where is a good place to start game testing i live in the bay area

If you like game testing, there is a job called Quality Assurance (QA) at many game companies/startups.
I work as a Software Engineer at Zynga (in San Francisco) and QA is an absolutely crucial part of our development process. Other companies in the Bay Area that I imagine need QA testers:
- 2K
- Disney
- EA
- Kabam
(Others: http://www.gamedevmap.com/)

If you have a linkedin account, you can maybe search and reach out to some QA people who work at those companies, and see how they got there.

Good luck!

check out http://www.vgmarket.com/portal/bayarea.