Online gaming escaped Australia's social media ban - but critics say it's just as addictive Wednesday afternoons have become a ritual for 15-year-old Sadmir Perviz. It's a circuitous route from home in Perth to the Fiona Stanley Hospital - but it's worth it, he says, to sit down for a game of Dungeons & Dragons with people he may not know but with whom he shares a great deal in common. Sadmir and his board game companions are just some of the 300 patients at the gaming disorder clinic, Australia's only publicly-run institution of its type, helping patients wean themselves off excessive online gaming habits. The room where they meet is a simple space in a faceless hospital but in the corner, there's a pile of boardgames on a chair. Jenga, Uno and Sushi Go are also popular choices at the informal group which is attended by both patients and clinicians.

'If we build it, they will come': Skövde, the tiny town powering up Sweden's video game boom It started with a goat. Now - via a degree for developers and an incubator for startups - the tiny city is churning out world-famous video game hits. What is the secret of its success? O n 26 March 2014, a trailer for a video game appeared on YouTube. The first thing the viewer sees is a closeup of a goat lying on the ground, its tongue out, its eyes open. Behind it is a man on fire, running backwards in slow motion towards a house.

We've rounded up the best Black Friday TV deals for every budget, from 50in OLEDs and small smart TVs to top-rated brands like Samsung and LG Do you really need to buy a new TV? The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. W hen it comes to buying a new TV during Black Friday, careful prep and a canny eye for detail are everything. Sometimes that big-screen bargain isn't quite the steal you might think, and even if the price is right, niggling problems could sour long-term satisfaction. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. And it may be that you don't need a new TV at all - don't let the Black Friday FOMO fool you. Read our guide to making the most out of the TV you already have .

Halo 5 was launched in 2015 and Xbox's star was already on the wane. Halo 5 was launched in 2015 and Xbox's star was already on the wane. Don't get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.

Players are roleplaying ICE raids in and to prepare for real-world situations. SteveTheGamer55 is live on YouTube . He's streaming a session to his 4.6 million subscribers of, a mod that allows people to role-play with other players. "Really wanna show you guys some real-life scenarios," he says, offering a little background on his character, a man headed to his job while on a work visa. His character doesn't get far before an SUV swings onto the sidewalk in front of him; masked ICE agents spill out of the vehicle.

We've rounded up the best early Black Friday TV deals, from 50in OLEDs and small smart TVs to big-name brands like Samsung and LG Do you really need to buy a new TV? The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. W hen it comes to buying a new TV during Black Friday, careful prep and a canny eye for detail are everything. Sometimes that big-screen bargain isn't quite the steal you might think, and even if the price is right, niggling problems could sour long-term satisfaction. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.

It's not as exciting as it once was, but the M5 MacBook Pro offers yet another breakthrough in performance. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. M5 is a beast, especially in graphics and AI. New GPU is surprisingly good at gaming. Battery life, speakers, build quality, keyboard, and trackpad are all still world-class.

These are high-power, high-performance handhelds--but steep pricing and a cluttered UI hold Xbox's first portables back from greatness. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Cloud gaming works better than ever. Terrible AI "assistant" in Gaming Copilot (but can be turned off).

Profiling gamers provides critical insights for adaptive game design, behavioral understanding, and digital well-being. This study proposes an integrated, data-driven framework that combines psychological measures, behavioral analytics, and machine learning to reveal underlying gamer personas. A structured survey of 250 participants, including 113 active gamers, captured multidimensional behavioral, motivational, and social data. The analysis pipeline integrated feature engineering, association-network, knowledge-graph analysis, and unsupervised clustering to extract meaningful patterns. Correlation statistics uses Cramers V, Tschuprows T, Theils U, and Spearmans quantified feature associations, and network centrality guided feature selection. Dimensionality-reduction techniques such as PCA, SVD, t-SNE are coupled with clustering algorithms like K-Means, Agglomerative, Spectral, DBSCAN, evaluated using Silhouette, Calinski Harabasz, and Davies Bouldin indices. The PCA with K-Means with k = 4 model achieved optimal cluster quality with Silhouette = 0.4, identifying four archetypes as Immersive Social Story-Seekers, Disciplined Optimizers, Strategic Systems Navigators, and Competitive Team-Builders. This research contributes a reproducible pipeline that links correlation-driven network insights with unsupervised learning. The integration of behavioral correlation networks with clustering not only enhances classification accuracy but also offers a holistic lens to connect gameplay motivations with psychological and wellness outcomes.

Xbox users in the US face price increases up to 50 percent on their monthly gaming subscription, making it a great time to check if you're on the right tier or if you even need to subscribe at all. Like it or loathe it, we live in a subscription economy. Music, movies, meal boxes, and more are no longer things you buy once. Gaming is no exception, and while every major player in the sector has some form of sub for players--from PlayStation Plus and Nintendo Switch Online for consoles to Apple Arcade on phones--none of them offered quite as much for a modest monthly fee as Xbox Game Pass. Depending on the subscription tier, the service gave players access to a significant library of titles and was available on Xbox consoles, PC, or via cloud gaming.