Game Rental Places

[Peench]

This is a multipart question. Please answer each question fully and do not leave any blanks. Please use a number 2 pencil and do not draw outside the lines.

How many of you rent games?

If you rent games, do you rent them from a local B&M store or from an online company?

If from an online company, who do you use?

I know Gamefly is the largest, but I think people have tried others. What are your thoughts?

I've been tempted to sign up for a rental plan to try out some games that I otherwise wouldn't try out, but paying $22 a month sounded a bit much. One of the google ads here was for Gotta Play. They have plans starting at $9/mo (for one game) and $14 (for two at a time). At that price its mighty tempting but I wanted to see what experience any of you had with other companies. Thanks everyone!

[D_Litch]

Excellent Thread! I was wondering this too, I want to sign up for Gamefly, but I didn't know if there was any services better.

[NuclearCujo]

So far, I only rent from Hollywood Video. I haven't signed up for an online service yet, but depending on the results of this thread, I may.

[OnoMan]

Yeah I was wondering the same, I know Blockbuster is getting ridiculous at $8.99 a game!!

[Vanphyre]

Hey guys,

I have tried the following Online Rental services, and will give my comments on each.

Gamefly - Tried for two months and the service was awful. From the time to send a game back and get a new one averaged around 2 weeks. Unacceptable to me. I live in Michigan though, and I heard their service is faster on the west coast.

Blockbuster Online (movies obviously) - Best service there is for renting online. I got new releases within 2 days, and also a 3-4 day turnaround from sending a movie back and getting a new one. Now they let you bring your movie back to a local store to return it which speeds things up even more as they scan it in. They also give a free in-store movie rental when you do this, on top of the 4 free in-store rentals per month (movies only sadly. Best selection of movies I have seen also (although I havent tried netflix).

GamezNFlix - This is the service I am currently using and love it. I tried them out for a month before signing up for a full year in advance. The full year deal is 6 games or movies out at a time, and averages like $21 a month. They have most of the new releases and have an incredibly fast turnaround time for me. I drop them off at the post office when I'm done, the post office scans it, and sometimes it register's on GamezNFlix website within a day that I returned something. Then the next ships out.

I dropped my blockbuster service as I can do movies with gameznflix, so for $21 a month, 6 out at a time, movies or games, I can't find a better deal around. Right now I have out FFXII, NHL 2007, Tiger Woods 2007, and 3 movies. I have Marvel UA in my queue, and Gears of War (hopefully they'll get it on time!).

I like this, cause I can rent all my single player games, beat them and send them back. I figure 6 beat games a year it easily pays for itself, and I know I'll play lots more than that. Plus all the movie rentals on top of it. You also have the option to buy the games for a reduced price if you want to keep them.

Only negative about Gameznflix is their website absolutely sux. Sometimes searches don't find what you need, and you have to browse around instead. And for some reason they don't have F.E.A.R listed anywhere.... hmmm.

Just my 2 cents.

[OnoMan]

I currently have Netflix, I wish they did game because if I send my movies back on Monday I have new movies on Wednesday

[Vanphyre]

Also found this website that reviews the online game rental places.

http://video-game-rental-review.toptenreviews.com/

[NuclearCujo]

Thanks for the review site link Van. Will definitely consider online renting.

[Kid Pyrrhic]

I don't trust rental games.

But I know Blockbusters can be franchised, so you may be taking a risk renting from their B&M stores. The one closest to my house had several 360 games stolen (checked out but never returned) and several broken games (I know my younger brother had problems with a copy of GUN).

I've purchased games from Gamefly in the past. Darkwatch arrived in pristine condition, where as Destroy All Humans was obviously resurfaced.

I presume that the rental copies may share the same problems.

[D_Litch]

GamezNFlix sounds like my ticket. $249.00 per year for 6 items out at a time curbstomps the f*ck outta other places.

[WormholeXtreme]

Gamefly has had excellent service for me. Plus I can rent the game and if I decide to buy it I can just purchase it from them and they will send the case and instructions. The only bad thing is they only ship from the West Coast so for me it can take up to a week for me to receive the games since I live on the East coast. But I use it for Games so I can try them out, not ones I want right away like Gears of War. I did have one game get lost in the mail and they sent out another one the next day. The service has been excellent for me. Just like Netflix except not as quick as Netflix since they have a warehouse under 100 miles from me so I get them in a day.

[WormholeXtreme]

Originally Posted by D_Litch

GamezNFlix sounds like my ticket. $249.00 per year for 6 items out at a time curbstomps the f*ck outta other places.

That sounds like a great deal! Where do they ship the discs from and are you able to purchase them like you can at Gamefly? I see they have a 3 game out membership also for only $17 a month. Gamefly charges $29 for their 3 games out membership. The difference would almost cover th ecost of 3 games!

[D_Litch]

Originally Posted by WormholeXtreme

That sounds like a great deal! Where do they ship the discs from and are you able to purchase them like you can at Gamefly? I see they have a 3 game out membership also for only $17 a month. Gamefly charges $29 for their 3 games out membership. The difference would almost cover th ecost of 3 games!

I don't know where they ship from, probably west coast. You can buy games too, I assume it's the same as Gamefly.

[Vanphyre]

GameznFlix has warehouses in California, Colorado, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. I get 3-4 day turnaround vs. 2 weeks from Gamefly. hehe.

The drawback to the 1-year that shies a lot of people away is you have to pay in advance. So if you don't know if you'll like their serivce, it's hard to jump on it.

They also sell games like Gamefly does. 360 games that are 59.95 they usually sell for 48.59.

I was reading up another article how the service used to suck, but today it is much improved. I know first hand their selection doesn't compete with other websites (although I did receive Enchanted Arms, NHL 07, Saints Row, Dead Rising right when they came out). They don't show F.E.A.R anywhere, and I'm still waiting on Marvel UA to get off the short wait. Their movie selection can't compete with Blockbuster (an prob Netflix) for older movies, but they seem to have the new releases. They also have some Blue-Ray, HD-DVD now. The article also mentioned that you can buy the service through circuit city now? I would need to verify this, but helps make them feel more legit to people if so.

[WormholeXtreme]

I signed up for the trial period. It sounds like a much better deal than Gamefly. I signed up for Gamefly when I got my 360. This is much cheaper and should be a faster turnaround. I guess I need to use my Gamefly dollars to purchase COD3 or Viva Pinata before I cancel.

[Elite Ronnie]

All I play are online games so there is no need for me to rent unless Im wanting to try one out before buying it.

A friend of mine lives close to blockbuster and they have a program that you just go there and get what you want. I guess they may have a mail program but id think if you lived close to a blockbuster you would never have to wait on what you wanted, you could just go get it when you wanted it. He can only get one game at a time though, I dont know if that would matter to you

[KEEZY]

Yeah, I had that for a while. The Blockbuster was pretty decent about getting games in quick. Then it shut down, and I had to go to another Blockbuster that wasnt' as good about getting/keeping games.

Awesome thread! I saw Gamefly ads on here and thought about it. I'll have to check out GamezNFlix, even though that is a terrible name

I just can't decide if I should sign up for that, or just go back to a "Gamer Pass" at Blockbuster or Hollywood.