why buy the car? Just lease it. In other words..rental plans

[Anthony1]

At Blockbuster, you can get a Gamer's Pass for $14.99 per month. This allows you to have one game, and you can swap it as many times as you like in a 30 day period.

For $19.99, you can do 2 games.


So the question then goes, Why buy a new game for $49.99, which translates to about $54 with tax, when you can rent 6 games per month for about 10 bucks more.


Think about it.


6 freaking games for about $65 per month.

You could have 6 games at a time, swich and swap whichever ones you want, as many times as you want, for a 30 day period.


3 of the games could be games that you rent long term, in order to fully finish them and do with them as would if you owned them, and then the other 3 could be games that you constantly swap, just to check out a bunch of games that are out, to see what's out there.

You could sample virtually everything available, and still have 3 games that you are holding onto, for a long term play.

Sure, it's $65 per month, but that's the equivalent of buying two $29.99 games per month.

It's just a different thought process.

The biggest thing is that you have to give up the concept of ownership. But in all reality, this is the better concept to go with. You'll get everything out of the game, just like you actually owned it, but you'll get a whole lot more. You will get to see virtually every game out there that is worth taking a look at.

Now you might say, "Well, I would rather buy the games, because I'm building up a library of games, and I'm collectiing them, and I would eventually want to get them. I want the cover art and the instruction books and all that.

Well, I say HOGWASH!!!!!

Go ahead and buy the games, but don't buy them now. Buy them later. Buy them when you can get them for $14.99 each, and you can get them on a buy 2 get 1 free deal. Like TRU is doing right now. Of course, you have to wait until the games are no longer the current thing, and they end up in the bargain bins. But who cares?

If you really liked the game, then you've already had it in your rental plan, and you've already beat it.

I really think the $65 dollar plan of having six games at a time, and being able to switch and swap as much as you want is a more logical way to enjoy the gaming hobby.

I mean, for those that are players.

Try it.

I think you'll find that ultimately, it's the much more logical way to go. And it's actually way, way, way cheaper.

[Hovoc]

game freedom pass rocked.

RIP game freedom pass :(

[max 330 mega]

if blockbuster carried saturn and neo geo titles, id be all over it. but they dont so its useless to me.

[Anthony1]

game freedom pass rocked.

RIP game freedom pass :(


What are you talking about?


Blockbuster has Gamers Pass right now, and that is what I'm doing. They have a special right now, where having one game at a time costs $14.99 per month, (normally $19.99) and having two games at a time costs $19.99 per month (normally $29.99).

I'm doing the 2 games at a time thing, for $19.99. If I did 3 of these deals, then I could have a total of 6 games out, and I could swap them as many times as I want. The cool thing is that I have 3 blockbusters that are all relatively close to me. So I can do a rental deal at each one. So if one of them has a certain game all checked out, it's likely that one of the other two might have a copy available.


The biggest downside with this thing, is that Blockbuster sometimes doesn't rent certain games that I would really want to take a look at, and then sometimes when they do rent a particular game, they only have one or two copies of them, and somebody that's doing a Gamers Pass already has that game, and you never know when it might come back. And then because there are only one or two copies, when it does come back, it's snagged right away.

Of course if you have a plan at 3 different Blockbusters, you are more likely not to be too badly affected by that, but still, it can be quite difficult to get a particular game when you really want it. You have to be somewhat flexible.

[Anthony1]

if blockbuster carried saturn and neo geo titles, id be all over it. but they dont so its useless to me.



Well, yes no question, it would be awesome if you could rent all the games from previous systems, but unfortunately that isn't the case. Of course, it would make no sense for Blockbuster to do that, considering how niche that market is.

But I don't understand why GameFly or any other internet service doesn't rent retro.


Of course, having said all of this, this deal is still wonderfull, for those of us that also like to check out games for the most current consoles. It's especially wonderfull for those of us that have all 3 of the major systems.

Right now I have a Cube and a XBOX, but I will probably get a PS2 soon.

[Britboy]

It would all depend how fast they get them to you. I gave up my gamefly account because they took like two friggin weeks to send me a game each time. I bitched and they said it was because they only have one distribution center, in CA and I'm in PA. That still shouldnt take that long, so I quit

[Anthony1]

It would all depend how fast they get them to you. I gave up my gamefly account because they took like two friggin weeks to send me a game each time. I bitched and they said it was because they only have one distribution center, in CA and I'm in PA. That still shouldnt take that long, so I quit


That's the reason that I've never done the GameFly thing. Or any of the internet ones. Blockbuster is doing a online service now too.


I always thought that there would be alot of downtime, in between getting the games and shipping them back.

I wonder in a 30 day period how many days you would have, in which you wouldn't have any games, because you are waiting to recieve a game, or you just sent some games back.

Seems like it would be something that would really irritate me. I like the fact that I can drive down to Blockbuster, just a couple of minutes from my house, and have the game in a manner of minutes. Plus, I can actually visit that same Blockbuster and swap a game several times, even in one freaking day!!!

Sometimes I will have a day off from work, and I will go to Blockbuster at 10am, about 3PM and about 9PM, swapping a game 3 different times in a single day. Of course this is with games that I just want to sample briefly, to get a quick feel for game. Sometimes you will find a game that didn't get great reviews or lots of publicity and hype, but it could be a great game. Then you end up keeping that game much longer.

[Hovoc]

well lets see, i odnt need more than 1 game out at any given time, the games freedom pass was 20$, rent 1 game as long as you wnat (until end of month) and then return it and exchange for another, free, since the nearest BB is like 5 min away, if i wanted a different game, thend id take the small trip, no need to pay 60$ or whatever to have out 6 games at one time, it seems a waste to me

i can play a game and know under 3 or so minutes that ill like it and want to buy it.

if you are one of those people that copy games to the xbox HDD, then you may benefit from this, but i did well with a single rental out at one time

[petewhitley]

I think it's a killler program, but honestly six games seems like overkill to me. If I'm playing 2 current-gen games at once I'm usually pretty satiated.

[Promophile]

well lets see, i odnt need more than 1 game out at any given time, the games freedom pass was 20$, rent 1 game as long as you wnat (until end of month) and then return it and exchange for another, free, since the nearest BB is like 5 min away, if i wanted a different game, thend id take the small trip, no need to pay 60$ or whatever to have out 6 games at one time, it seems a waste to me

i can play a game and know under 3 or so minutes that ill like it and want to buy it.

if you are one of those people that copy games to the xbox HDD, then you may benefit from this, but i did well with a single rental out at one time

you do know that you CAN get only one pass and one game per month, right? Anyways, this isn't worth it for me. I've had this pass before last year and the year before. I don't know about your Blockbuster, but mine is HORRIBLE. They only get like one copy of good games, but 200000 copies of NFL 2k5 and all those crappy sports games. Guess what? The good games are gone ALL THE TIME, and about 199999 copies of NFL 2k5 are sitting there gathering dust. Another thing is it takes them FOREVER to get new games in.

[Sylentwulf]

Why buy games for $50 ($54 with tax) when you can buy them for $20 in 2 months?

Also, I play almost exclusively RPG games. And the NON-RPG games are cheap enough to buy, and it leaves me WITH something afterwards.

Thats why.

[digitalpress]

I rent to try games out, but when I like the game, I'd rather buy it.

Renting is giving money away and having nothing to show for it. While that may be a fine service to use when you "dabble", I'd rather use that cash to buy a few discounted older titles that I can keep.

[LiquidX01]

It would all depend how fast they get them to you. I gave up my gamefly account because they took like two friggin weeks to send me a game each time. I bitched and they said it was because they only have one distribution center, in CA and I'm in PA. That still shouldnt take that long, so I quit

I have been using GameFly for like 7 months now and I have never had a problem with them, granted that their on the west coast and Im on the east, the longest I have ever waited for a game was 3-4 days. It sure beats going to the video store and them being out of a certain game.

To make $22 worth it, I order 2 games, one that I plan on playing for a while and another one that I will send back in a few days, thus when the receive that game they ship out another game on my list always making sure I still have one with me. Just a repetative(sp?) process...

[Flack]

I've been doing Netflix for a couple of years now, and just started Gamefly recently. So far, Gamefly does seem to be a little slower, not on their actual shipping times but on their handling time. On the last two games I sent back, they didn't send me a confirmation e-mail that they had received them for 5 working days. I track all my rentals, rental times, and average wait times in a big Excel spreadsheet. My Netflix wait each way averages 2 days, my Gamefly one is about 3.5 at the moment.

Comparing Blockbuster's Gamer Pass and online rental companies is apples and oranges, in my opinion. I'm willing to wait the couple of extra days to have the games mailed to me. I like these services for two reasons; one, I love the idea of a queue always being filled and things being mailed to me, and two, their selections are outstanding. My local Blockbuster and Hastings never seem to have anything in stock.

[jdc]

I've never rented a disc-based video game or movie. All of those scratches and scuffs...*shudder*. Even when I ran the Microplay franchise, my personal systems only saw the rental games before anyone else got their mitts on the disc.

The games that I play for Cube and PS2 are games that I want to own anyways, so trying them first isn't necessary. I tend not to randomly buy just for the sake of buying.

However....for a person who does like to rent, it's certainly a great value...as well as for Blockbuster, since rentals are where you make obscene profit and they've gotta be attracting a lot of attention with that deal.

[sirgeoph]

if blockbuster carried saturn and neo geo titles, id be all over it. but they dont so its useless to me.

The company I work for just started something similar, but it's way better.... $10/month gets you one used game (from a pong system to xbox stuff -- we've got it all) that you can keep for as long as you want, bring back, and get another one. For $15 you can do that with 2 used games. For $20, you can do it with 1 used OR new game and be the first to open a new copy of a game. For $25, you can do this with 2 new or used games.

So theoretically, you could play every game in our 6 stores in thirty days for 10 bucks, that is if travel time was instant and you played each game for like a second.

[buttasuperb]

rent, rip to hd, repeat.

[sirgeoph]

rent, rip to hd, repeat.

that reminds me, we mod systems too ;)

[NE146]

Well I figure if I had followed this great advice most of my life (theoretically) I'd have no games at this point :P

[Daria]

Because I'll devote a whole month to one title, and then if I ever want to play it again I have it, sitting there, aching to be touched. :P

[shopkins]

I gave up Gamefly, too. I live in Kentucky, and sometimes it took four or five days, both ways. I'd restart it if they opened an East Coast branch. I have Netflix and I've been very happy with the speed.

My main problem with these unlimited rental programs is that stuff just sits on my shelf, unplayed, for long periods of time. It feels like I'm wasting money. At least when I buy a game it doesn't matter if I take two months (or more than a year, I just started playing GTA: Vice City) to get around to playing it.

I would do the freedom pass thing if I had a local Blockbuster, though.

[Anthony1]

Dammit!!!!!


People, please read the original post in it's entirety. I hate it when people read a few sentences of a post and then make a snap judgement.


The thing about this is, that you need to CHANGE your philosphy on buying games, for this deal to work.

I said in my original post that I knew that people would object to this because they would, "rather own the game".

You're not getting my point if this is your complaint.

You can still own all the damn games that you want. But instead of buying them for $49.99, you can buy them for $19.99 or $14.99 when they are in the bargain bin.

But the key factor is that you don't have to wait for them to hit the bargain bin.

Ok, I guess I'm going to have to give you guys an example of what I mean, so that you can understand what I'm talking about. Let's say that you have a XBOX, and that you are planning on buying 3 XBOX games. Halo 2, Def Jam Fight for NY and Need for Speed Ungerground 2.

Under my plan, you wouldn't go buy the games for $49.99 each at the store. Instead you would rent them with the rental plan. Now, remember, with this rental plan, you would have 6 games at a time. So if you rent Halo 2, Def Jam 2 and NFS U2, then you would still have another 3 games that you could rent.

So the idea is that you could keep Halo 2, Def Jam 2 and NFS U2 as long as you want. Keep it for months if you want to. When you completely finish the game, then take that one back and get a different game that you would want to keep for a long time.

With the other 3 games, you rotate them a ton of times to sample a bunch of other games and see what's out there. Or just rent 6 games and keep them out for months and months.

But the idea is, that when Halo 2 and Def Jam 2 and NFS U2 are on sale for $19.99 or $14.99 or something like that, then you go ahead and buy them. Then you will actually own them, but for a huge freaking discount.

Ok, I already know what you are going to say. You are going to say that it's going to be a long, long time before Halo 2 and NFS U2 are $19.99 or $14.99. True. But my answer to that is TRU. as in buy 2 and get 1 free. TRU always does this very so often, and if you do it the correct way, then late next summer you can end up buying Halo 2 for $19.99 or $14.99. If you catch my drift.

The key to this whole thing is to completely change your philosphy.

You go from a philosophy of immediate purchase, to immediate rental, with an eventual purchase way down the line.

Get it?

I'm telling you, I have thought this thing out in great detail and it makes perfect sense.

But the hardest part is changing your mentality towards buying games. If you normally would buy Def Jam Fight For NY, and have it for 3 months, and then never play it again, then what really is the difference between having it for 3 months as a rental, and then about 9 months later buying it in a bargain bin for $14.99.

On top of that, if you really aren't going to play it again, then you actually have the game brand new sealed. So if for some reason it becomes a hard to find game, then you have the best of both worlds. You've already played it to death, so you don't care anyways.

It's kind of hard for me to really explain this out buy writing this post. It would be better if I talked to somebody in person and explained this.

[Garry Silljo]

No one is reading your whole post because it is WAY too long. I won't buy the pass because Patience is cheaper. You say to rent it first and then buy it at bargain bin price. I say just wait for the bin and then its cheaper than renting it first. Also if I only want one or two games for a span of many months, its cheaper to buy them and not renew a rental service I may never use. Renting is great for you, fine, not for me.

[Flack]

That really just seemed like a long-winded way of saying, "rent games when they're new, buy them when they are old and go on sale."

[Ed Oscuro]

Dammit!!!!!


People, please read the original post in it's entirety. I hate it when people read a few sentences of a post and then make a snap judgement.
*slaps forehead*

Anyhow...if I wasted money on rentals, I wouldn't have money to buy the cool stuff I own. Half of the time it seems I find out stuff I thought would be awesome wasn't really...but you live and learn LOL

[Anthony1]

[quote="Garry Silljo"] Also if I only want one or two games for a span of many months, its cheaper to buy them and not renew a rental service I may never use. quote]



Well, it depends on how many games you buy per month. If you buy 2 games per month at $29.99 or more, then this method is actually cheaper.

[Anthony1]

Certainly, this plan may not work for everyone, but I really feel that for many people, this would be a much more intelligent way of going through the whole renting/buying/owning game process.



This deal makes the most sense for the person that typically buys about 2 $49.99 games per month.


That's basically $108 per month, when you factor in the tax.


Now, if you are going to spend $108 per month, anyways, then why not do it the most logical way that you can?


Here is how you would do that.

1. You purchase 3 different Gamer's Pass deals, the one that let's you have 2 games at a time. Right now, they have it on a special for $19.99.

2. This allows you to have six games out at a time, and you can swap and flip them as many times as you want.

3. The two games that you were actually going to buy at retail, you rent those, and you keep them indefinitely. Remember, you are going to stick with this process, month after month. Eventually, you will either beat the game, or stop playing the game, or whatever. Then you finally take that game back and get something else that you were actually going to buy.

4. You see, you have 6 game slots to play with. Some of them you can dedicate to a specific game, that you are going to keep for several months, and some of them can be used to simply swap a bunch of different games out, to test them out.

5. The key factor in this, is that you really can only be deep into so many games at a time. Under this plan, you could keep 6 games for multiple months if you wanted to, but eventually a few of those slots should open up for new games.

6. If you really, really, really liked a game, then you remember that, and when you see it marked down to $19.99 or less, then you buy it. Prices on alot of games can fall pretty fast. Usually 6 months after a game comes out, someplace will have it on sale for a pretty low price. But I personally would be very patient, and I wouldn't buy any game over $19.99. Then on top of that, I would try to do the buy 2, get 1 free deals. I'd buy 2 $19.99 games and get one free. This way, you still have a collection developing, but the good news is that you have a brand new sealed copy that is completely mint, and you don't have to open it, unless you really plan on revisiting the game. If you want to play the game again, then open it by all means, but if you never really feel the urge, but you still want to have a copy of it, then just keep it in your collection sealed. One day it could have some serious value to a future collector.

[digtempest]

I did that Freedom Pass last year for one month. I rented a total of 8 games in that time span. Two of them didn't work. Last year the rental fee was $5.99 plus tax. Not a great deal- simply because they don't have enough copies of the games. And renting a crap game that I had no intention of buying is still renting a crap game. Also, since it's over $7 to rent a game now, why not wait for BB or CC or Toyrus or EB to have a great deal on games?

[Flojomojo]

Rentals don't do it for me. Why? I have more money than time, and I prefer to have something to show for my money at the end of the month.

There are people who are paranoid that this is exactly what Microsoft or Sony will do to console gaming: make everything a rental or subscription service.

I dislike that paradigm for movies ("pay-per-view" is silly, though going to the theater is OK), and I don't like it for games, either. It took almost 20 years to be able to play early 1980s arcade games on demand through emulation. I like to know that when I choose to buy a game disc (cartridge, download, whatever) it will be in my posession for as long as *I* want it.

I too wait to buy games when they're cheap, but rather than feed the Blockbuster machine, I prefer to buy the occasional big game new so the developer sees some of my money.