Virgin Mobile launches Surprise Gig Tour with Wolfmother, MGMT and others

To celebrate its Surprise Gig bonus data offer, Virgin Mobile has announced the Surprise Gig Tour - a series of free, last-minute music gigs around Australia to be announced via its Members' Lounge Facebook page.

The fathers of invention

Real-life anxiety leads to an innovative experience, writes Mike Wilcox.

'Video generation' under fire for hotel violence

HOTELIERS have told a federal government inquiry into youth violence that pub brawls have not markedly increased but attacks are becoming more vicious and visible.

It's cool to wear a woggle again, Scouts' honour

A DECADE ago it might have seemed uncool and passe. But so immersed are today's children in video games, social networks and other digital habits that wearing a woggle and going outside suddenly has appeal.

Family grief as son dies in fire

LIKE many other children, Tim de Voigt spent a happy Christmas Day playing new video games with his parents and brothers. Just hours later they fought in vain to save him as flames engulfed his bedroom.

ODD SPOT

A frustrated woman in Boston, Massachusetts, called emergency services to say she couldn't get her 14-year-old son to stop playing video games and go to sleep and to complain that he wouldn't stop walking around the house turning on all the lights.

Medical researchers enlist game developers for healthy fun

PHILLIP STEWART plays Dance Dance Revolution - a video game that involves following stepping moves on a light-up mat - but he's not an arcade-dwelling teenager. Stewart is 78 years old and the game was modified by medical researchers to help the elderly exercise on a regular basis.

Gamers wage real war in virtual world

UNLIKE the US Army, the free online game America's Army has no age or gender limit for its soldiers, who can come from any country and kill from their bedrooms.

The Guggenheim of gaming

From Pong to PlayStations, this exhibition covers the console evolution. By Jason Hill.

In the world of video, the ads are moving fast

PLUMMETING prices for video game consoles and the mainstream appeal of games are set to light a fire under the in-game advertising market, with yearly spend in Australia already estimated to be worth millions.

Behind the screens: ACMI reboots

With the launch of the Screen Worlds exhibition, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image comes of age. Gabriella Coslovich reports.

Teen gamers at risk of gambling addiction

TEENAGERS who play video games regularly are more likely to develop the obsessive and anti-social tendencies that lead to problem gambling.

The Science Of Playability

One of the pioneers of lab-based playability testing for video games is in the process of setting up two Australian facilities.

Getting Serious

Marcus Westbury tells Jason Hill why video games can be art.

Maestro Mario

PLAY! A VIDEO GAME SYMPHONY Tuesday to June 23, Opera House, 9250 7777, $44-$89. Music from hit video games will fill the Opera House. PAUL BIBBY reports.