Online Gaming Rental Roundup!

civx

civx

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Did a search for a thread like this, but only an old and outdated thread showed up so I figured, why not make a new one?

Anyway, I decided to go scouting for online gaming rental places and found a lot. I've yet to sign up and try them all so I'll leave reviews out, and leave that to you guys. Hopefully this will help you guys in picking a rental place. So here we go...


GameFly
Based in Los Angelas, California. Great keepit prices.

Free trial: Yes; 10 days

Keepit option: Yes

How many games you can have out: 1 - $13.95, 2 - $21.95, 3 - $29.95 (must have an account in good standing for 60 days)

Shipping time: 2-4 days

http://www.gamefly.com


GameLender
Based in San Jose, California. Over 6,500 titles.

Free trial: No

Keepit option: N/A

How many games you can have out: 2 - $19.99, 3 - $24.99, 5 - $34.99

Shipping time: 2-5 days (There is an option to upgrade to priority mail)

http://www.gamelender.com


GameRang
Based in Costa Mesa, California. Distribution centers in New Jersey, California, Oklahoma, and Minnesota.

Free trial: No

Keepit option: Yes

How many games you can have out: 1 - $14.95, 2 - $19.95, 3 - $27.95, 4 - $32.95, 5+ - Call them

Shipping time: East coast 2-3 days, Central 2-3 days, West coast 3-4 days

http://www.gamerang.com


GameReplay
Based in Berlin, New Jersey.

Free trial: No

Keepit option: N/A

How many games you can have out: 1 - $13.99, 2 - $18.99

Shipping time: East coast 2-3 days, Central 2-5 days, West coast 4-5 days

http://www.gamereplay.com


GamesDrive
Based in Woodbury, Minnesota.

Free trial: Yes; 14 days

Keepit option: N/A

How many games you can have out: 1 - $12.95, 2 - $19.95, 3 - $24.95, 4 - $29.95

Shipping time: 2-5 days

http://www.gamesdrive.com


GamesForRent
Based in ???.

Free trial: Yes; 14 days

Keepit option: Yes

How many games you can have out: 1 - $14.99, 2 - $19.99, 3 - $29.99

Shipping time: 1-4

http://www.gamesforrent.com


GamezNFlix
Based in Nevada. Offers DVDs and games.

Free trial: Yes; ??? days

Keepit option: No

How many games you can have out: 3 - $17.25, 4 - $21.95, 5 - $25.95, 6 - $32.95, 8 - $222.00 a year

Shipping time: No clue, website doesn't give much info and didn't feel like digging for it

http://www.gameznflix.com


GotaPlay
Based in ???. Used to be deepshark.com

Free trial: Yes; 10 days

Keepit option: No

How many games you can have out: 2 - $19.95

Shipping time: 3-5 days

http://www.gotaplay.com


GPlay
Based in Oakland, California.

Free trial: Yes; 10 or 14 days

Keepit option: No

How many games you can have out: 2 - $21.95

Shipping time: East coast 3-4 days, Central 2-3 days, West coast 1-2 days

http://www.gplay.com


IntoTheGame
Based in Tustin, California.

Free trial: Yes; 14 days

Keepit option: No

How many games you can have out: 1 - $9.95, 2 - $19.95, 3 - $24.95, 4 - $29.95

Shipping time: 2-4 days

http://www.intothegame.com


IOGC
Based in Canada. Distribution centers in Ontario, Canada and Austin, Texas. Ships to Canada and USA!

Free trial: No

Keepit option: Yes

How many games you can have out: 1 - $15.99, 2 - $24.99, 3 - $34.99, 4 - $39.99

Shipping time: 2-4

http://www.iogc.net


NextRental

Same info as Gotaplay. Seems to be owned by the same people.

http://www.nextrental.com


NumbThumb
Based in Austin, Texas.

Free trial: Yes; 14 days

Keepit option: No

How many games you can have out: 1 - $13.95, 2 - $21.95

Shipping time: 1-5

http://www.numbthumb.com


RedOctane
Based in California.

Free trial: No

Keepit option: N/A

How many games you can have out: 2 - $18.95, 3 - $23.95, 5 - $39.95

Shipping time: 3-4

http://www.redoctane.com


RentalWire
Based in Washingon. Distribution centers in Washington and Vancouver, Canada. Ships to Canada and USA!

Free trial: Yes; 10 days

Keepit option: N/A

How many games you can have out: 2 - $21.95, 3 - $27.95, 4 - $34.95 (must have an account in good standing for 8 weeks, including the 2 weeks free trial)

Shipping time: 3-5 days

http://www.rentalwire.com


RentZero
Based in Houston, Texas.

Free trial: Yes; 14 days

Keepit option: Yes

How many games you can have out: 1 - $13.95, 2 - $19.95, 3 - $27.95

Shipping time: 1-6 days

http://www.rentzero

Well that's it guys. If you've signed up for any of these rental sites, feel free to review them in this thread so we can keep it alive.
 
Not a game rental deal, and known to CAGers, but

If you signup for Blockbuster's mail DVD delivery service (3 movies out at a time for $14.95 per month) they give you 2 coupons per month that can be used for videogames. With the extra week of grace, that is a 12 day rental per game twice a month.

I have a BB right on my drive, so stopping in frequently (or calling) to secure the titles I want is not a big deal.

To me, this is a really good deal because we want the movies anyway . . . right now I have out God of War for 12 days. If you include the postal turnaround, you might only have out 2 games per month for about 24 days of play with some of the mail services . . . plus you are certain to get a game.

When I return GoWar, I will get MidnightC3, Doom3, Star Wars Lego . . . whichever is available.
 
Regarding the Blockbuster week of grace - how friendly are stores with this idea? Do they have problems with people repeatedly keeping games longer than 5 days? I didn't know the policy applied to games as well as movies.
 
Anyone used RentZero? Since they are based in Houston I would love to give them a try but the rip off blockbuster online style is a bit iffy.
 
Anyone try GamezNFlix? The 8 out at a time for $222.00/year sounds very tempting. Split that with one roommate, and it's 4 out at once for under $10/month.
 
This is my first post so let me say hi to everyone here. I didn't see an "Introductions" forum so I figured this thread was as good as any. Plus, I wanted to commend civx on the great list. There were a few sites I didn't even know existed.

Anyway, I figured I might as well check this place out since I'm cheap (I prefer frugal) and I'm a gamer -- plus I have a nice ass. Therefore, I'm a cheap ass gamer. With those qualifications why wouldn't I join?

Anyway, it's six in the morning and I'm beginning to ramble. BirminghamHustle, signing off...
 
NOTE: I live on the east coast and it generally took game fly 6-7 days for a game to get to me once my game had already got to them so from the time i put a game in the mail to the time i got one back it was btwn 10 and 11 days
 
Gotaplay has managed to lose both the game that I returned, and the one they said they sent me....................avoid at all costs
 
I've been using Gamefly for the past month (thanks to the 30 day trial) and although their system and selection is great, turnaround time for me isn't. It takes 4-5 days for games to go from them to me, and another 4-5 to go from me to them...just not good enough for me. I am not going to continue my membership, but I'd consider rejoining in the future if they build another distribution center closer to me....
 
[quote name='Jarrett']Anyone used RentZero? Since they are based in Houston I would love to give them a try but the rip off blockbuster online style is a bit iffy.[/QUOTE]

I used them for a few months about a year ago. It was a good service and they shipped pretty fast, they even include the manual.
 
[quote name='Rig']I've been using Gamefly for the past month (thanks to the 30 day trial) and although their system and selection is great, turnaround time for me isn't. It takes 4-5 days for games to go from them to me, and another 4-5 to go from me to them...just not good enough for me. I am not going to continue my membership, but I'd consider rejoining in the future if they build another distribution center closer to me....[/QUOTE]

Have you tried any other services closer to you. I saw in your profile that you're at Illinois State, right? (And your b'day is close to mine -- only off by three days. virgo's rawk!!!). Anyway, Gamerang has five shipping centers and one is in Minnesota so that might be something you're interested in since you're nowhere near GameFly's center.
 
I just started my trial w/ InToTheGame being that it is only 10 minutes away..

I think they just started the company, the manager actually called me to confirm the registration and was pretty nice and all..

the game arrived in 1 day and it is only 9.99 for 1game at a time.

Hope their shipping turn do not slow down, then i might just stick w/ them..
 
[quote name='BirminghamHustle']This is my first post so let me say hi to everyone here. I didn't see an "Introductions" forum so I figured this thread was as good as any. Plus, I wanted to commend civx on the great list. There were a few sites I didn't even know existed.

Anyway, I figured I might as well check this place out since I'm cheap (I prefer frugal) and I'm a gamer -- plus I have a nice ass. Therefore, I'm a cheap ass gamer. With those qualifications why wouldn't I join?

Anyway, it's six in the morning and I'm beginning to ramble. BirminghamHustle, signing off...[/QUOTE]

:rofl: Hey buddy, more power to ya. Welcome to CAG.
 
Well, this is gonna sound cheap, but I'm slowly making my way down the list of free trials and I'll be posting my experiences with each as I get through them :D
 
[quote name='joevan07']Well, this is gonna sound cheap, but I'm slowly making my way down the list of free trials and I'll be posting my experiences with each as I get through them[/QUOTE]

Doesn't sound cheap to me... it's more like "research." Anyway, when you post them I'd like to link to them on my blog since my website is related to video game rentals -- that's if you don't mind of course.

P.S... And thanks for the warm greeting Mr. Anderson. :D
 
Great thread guys.

I've been using Gamefly for the last 6 months but things have really slowed down in the last 6-8 weeks. I'm on the East Coast and it's routinely taking about 7-10 days (usually on the longer end of that stretch) for them to receive/ship the games back. Not only that but they apparently never received one of the games I shipped back to them as well.

They didn't charge me for the game, and the delays may be no fault of their own (the postal service, even with 1st class, sometimes takes that long), but I'm considering going with someone who has a distribution center closer to me on the eastern seaboard.

As far as BLOCKBUSTER's online DVD rental goes, I signed up a few weeks back and it's great -- just like Netflix but a few bucks cheaper.

The free e-coupons (2 per month, plus an additional pre-viewed DVD coupon) were gladly accepted at my local Blockbuster, which I used for a couple of games. The rentals were only 5-days but it's a pretty good deal when you consider you get two coupons per-month for in-store, plus 3 DVDs out at a time, for only $15.
 
this is from

gamereplay so i would stay far far away


http://www.gamereplay.com/

If 18 mail days have passed, and the "lost" game has not yet been "returned to sender" by the USPS, the customer will be charged for any number of games incidentally lost. Refunds will be posted should the games eventually be returned.
Frequent incidents of "lost" games will place your account under suspension pending the return of games "returned to sender" by the USPS. Frequent incidents will result in your account being suspended and the customer will be responsible for the cost of replacing "lost" games. Accounts will, at this point, also be permanently cancelled.
The replacement fee for one game is $50.00.
 
[quote name='slidecage']this is from

gamereplay so i would stay far far away


http://www.gamereplay.com/

If 18 mail days have passed, and the "lost" game has not yet been "returned to sender" by the USPS, the customer will be charged for any number of games incidentally lost. Refunds will be posted should the games eventually be returned.
Frequent incidents of "lost" games will place your account under suspension pending the return of games "returned to sender" by the USPS. Frequent incidents will result in your account being suspended and the customer will be responsible for the cost of replacing "lost" games. Accounts will, at this point, also be permanently cancelled.
The replacement fee for one game is $50.00.[/QUOTE]

It's not quite as bad as you make it seem from what you quoted slide. Basically they say if you repeatedly lose games they will charge you $50 per if you do not open an investigation with the USPS and e-mail them a valid case number. If you e-mail them the case number you don't get charged. I'm not sure what they define as 'repeated' (2 games lost? 3? 4?) But it looks like you'd be able to lose at least 1 game without having to jump through hoops or worry about getting charged.

Though the page I found seems to have different wording so maybe they have their policy in two different places on the site?

http://www.gamereplay.com/termsOfUse.shtml

Here's the full policy from the ToS page:

"Lost, Missing, or Damaged Games

If a game doesn't arrive in a reasonable amount of time, go to the My Account page and click Account History. Check the Date Sent. Please allow 14 shipping days after the Date Sent before reporting a game lost. If it has been more than 14 shipping days, email us at [email protected] stating the problem.

If you have returned a game but GameReplay has not received it, please allow 14 days before reporting the game Lost/Damaged

If you receive a game that is damaged in the mail, email us at [email protected] to report the game as damaged. Please send the damaged game back to GameReplay immediately. GameReplay will promptly send your first selection or the next available game in your queue.

Multiple lost games: If games are repeatedly lost, please contact the United States Postal Service at 1-800-ASK-USPS to report the issue.You must file a report with the Postal Inspector(We would do this for you, but the United States Postal Inspection Service says that customers themselves (rather than GameReplay) must notify them of mail loss issues. Please e-mail the case number to GameReplay customer service. If we do not receive a VALID case number from the USPS, you will be responsible for a replacement fee of $50 per game lost. If however, you provide us with a VALID case number, you will not be responsible for the replacement of the lost game. GameReplay reserves the right to cancel service at any time. Warning: Any fraudulent claims will make the package recipient liable for prosecution for mail fraud under the Federal Criminal Code."
 
I heard a lot of people had lost game problems with GameFly... and they were hard to deal with, whereas that site lists them as best customer-service.

Which is the best?
 
[quote name='BlaseDeviant']I heard a lot of people had lost game problems with GameFly... and they were hard to deal with, whereas that site lists them as best customer-service.

Which is the best?[/QUOTE]


3 games in a row got lost and i never had a problem with them

2 games i returned and 1 game never got to me and that was back to back to back. that is the only problem i ever had. Was sort of werid


Nov 2004 - may 2005 No problems
June 2005 3 games come missing
Late june 2005- now No problems
 
Wow i just put two games in the mail Tuesday and i got 2 new games shipping today... if gamefly would keep this up I would pay 30 bucks per month for it
 
Gplay (Oakland, CA) is terrible. Avoid it. I signed up for the trial, and it took them like 2 weeks to send me a game. And I live just 30 minutes away from Oakland! By the time the game arrived, my trial had already expired, and I had to send the game back immediately.
Customer service was terrible. I sent emails asking what was going on, and got no response. Only when I cancelled my account, did they offer me some kind of trial extension. Sheesh.

Gplay was highly rated on a review site somewhere, but I think the review site is bogus. Gplay was said to be the #2 best game rental site, with Gamelender at #1, and Gamefly at #3. I want to try GameLender, but the lack of a trial makes it risky. I'm currently using Gamefly without any problems so far.
 
[quote name='guardianlegend']Gplay (Oakland, CA) is terrible. Avoid it. I signed up for the trial, and it took them like 2 weeks to send me a game. And I live just 30 minutes away from Oakland! By the time the game arrived, my trial had already expired, and I had to send the game back immediately.
Customer service was terrible. I sent emails asking what was going on, and got no response. Only when I cancelled my account, did they offer me some kind of trial extension. Sheesh.

Gplay was highly rated on a review site somewhere, but I think the review site is bogus. Gplay was said to be the #2 best game rental site, with Gamelender at #1, and Gamefly at #3. I want to try GameLender, but the lack of a trial makes it risky. I'm currently using Gamefly without any problems so far.[/QUOTE]

http://video-game-rental-review.toptenreviews.com/

That's the one.

And yeah, gplay is horrible. I had 21 games "in stock" and it took them 8 days to send ONE. I've been using gamechoice (they're east coast) and I love them to death.
 
i just put Radiata stories and Some war game for gamecube (just came out) in the mail today.. hopefully my next two games ship tomorrow. for the last 2 weeks gamefly has been shipping my games 1 day after i return them

i still havent made up my mind if im going to stay with them after my free promo is up (feb 9 2006)
 
http://www.dvdrr.com/reviews/GameznFlix.html
here's reviews of Gameznflix. WOW that sounds SCARY.
These rental sites are apparently all very scary and risky. Very few are worth it. Beware! BEWARE!!
I want to create my own rental site, but considering how many sites are of questionable integrity... I wonder if I can handle whatever problems they've run into. Surely they're not out to scam people, but are just in over their heads like I might be.
 
Hey i was looking through this post while i am working the overnight shift at work ( 18$ an hour to sit and play gamecube and xbox is not bad at all.) I thought i would put my two cents in as well. I live in Ohio and it took gamechoice four days to send my games. I sent them back the next day to see if the turn around is different. As a note, I found the information about Player's Choice. The whole front page is way different and the owner should take it down. but it looks like the owner also runs an ebay store, a game store and an online rental service through a storefront in
Winston-Salem, NC. Here is the page if you want to check it out OP. http://www.playerschoicegames.com/
As a wierd note, he is in a band named Groove Diggler, where his nickname is Supa Crab Whacka. It is crazy what you can find if you put someone's email in a search engine. and it also looks like there is a playerschoice.com warcraft 3 clan.
http://www.playerschoicegames.com/mpc.html
looks like we might want to cross playerschoice off the list. Doesn't look very respectable, too many odds things ,wierd site design which somehow just doesn't seem right, but whatever, maybe someone in NC could try it with a one shot credit card number?

edit to include the site address.
 
[quote name='ajumbaje']does gamechoice give you a free mailer like gamefly does, if so, im all over the free trial[/QUOTE]

Yup!

Also, if you use their tenure system it brings the price down to 16.66 or so and 18.10 or so if you live in NY (sales tax) for the 2 games out plan.
 
[quote name='thealternakid']Hey i was looking through this post while i am working the overnight shift at work ( 18$ an hour to sit and play gamecube and xbox is not bad at all.) I thought i would put my two cents in as well. I live in Ohio and it took gamechoice four days to send my games. I sent them back the next day to see if the turn around is different. As a note, I found the information about Player's Choice. The whole front page is way different and the owner should take it down. but it looks like the owner also runs an ebay store, a game store and an online rental service through a storefront in
Winston-Salem, NC. Here is the page if you want to check it out OP. http://www.playerschoicegames.com/
As a wierd note, he is in a band named Groove Diggler, where his nickname is Supa Crab Whacka. It is crazy what you can find if you put someone's email in a search engine. and it also looks like there is a playerschoice.com warcraft 3 clan.
http://www.playerschoicegames.com/mpc.html
looks like we might want to cross playerschoice off the list. Doesn't look very respectable, too many odds things ,wierd site design which somehow just doesn't seem right, but whatever, maybe someone in NC could try it with a one shot credit card number?

edit to include the site address.[/QUOTE]

Ouch, that sucks about GameChoice (I like it because I'm in NY as well). Have you tried Gamerang? I'm pretty sure it's closer to Ohio. Also, PlayersChoiceGames will probably be removed from the first post. It doesn't seem legit at all.
 
[quote name='ajumbaje']tenure system, is it a coupon or something?, also, site for gamerang?[/QUOTE]

When you pick your plan you can choose if you want to prepay it (the tenure system).

Gamerang is at www.gamerang.com
 
I just signed up for Gamesdrive yesterday while i was browsing this post and they should be able to get games quicker than 4 days like gamechoice. If anyone finds one closer to Ohio I would be willing to test it out.
 
[quote name='thealternakid']I just signed up for Gamesdrive yesterday while i was browsing this post and they should be able to get games quicker than 4 days like gamechoice. If anyone finds one closer to Ohio I would be willing to test it out.[/QUOTE]

Any update on this?
 
Ive been using intothegame.com for a while, and I couldnt be happier with their service. I used gamefly for over a year, and like intothegame much more.
 
Well with GameDrive, I just got games that they said shipped on the 3rd of Oct. By my count, it took longer to process, and longer to ship than Gamechoice. For all of my trials, I start on Saturday while i am working my overnight shift, and then see how far into the week the games arrive. With Gamefly, The games arrived on Thursday, which was the same for GameChoice. With Games Drive, They came today, which is a five day shipping time. Maybe it's just my mail, but things seem to be four or more days for games. The only odd thing about Games Drive, is they sent out three, but i only got two today. They sent out Conker on Monday, Ultimate Spiderman and Burnout Revenge on Tuesday. Conker and Spiderman both arrived today but Burnout is missing. I think I will sign up for gamerang tomorrow. Any East coasters having better luck. My money is waiting to find a good reliable service with quick shipping and turn arounds, until then i will keep updating what i find.
 
well after the fight i got in today over the phone I think im leaving gamefly as soon as my Free membership is up (feb 2006) they had both my games on Fast shipment Thursday but Pulled both of them saying On Friday they didnt get the confirm on weds they got the games scanned... im getting tired of the 9 day turn around these past 2 game cycles ..


Has anyone tried GAMERANG and are they any good

1 game out time 10 bucks compair to 16 bucks for gamefly
 
Also, does GameFly use tracking numbers? I live in a college dorm and sometimes they neglect to put a slip in my mailbox when I receive a package, so it just sits there if I don't know it's there from a tracking number.

When I'm paying for unlimited games per month, I don't need a game sitting there for weeks.
 
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