Rent Videogames At Your Supermarket with Red Box

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
Rent Videogames At Your Supermarket with Red Box



After testing, Red Box is going mainstream with videogame rentals for $2/day.

Those big red boxes are a fixture throughout the southern United States. Here in Durham, N.C., I've seen lines of people ten deep to rent or return DVDs. Red Box cuts the costs of stocking and manning shelves by reducing rentals to kiosk form. You put in your money and the box spits out a DVD. You then just drop the DVD back in any Red Box machine the next day. If you're late, you just pay another dollar. The $1 a day and simple interface makes it ideal to quickly grab whatever you or your family wants to watch that night. After testing in select areas since July, Red Boxes will now offer videogame rentals in addition to movies for the low price of $2 a day. Games won't be offered at every one of its 44,000 kiosks, but you can check your zip code at the Red Box website for availability [http://www.redbox.com/ads/games.aspx?om_rid=CF7dIC&cid=EM:_BMsiAwB8VDjmpF] in your area. The videogame rollout will happen later this month.

Luckily, there are quite a few Red Boxes that will offer videogames in the Raleigh-Durham area. Also, Beverly Hills 90210 [http://www.redbox.com/content.mvc/storegrouplisting?z=90210&g=Games] has got a few nearby.

I'm not a big user of Red Boxes, I prefer to get my movies streamed over Netflix, but I could see how grabbing a quick videogame to play for a couple days might be really convenient. It will also give me something to browse when the wife needs to pick up some milk, eggs and "feminine products."

Source: Xbox 360 digest [http://www.xbox360digest.com/2010/10/10/redbox-video-game-rentals-coming-later-this-month/]

Permalink
 

Mr.Pandah

Pandah Extremist
Jul 20, 2008
3,967
0
0
A lot of those hacked Wii's that are out there are going to get some use with this introduction. Pretty cool though, I've never used Red Box honestly but I might give it a shot if I see a game I'm generally interested in considering the only Red Box I know of is only about 5 minutes away from me.
 

Giest4life

The Saucepan Man
Feb 13, 2010
1,554
0
0
Ass. Red Box isn't providing any video games in my area, yet. Red Box is such a good alternative to demos, this way I can get a game for dirt cheap, check out it's full features, and then decided if I want to buy a game. Damn, damn.
 

Z of the Na'vi

Born with one kidney.
Apr 27, 2009
5,034
0
0
So let me get this straight. I can, right now, rent a Xbox 360 game for $5 and that will last me 8 days at Blockbuster. Now that they are going out of business, I'm going to have to pay $16 for the same treatment?

Well, this sucks.
 

uppitycracker

New member
Oct 9, 2008
864
0
0
They've already been stocking PS3 and Xbox 360 games in the Red Box next to my house. Only the blu ray movies and games are 2 bucks a day tho, regular movies are still a buck.
 

Jon Etheridge

Appsro Animation
Apr 28, 2009
1,384
0
0
This is pretty neat..... but I'm waiting for something like Netflix if I ever go back to renting games. Late fees and daily charges are bullshit.
 

BlueHighwind

New member
Jan 24, 2010
363
0
0
I've never been a huge fan of renting video games, since I prefer longer titles that take at least a month to finish completely. But at for things like Metroid Other M, I'd love to just have it for a weekend to finish up (I still want to play that game...).
 

LastMondaysHangover

New member
Oct 4, 2010
171
0
0
Jon Etheridge said:
This is pretty neat..... but I'm waiting for something like Netflix if I ever go back to renting games. Late fees and daily charges are bullshit.
Yes, if only there was a service where you could games through the mail when you rent them online. It sure would be a swell idea to get your games on the fly, yessir...

I kid...
 

SelectivelyEvil13

New member
Jul 28, 2010
956
0
0
Z of the Na said:
So let me get this straight. I can, right now, rent a Xbox 360 game for $5 and that will last me 8 days at Blockbuster. Now that they are going out of business, I'm going to have to pay $16 for the same treatment?

Well, this sucks.
Agreed. With a relatively cheap movie/game pass, you get infinite rentals for any game, blu-ray, or DVD in the store by switching it out. Two bucks a day sounds good at first, but it will add up in a flash if you don't keep tabs on how long you've been holding onto the game.

I'm not enthralled with the movie selection in the Red Boxes, so I can only imagine that the game versions will also be rather limited, even with new releases.
 

Omnific One

New member
Apr 3, 2010
935
0
0
And now Blockbuster's video game division is completely screwed. Many of the big games (MW2, etc) can be played in an afternoon. Heck, most games can be completed in a Saturday.

Also, where can you find $5 rentals at Blockbuster for 8 days? Mine is $7 for a single day.
 

duchaked

New member
Dec 25, 2008
4,451
0
0
Greg Tito said:
Luckily, there are quite a few Red Boxes that will offer videogames in the Raleigh-Durham area.
sweet, sounds good to me. maybe try it out (for those games that take me less than a week to beat)

altho this time RedBox doesn't beat Blockbuster, which rents games at around $9 for about 6 days ($1 movie rental was huge before cuz Blockbuster was charing like $5-6 for a movie rental)
 

jericu

New member
Oct 22, 2008
152
0
0
This seems like a massive rip-off for me. Many games, unless played in one mega-marathon playthrough, can't be completed in a single day. This makes the "only $2 a day" deal much more expensive, probably at least four dollars for a shorter game. Compared to the movie service of one dollar a day this is very expensive, especially considering that movies can, and are supposed to be, watched in a single sitting. God help the guy who tries to get Mass Effect or Fallout 3 through this, it'd be cheaper to just buy the damn game!
 

Cadapalo

New member
Jun 8, 2010
75
0
0
jericu said:
This seems like a massive rip-off for me. Many games, unless played in one mega-marathon playthrough, can't be completed in a single day. This makes the "only $2 a day" deal much more expensive, probably at least four dollars for a shorter game. Compared to the movie service of one dollar a day this is very expensive, especially considering that movies can, and are supposed to be, watched in a single sitting. God help the guy who tries to get Mass Effect or Fallout 3 through this, it'd be cheaper to just buy the damn game!
Your missing the main idea behind this change. Its not so you can rent a game and keep it for a month or until you pass it. Its so people can take a game home try it out and determine if its worth the buy.

LastMondaysHangover said:
Yes, if only there was a service where you could games through the mail when you rent them online. It sure would be a swell idea to get your games on the fly, yessir...

I kid...
I tried out gamefly once and it sucked. The games took forever to get to my house and get returned so I really only played maybe one or 2 games a month. Not really worth the wait if you ask me. Though I do notice the price has dropped significantly since I tried it.
 

Rednog

New member
Nov 3, 2008
3,567
0
0
Omnific One said:
And now Blockbuster's video game division is completely screwed. Many of the big games (MW2, etc) can be played in an afternoon. Heck, most games can be completed in a Saturday.

Also, where can you find $5 rentals at Blockbuster for 8 days? Mine is $7 for a single day.
I'm sorry but I have to call bs on this. $7 for a single day of rental from a Blockbuster. No way in hell. No company/store is dumb enough to have such a ripoff and no person is dumb enough to pay that much for a single day of gaming.
 

BlindMessiah94

The 94th Blind Messiah
Nov 12, 2009
2,654
0
0
Rednog said:
Omnific One said:
And now Blockbuster's video game division is completely screwed. Many of the big games (MW2, etc) can be played in an afternoon. Heck, most games can be completed in a Saturday.

Also, where can you find $5 rentals at Blockbuster for 8 days? Mine is $7 for a single day.
I'm sorry but I have to call bs on this. $7 for a single day of rental from a Blockbuster. No way in hell. No company/store is dumb enough to have such a ripoff and no person is dumb enough to pay that much for a single day of gaming.
No, that's pretty average. I don't know where your magical $5 8 day rental is coming from, but here Rogers Plus charges $9 to rent a game for 2 days. I haven't rented a game since the PS2 era because of these prices.
 

jericu

New member
Oct 22, 2008
152
0
0
Cadapalo said:
jericu said:
This seems like a massive rip-off for me. Many games, unless played in one mega-marathon playthrough, can't be completed in a single day. This makes the "only $2 a day" deal much more expensive, probably at least four dollars for a shorter game. Compared to the movie service of one dollar a day this is very expensive, especially considering that movies can, and are supposed to be, watched in a single sitting. God help the guy who tries to get Mass Effect or Fallout 3 through this, it'd be cheaper to just buy the damn game!
Your missing the main idea behind this change. Its not so you can rent a game and keep it for a month or until you pass it. Its so people can take a game home try it out and determine if its worth the buy.

LastMondaysHangover said:
Yes, if only there was a service where you could games through the mail when you rent them online. It sure would be a swell idea to get your games on the fly, yessir...

I kid...
I tried out gamefly once and it sucked. The games took forever to get to my house and get returned so I really only played maybe one or 2 games a month. Not really worth the wait if you ask me. Though I do notice the price has dropped significantly since I tried it.
If I wanted to see if I'd like a game, I'd check reviews, or ask around for opinions. I won't spend money to rent a game that's probably already been out for a while to see, quite a while after the fact, if I want to buy it. I've gone this long without needed to rent games a month after they've been released to determine if I want them, and I won't stop now.
 

Erana

New member
Feb 28, 2008
8,010
0
0
SelectivelyEvil13 said:
Z of the Na said:
So let me get this straight. I can, right now, rent a Xbox 360 game for $5 and that will last me 8 days at Blockbuster. Now that they are going out of business, I'm going to have to pay $16 for the same treatment?

Well, this sucks.
Agreed. With a relatively cheap movie/game pass, you get infinite rentals for any game, blu-ray, or DVD in the store by switching it out. Two bucks a day sounds good at first, but it will add up in a flash if you don't keep tabs on how long you've been holding onto the game.

I'm not enthralled with the movie selection in the Red Boxes, so I can only imagine that the game versions will also be rather limited, even with new releases.
Limited selection, deceptive pricing strategy...
I hate Red Box. And I don't hate many things.
I prefer Blockbuster. There's something nice about browsing a store, getting to know the people who work there, and of course the midnight return drives with the wind blowing through my hair as the myst from the nearby lake turns the whole scene into a painting...

But yeah, I'm all for the actual physical experience. It makes the movies all the more special. Why do so many people not want to actually come face to face with the people that provide them services these days?