The Salt Lake Tribune's Rebecca Walsh used her column to examine Salt Lake City mall shooter, Sulejman Talovic's motives for executing such a violent act. Walsh writes:

Others speculate that Talovic played violent video games. Attorney Jack Thompson, who is lobbying Utah lawmakers to punish those who provide games that make child’s play out of murder and mayhem, sent an e-mail to reporters with the headline: "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game." That rumor was stated as fact Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

Unfortunately, the ace-attorney's assertions prove to be false for this particular case. GamePolitics alerts all of us that a later February 15th report on Salt Lake tribune says:

Salt Lake City police... have not discerned a motive... With the permission of Talovic's parents, detectives searched their home but did not take any computers or video games...

There's more confirmation on this as Salt Lake City's Desert News reports that Police Chief Chris Burbank officially rules out video games. The report says:

For instance, detectives as of Friday had found no evidence that violent video games may have influenced Talovic. In fact, Talovic did not even own a computer or a video-game system, Burbank said.

Having said all this to you folks, we'd like to ask: Why is it that with every high-profile youth-involved act of violence, videogames are always looked at? Nevermind the ace-attorney that a lot of you would love to despise. Let's keep him out of this. Let's just look at the rest of the elements in the equation. Why is it that when something like this happens, videogames are always considered?

Is this telling us anything about how the gaming community conducts itself? Is this indicative of how the rest of society sees things? We'd love to hear your take on this. But, as always, please keep things civil.

Oh, and before we leave this to you folks, kudos to the SLCPD for their superb job at handling the situation.

GameDaily is apparently done with its selection process for person of the Year. Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price and Bethesda Softworks' Todd Howard come in at a tie for slot number 5. Cliffy B gets fourth place. WoW Wizard Rob Pardo gets number 3 Slot. Satoru Iwata comes in at second.

So who gets top honor this year? It's ESA president Douglas Lowenstein.

If you're wondering why he deserves top spot, just try to recall how many times the guy went to Capitol Hill. Too bad he's making an exit.

Anyhow, you could also check out QJ's 2006 Community Awards and let your voices be heard.

Our favorite video game hero has been making appearances throughout Seattle, Washington, and his appearances are getting national attention as a result. Link, whose real name is not known, is found casually walking the streets of the Capitol Hill area of Seattle with an "old man." The old man's relation with the young hero is unknown, leaving even more mystery around these appearances. Some say it's the same guy who gave him his metal baseball bat that he has equipped as his sword, but that too is a mystery. According to several reports, the young adventurer has been seen on the train, swinging around his shovel in search of rupees from people! I don't think you'll find any in these parts of the world Link, but I guess it never hurts trying.

Link has earned notice from a Seattle paper called The Stranger, in which they go on to describe his social encounters with people. Link has been described as a good character, of good nature like his video game counterpart, and to be a sign of good luck for the citizens of the city. So, if you live in the Seattle area of Washington and have happened to encounter our hero, drop us some lines in the comments! Some have already shared their comments over the web, some of which can be found after the jump!