Getting a Bsc(Honors) in Computer Games Design isn't a bad idea, but it's obviously no guarantee for success in the industry at all. In fact, mostly it doesn't work like that at all. There have been many complaints from the industry that many of these courses don't teach the necessary skills needed at all.

Personally, I think specializing is actually the best thing to do, as that's what's needed more and more in the industry. Games are becoming so complex that you need to be able to work in teams and do very specific (programming) jobs. Frank is right though, getting into the designing part of the industry is probably even more difficult,

Cheers

Thats one reason why i started modeling and level design now, so i can try and gain some experience in the field i am most interested in, as i am a fairly good programmer in most langauges (and can pick new ones up quickly), yet i am not very interested in programming and find it partly boring, i would rather do modeling or level design.

The course also teaches some stuff using Motion Capture and some thing where it scans the item and creates a 3d model.
Thanks for the reply's.

If you want to go the modeling and level design route then go to the websites of 3dtotal and cgtalk and look what game artists do there. Now you only have to reach this quality. But be warned: It will take you a few years. But first lay down your 3d modeler and pick up a pencil. You will learn much more about lighting, shading and anatomy if you create your own drawings first. Then you can apply all this to the 3d world.

Your competition are women and men who started to draw in their childhood. They do it with passion, they did sketches in every book at every sheet of paper available at almost every time.
So competition is tough in this area. My suggestion is to practice every day to catch up with them.

What's important is that you develop your own style of making 3D things. Companies aren't looking for the 1 millionth person who can model a Ferrari or BMW.

Character modeling, a unique style, excellent skin painting and so on those are things that count nowadays.

Catching up with the competition will be very tough, on the other hand CgTalk gives a good impression on how good you have to be to get noticed and hired. Plenty of people from the industry show their work over there,

Cheers

After everything i have heard it sounds as though doing this course won't get me a job in the games industry at all, and not teach me much about modeling.

Am i right about that ?

Yes basically you're right... It won't hurt following such a course, but there are no guarantees,

Cheers

Yer, i have just read about some job's in the game design industry (as game designers and/or character modelers) and the main thing they look for is a good portfolio, so that is my plan during this course i will try and make a very large and very good portfolio and try and complete more than one game before the course is done.

Yes. This is a good approach. You need a portfolio and very often you even need finished projects to show. Sometimes you even need to show commercial projects. This depends on the job you are applying.

Yup, Frank is right, there are quite a few job positions that demand a '5 years of experience in the industry' kind of thing.

Creating an impressive portfolio is definitely the best idea,

Cheers

That's what i thought, and this course should teach me enough to make a good portfolio. Most places i have looked at (EA, Activision, etc.) do not look at grades, just portfolio and experience which i am hoping to gain/create during my course.

Thanks for the comments so far, any more feel free to post.