care of everything; we've got decent backups to continue working. It's just a giant pain."

Ismail said when he called in the theft the next morning, police asked him if he was in town for the convention.

"When I said a bag with hardware was stolen they said, 'Are you down for the convention?'" he said. "Apparently, there had been quite a few reports about stuff that was stolen.

"They actually mentioned that it was likely people had been targeting people that were at the convention."

Earlier in the week, a backpack with camera equipment was stolen from Polygon's booth. When the cameraman reported it to security, others were there to report thefts as well.

Entertainment Software Association officials warned attending press that several cameras had been stolen from the press room and to keep an eye on equipment. Following the announcement, security for the convention started checking photo IDs.

Reached for comment Thursday, ESA officials said the thefts were unusual.

"Our security team and attendees did an excellent job in securing valuables on-site," an spokesman said. "There were minimal occurrences this year and we appreciate everyone's vigilance in following common sense procedures."