I might as well drop my story here. Hopefully it will help somebody.

I decided I wanted to work in the game industry and started looking into game testing.  Had a lot of passion already so I got some education to back it up.  Some from school some I learnt on my own back. Then I started looking for companies around my area, there were none. Actually I realised with dread that there was actually none in my country. So I moved to the UK and started to apply anywhere I could find QA work was needed. It takes a lot of internet research to find those testing positions available, most are quite well hidden. My experience: very little. The response rate: about 1 out of 10 applications. And that 1 never did make it to interview. It’s been 2 months and finally I have my first interview. Obviously I am nervous as hell and this is just a contract for a few months. I can only hope that it gives my CV the experience it was missing. And hopefully if I repeat this process one day I will get that full time QA position I aim for.

From what I have seen only a few years ago they where picking testers off the street . Now things have changed and there are actually full degrees and higher education based upon the games industry. And testing has become more of a stepping stone or an entry level position for graduates aiming at something  higher on the developer ladder. But that door is not completely shut yet and there are lots of opportunities still to be had.

P.S.  if anyone has some pointers on how to handle my first interview i started another thread here.

http://community.lionhead.com/forums/thread/3417022.aspx