Eh. Here's the biggest problem with Hot Topic. If it was a hot topic, it was most likely already being discussed on another thread in the forum. So discussion would be divided between two topics. Then, since most people were just giving an essay to respond to the topic, it wasn't worth looking through much.
Plus, a lot of the questions weren't that interesting to begin with? Do you think the Wii third parties are lacking? Are you going to get an Xbox 360? Not exactly pressing questions or anything that is going to create inspired discussion. Frankly, I find the Blog's more interesting than the Hot Topics and some of those would make good Hot Topic questions or discussions. What can Sony do now and in the future? Should video game review formats be changed? While it may still result in some petty bickering here and there, questions and discussions like that are more likely to bring forth some interesting comments and people are more likely to respond and add to a person's comment or discuss a person's idea in such a discussion.
Personally, I would leave out any questions that have to do with current news. Often, there is a talkback thread and this news is being discussed in another relevant thread somewhere. A third thread isn't going to produce much more enthusiasm. I think it might be more interesting if the questions were focused on the video game industry in general or things of interest to the NWR site. Questions like: Are video game magazines still relevant? Should video games be turned into movies? Could it ever work? What can be done to increase sales of critically acclaimed games. i.e. Psychonauts, Zack & Wiki, Beyond Good and Evil? Why did Trauma Center succeed and become a successful enough franchise whereas others have not? What do you think of the changes to NWR? Biggest complaint about the site? Best thing about the site?
You can get feedback and you can also make the community think abit and talk about things that aren't normally discussed. We are going to post the latest pics and news about upcoming games. We don't really need hot topics on that. We'll discuss the latest news rumors and speculate about what we think E3 will show. While we do discuss issues like the samples I gave, at least they are not topics we discuss to death or bring up frequently. Well, maybe the part about when we don't like something at the site. That's something we can all be vocal about over time.
If it's brought back, I'd suggest that the direction of Hot Topic be changed from what it was before. Instead of just talking about the latest news, I'd say it should discuss something not currently being talked about. A new subject instead. Sure, there can be times when it does crossover with some big news story or event but I'd say those times should be limited.
Prizes I don't care about. While it is true that it may cause some to post for the sake of it and not bother to add anything to the discussion, I believe that by making the topics different from what is already being talked about and by challenging the creativity of people on here, the discussion will come on its own. By creating topics that are going to bring forth new ideas, then people will naturally bring in their views on a person's comments and a discussion will flow more naturally. The way it was before, people were posting about things that were already talked to death and thus the conversation had ended before it began on those threads.
Crimm was starting to get on the right track with some of his questions but asking if games should all come with fully customizable control schemes and which ones need them isn't quite the same as a topic asking if this generation may cause a shake-up in the video game media world with many cases of bias becoming appearant and the fact that reviewers seem to be having less releveance on the sales of games. Or whether the negative perception of third party games now on the Wii is going to hurt Nintendo in the future or next gen. Those are interesting topics and while there have been some discussion as to the state of third party games or the state of the gaming media, the conversation often doesn't steer down those paths. Why not lead the way?