Posts filed under 'game rental'
Original review, update #1
So I’m now over a month into the Gamefly Xbox360 rental experiment, and wanted to share a few more observations.
Game availability: I don’t want to jinx it, but every game I’ve wanted has shipped out without any delay or short wait time. Perhaps this will change as people finally get their Xbox360’s — but for now, I have no complaints — and I know that availability is a major problem with some of the other game rental services.
Shipping Process: As I mentioned earlier, it took a week or so to receive the initial games, and I was concerned that the total return trip, confirmation of receipt, and then the shipping of the next game could really take a while.
But fear not ! Even for people like me in NYC, the total turn around has actually been less than a week for most of my games. How is this so ? Gamefly is using the power of technology to quicken the ‘confirmation’ / return process. They have partnered with the post office, so that as soon as the USPS scans the return envelope, they communicate that back to GameFly, and GameFly immediately ships out yor next game ( they call it FastReturn). pretty smart, eh ? here is the official blurb:
FastReturn will start the processing of your next game as soon as we receive confirmation from the U.S. Postal Service that a game has been returned in the mail. You may no longer need to wait until we receive the returned game in our warehouse before we send the next available game in Your GameQ!
How does FastReturn work?
When you return a game in the mail, the U.S. Postal Service will scan the return and send a confirmation to us. We will then send the next available game in Your GameQ BEFORE we have received the game in our warehouse.
Conclusion and thoughts after 1 month: So far so good. Between Xbox Live demos and new games arriving with GameFly I have no complaints. I think one immediate lesson of this experience is that it confirms that the day is drawing near where everything is on-demand. Why do we need NetFlix and services like GameFly ? With decent broadband access I’m happy to wait 2-3 hours to download a full game or movie. Don’t get me wrong, these serices have setup great businesses — but I wonder what these rental services plan to do when microsoft, sony, time warner, and others roll out full on-demand offerings ? Time will tell.
gamefly, xbox360
February 5th, 2006
We posted earlier about our game rental research, and how we selected GameFly. Now for an update.
Two games shipped on Jan 3rd, 2006. They both arrived on Tues Jan 10th. Given that it was shipped in CA, and I live in NYC, I was expecting it to take about a week, and was not surprised that it arrived on the 10th.
The games arrived in nice red envelopes with GameFly branding. I didn’t have a chance to open them up when they first arrived, and when I returned home later that day I could not find them ! Turns out my wife mistook the envelopes for AOL CD junk mail and tossed them ! I was quickly able to retrieve them from the top of the kitchen garbage, but a warning to all of you out there, they do look very much like promotional / junk mail :) I also was concerned that since they were marked as coming from GameFly that they would be targets for mail theft.
Inside the envelopes were pre paid envelopes for shipping it back. No instructions are included for the game, but they do post all the info on the GameFly site (ex: PGR3 ) — which is a nice touch. I now also have the option to purchase the game for $44.95, which if I choose to do, GameFly will send me the original case and manual.
I’ll post another update once I get a few rounds in of returning and requesting other games.
January 13th, 2006
With games near $60 a pop, and a solid number of launch titles now available, I explored the option of renting games.
Doing some research, I looked at the new services that have popped up which essentially mirror what NetFlix has accomplished — the removal of ‘late fees’ with the adoption of a subscription service.
I looked at the following: Gamerang, GameFly, and GameLender.
Gamerang Pros: 4 shipping centers; California, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Minnesota. $9.95 trial month is a nice touch. Site is useful with features such as reviews & ratings, and an easy to use search
Gamerang Cons: I was all set to signup until I checked the game availabilities. Without exception every game I wanted had a wait time — meaning it would not ship out immediately. I was surprised to see this, and hope they can get their inventory up to a better level.
GameFly Pros: Easy to use site. Trial offer for $14.95 is a good thing. All the games I was looking for were in stock and ready to ship. Prices to purchase/keep the games are competively priced ( FIFA 2006 for $44.95 and PGR3 for $38.99 — keep in mind these are pre-owned)
GameFly Cons: Only west coast location, so shipping to the east coast could take an extra day or two. Not the cheapest of the services I looked at.
GameLender Pros: Strong reviews online from fellow gamers, good selection, competitive pricing
GameLender Cons: Web site appears to be a bit out of date ( copyright still has 2004 ), shipping from the west coast, and no clear pricing that I could see if you wanted to keep the game.
In the end I chose GameFly. Two games are being shipped as we speak, so I’ll post a review of the overall experience once I’m a few cycles into this subscription.
Agree or diagree ? Got a service that’s even better ? Please let me know in the comments field below.
xbox360, gamerang, gamefly, gamelender, video game rental
January 3rd, 2006