video game rental
 

are there any places where you can pay per rental of a game?
places like gamefly sucks because you pay a monthly charge and might not even get the game you are interested in if it is always out of stock.

Blockbuster B&M has this. but all their games are always out.
Any other places I can try?

There really aren't any ideal solutions. I'd be fine with Gamefly if they had something like a 1 out $9.99 a month plan as it would save me money. But I don't really game enough to justify 2 out at a time, much less at $22 or whatever it is now.

The B&M stores like you note have pathetic stock and its tough to find anything remotely new in stock.

So I've just resorted to mainly waiting for games to hit $20-30 and selling/trading on the forum here ones that aren't keepers to try to keep my costs down since I haven't found a good renting option.

Their 1 out plan is $15 a month.

Still a bit much as I doubt I average $15 a month on games in my yearly spending factoring in selling off/trading games that I beat.

how long would you need to wait for popular games like gears of war to become availible?

Gamefly makes a lot of sense if you're a serious gamer but can't afford to buy every game you'd like to try out. If you rent at least two per month you're getting a good deal. Sure, there are brick and mortar stores, but they've got zero selection and damaged games. Also don't bother with the smaller rental chains because they too have no selection.

And I just checked the gamefly site for Gears of War and it's "available now" for the xbox360.

with gamefly, is it possible to check the availibility of a game without being an active member ? If i sign up and don't renew my subscription afterwards, will I be able to check a game's availibility?

Uhmm... go to the website now and see for yourself?

i did. there is an icon that says "rent it" but doesnt tell u if it is availible.
I'm wondering what info i would get if I subscribed but let my membership expired. would I still have access to its availibiity even if my membership has expired?

Then I'm not sure.

See if it is possible to create a log in account there without actually signing up for a rental plan.

Other than that, then I guess we need to wait for a former Gamefly member who still can log in.

Any codes for Gamefly trial membership other than the standard 2 week deal?

I can give some info. I had canceled my Gamefly sub last year, and still visited the site...and you can indeed still tell the availability of games.

I've mentioned before that you can earn $10/mo in Gamefly credits by watching 20, 30 second commercials on Brightspot.tv

http://brightspot.tv

I signed up a few weeks ago and it only took me a few days to earn $10. They already sent the credit to my Gamefly account.

That means my 2 out account costs me about $12 and I only had to spend 10 minutes a month watching commercials.

any more info on how this works?
Do you just click on a link and let it run in the background or will you need to answer questions or do something to prove that you actually watched it?
how many do you need to watch?

You have to answer 3 multiple choice questions. So you definately have to be at your computer. But I can tell you that the website doesn't know if your sound volume is on or if you have another tab open. :)

So I should complete the free trial at Gamefly, sign-up for a plan after the free-trial, and then sign-up with brightspot?

It is also not like the Brightspot questions have much to do with the commercials watched (so it isn't like a quiz). Many times i will watch a Chevy ad and it asks a few general car questions. Then i watch the McDonald's ad and it asks the same exact car questions.

Supposedly they paid the 10$ on my Gamefly membership so i will see when i get my CC bill if Gamefly only charged me the lower price.

Also, if you join Gamefly almost all the games will show up short wait but unlike Netflix they actually ship. With Netflix it seems things are available or have a wait but with Gamefly it is like everything is flagged with a wait whether it is available or not.

My Gamefly account acknowledges the $10 credit, but I haven't seen how it's been applied against my bill yet. But you're right about the questions... You're also right about the "short wait" thing. Most of my "short waits" ship.

Gamefly has changed their availability names/descriptions:


Available Now - Game is in stock
High Availability - 75% or greater likelihood of shipping today
Medium Availability - 50% to 74% likelihood of shipping today
Low Availability - 25% to 49% likelihood of shipping today
Very Low Availability - Less than 25% likelihood of shipping today

I am currently using Gameznflix and am cancelling this month. The only complaint I have with them is availabilty they have no new releases(movies or games) and I never get items that are ranked high in my queue(old games like FNR 3 and king kong), however their shipping times are amazing.

I just read that Gamefly just officially opened a new distribution center today in Pittsburgh so I am thinking about giving them a try, but being in Florida I am not close to either shipping location. I'm just wary of them because of what I have read about how long it can take to receive a game.

Also, has anyone tried Gottaplay.com they have the same prices as Gamefly and list several distribution centers one in GA which is not far.

http://www.gameznflix.com

Sign up with Coupon Code emmys - 3 out at a time for ~$13 a month.

Gottaplay shipped 1 game in my 10 day trial (on a 2 out at a time) so I cancelled it.

I checked, my last bill was $12.95 after the $10 credit. Great price for 2/out imo.

I can not even justify $13 for gameznflix they have no new games or movies they are always on order.

Thanks for the info about gottaplay. I will try gamefly next month i guess.

I've had an OK experience with gameznflix. Got the following games last month - ArmoredCore4,GRAW2,R6LV. Fairly new games. Takes about 2-3 days for them to receive a game and another 2-3 days for them to send another in.

My experience with them was fine until recently. Everything I want is "on order" some of the movies and games came out over a month ago. They don't even list Command & Conquer for 360 which came out this week. I do like that they use fast return, usually if I drop something in the mailbox in the morning that night it is shown as returned. I wish Netflix rented games.

Me and a friend of mine both had our credit cards numbers stolen in the last few days.
I use this particular card exclusively with Gameznflix and he uses the card for them and his verizon bill.

Seems kind of odd.

Well I go up update my card information to a new card and well... even the new card entry form is not secure. Check your card activity if you use them to be sure.

This is too great to last long. I give it 6 months. But I will definitely take advantage of it while I can.

The ads dried up for me after two and a half months.

That's a shame. But two months at a discount is better than no months at a discount. I still wish there was a viable competitor for Gamefly so they would lower their prices a bit. I'm pretty happy with their service, but I would be happier if it was a sub $20 monthly fee.

I'm "one out" at $15 a month which is ridiculous with their 7 day turnaround time. Brightspot helped a bunch, but now that has dried up I will probably dump them around January after I try out all these new releases this fall.

I liked Gameznflix for awhile then it started becoming frustrating. Never getting the title I wanted. You can't beat $9.00 for one out. Their website and inventory needs work, too IMO. I switched to Gamefly and its been great so far but $15 plus tax equals $17 and that's a bit much. Especially if I don't finish a game in a month's time.

Yeah, I really only want to do one out at a time, but the GF pricing is just ridiculous for that, when the games I'm renting can be bought used for $20-$30. The two out at a time makes more sense.

Go to Gamestop and buy a used game and just return it within seven days. No questons asked and you have a free rental.

As long as you a buy another game and keep that one, you'll be fine. They do keep track of excessive returns.

I usually try one I want to play for a bit then return it and buy something I will keep.