A CAGs Review of GameznFlix
There certainly are a lot of online rental companies out there and it’s difficult to find out which one suits your needs. The appeal of GameznFlix is that it is one of the only services to allow you to rent both movies and games AND that it does so at incredibly competitive rates. I’ve been subscribing to the service for a couple of months now and I’m here to give a full report. Time to find out if Gameznflix is something you should be checking out.
Plans/Pricing
GameznFlix has four subscription models that breakdown as follows:
1 Out at a Time / $8.99 each month
2 Out at a Time / $12.99 each month
3 Out at a Time / $16.99 each month
6 Out at a Time – Annual / $249.00 per year
Right now there is a 25% off code for the life of your subscription which lilboo has described here that makes GameznFlix even more affordable.
I currently subscribe to the 3 out at a time plan, but like a true Cheap Ass, I actually split the subscription costs with a friend. With 3 items out at a time, we find that it works perfectly as it gives us both something to play, even when we have another item in transit. This is definitely a route to consider if you and a buddy have similar tastes and see each other frequently enough to trade out discs.
Turn-around Time/Shipping
Games and movies are shipped in paper envelopes which are very similar to what is used by other online rental companies. You simply detach portions of the outer envelope to reveal the pre-paid return shipping envelope. The discs themselves are in a simple wax-paper sleeve.
As with all online rental services, your turnaround time is going to be directly related to your location to a distribution center and what is available at those distribution centers. GameznFlix has several distribution centers located throughout the U.S. and they have stated that they plan to expand to additional regions as demand dictates.
My personal experience has been a turnaround time of 3-4 days. My media is general marked as received the day after I sent it back and I receive another item on my queue a day or two after that. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with the timeliness of the whole process.
For reference, I live in Columbus, OH and there is a distribution center in Franklin, KY. As of right now, GameznFlix has distribution centers in the following cities:
Boston, MA
Washington DC
Orlando, FL
Franklin, KY
Dallas, TX
Sterling, CO
Sacramento, CA
Seattle, WA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL (opening soon if not already open)
Customer Service
One area where GameznFlix has room for improvement is customer service. Currently, the only way to contact them is to submit an issue through their website. This issue is then sent to a help center and in my case, I received a response the same day. That would be great turnaround time, but unfortunately, you can tell that the help is outsourced to India and the response was a canned answer that really did not relate to my question at all.
Judging from their online database of issues and responses, though, it seems as though they do genuinely answer questions and for a lot of simple issues, you can find answers simply by searching through previous submittals.
It would be really nice to have some sort of telephone support, or at the very least, a contact email where people wouldn’t feel as disconnected as I’ve felt. I understand the need for a centralized support center where FAQs are easily searchable, but a little human interaction can go a long way.
Selection
Okay, first of all, let’s get this out of the way: THERE ARE NO DS OR GBA GAMES AVAILABLE ON GAMEZNFLIX.
So, with that out in the open, one of the deciding factors on whether a rental service is worth your money or not is whether items you are interested in are actually available and carried by the service. Clearly the attraction of this service is the ability to rent both games and movies from one provider. GameznFlix carries the following formats for games: GameCube, Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 and for movies the following formats: Blu-Ray, DVD, HD-DVD.
So to break it down by format:
GameCube
They seem to have a great collection of GameCube games available for rental with even recent titles like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. There’s certainly plenty of games to rent for this system.
Playstation
Don’t expect to be renting any of the hard to find RPG’s as I’ve tried adding a few to my queue, but none of them have been available for rental. I honestly don’t know how many or what PS1 games are actually available as I didn’t spend too much time checking.
Playstation 2
The selection of PS2 games appears to be pretty good. Even some of the lesser RPG’s such as .hack//GU are in stock and new releases like Karaoke Revolution: American Idol are available as well. You shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding PS2 games to rent.
Playstation 3
There aren’t a lot of PS3 games out at the moment, but GameznFlix has a good selection with the latest release (since we are all looking for Blazing Angels).
PSP
A good selection here as well with some of the less popular titles along with the new releases.
Wii
Like the PS3, not too many games are out yet, but GameznFlix seems to have a good selection of what is currently out. As of this review they hadn’t got WarioWare in stock yet, but I’m sure that will be there in a couple of days.
Xbox
Much like the PS2, there is a large selection of Xbox games available. There’s plenty to keep someone busy for a long time.
Xbox 360
This is where the bulk of my rentals have come from and the selection is good. New releases are generally timely if you get on the list early for the big releases. For some reason it took them awhile to get F.E.A.R. in stock, but it’s there now and shipped out immediately once it showed up on their site.
Blu-Ray
Want to show off the hi-def movie functionality on that new PS3? Well, you’d have to do it with an extremely lacking selection of Blu-Ray movies at this point. Just about everything I tried adding to my queue was “on order”.
DVD
The DVD selection here is actually better than I expected, but isn’t quite as big as what you’d find on the traditional movie renting sites. In addition to the blockbusters, they do carry foreign films, independent films and, yes, there is anime. New releases can take a little bit longer to show up, so this might not be the place to rent movies from if you are the type that has to have the latest releases immediately.
HD-DVD
Most everything that I’ve tried to add is still in on order status. I have rented Serenity and there are a couple of other movies that I’ve been able to successfully add to my queue. On the whole, though, the amount of available HD-DVD titles is severely lacking.
Website Functionality/Queue
Simply put, the functionality of the website is passable, but lacking in many areas. First of all, don’t even bother trying to use the “Ready to Ship”, “Recently Released” or “Soon, Not Yet” links. For games I’ve found it’s much easier just to browse by doing an “Advanced Search” and then just selecting the platform you are interested in seeing games for. As for movies, I just browse by genre as the site does currently not allow you to search by “HD-DVD” or “Blu-Ray”. Of course if you are looking for a specific title, you can just enter the name and search directly for it.
Like the rest of the rental sites, GameznFlix uses a queue system where you line up items that you would like to rent. After adding an item to the queue, you will then learn if the item is actually owned by the service. If they do not own the title, it will be relegated to the “Titles On Order or Not Released” section. Items that are currently available for rent are added to your queue and there is a graphical representation of the “availability” of that title. Once items are in your queue, you can arrange them in the order that you would like to receive them, but keep in mind that if an item is not available, the service will skip that title and send you the next available item from your queue.
Purchasing
There are purchasing options on the site and member discounts, but I have yet to purchase anything so I can’t really comment on or review this portion of their site.
Canceling
I’ve had no need to cancel the service, but other CAGs have used and cancelled the service and it seems like a pretty easy process. There is a link to cancel on the main page of their site.
Positives
-Games and movies from one online rental service at great subscription prices
-Good selection of games for current and next-gen systems
-Adequate selection of DVD titles
-Distribution centers in many cities
-Quick turnaround time for shipping and receiving items
Negatives
-New movie releases can take a little time to come in stock
-Currently a very small HD-DVD & Blu-Ray selection
-No DS or Game Boy Advance game rentals
-Movie only rental companies have a better selection of non-mainstream movies
-Items lower on the availability scale in your queue will often get passed over for more readily available items
-Customer support can be impersonal
-Navigating the site can be tricky
Overall Opinion
I’ve been very pleased with my GameznFlix experience over the past couple of months. I'm mainly a gamer who enjoys watching a movie at least once a week and this service fills my needs nicely while taking it easy on my wallet. I highly recommend at least giving the service a shot if you feel the above positives outweigh the negatives.
If you'd like to give GameznFlix a try, you can sign up and support CAG here.
There certainly are a lot of online rental companies out there and it’s difficult to find out which one suits your needs. The appeal of GameznFlix is that it is one of the only services to allow you to rent both movies and games AND that it does so at incredibly competitive rates. I’ve been subscribing to the service for a couple of months now and I’m here to give a full report. Time to find out if Gameznflix is something you should be checking out.
Plans/Pricing
GameznFlix has four subscription models that breakdown as follows:
1 Out at a Time / $8.99 each month
2 Out at a Time / $12.99 each month
3 Out at a Time / $16.99 each month
6 Out at a Time – Annual / $249.00 per year
Right now there is a 25% off code for the life of your subscription which lilboo has described here that makes GameznFlix even more affordable.
I currently subscribe to the 3 out at a time plan, but like a true Cheap Ass, I actually split the subscription costs with a friend. With 3 items out at a time, we find that it works perfectly as it gives us both something to play, even when we have another item in transit. This is definitely a route to consider if you and a buddy have similar tastes and see each other frequently enough to trade out discs.
Turn-around Time/Shipping
Games and movies are shipped in paper envelopes which are very similar to what is used by other online rental companies. You simply detach portions of the outer envelope to reveal the pre-paid return shipping envelope. The discs themselves are in a simple wax-paper sleeve.
As with all online rental services, your turnaround time is going to be directly related to your location to a distribution center and what is available at those distribution centers. GameznFlix has several distribution centers located throughout the U.S. and they have stated that they plan to expand to additional regions as demand dictates.
My personal experience has been a turnaround time of 3-4 days. My media is general marked as received the day after I sent it back and I receive another item on my queue a day or two after that. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with the timeliness of the whole process.
For reference, I live in Columbus, OH and there is a distribution center in Franklin, KY. As of right now, GameznFlix has distribution centers in the following cities:
Boston, MA
Washington DC
Orlando, FL
Franklin, KY
Dallas, TX
Sterling, CO
Sacramento, CA
Seattle, WA
Los Angeles, CA
Chicago, IL (opening soon if not already open)
Customer Service
One area where GameznFlix has room for improvement is customer service. Currently, the only way to contact them is to submit an issue through their website. This issue is then sent to a help center and in my case, I received a response the same day. That would be great turnaround time, but unfortunately, you can tell that the help is outsourced to India and the response was a canned answer that really did not relate to my question at all.
Judging from their online database of issues and responses, though, it seems as though they do genuinely answer questions and for a lot of simple issues, you can find answers simply by searching through previous submittals.
It would be really nice to have some sort of telephone support, or at the very least, a contact email where people wouldn’t feel as disconnected as I’ve felt. I understand the need for a centralized support center where FAQs are easily searchable, but a little human interaction can go a long way.
Selection
Okay, first of all, let’s get this out of the way: THERE ARE NO DS OR GBA GAMES AVAILABLE ON GAMEZNFLIX.
So, with that out in the open, one of the deciding factors on whether a rental service is worth your money or not is whether items you are interested in are actually available and carried by the service. Clearly the attraction of this service is the ability to rent both games and movies from one provider. GameznFlix carries the following formats for games: GameCube, Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 and for movies the following formats: Blu-Ray, DVD, HD-DVD.
So to break it down by format:
GameCube

They seem to have a great collection of GameCube games available for rental with even recent titles like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. There’s certainly plenty of games to rent for this system.
Playstation
Don’t expect to be renting any of the hard to find RPG’s as I’ve tried adding a few to my queue, but none of them have been available for rental. I honestly don’t know how many or what PS1 games are actually available as I didn’t spend too much time checking.
Playstation 2

The selection of PS2 games appears to be pretty good. Even some of the lesser RPG’s such as .hack//GU are in stock and new releases like Karaoke Revolution: American Idol are available as well. You shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding PS2 games to rent.
Playstation 3

There aren’t a lot of PS3 games out at the moment, but GameznFlix has a good selection with the latest release (since we are all looking for Blazing Angels).
PSP

A good selection here as well with some of the less popular titles along with the new releases.
Wii

Like the PS3, not too many games are out yet, but GameznFlix seems to have a good selection of what is currently out. As of this review they hadn’t got WarioWare in stock yet, but I’m sure that will be there in a couple of days.
Xbox

Much like the PS2, there is a large selection of Xbox games available. There’s plenty to keep someone busy for a long time.
Xbox 360

This is where the bulk of my rentals have come from and the selection is good. New releases are generally timely if you get on the list early for the big releases. For some reason it took them awhile to get F.E.A.R. in stock, but it’s there now and shipped out immediately once it showed up on their site.
Blu-Ray
Want to show off the hi-def movie functionality on that new PS3? Well, you’d have to do it with an extremely lacking selection of Blu-Ray movies at this point. Just about everything I tried adding to my queue was “on order”.
DVD
The DVD selection here is actually better than I expected, but isn’t quite as big as what you’d find on the traditional movie renting sites. In addition to the blockbusters, they do carry foreign films, independent films and, yes, there is anime. New releases can take a little bit longer to show up, so this might not be the place to rent movies from if you are the type that has to have the latest releases immediately.
HD-DVD
Most everything that I’ve tried to add is still in on order status. I have rented Serenity and there are a couple of other movies that I’ve been able to successfully add to my queue. On the whole, though, the amount of available HD-DVD titles is severely lacking.
Website Functionality/Queue
Simply put, the functionality of the website is passable, but lacking in many areas. First of all, don’t even bother trying to use the “Ready to Ship”, “Recently Released” or “Soon, Not Yet” links. For games I’ve found it’s much easier just to browse by doing an “Advanced Search” and then just selecting the platform you are interested in seeing games for. As for movies, I just browse by genre as the site does currently not allow you to search by “HD-DVD” or “Blu-Ray”. Of course if you are looking for a specific title, you can just enter the name and search directly for it.
Like the rest of the rental sites, GameznFlix uses a queue system where you line up items that you would like to rent. After adding an item to the queue, you will then learn if the item is actually owned by the service. If they do not own the title, it will be relegated to the “Titles On Order or Not Released” section. Items that are currently available for rent are added to your queue and there is a graphical representation of the “availability” of that title. Once items are in your queue, you can arrange them in the order that you would like to receive them, but keep in mind that if an item is not available, the service will skip that title and send you the next available item from your queue.
Purchasing
There are purchasing options on the site and member discounts, but I have yet to purchase anything so I can’t really comment on or review this portion of their site.
Canceling
I’ve had no need to cancel the service, but other CAGs have used and cancelled the service and it seems like a pretty easy process. There is a link to cancel on the main page of their site.
Positives
-Games and movies from one online rental service at great subscription prices
-Good selection of games for current and next-gen systems
-Adequate selection of DVD titles
-Distribution centers in many cities
-Quick turnaround time for shipping and receiving items
Negatives
-New movie releases can take a little time to come in stock
-Currently a very small HD-DVD & Blu-Ray selection
-No DS or Game Boy Advance game rentals
-Movie only rental companies have a better selection of non-mainstream movies
-Items lower on the availability scale in your queue will often get passed over for more readily available items
-Customer support can be impersonal
-Navigating the site can be tricky
Overall Opinion
I’ve been very pleased with my GameznFlix experience over the past couple of months. I'm mainly a gamer who enjoys watching a movie at least once a week and this service fills my needs nicely while taking it easy on my wallet. I highly recommend at least giving the service a shot if you feel the above positives outweigh the negatives.
If you'd like to give GameznFlix a try, you can sign up and support CAG here.