Review: RedOctane Game Rental Service

An anonymous reader writes "Are you thinking of subscribing to the RedOctane game rental service? If so, you may wish to read this review before signing up. Bottom line? Slow turnaound times make it uncompetitive with local rentals."

Depends on the gamer

[Skadet]

I don't game that much, so my local video store works fine for me. They'll give you 2 games for 7 days for $10. Taking into consideration the waiting time involved with RedOctane, the store in town's a better deal.

I imagine RedOctane's main draw will be for gamers who want to play imports or other hard-to-find titles. Their selection definately can't be beat.

Re:NetFlix was just as bad...

[Frank of Earth]

I must have joined after the depot opened in NYC because I have great turn around time. In face, the only lag I have found is with myself making time to watch the movies.

I thought I would actually run out of videos to rent after a few months but I still have 15+ in my rental queue.

A lot of people compare Netflix to the BallBuster monthly plans but the beauty of Netflix is that you don't have to go the video store with all the other morons and walk around like an idiot trying to find a video to rent. I can just sit back and relax on my laptop, read reviews and pick the videos I want to see. Since I always have three videos in my possession, I never have to worry about getting movies for a rainy day.

Not to totally bash BallBusters, but check this out:

Q: Does BLOCKBUSTER edit the movies in the store?
A: No, Blockbuster does not edit the content of its films. But whenever able, Blockbuster will order 'edited for content' versions from the studios that go light on displays of violent or sexual nature.

There is no mention of this tactic anywhere on their website, and the worst part is that most of the rentals don't mention anywhere on the packaging that the consumer is about to rent a lighter version than the one playing nationwide in theaters. We waited until movie night and tested these findings. An agent of ours rented "The Wonder Boys". This one actually said right before the movie "this film has been edited for content." Boy did we feel jilted. Naturally, we would have never rented the thing if it said on the box "edited for content." We marched back to Blockbuster and politely but firmly asked for our money back, which we received without a problem.

Reminds me of another site...

[Anonymous Coward]

www.consoleclassix.com -- /. did a story on them a while back. It's too bad that NOA & co. are always trying to shut places like CC down, because its turnaround is *much* faster than this place's...

Re:Blockbuster Games Freedom Pass

[Discoteck]

The Blockbuster Pass is $29.99 a month. We can compare the two services based on a couple of different things. The first is the time it takes from when you rent the game to when you actually get it. At Blockbuster it is immediate and in this impatient age of information that is not the best option for some. This is again evident from the review of RedOctane, it appears that he did not like the waiting involved for the new games to get to arrive in the mail.

One /. poster and RedOctane user had a better idea than the person who wrote the review of the service. Que up a bunch of games so when you do return one game that you have out then another is more than likely on its way. So to resolve the issue of how RedOcatane service operates as written in the review, it may come down to that the reveiwer was using the service incorrectly. In grade school we are taught to take a positional stance on the articles that we write. The reason for the reviewer's dislike of the RedOctane service may come down to him purposely taking a position of dislike in his article and thusly trying to write prose that portrayed this.

The 2nd way we can compare the service is based on how you interface with the rental company. RedOctane is online/mail-in. Blockbuster is live. There are going to be different strategies for each service that people will learn to enable them to get the games that they want to rent. Slashdot posters have suggested strategies for both in this post. In order to answer this question you will have to ask yourself, "Do I mind waiting for that game to come in". This gives no mention to how you prefer to wait for the new games to come in. Do you want to call your local Blockbuster weekly to see if that "hot" title has come in or do you want to take your chances and see if you are the lucky person on the RedOctane que to get the game.

I think I could go right on comparing the two services, making conjectures on what I am not sure about, for you see I don't own a gaming system and play everything on my computer. It comes down to how you like to rent your games. There are going to be advantages and disadvantages to everthing.