Professional Video Game Testing - Reasons You'll Be Denied

Professional video game testing isn't really that tough. In fact, you could even go as far as to say that it's an easy job that does NOT require too much effort. All you have to do is put the game in, play through it, write down the game's problems, then collect a paycheck after you're all done. Seriously, does that sound like a difficult job to you?
You Need NOT Apply For This Simple Job If...
- You don't have at least 5 years gaming experience. In all seriousness, you don't have to be a gaming guru who has mastered every video game out there. However, you do need to have basic knowledge of the gaming industry and how game development works. More experience and knowledge you have, the better off you'll be.
- You aren't at least 18 years old. Some companies have been known to hire (with limitations) gamers who are 16 years old. Then again, this is usually a rare occurrence in the world of professional video game testing.
- You don't have a next-gen system and/or a high-end PC. Having both is better, but one or the other will do. If you're not current with gaming technology, you don't stand a chance.
- You don't have a video game testing resume. No resume, no consideration of any kind, period. Being a game tester means having to do actual work which MUST be taken seriously. This isn't a hobby you do on the weekends.
- You have poor grammar skills. Video game testers fill out a great many reports & forms that are used by game programmers to repair & improve video games. If the reports aren't well detailed and easily understood, the programmers can't do their job. If a programmer is unable to do his job, it means the tester has failed to do his.
If the 5 things listed above aren't a problem for you, then you are indeed a candidate for professional video game testing. All that's left for you to do is to start searching for game tester jobs in your area -- and if you no where to look, that won't take you more than a week or two!
Do you think you've got what it takes to be a video game tester? Are you ready to test games and not just play them? If you honestly think you're ready, then visit http://Gamer-Testing-Ground.com right now to learn how you can get started testing video games today!

Swapping Video Games As a Route to Cheap Gaming

Video gaming is an expensive hobby, but, as this article will demonstrate, it need not be! Most of the expense is due to the price tag of new video games and the fact that many video games have a short life span - be it a great but quick to complete Xbox 360 title or a PlayStation 3 game that simply loses its appeal quickly. This article will consider video game swapping as an alternative to purchasing new video games out right.
When you think of swapping video games, you might think of temporarily swapping your video games with friends. But, there are online communities which consist of like minded gamers who want to swap their games with other members, for keeps. A community forum enables gamers to talk with one another other to decide which games will be swapped. Once an agreement is made, the postal service is used to send the video games.
Video game swapping has several advantages over simply selling your current completed game to a local game store or via a sale such as on eBay. A brand new game will cost you up to around £40, but after a week (you could complete a game in that time!), a game store might only offer you £20 for that game and sell it on for £35! Or if sold on eBay, they will take an 8.5% cut (an additional 4% cut for taking payments via PayPal) on the final sale price. You're not even guaranteed a price on eBay and your game may actually go for significantly less than you would like. By swapping your video game, you avoid the loss in value of that game and you don't have to contribute any more money to get a new game. You get a game, for a game (or several depending on what was agreed!) After all, your game is in mint condition and some other gamer will be happy to make the swap with you. It's a great way to get new games without costing a fortune!
John Dunne has been an avid gamer for over 20 years and has setup the video game swapping website TheGameCollective.co.uk to help gamers swap and sell their video games free of charge to help us get the most out of gaming.

Video Game Kill Screens

If you've ever experienced a dreaded kill screen in your favorite video game, you may already know what it is even if you didn't know the proper name for it. A kill screen is a major error in your video game that will typically freeze or crash the game. Further progress in the game will be held up by the game kill screen, hence its name.
The errors that cause these screens can vary. Often it happens due to a programming error or some type of design oversight that causes the game to become unplayable. It may freeze and continue to freeze at that particular point every time you play the game, making it impossible to move past that point in the game.
Sometimes video game kill screens will cause the game to crash or just suddenly stop playing and then never work again. If you ever played any of the old, classic video games like Donkey Kong or Pac-Man and even some early Nintendo games, you've probably experienced video game kill screens.
Arcade games are famous for their video game kill screens. If you've ever experienced the frustration of beating your score and getting to a high level of your favorite arcade, only to have it crash or freeze up, you know how difficult this can be. Newer games try to avoid these video game kill screens but they do still occur sometimes.
Sometimes kill screens are caused by something called integer overload. This is why they were so common in arcade games. For example, in an 8-bit level counter, there can only be 255 distinct values. When you go over this, such as to the 256th level of the game, there will be integer overflow which causes the game to crash.
However, integer overflow isn't the only cause of the dreaded screens. Sometimes design oversight by the programmers or a computer bug can cause the problem. Many video game kill screens can be repaired with a patch to the game. If you are bothered by a video game kill screen, this should always be your first option to see if it is available.
Games like Donkey Kong, Dunk Hunt and Frogger were famous for their kill screens and in some games where the kill screen happens at a particular high point in the game, they are treated as a goal to be achieved. Players looked at the kill screen as the end of the game, therefore meaning they've beaten the game once they achieve it.

June Video Games Sales Drop

Video Game Sales fall a fourth straight month as of June. This 4 month decrease in sales within the video game market makes largest year to date decline the industry as seen in nearly nine years.
According to market researcher NPD Group sales of computer game hardware, software and accessories dropped 31 percent from the same month as last year.
This decline marketed the fourth straight month to see a decline in sales this year, even though the gaming industry promoted its products as a cheap form of entertainment. However because of the recession consumers are cutting back on spending, which as a result has also seen less hit game launches in recent months verses the corresponding period in 2008.
Even though sales have declined, the video game audience has grown. But many of these audience members are playing games online for free.
Hardware sales in June tumbled 38 percent to $382.6 million from $617.3 million. The Nintendo Wii not surprisingly was the month's best-selling console system with 361,700 units sold, and the Nintendo DS was the top selling handheld gaming system with 766,500 sold.
Video game sales dropped 29 percent to $625.8 million from 4875.8 million. The best selling video games included Prototype for the Xbox 360, fighting game UFC 2009 for the Xbox and the fitness game EA Sports Active for the Nintendo Wii.
So in all industry sales are down 12 percent in a year to date comparison of last year. According to researchers a strong performance in the back half of the year could create a break even to a higher sales increase from last year.

How to Save Money on Video Games For Any Console

Whatever system you play video games they all have one thing in common - the games themselves are far from cheap. The average hot new title for a video game for any of the major systems - PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, costs over $50.00. Even older titles can rarely be found for under about $25. That means that building up a great game collection can be a very expensive process, and in today's economy who can really afford it?
There are some ways around the dilemma though. The first solution to the problem is to rent games. Some offline video stores offer game rentals. The difficulty there however is that the selection of games available is often very limited, and keeping the title for more than a day or so can prove to be very costly. An alternative is an online game rental site such as Gamefly, which, for a monthly fee, allows you to keep between 1-3 games out at a time and keep them until you have "beaten" the game. This works very well for two main reasons; just because a game review says a certain title is a great game does not necessarily mean it will suit your tastes. Renting means you do not have to lose $50 to find out that a certain title is just not what it was cracked up to be. In addition you have the time to beat the game at your leisure; you do not have to return it half way through a mission or campaign. Gamefly has a massive selection of titles for all systems and you can reserve a copy of a particular game well ahead of its release date.
There are many gamers though who like to own their own collection of video games. Many titles are absorbing enough that you want to keep them around to play them again and again. There are economical ways to make that desire a reality too. Several "game swap" websites have popped too, which provide a forum for gamers to swap titles they are finished with for new games. One does have to make sure that the site they are signing up for is reputable though to ensure that they will be taking in part in fair swaps. Game Swap is probably the most reliable and well managed site on the Internet for game swapping.