Best Netflix-Like Videogame Rental Service?

Duncan the Wuss asks: "So, almost everyone I know loves the DVD-rental-by-mail service Netflix. But what about the videogame rental market? I normally beat a game in about a week, and that can get expensive. I've checked out sites like GameFly and NumbThumb, and they seem reasonable. Geek.com even had a post about a site called TriggerFingers, but I can't seem to get anything to work on it. What I really need to know is, what's a high-quality site of this type that's worth renting from? Netflix is reputable and responds to customer complaints in a timely manner, but are there any video game rental sites with the same level of service? I mean, I don't want to give out my credit card numbers to just anyone."

DVDBarn

[missing000]

Dvdbarn.com [dvdbarn.com] does video game rentals by mail. I've always been happy with the service, but they mostly stock Xbox games.

Govojo.com

[Anonymous Coward]

Had an account for a few months, never had any problems with my credit card or otherwise. They do a good job of shipping games fast.

I use Gamefly

[Blackwulf]

I've been VERY happy with Gamefly's selection and service. Granted, they're only in California so if you live on the east coast (like I do) prepare for a wait for the USMail to do their thing - although it's rarely more than a week turnaround total for me.

I've kept games out for two months and they haven't said a word. It's a great service. Although I haven't had to talk to their CS department, I know someone who has and he said it was a good experience.

The thing I like about Gamefly is that if you REALLY like the game, you can "buy it now" and they'll send you the box and the instruction booklet, and you keep the CD.

Gamefly also carries GBA games, which is cool now that Blockbuster doesn't carry them anymore. And their selection is a LOT better than Blockbuster - you can even get a bunch of obscure titles there, on all the systems.

BlockBuster

[nick_davison]

BlockBuster, at least my local store, is trying to do a NetFlix style rental program for video games.

On the positive side: You can drop by your local branch and swap one game for another immediately, without waiting on the mail.

On the major negative side: Being individual stores, not one centralized distribution center, they've had horrible problems with access to particular games. As everyone else has the keep a game for as long as you want membership, the three copies of [whatever the latest game is] immediately disappear, not to be returned for six weeks (at which point someone else takes them for six weeks). Plus, while you can survive a slightly scratched rental DVD movie, a scratched game disc is next to useless.

For me, the negatives massively outweighed the positives (only getting to rent games no one else wants just isn't fun) and I quit my membership after the first month. On the other hand, if you work at BlockBuster or have a friend that does, so you can get one of those three copies before they're on the shelf, it could be a great program.

Price Breakdown

[Ruis]

For those who don't want to navigate each site mentioned to see prices, here's a breakdown I compiled:

Gamefly.com
Plan 1 (1 game at a time) - $13.95 per month)
Plan 2 (2 games at a time) - $21.95 per month)

NumbThumb.com
Plan 1 (1 game at a time) - $13.95 per month
Plan 2 (2 games at a time) - $21.95 per month

TriggerFingers.com
Mini Plan (2 games at a time) - $14.95 per month
Economy Plan (3 games at a time) - $19.95 per month
Mid-Sized Plan (4 games at a time) - $24.95 per month
Luxury Plan (5 games at a time) - $29.95 per month

Re:Is there a service that offers both?

[Johnny Mnemonic]

I got both from a place called "DVD Avenue". Been mostly happy; I took the games off my list, though, because they don't send the manuals with them, and I don't play enough games to be able to intuit the controls. YMMV. I don't know if they ship popular titles any faster than NetFlix, though, as I've never used NetFlix.

gamelender

[avageek]

I've been fairly happy with game lender [gamelender.com] for the past few months that I've been having service with them. I think they're still the cheapest and have all the perks of the other services (like buying the game, etc). Also they carry a lot of legacy games (SNES, genesis, and NES) and GBA games. Turn around hasn't been *too* shabby (I live in the midwest) but the biggest problem that I've had so far has been them not having the good games in stock sometimes. As a result they ask you to put at least ten games in your queue at one time.

Re:Govojo.com

[1019]

Oh, and just to amend this post, the reason I picked GoVoJo first was their pricing level. It's a bit lower than the others as far as I could see.

Lite Service 1 game $13.95 per month
Silver Service 2 games $19.95 per month
Gold Service 3 games $29.95 per month
Platinum Service 4 games out for $34.95 per month.

Re:DVDBarn

[bigman2003]

I just looked at DVD barn's stock. They have 61 total games- 60 for Xbox, and 1 for PS2. They do not have any games from 2003 at all.

My guess is that they are not going to pursue the business any further, so unless something changes, this may not be the best place.

Gamefly

[ShadowWalk]

I'll second the comments on Gamefly - I have actually had a problem with a game delivered (my copy of an XBox games was PAL, not NSTC! They don't even offer PAL games!). Customer service wasn't available, so I left a message. They returned the call in about an hour and shipped a replacement before I returned the bad disc! Great turnaround, great selection and very friendly & responsive customer service. I recommend this service to everyone I know.

Gamefly 1-game

[Painaxl]

I've had the Gamefly 1-Game plan for quite a while now (I think 6 months or more) and I've been very pleased. Their selection really is top-notch. They always have plenty of the big releases and never skip the smaller ones. They package well and I've always gotten the correct game.

I've talked with their customer service after a credit card problem at signup (it was a problem on my end that they helped me resolve). They were friendly and helpful. I've also emailed a few times with suggestions and questions and was responded to promptly and politely. One of my suggestions (instructions for games) is now being used on the site (although I obviously wasn't the only one, at least they listen to what the customers want).

The turnaround time is around 6 days to Cleveland, OH. For me, I'm ALWAYS getting late fees so the time doesn't bother me. It's still cheaper in the long run.

Gamefly

[blueskatz]

I've been using Gamefly for about 4 months or so. So far, the experience has been pretty good, with my only complaint being the turn-around time. Once I put a game in the mail, the result is sporadic, taking a range of 4-9 days to get a new one back. Spacing your mailings out can help a lot (keeping one game while the other one's in transit).

I've contacted gamefly 3 times since joining (always wondering what's taking so long for my games), and they always respond to me within 24 hours, and are very nice and helpful. I complained about the speed of delivery in comparison to Netflix, and Gamefly pointed out that Netflix has distributing centers all over the US, while Gamefly only has a California office, and that they're working on ways to speed things up. One method they have been considering is a "tell them when you've put a game in the mail, and they'll send you a new game immediately" policy, which of course would have zero tolerance for any abuse of the system.

Anyway, like I said, I've been pretty happy with it so far, though I'd still change over if I found something faster. In any case, while I buy a bunch of games myself, a rental service like this is the only way I can play all of the games that I'm interested in without going bankrupt.