Blockbuster and 360 games
 

Does any of the Blockbuster stores carry 360 games? I have checked all the ones around my area and not one carries any 360 games yet, and none of these have Game Rush located inside them either. I have some free rental coupons and I wanted to try a couple of games, but can'tDoes yours?

IGN article
Blockbuster Lacking Next-Gen Rentals
You'll need to find a Game Rush if you want your next-gen fix.
by Charles Onyett
December 20, 2005 - Making purchasing decisions after a slew of new video games release is always a difficult thing to do. With the Xbox 360, the decision is complicated even further by the fact that a majority of the games cost $60 instead of the standard $50. To find out which games are best for you, you can always check online reviews or actually head over to a video store to rent a few titles. After all, you'll only truly know if you like a game if you play it yourself.



If you've only got a Blockbuster outlet near you, though, you're out of luck. According to a number of stores contacted in New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, Blockbuster Video isn't renting any Xbox 360 games. Why? Nobody really seems to know. The employees and managers at the stores contacted would only say they were still waiting for their shipments to come in. There were no indications as to when exactly those shipments would actually arrive.

This is especially strange considering that competing stores such as Hollywood Video have had a selection of Xbox 360 titles since day one. Curious gamers can also check out Xbox 360 games through online rental services like Game-Fly. What exactly the situation is with Blockbuster is unknown, but for now you'll be required to spend your time browsing elsewhere if you're looking to rent games from the next generation. We're still waiting on an official word about what exactly is going on, once we do we can update the story with something more concrete.

UPDATED 12/21/2005: We were contacted by Blockbuster's corporate office today and told that not all Blockbuster corporate stores are currently renting Xbox 360 games. Rather, only Blockbuster stores that are paired with a Game Rush outlet are renting Xbox 360 games. It should be known that not every Blockbuster corporate store has a Game Rush, so to get your next-generation rental fix, you'll need to track down one of the combo stores. The shortage of Xbox 360 units in the United States appears to have been the underlying cause behind Blockbuster's decision not to stock all of its outlets with next-gen games. Here's Blockbuster's official statement:

"Since the launch of Xbox 360, all of Blockbuster's 448 GAME RUSH locations have been carrying Xbox 360 titles for rent.

"Blockbuster had planned a national 4th quarter launch of Xbox 360 software in its corporate stores, but with Microsoft shipping fewer than 400,000 hardware units into the marketplace at launch, it didn't make sense for BLOCKBUSTER corporate stores to carry the rental software on a national basis. We started with our GAME RUSH locations because that's where the early adopters tend to rent.

"As Microsoft gets more units into more customers' hands, BLOCKBUSTER will roll out rental software. We should have Xbox 360 titles available for rent in 2,000 Blockbuster corporate stores by early February and plan to complete the roll-out of the Xbox 360 rental software to the remainder of our corporate stores by mid-April."


Sounds like only at gamerushes for now.

i think it depends, there arent any gamerushes here, but most have 360 games at my local BB, guess it depends on if the franchisee feels it is worth renting them or not

The one I frequent does, but it is a GameRush store.

My blockbuster has them and its not a gamerush store. However they are $10 + tax!!!! What a joke.

The only place I've seen them for rent around here is Hollywood Video. It's 7.99 for a 5 day rental.

mine does, 7.99 for 7 days plus no late fees

My BBV Gamerush does rent X360 games, they got rid of all their GBA and NDS rentals to make room for them.

I do not have a Gamerush near me, they all seem to be in rough areas or 30 minutes away from me. There is one not too far from my work I may try Monday, no use in wasting 2 free rentals.