Two paths: QA entry level, or fresh out of school. If you have no college education, or equivalent experience, QA is the only avenue to get a foot in the door. If you do have an education, it's much easier to get into the industry through other positions.

Favorite game I've tested might be Beyond Good And Evil, or Hitman: Blood Money. Least favorite... any PS1 game made after 2002.

I play basically everything, except sports games. And yes I have seen some games implement ideas I provided through personal feedback.

It pays better as you gain more experience.

Oh it's very organized. What you call "running around looking for bugs", is called Ad Hoc testing. And it means that you are playing the game as an end user would, but keeping an eye out for any issues, of any kind. From text errors, to sounds not triggering.

What the QA Manager will do is create a whole gameplan for…

Unfortunately, the only work from home QA gigs you can find, will be a scam. So no, if you want to test games, you'll need to live close to one of the publishers or dev houses. Check gamasutra though, they have postings from all over the world.

Well, I would tell you... GO BACK TO BUSINESS APPLICATION SOFTWARE QA!!

If you came from there, that's where a lot of console testers eventually end up! The money is soooo much better doing real QA Engineer work.

But if you want to test games, all you need to do is send your resume into any publisher, or dev house and…

YES! I actually mention that a lot in my essay I wrote on the topic last year.

Yes, actually. Most games have massive story changes or level design overhauls. It's a pretty common thing. Some of the games I've worked on started as these epic, over the top ambitious games, with GREAT ideas (ideas I still haven't seen done right yet). But over the course of the two or so years most mid-range games…

I answered a couple of these awhile ago. But I'll tackle a few.

Yeah the worst experience I ever had was working on a game, that the first project of that particular dev studio. We had an overtime crunch near release that lasted about 4 months, and at times went up to 22 hours a day. I remember going home, falling…

Hi, and you're very welcome!

Every studio tends to have a different type of workflow. As far as bug hunting in general. We call that "Ad Hoc" testing, and it's what you do when you don't have tons of other issues to regress or write up. Again I'll link you to my essay from last year. This has many of the answers you…

Honestly, the #1 thing interviewers like to see, is someone who looks genuinely happy to be there, and is excited to join their team. Don't go overboard, but answer everything clearly, with a smile, and above all, just be yourself.

I keep reposting this, because it basically answers most of your questions about "how to get into QA": http://tay.kotaku.com/a-qa-contracto…

Yes, I would. But I would send future me back to tell me everything I didn't know going in. You should also read this if you are serious about getting into QA: http://tay.kotaku.com/a-qa-contracto…

So you do know that about 90% of the bay area tech force has now worked at Zynga right?

1. This depends on the studio. Publishers tend to have their QA do 8 hour days, unless it's a crunch time. At which point it can be anything from 10-16 or even more. Crunch time is rare, and only usually happens for a few days at a time. But I've seen some pretty intense ones (22 hour days)

2. You can if you don't have…

I answered this above, but please read this for a better answer: http://tay.kotaku.com/a-qa-contracto…

I've found that dev studios as opposed to publishers, tend to utilize QA for more than simple testing. Devs love QA feedback and ideas. At least good dev houses do.

Seek out your local craigslist, or gamasutra. Really any tech job search engine will find QA gigs. Console publishers usually advertise on craigslist though. This is a pretty involved answer, so I'm going to just link you to my essay on how to get into QA, so I can keep answering other questions. Good luck!
http://tay.k…

It's a total crapshoot. Depends on the studio, the staff, the available positions. But the #1 way to move up is just be seen and heard. Let everyone know you kick ass, by kicking ass.

I'm a divorcee, so it's not a huge issue for me. But I often ask the guys I work with who have families, the same question. They usually give you a look, like... they don't even know how they do it. ;)