The gaming industry will always require mesh-makers, animators, and texture artists; some things simply cannot be scanned. And it's a good stepping stone on the way to a career in the Hollywood FX industry.

I've noticed a lot of mod developers in need of artists lately. The pay certainly won't be good; it'll probably be nonexistant, since many of these are a labor of love. But there's the possibility of getting in on the ground floor of a game mod that becomes insanely popular and is picked up by a major distributor (as happened with Team Fortress and Counterstrike).