Gamers love to throw around the phrase "replay value" quite a bit. This game is great, fun, and intelligent, but it doesn't have a lot of replay value. This game is shallow and stupid, but I can see myself coming back to it because it's got great replay value.

This month's Musings theme asks the question: what keeps you coming back to the games you love? What, in your own way, gives a game good replay value? 

Is it the unlockables? The achievements? Competing with others for a high score? Are there certain awesomely fun levels that you just find yourself coming back to, over and over again? Or are there story moments that you can't help but relive that keep dragging you back to the controller?

This theme is something of a open-ended one. You don't have to talk about replay value itself if you don't want to -- the replay value thing is more of a gateway to discussing more specific topics. If, for instance, you wanted to mention that the Geometry Wars 2 leaderboards keep you coming back to the game in order to outdo your friends, then feel free to just expand on how it feels to compete with someone else for a high score. The replay value thing is the beginning of the discussion, not the end.

Also, there are some new rules for posting your Monthly Musing articles: nothing big or difficult, but make sure to hit the jump to hear about them.

Basically, there is now a Monthly Musings tag for the cblogs. Make SURE to select this tag when you write your post, in addition to putting "Instant replay: blah blah blah" in your cblog title.

That's all, really. Same rules as before apply: something either really well-written or discussion-provoking can be promoted to the front page, and you can post about whatever you want relating to the theme.

Any questions?