Direct2Drives Rolls Out Virtual Game Rentals
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Yeah... considering gamefly gives 1 out at a time for as long as you like for 15-20$ a month, 5$ for 5 hours is a load. I might be able to consider 5$ per week and that would put it into a more competitive bracket, but still would only be viable if your able to rent multiple games at a time.
This is a great beginning for PC gamers. Please stop comparing this to 'renting a game for a week' because that option is sadly limited to consoles (unless someone knows of an alternative I don't know about, please inform me if there is one currently), not PC games. Obviously, there are a lot of ways to rent games for consoles, but there aren't many ways to rent PC games. Not everyone who is a gamer owns a dedicated console, and if they add more titles and the ability to extend the rental period at 5 hour increments, this may be a great way to try out or play games.
I can picture 3 great uses for this service:
1) Try out a game you think you might buy to see if you like it (especially multiplayer games, which generally aren't covered well in reviews or Let's Play type videos)
2) See if your gaming rig can actually play a particular PC game
3) Pay only $5 to play a particularly short game so you don't feel obligated to pay $40-50 for a game less than 5 hours (and if they add the ability to extend a rental, you could play a <10 hour game for still less than full price)
For any of those 3 purposes, this is a great way to get PC gaming rentals started. It still sucks for PC gamers who don't have internet access, though. There is something to be said for those demo CDs that used to be in gaming magazines...
I can picture 3 great uses for this service:
1) Try out a game you think you might buy to see if you like it (especially multiplayer games, which generally aren't covered well in reviews or Let's Play type videos)
2) See if your gaming rig can actually play a particular PC game
3) Pay only $5 to play a particularly short game so you don't feel obligated to pay $40-50 for a game less than 5 hours (and if they add the ability to extend a rental, you could play a <10 hour game for still less than full price)
For any of those 3 purposes, this is a great way to get PC gaming rentals started. It still sucks for PC gamers who don't have internet access, though. There is something to be said for those demo CDs that used to be in gaming magazines...
Great idea, and I hope it catches on.. though at that price point (and with those games) I'm not sure I can see it doing so. Seeing as how one of the main excuses given by PC pirates is that there is no way to rent/try before you buy/check compatibility for PC titles, it would be nice to see this go mainstream if for no other reason than to give pirates one less excuse.
As for those comparing this to a demo.. um, it doesn't equate to a demo because it's not a demo. This is the full game just with a limited play time. I'm not knocking demos at all, and I love them too, but a demo is a selected chunk of gameplay that's created with the intent of being a mix of both trial and teaser for the full experience. Creating a compelling demo can and does often take development time away from the crafting of the finished product. This rental system, however, would take no focus what so ever away from the development process. Another plus for the demo system is that it is automatically 100% more indicative of what the full game is like as opposed to demos where that is not always the case (a la Brutal Legend).
As for those comparing this to a demo.. um, it doesn't equate to a demo because it's not a demo. This is the full game just with a limited play time. I'm not knocking demos at all, and I love them too, but a demo is a selected chunk of gameplay that's created with the intent of being a mix of both trial and teaser for the full experience. Creating a compelling demo can and does often take development time away from the crafting of the finished product. This rental system, however, would take no focus what so ever away from the development process. Another plus for the demo system is that it is automatically 100% more indicative of what the full game is like as opposed to demos where that is not always the case (a la Brutal Legend).
Interesting idea...Someone holler at me if it ever gets Civ5. I'm really curious to see if it's the load of bollocks that everyone says it is, but I don't want to pay for it, just to find out that I wasted my money.
It's not five hours from the rental, it's five hours all up; as in, you could space the 5 hours out however you'd want to, so long as it amounts to up to five hours of total playtime.Tyranicus said:
Yes, Onlive offers both longer rentals at the same prices as well as free demos. So D2D is too overpriced on this. I guess we'll see how many games get opened up for rentals. Demos have been getting fewer and fewer over the years, and this will probably be the death knell for them.josh797 said:
Yes, that is quite backwards. I've never had a problem with it, but then again, I take a loooong time to decide on game purchases, and I usually buy years after a title's been released, so its more affordable. >.>Assassin Xaero said:
I do have a few demo discs from the 90's, but I suppose many titles don't do demos these days.