Hey all,
For those that have ever wondered about renting video games, let me share my experience with you in a 6 month adventure of Online video game rental websites. This experiment is real, used my money and taught me several things.
To start with, as most know, I am an avid Xbox360 gamer. I love playing games with friends online and even play some with friends and my loving wife at home (She loves to race). In the past months, when a game came out, I would look for a deal but would buy it at the store for the whopping prices of $50 or $60 only to see that the rest of my xbox friends (Some are long time friends) would move on to the next game a few weeks later, leaving me with the game that use-to-be played [see GRAW2, Shadowrun, and a few others]. Feeling like I was loosing money big time, I decided to test the rental market to see if things would improve anymore and save me some cash. Since we have and love Netflix, the online rental/mail it back option seemed to be the best and only deal around
MY Disclaimer: I live in NJ- if you live in a different part of the country, select appropriately, but know that sometimes, closer does not mean faster (See Gamerang).
PRE-FIGHT: Getting info- After doing an online search for game rental, several sites came up and a few I heard of before - Gamefly, Gamerang.. and several others.
I found THIS review site that listed the websites, what they offered and their ranking based on some basic criteria:
a) Feature Set
b) game selection choices
c) website usage / searching
d) game arrival times
e) number of renting plans
At the time (May 07), one of the top rental sites was Gameznflix. They offered one game unlimited for $8.95 a month - CHEEP!! AND the had 1st class mail shipping. When I asked some clan members, 2 of them actually used it and liked it.... so if its good for them....
ROUND 1:
GAMEZNFLIX: ... It must be for me! So, I went to their website, registered my email address, picked some games, and I was off and running. Within a few days, a game was in my mailbox waiting for me to play it - Command and Conquer 3; Lots of fun but I did like the fact that since it was a rental, I had no obligation to keep it for any length of time. I found it nice to be able to just send it back when I was done with it, and get the next one in the mail.
It was only after about a month of this did I find why they were not #1 on the list; Game selection. Their selection was about 30 games total for XBOX 360. 30 games. That did not include the new releases either, but I know for a fact that there are more than 30 games for the xbox out now. When Call of Juarez was announced, I thought - yea, I can rent that one - it might be like GUN, but newer.. so I made it my #1 game on the rental list. I then started up a spreadsheet with the games, dates shipped, dates received and dates returned to keep a running tab on things.
One thing I found positive with them is their turn-around was amazing. 3 days total. I would ship a game out on Monday and the next game was there by Thursday. The most I waited was over the 4th of July weekend, and that was only cause the USPS takes the day off. Simply Fast from Georgia.
BUT, I was very upset when my #1 choice was always never in stock. Not only was it never there, but other newer games were not there either - I'm talking about 3 month old games, like GRAW2 and Transformers. These games were released in the summer time and they were not even an option to rent!! The only ones I could rent were the older games - 1 year or more older; It was then I decided to go back to the rental review site and see who else was rated higher..
ROUND 2:
GAMERANG- I found their #1 pick to be Gamerang. Not sure why or how, but it was their top choice. After looking at their website, i found some interesting things about them that really seemed to appeal to me:
1- they have 4 shipping centers, one of which is here in NJ (By NYC)
2- good selection of new games
3- a 2 month for $20 plan offer with WIRED magazine for free. (Hey!)
So, I decided "Forget gamenflix - they offer no new games - and I never did see that Call of Juarez game..." so I opened a gamerang account in early August to test them and compare em out. M first selection was a new game - it shipped out the same day (Tuesday) and 3 days later I had it (Friday): Madden 08 football. It was excellent timing too, as we have our football draft in august at my place, and madden was a hit over the weekend. I thought - This is a good thing...
Since this was it, on Sept 11th, I closed my Gameznflix account and kept the gamerang account - single game a month plan. Since it was $20 for the 2 months, that was almost the same price as before anyways, so why not. Their selection was much better than gameznflix and since their shipping center was up the road 2 hours away, I thought 'This is it.. finally..' I made my selection list about 10 games long, and had new and old titles on it..
My first warning sign of a bad rental website was the 2nd game: Tiger woods golf. When I returned Madden back, it shipped on the 30th from my house; On the 5th of September, I emailed gamerang and reported a shipping problem - returned game not found. I asked about the next one too, but since it was over the holiday weekend, I put it off and attributed the delay to the USPS factor. On the 6th, I got noticed that the tiger woods game shipped on the 5th and would arrive around the 11th.. THE 11TH!! WTF! 5 days to ship down the NJTP?? Is a mule carring the stupid thing?? After calling their west coast, 4 hour phone number, I got hold of a guy. "Hello.."; I replied 'Yes, I returned a game on the 30th and now I show that my next selection is going to take 5 days to get down the turnpike - what gives??". He then informed me that the game was being shipped from another center and that gamerang chooses the game selection over the shipping location. Sorry - 'I gotta wait' was the response I got.
12 days later, I had the next game at my door. 12 days (sept 11th) . Yes, Labor day weekend.. but give me a break. ok- call it a fluke, I played golf for several days that week and had some fun, but found it too realistic for me. Back in the mailer it goes - Sept 17th. I figured that the next game should be faster since this one would be returned back to NJ shipping center. The next game (Call of Juarez) shipped from gamerang on the 24th and est arrival home was the 29th - WHAT GIVES!! 10 day turn around???
I called my USPS buddy and asked about shipping rates, and how it ships. Since all the mailers were deemed 1st class, there should be no reason why the games returned should take more than 3 days. So Why was I getting 4-5 days each direction??
This happened to all the rest of the games too - not only did it take 7-10 days on average to ship and return a new game to me, but at times games were listed as 'available' i had a rental at home. By the time gamerang listed my returned game back, the 'available' games were gone and I got the next option...
That was it. time to find another game rental site....and give gamerang a final test of will.
Round 3:
GameFly- Gamefly was one of the first and after looking at the reviews of it found that they offered renters some good deals.
a) good intro prices - FREE!
b) excellent selection and easy to use website
c) Gamefly bucks- basically you get a discount on rentals for each month you are a member.. and so on. EX: After 6 months, you earned $20 of discount towards a used game. Not bad at all!
They now have 2 shipping centers - LA and Pittsburgh - WOOT - the 'Burgh!! (Note : this is a sign of good things..), so I took the 2 week trial offer for free, loaded 5-6 games into the game 'Q' and waited for the fun to being. This better work....
MY TEST: Since I was on a free trial period, I decided to test them out. If I rented one game from gamerang and another from gamefly, who would give me the next selection faster?? I made the game Q look identical and waited.
1)* GAMEFLY: 2 games arrived 2 days later. Assassin creed and Simpsons; Simpsons was my 'test game'.
* GAMERANG: sent me Burnout 4; This was their 'test game'.
2) On the 30th, we played both games - Simpson's and the racing game. Both were then out back into the pre-paid envelopes, and mailed out to the usual USPS box on the corner on Saturday afternoon before the pickup for the day (2pm). Now we wait and see..
*Monday, Dec 3rd: Gamefly emailed my MONDAY AFTERNOON - "We received your shipment of Simpsons.. " (WOW).
*Tuesday, Dec 4th: Gamefly emails me back - we shipped your next game: Skate. huh?? That was last on the list... guess the hot titles are still too hot...
*Thursday, Dec 6th: Gamerang - website shows that they finally received my game and shipped the next title (Mass effect); game will arrive on the 10th.. typical 5 day shipping for them..
*Also on Thursday, my mail has the Gamefly game included- Skate.
WINNER: Gamefly wins. Excellent website, good selection, coupons towards used games, and fast shipping make it worth the $15 a month.
I then went to their website, changed my plan to 1-per-month for $15, and will return a game (or both) very soon. On the 14th, I will then log into gamerang and send them a copy of my excel sheet with all the rentals.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1- KEEP YOUR LISTS SHORT: If you give the rental websites alot of selections, what you get in the mail will not always be the #1 game; keep 2-3 on your online list and keep a master list off line (Excel or Word..)
2- LOOK FOR A DEAL: coupons or free 2 month/ cheep month offers will get you started.
3- BE PATIENT: ...but not too patient. 3-5 day turnaround is what I expect, not 10-12.
I will post some screen shots of the Excel sheet and can email it to you if you want - just let me know!
Good luck!
