The gaming industry makes billions every year and there seems to be no stopping the income trend. For this reason, many games are created and released in the hopes of making more money. This is where game testers come in. Game testers are normal gamers (gamers like you) who are paid to play new and games that have not been released yet. They get paid well, doing perhaps their number 1 favorite pastime.

If you wish to become a game tester, you will need to approach only legitimate companies. There are many scammers as there are gamers online and you will need to be aware of them. But once you are able to wade through the scammers and find a legit company, you will be on your way to earning up to $100 an hour doing nothing but playing games.

But playing is not the ONLY thing that you will be doing, though. You will also need to fill out a questionnaire of some sort and send it back to the company. This is part of your job. The questionnaire will contain several questions that will help the game creators and programmers improve the game that you tested. Some questions will pertain to the game menu, game modes, bugs, and others.

Completing the questionnaire is not that big of a deal, though. When you consider the fact that you get paid to just lounge in your couch or bed and play games that your friends have you to meet, filling out the questionnaire will not be a big deal. When the check comes in or when you get confirmation to keep the game you tested, you will be one happy gamer. If you’d rather design games for a living instead of test them, you always have the option of earning an online game degree. Either way, it’s a win-win situation for the game enthusiast!

For the sake of the many brave souls who perished while trying to complete an entire season of NBA Live ’95 without allowing an opposing team to score a single point, we present these True Gaming Challenges to the current generation of gamers.

Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland - 15 True Gaming Challenge Points

Walk into a store (one that deals in import titles if you live in the U.S.) and bring this game to the counter. Hold it before you in plain sight the entire time. Do not wear a disguise of any sort. Do not laugh. Hand the game to the cashier and tell him or her, “This is for me. I play games like this. I love it.”

Mass Effect - 10 True Gaming Challenge Points

Create a custom character that absolutely, positively, is not a mulatto.

Company Of Heroes - 35 True Gaming Challenge Points

Join a multiplayer game that bills itself as “noob friendly” without encountering a guy that’s using a secondary account because the 100+ wins on his main account won’t let him match up with (and destroy) actual beginners like you.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots - 15 True Gaming Challenge Points

Explain the game’s plot in its entirety to a third party without going “uh..” or scratching your head. Then take about ten seconds to describe what’s enjoyable about the gameplay. If they actually want to play the game after this challenge is completed, give yourself 50 additional True Gaming Challenge points.

Spore - 10 True Gaming Challenge Points

Resist the urge to give the game a “Best Of Expo” award without having played it, regardless of your actual affiliation with any expos.

Wii Fit - 25 True Gaming Challenge Points

Use the Wii Board regularly for its intended purpose, and not as a tray to keep your Cheetos bag and Mountain Dew steady while you watch Lazy Town.

Madden NFL 2009 - 30 True Gaming Challenge Points

After playing through one season and realizing you’re pretty much done until Madden 2010, sell the game to your local Gamestop for more than $3.

Portal - 15 True Gaming Challenge Points

Rocketjump your way through the entire game.

1. Google can be your best friend, but be mindful of sponsored add and search result placement. Using this and other popular search engines you can often find online sites dedicated to educational games for kids of all ages.

2. Popular parenting magazines often do product spotlights each month, including games. You will also find that they list in their magazine is often expanded on in their online content

3. Online and local stores that distribute products to teachers and school often carry PC and Mac programs geared specifically toward learning the fundamentals of math, science and reading.

4. Television programs geared toward children are all beginning to publish web-sites with enhanced content featuring the characters of the shows. Most of the sites, such as Nick Jr., containing activities that are fun, educational and also free.

5. Craft fairs and the craft sections at most major retail outlets carry a wide variety of craft projects and game kits to get kids active and keep them busy while they learn fun hobbies that can be very educational and build skills in counting (beads for necklaces, or crochet) to finger dexterity and imagination (clay design kits, embroidery).

In the early years of gaming, light guns and conventional projection CRT televisions were used to indicate a hit or miss—think Nintendo’s Duck Hunt for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System, circa 1983). Nintendo’s use of motion controllers has revolutionized the casual gaming experience. Gone are the light guns and in is the Wiimote and nunchuck. For a more interesting experience, users should consider purchasing a Top Shot shotgun.

Cabela’s Big Game Hunter 2010 continues the tradition established by early shooter games like Duck Hunt by establishing a fun and interactive arcade style shooting experience that involves all sorts of wildlife. The game’s plot revolves around an organization called the “Royal Ancient Order of Orion” who is actively trying to recruit your character, Jack Wilde, for their ranks. This order, in order to test your hunting abilities, place you in a variety of different world locations surrounded by scintillating wildlife scenes with the objective to hunt and kill various wildlife. The Royal Ancient Order of Orion keeps tight tabs on your progress via radio communications. The gameplay is strongly linear – high walls keep you on the path to finding the animals you are tracking. Finding the animals is not the difficult part, thought keeping from spooking them may be more challenging than you anticipate. The game immerses you in tracking, finding, and shooting big game in order to get more valuable medals and awards.

Thinking leads to discussing, and those games are continually brought up in conversation via phone, text, chat, e-mail and even during business meetings. I personally know how intense the addiction can be with these games and how strong the desire is to suck all your friends into it. I was manic fan of MMORPG’s, often investing hours per day at the office building the level of my characters and going on raids only to go home at the end of the day to continue playing into the night. If I needed a break from the MMORPG’s, then I turned my attention to a single-play shooter offline that I could “relax” to. Since the depth of programming and profundity of eye-candy is increasing in the games they are becoming more like interactive cinema and less like the quick-play games of the past. What was once only attainable at an arcade for a few hours is now in our living room and offices permanently, to play at our leisure, to interrupt our work, our child-rearing, and change our lives for ever.