I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on how to get into the videogame beta testing industry?
Google isn’t shedding much light on this one.
you need luck. lots of it.
There are 4 million greasy teens wanting that job. perhaps a few fat old guys.
Beta testing is aimed at the average consumer. Through subscriptions like Qore, random emails like the one I got to get into the Resistence 2 beta, or with a pre-order of the game you can get into betas. But remember it isn’t a career and you should have some source of income.
I think what you are going after is reviewing games, which a big magazine will pay you for. You need to brush up on journal writing. Take them extra English classes. Learn the ins and outs of video games, video consoles and such. You want to be more qualified than the current guy. Do some research on the guy whos job you’re taking. Get tons of references.
Good luck!
Not to mention the tons of single 30+ year old males with smelly armpits, bad breath, poor eye sight, live at home with mom, bearded, overweight, who speak in whispers, and with a diploma/certificate in software testing. These elite testers have way more experience than you!
kbot, since when is Richard Stallman a game tester? 
Since since since ummm since well I what mean to say is … um well … … put this in the “ask a question” game forum willya.
Have a great day otherwise!
Real software testing is a mind-numbing soul-sucking experience. For every hour you spend just “playing around” in “break-it” testing you spend 20 hours going thru scripts, doing this then that then this again, after that you reset and do that then this then that again, and document your results. At least that’s how real-world software testing works, I can’t see game testing being much different.
I spent 10 years responsible for a couple of major USPS systems and have been thru many development/testing/deployment cycles.