Leave Your Mark Here

Video game testing is the holy grail of all video gaming jobs. Full time game tester jobs are few and far between, but when one is found, its likely to be highly contested, sought by dozens of applicants, all qualified for the position. When interviewing for a position as an in-house video game tester, youll want to be fully prepared and ready for any questions they might throw at you.

Research

Full-time game testing is harder than many tout it to be. Not only are you responsible for daily to weekly builds of a game, with very carefully detailed note taking and repetitive replays through broken levels, but youre likely to spend long hours meeting your deadlines, and a lot of that time writing up reports rather than playing video games.

For any video game tester jobs you apply for youll want to do a lot of research before you go to your interview. Know exactly what kind of games the company youre applying for makes, what their budgets and development schedules are, and how many people they employ.

When they ask you questions about your availability and dedication youll be able to give specific answers regarding the hours and duties youll be stuck with.

Rehearsing

Like any job, you should be ready for any and all anticipated questions. If you feel like your video game testing interview might involve questions of which games you play and why, have good answers ready. Dont offer the typical response youd give your five buddies on a road trip, such as "I dig fighting games".

Talk about the details in game design, and mechanics that draw you to that genre. It helps if you tailor this answer to the kinds of games the company youre interviewing with makes. Also, youll want to be completely prepared for the actual work involved in this job. Rehearse answers to questions about details orientation.

Have examples ready of when you were exceptional at keeping track of a lot of small things at once. Dont relate every question they ask back to video gaming. Youre applying for a game tester job, but it is still a job, with multiple duties.

During the Interview

Like any other interview, you need to look good, be prepared, and try your hardest to relax. Keep in mind that most game testing jobs are not extremely high paying, but you are still combating dozens of other interested applicants. Carefully balance your responses like any job interview, not speaking negatively of old jobs, but not dwelling on the video game aspect of your potential job.

The Job

Full time video game testing, as I've mentioned, is a hard job. It's a great job for those truly interested in video games, but you will be playing the same game, in broken modes for weeks if not months, uncovering bugs, taking meticulous notes and getting revised editions with almost the same details weekly. Its a great job for those in love with the industry though, so when you interview, make sure to follow all of the standard interview rules while keeping in mind the complexity of a game testing job.

BONUS TIP: If you're just starting out and want to get your feet wet with part time or freelance video game tester jobs, come grab your FREE REPORT for potential video game testers right away at: http://www.BeAGameTester.com

AP - Iraqi officials Wednesday reported finding mass graves with remains of 34 people, most believed to have been Iraqi army recruits waylaid three years ago by al-Qaida gunmen as they traveled to a training base near the Syrian border.

It was back in 1987 when Capcom first brought us the first ever MegaMan game (the game was called Rockman over in Japan). Keiji Inafune was the original creator who created the MegaMan character. Here we are, over 20 years later, and the game series is still as popular as ever. Thankfully, MegaMan has kept pace with modern gaming and you can still play MegaMan games now on a host of different consoles:

• Mega Man Anniversary Collection (GameCube)
• Rockman Complete Works (PS1)
• Mega Man Anniversary Collection (PS2)
• Mega Man Anniversary Collection (XBox)
• Mega Man Powered Up (PSP)

It's fair to say MegaMan has been a popular hit for CapCom - the character can be found in over 100 different games. He's even appeared in an animated TV series, as well as being featured on a huge amount of merchandising. MegaMan truly has stood the test of time.

For those of you who haven't discovered the delights of MegaMan games yet, the game revolves around MegaMan's continuing struggle against the dastardly Dr. Albert W. Wily. He's plumb crazy and intending to take over the world - can MegaMan stop him? MegaMan was constructed by Dr. Thomas Light, who enhanced a humble lab assistant robot and transformed him into the incredible MegaMan, in a desperate attempt to stop the evil Dr. Wily.

Light's brilliant enhancements mean you're armed with an arm cannon, and have great speed and strength. You must fight your way through a string of fiendish stages, and then eventually conquer the fiendish Robot Master to conclude each stage. When you've finally slain the Robot Master at the end of each stage, you inherit his unique weapon too, which you can then use in the next stage.

The MegaMan games really are cult gaming classics - and there are plenty of ways to play MegaMan games even on modern gamings consoles.

Find and swap MegaMan games for free at http://www.swopster.com

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race to 10 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.