The cost of an Xbox 360 is dropping like a brick, which is just as well considering so many things can go wrong with the Microsoft games console. In fact the whole Red Rings of Death thing has led to some frustrated users taking Microsoft to court.

Jesse Maiman, a Yale University student, is also going to court over an Xbox 360 but his lawsuit is not against Microsoft and his console is not broken as far as he knows. It is, however, missing. Maiman boarded a US Airways flight from Connecticut to Cincinnati with the Xbox 360 packed in his luggage, when he arrived the console was mysteriously missing from his baggage.

Most people would understandably be a little miffed at this. Most people would probably expect the airline to provide enough compensation to replace the missing console with a new one. Jesse Maiman, it would appear, is not most people.

Maiman filed a lawsuit against US Airways seeking up to $1 million for non-economic stress, whatever that might be. OK, so allowing for the fact the Xbox 360 was modded with a specialised hard drive and other components that apparently cost more than a thousand dollars I can understand the $1700 being claimed to replace the console. But a million bucks on top?

Considering that the federal loss limits for any US airline when it comes to lost luggage, or belongings lost from luggage, is restricted to a liability of no more than $3,300 per bag I suspect he will be very lucky indeed to see anywhere near a million dollar pay day on this one.