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I spent 10+ years in the games industry and I have now been involved in web development for probably 5 years and I thought I would put down my thoughts on the core differences as I see them today.

New Technology
Right now the web industry has a staggering number of technologies that are constantly evolving. For a programmer this is like being a child in a candy shop as there is just so much stuff to play with. Most programmers will stick with their chosen web core technology (PHP,.NET,J2EE, ModPerl,etc..) but then there are layers upon layers of other complimentary frameworks/libraries/web services.
In comparison the games industry goes through long life cycles that match the release of new hardware. The first time you get hold of a new piece of development hardware is really exciting followed by intense learning of the new architecture and basically throwing away everything you previous understood. I do not mean forgetting how to program and there are lots of common programming practices that you move from platform to platform. Here is a rough list of what you always have to relearn.

• Graphics - Every new platform has a different chipset each which has new ways to optimize it.
• AI - Can this be programmed by the core CPU or is this normally CPU intensive task now splittable onto secondary CPU’s (e.g. PS3).
• Networking - This can be either learning some new libraries (quick applause for Microsofts Xbox 360 live implementation) or having to write your own (PS3 Booo Hisss..). But in general terms it means a whole lot of new learning.
• Storage – Each platform has a different format for its storage and each has its pros and cons to what it is good at. This can mean creating new tools for arranging the data on a CD to optimize reading from it. It can also mean writing new caching mechanisms for moving critical data onto potential hard drive storage. The platform may come with tools to assist with each of these mechanisms but again it is another learning process.
• Peripherals – It seems there is always some change in the controller (Sony have done a reasonable job of slowly evolving their joy pad) which means new code. Beloved Nintendo seem to revel in creating new human interfaces and each of these has required a mental shift and lots of extra programming.

Turn Around of Projects
Even the larger web projects do not even come close to the 3-5 years timescales for the development for your average (360,PS3,Wii) game. Being able to see an end result within 3-12 months does keep things fresh. When programming on a large scale games project you go through a range of phases.

This is how I define an average game project

1. Start (1-12 months) outright excitement at working on a new project
2. Middle (1-24 months) utter depression wondering if it will ever end
3. End or CRUNCH TIME (1-12 months) 70+ hour weeks back to back until the project is shipped, is this fun? I used to think it was fun until I went past age 30 and decided I liked my own time more.
4. Post-Launch - Dazed staggering around wondering if it’s going to be a success

Entry requirements
The games industry can be really hard to break into, and especially so for programmers. Although recruitment tends to go in phases over the years as new blood is required as the industry expands and at this point developers will let in more raw recruits. But most developers will still only look at hardcore geeks who have a bedroom coding background. A high demand is made for candidates with very good math’s backgrounds / networking and AI (although the AI they teach at college really does not prepare you for the reality of games AI programming).

The web industry is rooted in big business so getting your first placement is a lot lot easier than the games industry. But it can be much slower to progress through the ranks. You are more likely to be given much more support including access to training courses and all the books you can eat.

Customers
If you are games developer you have 3 potential customers.

1. Publisher - The typical model is that you come up with an idea and a prototype this gets (hopefully) picked up by a publisher who then basically owns you. Because they are paying for the development as you develop they have the final say on everything. This is a major generalization and you do get publishers who will trust you (if you deserve it) and give you space, but conversely there are publishers who will sit on you and turn the thumbscrews if they don’t like what they see.
2. Publishers (model 2) - The second option is that you are self funded and able to finish your game before showing it to potential publishers. This then means the potential changes requested are minimal only generally only occur as part of final Beta / focus testing.
3. Self Published - If you are big enough to publish your own game then apart from fighting with your own internal sales/marketing teams (and I really do mean fight) then as long as you get past the conception stage convince then generally the rest is in your own hands.

If you are a web developer

1. Non-Business customer - I will not rant too much about this segment because it has been done before. But as another sweeping generalization customers who do not understand the job you are doing for them are a nightmare. This normally includes any project with a budget of $0->$20,000
2. Business customer - Your average business customer will have a larger budget understands what they want in the first place and understand general business processes involved in a development lifecycle.
3. Developing For yourself - This luckily is my current model and you have only yourself to blame if the projects you develop fail or succeed. Of course you have to self fund (or find funding) but the benefits are that any service you develop you have the chance to reap the rewards if it does turn out to be a massive success.

Success
Defining success for a web development can be counted in so many ways but seeing your creation move up the rankings (alexa ,hitwise ,etc..) does give me a buzz but not all sites you build are the kind that have mass appeal. Only 1 in 10 games every makes a return on the investment and far far fewer make it really big. This is why most programmers do it for the love of the industry because the fact is that unless you are very lucky and have a top hit you are unlikely to receive that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Fame
As my Top 10 Programmers post has shown more and more programmers are becoming recognized for the work they are doing (and btw thank you to the 4 people who voted for me) but only in recent years has the games industry started to hold award ceremonies which are starting to get some more mainstream press. The web arena is certainly an easier place to get your name out there but to get global recognition still takes a hell of a lot of effort to self publicize.

When it came to writing the credits for any games that I was involved in I made sure that I was given the most prominent placement that I could as I saw it as one of the major rewards for all the hard work (that and the first physical copy of each game).

Recognition
Your typical web programmer will not get recognized for his work but maybe they should? a credits page for each website would be a great reward and a way to globally document what everyone has worked on. If we standardized the format and the location it could be something that is indexed and collated.