What jobs are there available for 3D artist/VFX artist in video game/movie industry? I know one person who works for the Animal Logic and he is the animation artist. He does textures, shaders, lighting things and he also worked with the "Happy Fleet".

The thing is that I'm trying to move to Australia and 3D is in world class in Sidney. From Matrix to Happy Feet everything has been done there. And 3D is one of my biggest passions + Australia is been my dream place since I was kid so I've decided that I'm going to study this thing hardcore. It is just my biggest dream to become a 3D artist.
Now this guy told me that I should forget 3D max and I should learn Maya, Houdini and Renderman and I should check out the VFX or gaming industry in Sidney.

Is he right about forgetting about 3D max and learning Maya, Houdini and Renderman? Maybe he thought that I wanna become Visual Artist and work with Visual effects? Actually I would like to be Visual Artist and create Visual effects too but still modeling is one of my biggest passions.

What jobs are there available for the 3D Modeler or Visual Effect Artist in video game or movie industry? What soft should I really learn when I should like to also study Visual Effects for movies/animations or games?

Is this game still alive? I mean I'm so bored and I wanna buy some game but I have the most horrible dilemma ever. There are so many games out there but I don't know. World In Conflict, ArmA Orange Box, Frontlines: Fuel Wars, Battlefield 1942 etc. WiC is kind of dead but I like it BUT i still prefer first person view games, Orange Box isn't nothing special, only thing it has that looks interesting a little bit is TF2 but it looks kind of like DOD style of game, everyone are spawning in random time etc and I don't like that **** + it doesn't have vehicles . Frontlines: Fuel Wars like I heard is buggy but it has destructible environment, ArmA is realism and simulator which I love but I'm worried that not very much people are not playing it plus I'm kind of good graphic whore. Any good hints or tips what game should I buy? It definitely should be "big open world Multiplayer game" like BF2, Crysis etc, I mean you can go everywhere because I don't like tunnel shooters like COD series etc, only "tunnel shooting game" that i love in CS + it should have vehicles or other transportation things (planes, jets or whatever) + decent graphic + IT SHOULD REQUIRE TACTICS! I also thought about buying Rainbow Six Vegas or Vegas 2 because those are very tactical games but I think that not very many people are playing it online. Any Ideas??

Also It can be some sport game or rally/race game. I was also thinking about Fifa 2009 but how many people are even playing it online? Is it still popular? Because I don't wanna buy a "dead" game.