Thoughts on renting Xbox 360 games
January 3rd, 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GameLender Cons: Web site appears to be a bit out of date ( copyright still has 2004 ), shipping from the west coast, and no clear pricing that I could see if you wanted to keep the game.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
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Entry Filed under: Deals, games, game rental
5 Comments Add your own
1. HDTV Xbox 360 Gaming &raq&hellip | January 13th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
[…] We posted earlier about our game rental research, and how we selected GameFly. Now for an update. […]
2. HDTV Xbox 360 Gaming &raq&hellip | February 5th, 2006 at 11:36 am
[…] Original review, update #1 […]
3. Mack | February 18th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
I’d be cautious about Gamefly. Do a search online and you’ll see dozens of complaints regarding shipping problems and people being billed for games not received.
I’ve used Gamelender and they were ok but were also very backed up for Xbox 360 games. They were very difficult to get due to poor availability.
4. admin | February 18th, 2006 at 5:50 pm
thanks for your comments.
i’ve now rented about 6 games from GameFly and so far so good.
but i’ll definitely make a post if I have any trouble with the service …
5. admin | September 30th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
one more update: I’m now several months into my subscription, and so far one game did get lost on return. I filled out a form, and it was quickly responded to, and the next game in the queue was promptly shipped.
Maybe I’m lucky, but so far this service has lived up to my expectations.
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