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Salt Lake City: Mormons, skiing ... and gamers
Word association time. We say Salt Lake City; what do you think of? Mormons? Skiing? The 2002 Winter Olympics? How about ... gamers?Yes, according to a report from Scarborough Research (PDF link), Salt Lake City, Utah, leads the country in proportional video game console ownership, with 32 percent of households in the city having a system. Note that this doesn't mean Salt Lake City has the most avid gamers, just the houses there are slightly more likely to have a video game system hooked up to the TV. For context, the 22 percent of New Yorkers than own a console would outnumber the entire population of Salt Lake City ten to one.Of the 96 major metropolitan areas in the study, the least likely to own a system were all from the balmy state of Florida -- Ft. Myers/Naples (15 percent of households), Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (19 percent), Tampa/St. Petersburg (20 percent) and West Palm Beach (20 percent). So, to recap: Cold, snowy cities = lots of console owners; warm, tropical cities = not many console owners. Who'da thunk it?[Via KSL, Thanks Jethro]Read - Report summary (PDF)
Salt Lake City mall shooter didn't own video games
Following Sulejman Talovic's murderous rampage through a Salt Lake City mall, killing five people and ending with Talovic's own death by police, the 21st century knee-jerk reaction of blame the video games emerged. After no games, consoles or PCs were seized from Talovic's home, it looked like the video game murderer angle may not emerge. Now Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank said they found no evidence that violent video games played a part in Talovic's actions. He did not even own a computer or a console according to police. Police also found no religious or political motivations either. Sorry Jackie-boy, no headlines for you.[Via GamePolitics]
No games seized in search of Salt Lake City mall shooter's home
In an attempt to derive a motive from Monday's rampage which saw a Utah teen shoot nine mall-goers, killing five, before he himself was killed by police, GamePolitics reports that the first signs of the "violent video games made him do it" angle have emerged in the media. Prompted by Jackie-boy spam -- conveniently subjected: "Salt Lake City Teen Probably Trained on Grand Theft Auto Video Game" -- theorists have begun to consider video games as a possible motive for the shootings. Salt Lake Tribune columnist Rebecca Walsh suggests that this speculation was "stated as fact Wednesday on Capitol Hill."Some hope for a constructive investigation of the violent tragedy does come from a second article in the Tribune, which states that police have yet to discern a motive and "did not take any computers or video games" from the shooter's home. GamePolitics promises to keep us posted as the story develops.[Reminder: keep comments on-topic -- this is not a discussion about Sulejman Talovic's religion.]
Diesel-powered "car" edges on half the speed of sound
JCB, a UK firm which specializes in construction equipment (read: making tractors) appears to have become bored with life in the slow lane. At least that's what the company's sponsorship of the JCB DieselMax seems to suggest, as the team piloting the DieselMax just recently broke the diesel land speed record at 350mph (yeah, but does it have GPS?). The feat, which took place at the local Salt Lake City street racing venue on the Bonneville Salt Flats, puts the previous record of 237mph to shame, although it's worth noting that the new record is still awaiting ratification by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Unbelievably, the team isn't finished yet, with one crew member excitedly exclaiming that they "still haven't used sixth gear!" We also heard reports from an inside source that during the run the team decided not to turn up the volume to 11, either.[Via The Register]
