Who has tried Gamefly and other video game rental sites?
Looking for some reviews from customers
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
Hoping to find a few customers of Gamefly and other similar places. A few that I'm aware of, but have never personally checked out are: http://www.gplay.com, http://www.redoctanerentals.com/, and of course http://www.gamefly.com/.
I know you can also sign up for unlimited rental deals at local Blockbuster stores using their Game Pass deal. I have a little experience with that deal from renting some games for my son in the past there. (Actually my wife did the renting in that case, and except for having the Game Pass automatically renew when she didn't want it to, it wasn't a bad deal if your local Blockbuster maintains a reasonable stock of the hottest games).
I've seen at least one very bad review of Gamefly online, and when searching around, found a few other people (via ePinions, I think) that were very disappointed by Gamefly. They are equated to Netflix, and sometimes called the Netflix of video gaming. You rent by mail, get the games in the mail, no late fees (as long as you maintain membership with them) and keep games out as long as you want once you have them rented. Their prices are a bit higher than I might like, but somewhat understandable if their service is good.
Video games tend to be more expensive to purchase than DVDs are, so I figure that the renter is probably entitled to charge something closer to the $25 a month mark for games. The only downside for the rental companies being that I also am well aware that I can purchase games brand new for around $40 - $50 for most Xbox or PS2 games when they first come out at Best Buy or Circuit City. If I'm looking at PSP games, then typically the prices will be even better, down around $25 - $35 during the "new" sales if you are lucky. Either way, you can then take the game you bought, eBay it or trade it at a local Gamestop, EB Games, or similar outlet (all now owned by the same group in most cases, except for the chain that is affiliated with Hollywood Video, Gamestop and EB Games are the same company, and Gamestop also had previously acquired all Funcoland's).
Trade-ins can be a big disappointment. If you are not "quick" with the games you bought on winning/beating the games, then you find that the market for trade-ins is virtually gone, and the value is non-existent. Instead of getting back roughly half what you paid for the game, you'll get 1/4 or less of the original price and be left unhappy over missing the opportunity to get most of the money back. On the other hand, if you look at that lost money as a rental fee, then you are perhaps right back where I'm at here -- wondering if it's better to rent, or better to buy.
Which brings me back to the question I ask in my headline - I'm looking for people that have tried Gamefly, Red Octane, GPlay or some of these other services, and wondering what their opinions of these places are.
If you've tried these places, did you like the service? Did you feel you got good value for your payment? Was the selection of games good or did you feel that new releases were never added that quickly? When you selected newer games were they readily available, or were you stuck waiting a long time for your popular choices?
More importantly, did you ever feel ripped off by these services? Did you get charged late fees, lost or damaged material fees, or other similar problems that should serve as warning that no one should be doing business with these companies?
I really appreciate (in advance) any information others might have on these companies. I'd like to find a company like Netflix that would have enough selection for me to keep from spending $60 per game for Xbox 360 games, but I am thinking more and more my best bet would be Blockbuster, even though my local store has a much smaller collection of games available than I would like.
I know you can also sign up for unlimited rental deals at local Blockbuster stores using their Game Pass deal. I have a little experience with that deal from renting some games for my son in the past there. (Actually my wife did the renting in that case, and except for having the Game Pass automatically renew when she didn't want it to, it wasn't a bad deal if your local Blockbuster maintains a reasonable stock of the hottest games).
I've seen at least one very bad review of Gamefly online, and when searching around, found a few other people (via ePinions, I think) that were very disappointed by Gamefly. They are equated to Netflix, and sometimes called the Netflix of video gaming. You rent by mail, get the games in the mail, no late fees (as long as you maintain membership with them) and keep games out as long as you want once you have them rented. Their prices are a bit higher than I might like, but somewhat understandable if their service is good.
Video games tend to be more expensive to purchase than DVDs are, so I figure that the renter is probably entitled to charge something closer to the $25 a month mark for games. The only downside for the rental companies being that I also am well aware that I can purchase games brand new for around $40 - $50 for most Xbox or PS2 games when they first come out at Best Buy or Circuit City. If I'm looking at PSP games, then typically the prices will be even better, down around $25 - $35 during the "new" sales if you are lucky. Either way, you can then take the game you bought, eBay it or trade it at a local Gamestop, EB Games, or similar outlet (all now owned by the same group in most cases, except for the chain that is affiliated with Hollywood Video, Gamestop and EB Games are the same company, and Gamestop also had previously acquired all Funcoland's).
Trade-ins can be a big disappointment. If you are not "quick" with the games you bought on winning/beating the games, then you find that the market for trade-ins is virtually gone, and the value is non-existent. Instead of getting back roughly half what you paid for the game, you'll get 1/4 or less of the original price and be left unhappy over missing the opportunity to get most of the money back. On the other hand, if you look at that lost money as a rental fee, then you are perhaps right back where I'm at here -- wondering if it's better to rent, or better to buy.
Which brings me back to the question I ask in my headline - I'm looking for people that have tried Gamefly, Red Octane, GPlay or some of these other services, and wondering what their opinions of these places are.
If you've tried these places, did you like the service? Did you feel you got good value for your payment? Was the selection of games good or did you feel that new releases were never added that quickly? When you selected newer games were they readily available, or were you stuck waiting a long time for your popular choices?
More importantly, did you ever feel ripped off by these services? Did you get charged late fees, lost or damaged material fees, or other similar problems that should serve as warning that no one should be doing business with these companies?
I really appreciate (in advance) any information others might have on these companies. I'd like to find a company like Netflix that would have enough selection for me to keep from spending $60 per game for Xbox 360 games, but I am thinking more and more my best bet would be Blockbuster, even though my local store has a much smaller collection of games available than I would like.
