Work @ Irrational Games

lol @ unpaid programming interns. Who needs to outsource their code monkey job position to india for $10.00/hr when you can easily get yourself an unpaid grad student who is willing to do it for free?

Take THAT india! We'll outsource your outsourcing!

There are many ways into the industry and no one size fits all "best" way. People are different and different approaches will work better and worse for different people. The best advice is to just do *something* and make the most out of the oppurtunities that you come across. I wouldn't move across the country for something like this, but if you are in the area and can pull it off, this may be a great oppurtunity. If you have the creativity and energy to put out your own games, then thats great too.

The only thing that certainly wont get you into the industry is waiting around. No one is going to teach you everything you need to know, you need to persue the information and skills - dont wait for it to come to you.

Pro-tip: Being an intern is probably the greatest way to get an "in" into the game industry. If you love to work on games this is your chance to show off your stuff while gaining some valuable experience.

Working for free as an intern is a great way to get into the gaming industry.. if you are not aiming high.

Since you are going to work for free anyways a much better idea is to enjoy yourself and join a modding team or create a cool shareware game ( like hampsterball! ). Once thats done not only will you get any job at any game studio you choose, you will jump several years worth of "working your way up".

Its all about value. When you work for nothing for a company you actually loose money since you still have to pay for food and shelter. The company however gets value created for themselves by your labor. When you work for yourself you still loose the same amount of money but you get the value you create yourself.
I highly recommend reading Paul Graham's Hackers&Painters on the matter. Controversial book perhaps but its a gem.

Man those guys have an Aus studio, wish they'd do some hiring sometime.

Oh god they're in Boston. If only I had the required skills...

Huh, I'm looking for unpaid sex industry interns to work in my bedroom. Any takers?

Creative passion is important in all aspects of game development. We need interns who love computer games, play them regularly, and can talk about them intelligently.

"We just finished level 3 and need to tighten up the graphics."

Like this?

if only you were in the UK : /

I'd love to do that IT Manager job... if only it was a permanent fulltime position... and not in Boston :(

OMG Shackers, apply there.