Before I get flamed, I know this one's a touch old; I simply hadn't been able to cover it until now, and it's interesting enough that it would be a shame not to share.

That said, a student at Missouri State returned to his dorm room one day, tired after a construction management trip, and he and his roommate had accidentally left their door unlocked. They awoke to find that his Xbox 360 had been pilfered sometime during the night.

In what would prove to be a very fortunate mistake for the owner, Ryan Ketsenburg, the thief had neglected to swipe one of the controllers as well.

Turning the controller on, he found that it was still connecting to the console, revealing that it must still be nearby. And from there, the investigation began.

The controller connected to the Xbox on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of Hutchens but not on the third floor and seventh floor, so through process of elimination, Ketsenburg said he figured out that the stolen Xbox must be on the fifth floor.

Following the controller's signal, Ketsenburg said he was able to pinpoint the room where his Xbox was stolen.

The Xbox 360 wireless controller has a 30-foot range, according to the Xbox Web site. When looking for his Xbox, Ketsenburg said the light-emitting diodes of the controller flashed when he was out of range.

The 5th floor resident assistant checked the alleged room where the stolen Xbox was and was able to find the Xbox, Ketsenburg said.

The controller was able to prove that the Xbox belonged to Ketsenburg, because the controller was able to turn on the console unit, he said.

Since the controller provided sufficient proof that the console belonged to him, he was able to take it back. Sadly, as Ketsenburg would come to discover, the hard drive had been formatted, clearing away all his data.

"I'm going to try to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, because I had to follow all the rules, so let's make sure it gets done right," Ketsenburg said.

As of the time of the interview with The Standard, the offender had not visited the room in question to realize that the Xbox had been recovered, Ketsenburg said. -- The Standard Online

And here I've thought that having to synchronize controllers to a system was a nuisance. Apparently, it can be quite practical in unexpected ways.