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I am a senior journalism student at Indiana University and with the same aspirations to do games journalism. I have seen and talked to a lot of experts in both the games and traditional news media fields and they all had some pretty good advice. Here is some of the best stuff they gave me:

1. College matters- Practice and perseverance are important but the structural foundation for journalistic writing is something that you will have to be taught. Internship opportunities are also much easier to get if you are a college student or have a degree.

2. Internships- Doesn't matter where its at or what you write about, internships are important to get some things published and get experience working in the media.

3. Blog- Get a blog and try to update it with professional content daily. It gives you a collection of writing samples you can use and also shows you are dedicated and knowledgable in the field.

4. Learn magazine style writing and freelance- Gaming magazines (such as GamePro) regularly publish freelance work. Learn basic magazine style as well as the style of your target magazine. Come up with a great idea and pitch it to the magazine.

5. Work wherever you can- Ultimately the more experience you have the more attractive a hire you become. I had a friend who graduated last year and went to work at his local paper. He started as a city government reporter but asked his editor and now does a video game blog on the paper's Web site.

Ultimately you have to get into this profession for a love of the profession and not for money, fame, or perks. You also have to understand that gaming will change and become a job, there will be days where you don't want to touch games, and if that isn't something you want then you may not want to pursue this profession."