Poll: Is renting worth it?

[pieeater911]

I live rather far away from any place where I can rent video-games. The closest place to me is at least thirty minutes away.

So I see commercials and online ads for renting online.

You make a list of games you want, and they ship it straight to your door. When you're bored of the game you send it back and they send you the next one. Or if it is an awesome game, you can buy it. This 'sounds' like a good system to me, but I was just wondering, is it?

P.S.: I did a search for this subject and nothing came up so....yeah.

[moderator removed advertising links feel free to make suggestions]

 

[SargentToughie]

I've never used it, but I've heard others say that it's awesome

 

[lukemdizzle]

I had It for a wile and it was not worth it. games don't move as fast as movies so maybe a game you want to play comes out once a month but you cant rent that game for a month after it comes out because its sold out for ever and even when you can rent it they take a week to mail it to your house. so you probably end up playing a game every two months which isn't worth the price

 

[a big stupid idiot]

Its defiantly worth it, granted depending on where you live it could take a while to get the games (I live in New York so my games take 4 days) but its defiantly worth it.

 

[Shadow Tyrant]

It's probably alright. I mean, it's just like renting, but you don't have to return it within a week or two weeks or whatever. The only problem is getting pack and forth to the post office. I mean, I guess it's not much of a problem if you have a car but some of us can't drive. [/bitter]

My issue with renting is that if I play the game and I like it, and then a few months later I want to go back and play it again, I can't. I'd have to go rent it again. And then I have to keep the file on my memory card for a game I don't even own anymore, so it just sits there taking up space.

My two cents? Go with Goozex. [http://www.goozex.com/trading/asp/join.asp?idr=553903162726] There's much more options, it's only $1 per trade, and you can keep the game if you want. Not only that, but you can send in your old games to trade for new ones. And the most expensive a game can be is $50, and a majority of them are less than that. The game's value depends on its popularity. You can get most old titles for 100 points, which is $5. It's really cheap. The only downside is that there's usually a really long waiting list for the popular games. But that's enough of my shameless advertising.

Gamefly is a good service, I just don't like renting.

 

[Dr_Baron_von_Evilsatan]

I've been using it for a little under a year and I have to say it's been working out great. There have been a few problems(one game lost in the mail on the way there, one game was unplayable, and one game took 10 days to get here), but all-in-all it's been excellent service and I haven't been accused/charged for the missing game and the one that didn't work. I have a 6 day waiting period between when I mail a game, and when I get the new one. Back in college it only took 4.

The only problem is getting pack and forth to the post office. I mean, I guess it's not much of a problem if you have a car but some of us can't drive. [/bitter]

It's probably a lot easier if you have a mailbox

 

[kanyatta]

I've looked into it, but it's way more expensive than just running down to the video store. The monthly membership on top of renting the games. I've never actually used it, but at the rate I rent video games, it would cost me almost twice as much.

 

[Shadow Tyrant]

It's probably a lot easier if you have a mailbox

Some of us also don't have stamps nor know how that little red flag deal works. >_>

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

It's probably a lot easier if you have a mailbox

Some of us also don't have stamps nor know how that little red flag deal works. >_>

If you use gamefly the package comes with stamps, And you raise the red flag when you want mail to be picked up.

Also gameflys a great U.S service, Your game will most likely be at your door in 2 days, and if you live in a city it will only take 3 days to get another if the post office has scanning equipment, 5 otherwise.

 

[Dr_Baron_von_Evilsatan]

I've looked into it, but it's way more expensive than just running down to the video store. The monthly membership on top of renting the games. I've never actually used it, but at the rate I rent video games, it would cost me almost twice as much.

You only have to pay the monthly fee.

 

[mark_n_b]

I live rather far away from any place where I can rent video-games. The closest place to me is at least thirty minutes away.

Thirty minutes away is rather far away? I feel a little bit bad for you, your world sounds very small. A half hour is not that long a trip.

In fact, I would say given you only live a half an hour away from a rental place, it is likely more convenient than mail order rental services.

Seriously though, what is that? A bike ride? A bus trip? A brisk walk? When I was going to college in Edmonton I used to drive for a half an hour from Gibbons to the city then take a train for another half hour to get to school (this is a city and town from my old homestead, Google Maps if you're curious) Daily.

I suppose if you live on a farm and need your parents to give you a ride... Tough for me to understand that, I'm a townie who has owned a car since before I could legally drive the thing unsupervised.

 

[pieeater911]

I've looked into it, but it's way more expensive than just running down to the video store. The monthly membership on top of renting the games. I've never actually used it, but at the rate I rent video games, it would cost me almost twice as much.

Well it's only the monthly fee, and you can get whatever games you want in that month. But in the end it would be cheaper for me to rent online because it's an hour round trip for me to go to my nearest game rental place.

Anyway, I was just asking about the quality more than anything. Like, if there are any major problems anyone has experienced using an online rental service. (ie, scratched up disks, amazingly long mailing times, that sort of thing)

 

[pieeater911]

I live rather far away from any place where I can rent video-games. The closest place to me is at least thirty minutes away.

Thirty minutes away is rather far away? I feel a little bit bad for you, your world sounds very small. A half hour is not that long a trip.

In fact, I would say given you only live a half an hour away from a rental place, it is likely more convenient than mail order rental services.

Seriously though, what is that? A bike ride? A bus trip? A brisk walk? When I was going to college in Edmonton I used to drive for a half an hour from Gibbons to the city then take a train for another half hour to get to school (this is a city and town from my old homestead, Google Maps if you're curious) Daily.

I suppose if you live on a farm and need your parents to give you a ride... Tough for me to understand that, I'm a townie who has owned a car since before I could legally drive the thing unsupervised.

I know half an hour isn't a long trip, but have you seen gas prices lately?

It's an hour round trip in an SUV. An SUV. That thing gets horrid gas mileage, and as of now it's going to be a long time before I can afford something a bit more economically feasible.

A bike ride along a highway that has no bike lane of any sort, with cars speeding past me at about seventy miles an hour isn't exactly my cup of tea, and there are no buses along where I live.

And the post office is only about three minutes away.

And I don't live on a farm, I just live in the country.

My world is not small, it's just expensive to get around in.

 

[vasudean]

renting is somewhat worth it, but the online rental service is like a double-edged sword. The fact that you can just send it back when you damn well please with no punishment for not taking care of said game disc is a nice feature in case it was an accidental scratch, but the same thing gives no drive to take care of it, thus sometimes when you get it in the mail, it looks like someone decided to put it on the ground and spin around on it because they either didn't like the game, or they just wanted to be a douche. It's all depending on where you live and how you buy games.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

May I suggest gamefly again? 22$ a month gets you two games out a time, The disks are perfect whenever I get them. Comes fast, Usually taking 2-3 days to get to your house depending on distance from the four factorys. The only complaint I have is how many new games they do not have. It pisses me off cause I got a big list of games up so I can't send a game in and wait until said game comes out. No I have to wait until said game has been shiped back to pick it up most times.

 

[keeprunning]

I also have to recommended Gamefly. I've mentioned i use them before. Renting is really easy from them. But they also have incredible prices when you do want to buy a game. I have 10% off (longer your a memeber bigger the discount)+ $5 in reward dollars, which would make Assassins Creed $13!

They also really fixed the shipping times by opening more distribution center and the fast return helps. I'm at about 2 days consistently to get a game. Never had any issues, discs always work and are clean. They've been around a long time so they have it together.

Bullitinmybrain I see what your saying about the new titles. They do get all the new games on release, but yeah big new releases can take a little longer, because of demand and there is not due date so people keep them for a while. I got just Soul Caliber IV and it just released last week, also got GTAIV pretty close to release and then kept it for like $40, so it's not impossible.

Thing is when you buy 2 new games at reatail, its about $120 and that is like 8 months of renting from gamefly. So the monthly fee turns out to be a bargain. You can play a lot more than just 2 games in 8 months and you can buy or keep your favs at really good prices.

 

[Spartan Bannana]

I've heard that gamefly is good

 

[Hamster at Dawn]

Yeah, it's definitely a good idea. I used to buy ALL my games but half of the ones I bought I didn't get my money's worth imho so now I've started renting games off the internet and I have unlimited entertainment at a greatly reduced price!

 

[keeprunning]

Yeah me to, but even buying games and dealing with selling them on ebay or something is a pain. I can rent and end up buying the real A+ I know i'll play a lot. haven't tried it yet but gamefly is now doing trade-in for credit. might get rid of some oldies for a free month or two.

guess xbox live is teamming up with them:
$6 for a 30 day trial and 400 Microsoft Points, not bad.
http://www.gamefly.com/live

 

[Blazsy]

Renting games is not my kinda thing, execpt for avatar for the easy achievement points