Friday 28 July 2006
An eight-year-old boy has bought himself a hamster after earning money as a videogames coach, giving lessons online to gamers wanting to better their Halo 2 skills. He's named the hamster Cortana after the AI character in the sci-fi Xbox shooter.

The lad in question is a New Yorker who has the incredible name Victor De Leon III, but is better known on Xbox Live as Lil Poison. He is able to charge $25 per hour for Halo 2 tutoring thanks to being part of a training group which specialises in lessons in the Bungie-developed shooter and Super Smash Bros Melee.

Gaming-lessons.com was founded by 18-year-old American Tom Taylor who also tutors in Halo 2, meeting his pupils online and then offering reloading, grenade throwing and positional advice via an internet telephone connection.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the growth in game coaching, which is becoming more popular with gamers who don't have the time to become experts but can afford to pay someone else to help them.