Every month here at Gearbox, we select a game to play and discuss it with each other.  Unsurprisingly, we love to play games, but there's more to it than that.  We know that discussing the games we're playing is important - it's an outlet for our developers to see what's out there and think critically.  Discussing games helps us become better developers - when we talk with each other and discover what we like and don't like about a game, we're learning from other developers and from each other, and that makes our games better.   

Gamers have a special rapport not unlike movie nuts or technophiles, a sort of "in-group" community.  If you're a gamer, you probably really enjoy discovering that other people around you share your passion - maybe a coworker saw you playing your DS on a break and struck up a conversation about Brain Age, or maybe you frequent a game forum where you discuss games with other fans.  Here at Gearbox, we're a huge in-group.  We love games, and our Game of the Month group brings us together and harnesses our passion and interest.  Taking this further, we want to bring our fans into the discussion with our developers.

So, every month for the last five months, Gearbox has internally chosen a game to play.  It's sort of like a book club, where you all read the book and then sit down to discuss it.  At the beginning of the month, we all get together over some pizza and talk about last month's game.  We ask questions like, "What did you like most about the game?" and "What would you change to make the game better?"  Not only do we have a great time, but we're also playing games that we might not have tried on our own, thinking about design, and making more friends inside the company all at once (it may sound cheesy, but it's true).  We even get the cost of the game reimbursed through our development funds if we go to the meeting!

Our Games of the Month so far have been God of War II, Command & Conquer III, Earth Defense Force 2017, and The Darkness.  The game we're currently playing (which will be up for discussion on September 5th) is Rainbow Six: Vegas.  We try to select titles that we feel are important - either because they're similar to the games we make, games that are important to gaming, or just games that we feel are awesome and may have been overlooked by folks.  

This is where you come in - now that we've been having Game of the Month meetings for a while, we want to externalize it and share it with you, the community.  Next week on September 5th is our meeting to discuss August's Game of the Month, which was Rainbow Six: Vegas. When the meeting starts, I'll open a thread on our external forums so that everyone can participate in the meeting, too.  We'll post some live comments and encourage you guys to post your insights about Rainbow Six: Vegas.  

So, come join Gearbox in our Game of the Month - and talk about games with our developers!  Stay tuned in our forums for more!