This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
I have been observing the games press over the past few years —
And it seems the way the games press tackles issues typically falls prey to the over-exaggeration or over-interpretation of an issue to make something newsworthy. (A.k.a., the making of a 'mountain out of a mole hill') As evidenced by my own spurt of desperation for writing prompts a few weeks ago, (Video Game Writing Prompts?), it seems there is relatively little uncharted territory in terms of video game topics to discuss. This, on the other hand, very well may have been a failure on my part to come up with an interesting, and coherent topic to write about that involves games. Which might then explain why the antiquated churn of previews, reviews, and hands-on coverage still manage to dominate many a games publication.
When you think about it, there honestly isn't all that much outside of critiquing the graphics, story, and plot, and reflecting on the experience or minutia a given game has provided to write about games. I mean certainly, one could make the exception that making a fan fiction could serve as another dimension to explore in writing about games, but topics that apply to all of the video game industry are truly few and far between, which is why I have had such immense difficulty thinking of topics.
Now I wonder if this same problem affects other publications — it most probably does. But this is most likely exclusive to various forms of the enthusiast press, rather than the mainstream press that are more or less free to cover anything they may desire. Take for example, Road & Track, a car magazine that has existed for God knows how long — the way they stunningly maintain their devout readership is largely due to their detailed, and sometimes excessive coverage of the auto industry. Each month they will devout such and such amount of pages to concept cars, test drives, and the like — even if their coverage is perepherial, and secondary, they know at least a few thousand of readers will eat it up, because they love cars, and can't get enough.
As far as I can gather, the same is true for gaming, and this making of mountains from mole hills may as well eternally be an issue facing the games press, if it is to be considered such. After all, some of the best topics can come about from the most suspect moutain-makers.