Blockbuster Movie + Games New Rental Policy

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filanime03

CAGiversary!
Blockbuster has finally done something right. Now if you have a monthly plan on their movies you can now rent games with it. Here is the breakdown

By Mail 1 Disc 2 Disc 3 Disc
Movie + Games 8.99 13.99 16.99

Total Access 11.99 16.99 19.99
Movies + Games
5 + instore exchanges

Here are the links:
50% off first month
2 week free trial

This deal is a lot better than what Gamefly is offering in which
1 game for 15.99
2 game for 22.95
 
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Signed up and canceled within half an hour. Madden 11 won't be available until Thanksgiving. Sorry BB, you almost had it, but screwed it up. There's a B&M around the corner, but $17 bucks, plus $5 each in-store exchange? So say, I exchange twice, that's $27. No thanks. I'll stick with the shitty Gamefly mess until BB fixes the 3 month wait. Total Access my butt.
 
[quote name='xraytd']If you want to keep Netflix streaming, wouldn't you downgrade your Netflix subscription to the 1 DVD at a time plan and then sign up for Blockbuster's 2 bluray/game plan? Doesn't that get you the best of both worlds for the lowest monthly cost?[/QUOTE]

This is what i might do.
 
FYI, if you sign up in store you get a free movie rental and you help us hit out weekly goal. I had 4 people signed up today but the crappy website was down.
 
[quote name='rusty']Somebody's being a bit elitist...

My netflix runs great on a 42" lcd. It looks about as good as an upscaled dvd, though it does stutter occasionally. It has been more than sufficient, especially consider the cost when compared to cable and the like.[/QUOTE]

Sorry, that's word that makes hate streaming, unacceptable! Never a fan of streamed video anyway. The occasional "skip/pause" from dual layer DVDs bugged the hell out me too.
 
[quote name='sillymonkey321']This is what i might do.[/QUOTE]

Same. I don't want to give up the streaming. Only thing is, I have so many Goozex credits to use first.:cry:
 
[quote name='Kromis']Here's the link to a 1 month free trial (3 out at a time, unlimited in-store exchanges) for those interested

https://www.blockbuster.com/signup/s/reg/p.26386/pc.erewards1mspecial/[/QUOTE]

I just signed up using that link, and although it shows "AFTER 4 WEEK TRIAL...", it says my next billing date is August 12th, 2010. I'm going to shoot them an email to see what the hell this is about. But if I don't get a response before the date in question, I'll have to cancel. The site is also slow as hell right now.
 
Was honestly considering this until I read about how you can't do in store exchanges for games and the newest games from the website are 4-5 months old.
 
[quote name='freshzen']Was honestly considering this until I read about how you can't do in store exchanges for games and the newest games from the website are 4-5 months old.[/QUOTE]

Really? It's that bad? Damn that sucks. Hmm... I still have a ton of games I want to catch up on, but 4 months.

Can anyone check to see if they actually mail games with more than one disc? I remember when I used to work at BBV we couldn't mail games like Lost Odyssey/ME2 out to people because they were 2 discs. Just want to see if it's still like that.
 
[quote name='n8rockerasu']I just signed up using that link, and although it shows "AFTER 4 WEEK TRIAL...", it says my next billing date is August 12th, 2010. I'm going to shoot them an email to see what the hell this is about. But if I don't get a response before the date in question, I'll have to cancel. The site is also slow as hell right now.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry. I'm pretty sure that happened to everyone who signed up. The next billing date was about two days after I signed up as well but it changed to the appropriate date after you get closer to the supposed "next billing date".
 
[quote name='Kromis']Don't worry. I'm pretty sure that happened to everyone who signed up. The next billing date was about two days after I signed up as well but it changed to the appropriate date after you get closer to the supposed "next billing date".[/QUOTE]

Well, I used a virtual credit card number to sign up anyway. I might just close that number, that way if they try to bill it, it won't go through anyway. Then, if they ask me why my card isn't valid, I'll say "where's my 4 weeks bitches???" lol :)

And it appears the site has been completely taken down now. Don't know if this is good news for BBV, or just highlighting their prior incompetence.
 
Yeah, I take back everything I said about this deal being worthwhile ...

It's not ... the delay for games is absolutely unacceptable. You might have to wait a month to get a game from Gamefly, if you aren't good about having a spot open on your queue but having to wait until October to be able to play a game that came out last month ... fuck you Blockbuster ... just die already.
 
[quote name='rusty']Somebody's being a bit elitist...

My netflix runs great on a 42" lcd. It looks about as good as an upscaled dvd, though it does stutter occasionally. It has been more than sufficient, especially consider the cost when compared to cable and the like.[/QUOTE]

Nothing elitist about it.

Would you play a game that had 1080p resolution and crappy textures or go for the one with 1080p and high-res textures?

Same with streaming. Just because it says "HD" doesn't make it the same. I wouldn't play the worst version of a video game and I won't watch the worst version of a movie when there are much better quality options available.
 
Just signed up web site slow as anything, game selection stinks. Why do this Blockbuster if the only games you will rent are 4 months old.
 
Considered it until I read about the game situation...

If they can keep prices current + add recent games timely I'll drop Gamefly
 
Calm down people. Give them awhile to get this up and running; they put it up at 3AM the other night. The stock on games should be fixed in a month or so. They have to gauge how many copies of a certain title that they'll need, and compare and contrast until they have a working business module.

Really, some of you people are funny to watch, just for how absurd you are. It's not even 24 hours later. Give them time to setup the thing, figure out what sorts of stock they'll need, and probably by the end of the month, they'll have the new releases and everything else. Just calm down.
 
[quote name='LegendK7ll3r']Calm down people. Give them awhile to get this up and running; they put it up at 3AM the other night. The stock on games should be fixed in a month or so. They have to gauge how many copies of a certain title that they'll need, and compare and contrast until they have a working business module.

Really, some of you people are funny to watch, just for how absurd you are. It's not even 24 hours later. Give them time to setup the thing, figure out what sorts of stock they'll need, and probably by the end of the month, they'll have the new releases and everything else. Just calm down.[/QUOTE]

This is Blockbuster we are talking about here dude, not some new company that just popped up. They are notorious for poor planning and mismanagement, having gone from the top of the food chain in the 90's to currently dumpster diving for customers with desperate attempts to compete with Netflix and Redbox.

If they are going to be a true force and competitive in a reasonable way, they should have already had the infrastructure in place to support what they are now offering. As it stands, it looks like a joke to anyone who is seriously considering the benefit of having both games and movies. Two things that need to change ASAP to make this competitive are adding current games and allowing customers to swap out games in their brick and mortar stores. If this were the case, that could remedy their current lack of new games offered via their mail service.

As it stands now, it's simply a poor initial offering, even if they did just launch the service. If they want to compete, they need to be better prepared and the sad thing is that they have the infrastructure in place, via their brick and mortar stores to actually provide something that neither Netflix nor Gamefly can. However, they aren't managing it properly and by only offering the consumer 5 opportunities per month to swap movies and not games, they aren't going to earn many new customers.

Sure it's too soon to say this new push is a failure, but it's not too soon to criticize something that could be far better in its execution than it currently is. Blockbuster isn't new to this situation, they've been dealing with competition for about 5 years now ... they need to get their act together if they don't want to go the way of Hollywood video. Can they do it, possibly ... but there's no reason not to question their ability to compete given their steep decline in the past decade. It's not about calming down, it's just about being realistic and offering thoughtful criticism that will improve their service and keep it competitive.
 
[quote name='LegendK7ll3r']Calm down people. Give them awhile to get this up and running; they put it up at 3AM the other night. The stock on games should be fixed in a month or so. They have to gauge how many copies of a certain title that they'll need, and compare and contrast until they have a working business module.[/QUOTE]

It's very common knowledge in business, especially larger companies, that you don't start a new avenue teetering. You go big. You offer the best of the best, you offer specials that undercut the competition, you offer better service, and sometimes you operate at cost or a minor loss. You promote the promotion.

You get the most awareness & interest at the beginning, people will talk about you at first, they will create hype. Most people will not give you a second look months down the road.

Offering "so so" selection at the beginning is a good sign of incompetent management. (this is obviously different than a test run or market survey, which is where you gauge things.)
 
As a value add to a movie subscription this isn't that bad. It's also much cheaper than gamely who I couldn't ever get a new release from no matter what I did and games took like a week to get to me. I'm curious to see their turnaround time and availability of their games before making any judgment. Also I'd like to see what their selection is like a month from now.

I'm personally not a fan of blockbuster and am very happy with netflix. That said I'm willing to give them a shot if the availability and shipping time on what they have is good.
 
[quote name='Serpentor']Blu-ray! I can't stand streamed movies...[/QUOTE]

I find Netflix streaming gets better with each update...the HD movies (although the selection is limited) I would say now surpass cable HD and could give DirecTV HD a run for its money. Of course, Blu-ray is still the king.

Of course, any streaming is still very dependent on the quality of your internet connection.
 
[quote name='mikeja72']As a value add to a movie subscription this isn't that bad. It's also much cheaper than gamely who I couldn't ever get a new release from no matter what I did and games took like a week to get to me. I'm curious to see their turnaround time and availability of their games before making any judgment. Also I'd like to see what their selection is like a month from now.

I'm personally not a fan of blockbuster and am very happy with netflix. That said I'm willing to give them a shot if the availability and shipping time on what they have is good.[/QUOTE]

I couldn't agree more. While not a perfect outing for blockbuster, at the very least it will make gamefly shape up because its service is down right terrible for what they charge.
 
I think I will wait a few months to see if they will have new releases. They are going to have to if they want to compete with Gamefly.
 
Blockbuster has a 42million INTEREST payment coming due this quarter. That should give you a clue about how they are doing financially.

Ok - This is a long post. The first part is the neat stuff. The later part is just more details.

etcrane is right on also. When Total Access was at his height, they fired their CEO/Pres. saying that his idea for Total Access was losing Blockbuster too much money. (Agreed t o some extent - it was a ton of overhead at the beginning to establish shipping locations etc. Also, they counted every movie rented from the store as LOST income. Renting a movie from the store is not LOST income, it is basically cycling your inventory.)

How does Blockbuster succeed? USE WHAT YOU HAVE THAT NO ONE ELSE DOES!! They have the opportunity to go back to the original Total Access Model - Keep the prices right at, or slightly higher than you competitors, and allow return and rent in the store. Games/BD/DVD's. People will flood back to Total Access, if it can beat Netflix. They don't want to.

Longer post on Blockbuster's history:
They hired the former CEO of 7/11 and he immediately began raising prices. His initial comment was to say that Blockbuster was in huge trouble BECAUSE of Total Access and it's customers. Too many customers were using the service too much and getting too much value for their money. Eventually they made another price point for Total Access Customers to exchange at the store. From the beginning this new CEO's plan was to refocus on the brick and mortar store. He said Redbox was not a competitor - he was not concerned about them.

Originally he wanted to make Blockbuster SELL more copies of movies/games. Rentals would diminish, but sales would go up. Idea was to compete against Best Buy/Walmart etc(terrible idea, and it flamed.)
He also said digital distribution was key. And they were working on a model where they could charge extra for it. They have gone through various iterations of their proposed package. (Netflix beat them to it, and included it for free, so did most cable companies.)
Then he went about shuttering a ton of stores. Too much overhead. (Fine I guess...)

Now - he is copying Redbox... This CEO is terrible... And Blockbuster is doomed.
 
thank you CAGs for the input on the game selection kind of sucking. This is one of my pet peeves about gamefly and it doesn't look like BB is any better.
 
I'm confused, so do all plans get games or only total access ones? Also if I get 2 dvd at a time can both be games or only one game out at a time ?
 
So, I went with the regular (by mail) option for $8.99. Assuming they get the 3-month delay resolved, it looks like a decent deal.

Anyone have an idea on the number of in-store game coupons per month under the by mail plans?
 
i wouldn't count on the delay being "resolved" as it's not an issue(in the sense that it's what they're intending).

My guess is that they are culling these online rentals from supplies they would otherwise sell at the stores as used once their popularity drops.. has anyone noticed used selections dropping at local stores?

(i can say that the # of used games at mine has dropped tremendously in the past 3 or 4 months..maybe a coincidence?)
 
Anybody else's BB queued screw up? Worked fine yesterday, but since last night I can't add/delete/rearrange anything. Emailed them, 4-8 hour response time, we'll see...
 
[quote name='etcrane']This is Blockbuster we are talking about here dude, not some new company that just popped up. They are notorious for poor planning and mismanagement, having gone from the top of the food chain in the 90's to currently dumpster diving for customers with desperate attempts to compete with Netflix and Redbox.

If they are going to be a true force and competitive in a reasonable way, they should have already had the infrastructure in place to support what they are now offering. As it stands, it looks like a joke to anyone who is seriously considering the benefit of having both games and movies. Two things that need to change ASAP to make this competitive are adding current games and allowing customers to swap out games in their brick and mortar stores. If this were the case, that could remedy their current lack of new games offered via their mail service.

As it stands now, it's simply a poor initial offering, even if they did just launch the service. If they want to compete, they need to be better prepared and the sad thing is that they have the infrastructure in place, via their brick and mortar stores to actually provide something that neither Netflix nor Gamefly can. However, they aren't managing it properly and by only offering the consumer 5 opportunities per month to swap movies and not games, they aren't going to earn many new customers.

Sure it's too soon to say this new push is a failure, but it's not too soon to criticize something that could be far better in its execution than it currently is. Blockbuster isn't new to this situation, they've been dealing with competition for about 5 years now ... they need to get their act together if they don't want to go the way of Hollywood video. Can they do it, possibly ... but there's no reason not to question their ability to compete given their steep decline in the past decade. It's not about calming down, it's just about being realistic and offering thoughtful criticism that will improve their service and keep it competitive.[/QUOTE]

Gamefly seems to have no problem at all getting away with most of this. You guys are just being too harsh on Blockbuster. The thing I'm trying to say, is they do not know what kind of an infrastructure they need yet for the gaming market. For movies, they are set to go; movies are cheaper to buy, especially in bulk, so they have no problems. Games? Completely different story.

While it may seem "poor" to you, they currently have over 130 - 200+ games available for renting on each system. They have competitive pricing, which kicks the crap out of Gamefly's service (for being a past subscriber, I got a 1-at-a-time plan for $4.99 a month). They also have quadruple the distribution centers.

I hardly see how that is poor. As I stated, they just need to gauge stock levels for games, new and future, to see what the damage will be financially. If you order too many, you'll be at a loss (which BB can't afford to take), and if you order too little, then you'll get people complaining like they are now. Give them a month, and I'm sure they'll have it all gauge'd out, and will be providing a fairly decent service, rivaling that of Gamefly.
 
[quote name='mikeja72']Forget # of used games. Number of stores still open by me has dropped tremendously. :)[/QUOTE]

yeah,.. that too :lol:
 
Uh oh...a guy on Twitter said to BB:

"If the service ever gets to a point where games are offered concurrently with their release, I'll check it out."

BB's response:

"We would probably have to raise the monthly subscription price to do that. How much more would you be willing to pay per month?"

Everyone off the boat!!!
 
[quote name='kidu']Uh oh...a guy on Twitter said to BB:

"If the service ever gets to a point where games are offered concurrently with their release, I'll check it out."

BB's response:

"We would probably have to raise the monthly subscription price to do that. How much more would you be willing to pay per month?"

Everyone off the boat!!![/QUOTE]

How else would you expect them to cover their asses
 
[quote name='kidu']Uh oh...a guy on Twitter said to BB:

"If the service ever gets to a point where games are offered concurrently with their release, I'll check it out."

BB's response:

"We would probably have to raise the monthly subscription price to do that. How much more would you be willing to pay per month?"

Everyone off the boat!!![/QUOTE]

Ouch! That sounds like the JetBlue Slate dude...
 
[quote name='kidu']Uh oh...a guy on Twitter said to BB:

"If the service ever gets to a point where games are offered concurrently with their release, I'll check it out."

BB's response:

"We would probably have to raise the monthly subscription price to do that. How much more would you be willing to pay per month?"

Everyone off the boat!!![/QUOTE]

Wow, that's a load of crap. Pretty bold of whoever is running the BB Twitter feed. And I was hoping that the three or so month lag was temporary. So they're basically saying that'll never happen unless they raise their rates. If it's just a dollar or two, fine. But anything more and they'll be shooting themselves in the foot if they want to compete against Gamefly (however poor service they may have).
 
[quote name='kidu']Uh oh...a guy on Twitter said to BB:

"If the service ever gets to a point where games are offered concurrently with their release, I'll check it out."

BB's response:

"We would probably have to raise the monthly subscription price to do that. How much more would you be willing to pay per month?"

Everyone off the boat!!![/QUOTE]

They're not going to raise it on you without warning. Besides, they'd probably grandfather people in like they have for every other change BBO has done. Still, as long as it's cheaper and faster than Gamefly, I'd still pay.
 
Not counting games, anyone prefer this over Netflix?

I had netflix for 2 years up until about February. I cancelled because they never had the blu-rays I wanted, new releases primarily. So I would just grab them at redbox.

Now redbox doesnt get movies for like 3 weeks after release and I've been renting from zune marketplace on my xbox, which is a total waste.

My question is if anyone knows is, how good is blockbuster.com at getting new release blu-rays out?
 
[quote name='Serpentor']Who care? This is the game deal forum... Let us know when Netflix do games too.[/QUOTE]

Actually, the Epix deal is pretty significant. I was considering dumping Netflix as a result of Blockbuster carrying games despite it's lack of new releases, but I really like the streaming on Netflix. With this deal, Netflix streaming will get even better so I'm debating what to do. People reading this thread are likely considering the Blockbuster alternative to a Netflix/Gamefly combo for movies and games so any info is appreciated.

And a lot of people stream via their game systems, so I'd say it's appropriate to mention.
 
[quote name='awp']Actually, the Epix deal is pretty significant. I was considering dumping Netflix as a result of Blockbuster carrying games despite it's lack of new releases, but I really like the streaming on Netflix. With this deal, Netflix streaming will get even better so I'm debating what to do. People reading this thread are likely considering the Blockbuster alternative to a Netflix/Gamefly combo for movies and games so any info is appreciated.

And a lot of people stream via their game systems, so I'd say it's appropriate to mention.[/QUOTE]

Stick with netflix. The streaming is awesome. Besides, BB is going bankrupt.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/retail-stores/message-to-blockbuster-declare-bankruptcy-already/807
 
Sigh... Maybe I just hate streaming or maybe I don't see how streaming services have anything to do with gaming. The only streaming that's related to gaming that I heard about is Killzone 3. There will be virtually no loading in the game, because everything is done via video streaming internally.

I changed my plan to 3 discs at a time, don't want the Total Access anymore, I figure the in-store exchange is more than I can chew anyway.

As to BBV going bankrupt, who cares, as long as they're offering the game rental service now, it's all good. It's not like I bought a life long service from them or something.
 
[quote name='smoger']i wouldn't count on the delay being "resolved" as it's not an issue(in the sense that it's what they're intending).

My guess is that they are culling these online rentals from supplies they would otherwise sell at the stores as used once their popularity drops.. has anyone noticed used selections dropping at local stores?

(i can say that the # of used games at mine has dropped tremendously in the past 3 or 4 months..maybe a coincidence?)[/QUOTE]

I agree with this completely. In all honesty, this could be a MUCH smarter business move for BBV in terms of old rentals that they want to "unload". Rather than just try to dump them for $10 or whatever they have to drop the price to before people are finally willing to buy them, they can just use them as incentive for why their online service is better. Really, it's a good strategy. However, with Netflix streaming service growing literally every day, it's a really tough call on which is the better deal.

I'm also in the group who doesn't have cable and makes great use of Netflix streaming. But being able to rent games online makes BBV tremendously appealing. I see that BBV has a "1 disc at a time, 2 discs per month" plan for $4.99. That might be perfect for me to use for games, since in truth, I don't need more than 2 games a month anyway...and 2 weeks per game feels like a reasonable amount of time. For what equates to $2.50 per game rental, that seems like a helluva bargain to me.
 
Personally, I've got a decent sized queue of console games I didn't get around to playing over the last few years while nursing my MMORPG habit, so the delay for new releases isn't that big of a deal. I can definitely get my money's worth out of a few months of the service using stuff that's available in their back catalog today.

What I am going to be interested to hear about from people who try this service is the actual turnaround time for games. How long does a new disc take to arrive if you mail it in? How much time do you save if you can find a brick and mortar to cart the thing to? If I can take a disc into the store and have a new game two days later, the one disc plan works out fine for serial playthroughs of older games. If it takes a week, then the two disc plan might make more sense so I can have a new game lined up and waiting as I finish its predecessor.
 
[quote name='GreenArmadillo']Personally, I've got a decent sized queue of console games I didn't get around to playing over the last few years while nursing my MMORPG habit, so the delay for new releases isn't that big of a deal. I can definitely get my money's worth out of a few months of the service using stuff that's available in their back catalog today.

What I am going to be interested to hear about from people who try this service is the actual turnaround time for games. How long does a new disc take to arrive if you mail it in? How much time do you save if you can find a brick and mortar to cart the thing to? If I can take a disc into the store and have a new game two days later, the one disc plan works out fine for serial playthroughs of older games. If it takes a week, then the two disc plan might make more sense so I can have a new game lined up and waiting as I finish its predecessor.[/QUOTE]

The same boat, we're in it!
 
I'm sold with this, sure the online game selection maybe week the with 5 instore exchanges I'm sure to get some new releases. This will be great to play games I know I won't play very long after being done like Fable 3, and AC brotherhood.
 
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