Does anyone rent games anymore?

[Master_Yoshi]

I was thinking. Everyone I talk to always buys games once they find out if they are good or not, or they end up borrowing them to try out. But does anyone rent games anymore?

I mean... I can admit to renting game accessories when I need them (Extra GH guitars, other peripherals, or old gaming systems such as a dreamcast) but I haven't rented an actual game in like... forever. Is this common?

[Hylian Lemon]

I personally have never rented a game, but I know a couple of guys down the street who do it once in a while.

If there's a game I really want to play, chances are I want to own it. Games are more replayable than movies, in my opinion.

[atmuh]

piracy ended that

[Gollgagh]

Hmm... I'll "rent" computer games off of torrent sites to try them out, but for console games, I haven't rented anything since...


oh hell, I think Legend of Mana was the last game we rented.

Nowadays I'll go over to a friend's who has a game I want to check out.

[JCvgluvr]

Gamefly is a lifesaver. I rent the game, and it comes right to my house. This way, I can play a ton of games that only take 10 hours to beat, then feel proud that I spent $20, not $60. I mean, come on. Who's really going to buy Lego Indiana Jones? It's a mediocre game at best!

[atmuh]

and youre an idiot for renting it

[Schwaltzvald]

and youre an idiot for renting it

:lol:

I see what you did there gluvr...

I don't think I've ever rented a game, however I've borrowed from my uncle from time to time; even to this day. He's got a good eye on games :)!!

Other then that source I've "borrowed" elsewhere from time to time so long as it ran on the PC.

[Salluz]

I was thinking. Everyone I talk to always buys games once they find out if they are good or not, or they end up borrowing them to try out. But does anyone rent games anymore?

I mean... I can admit to renting game accessories when I need them (Extra GH guitars, other peripherals, or old gaming systems such as a dreamcast) but I haven't rented an actual game in like... forever. Is this common?
I rent 'em every blue moon.

[Poke'G]

Man, I haven't rented a game in a long time. The last one may have been... the Two Towers beat'em up for GameCube, and even then, that was a rare occasion.

Although with Wii control schemes being quite slipshod and a gamble, renting titles I'm interested in might be worth looking into again.

[Blue_Drac]

Last two I rented were MGS4 and Lair. I'm a huge dragon fanatic, but was delightfully unimpressed with Lair's linear gameplay. I'm not a huge fan of MGS4, but I enjoyed playing it more than Lair.

Honestly, I'm glad I rented, otherwise I'd have wasted $60 on a game that would have collected dust. Something like what my GTA4 is doing now in favor of my Burnout:Paradise and WoW habit. *shrug*

Honestly, renting makes sense. Especially if you don't know if you're going to like the game. Sure, some people will say "You're spending extra money on a game by renting it! zomg!" ... Uh .. no. Not really. In the long run, if the game is interesting enough that I actually play it during the week that I have it, then it stands a good chance that I'll buy it; however, if I don't play it, or worse, I return it within a day, then I've saved myself money on buying a dud. So far, the "shareware" concept works for console games.

[Zombie]

I don't rent games much. The last one I rented was Red Steel, I knew i didn't want to buy it all and just kind of wanted to give it a shot... Glad i didn't buy it!

[BomberKid]

Wow, I didn't know so many people didn't rent games! If there's a game I'm iffy about or I want to play but not buy, I just go to Blockbusters; but not as much anymore because they've gotten more expensive.

[JCvgluvr]

I see what you did there gluvr...

Would you mind informing me on what I "did"? :|

[Majin GeoDooD]

I haven't rented a game in almost 6 years. I'm pretty sure the last game I rented was Resident Evil 0.

[Imagist]

Honestly, renting makes sense. Especially if you don't know if you're going to like the game. Sure, some people will say "You're spending extra money on a game by renting it! zomg!" ... Uh .. no. Not really. In the long run, if the game is interesting enough that I actually play it during the week that I have it, then it stands a good chance that I'll buy it; however, if I don't play it, or worse, I return it within a day, then I've saved myself money on buying a dud. So far, the "shareware" concept works for console games.

Um... you are completely ignoring the fact that if you happen to like a rental enough that you buy it, you are spending extra money on that game. This is why I don't rent games, because if I'm interested enough in a game that I'm willing to rent it I don't want to be charged out the ass for a week's trial. Of course, I'm not a huge gamer now that I'm a college student with more financial responsibility for keeping myself alive, so to me it's not life or death if I decide I'm not willing to give a game a shot with a full purchase. I'd rather not spend the, what, $7? and miss out on a decent game than wind up paying that fee on top of the cost to purchase a good game.

Besides, I usually buy my console games with a double 10% discount at Target, then work the deals to get maximum trade-in credit at a game store and buy a portable game with it, so I wind up with such low overhead in buying games that it doesn't make sense to spend money and rush through a game from a rental place.

[Elex Synn]

Man I haven't rented a game since... The SNES/Genesis days. Though then again back then when I was much younger I didn't have the financial ability to really do anything but rent.

Oh wait, I remember renting Space Channel 5 for the DC at one point, and ended up buying it.

[kupernikus]

I rent when its a game Im not sure I'd buy, like COD4 and bioshock, both of which I ended up buying (not into fps games, so they where iffy for me) And games I know will blow but be fun for a few hours, like viking, N3, and.... thats about it since I rented suikoden back in the day.

[MaCe]

You guys are lucky,at least you have an option to rent it,in my country (as for most of Europe),there is no possibility to rent a game,it is ether piracy or buy it (most of the time overpriced) :?

[kupernikus]

You guys are lucky,at least you have an option to rent it,in my country (as for most of Europe),there is no possibility to rent a game,it is ether piracy or buy it (most of the time overpriced) :?

Eh renting is fun, but its different with games then movies... That and now at blockbuster if you have a game to long they just charge you full retail for it... no good.

How much are games in europe? Its like 60 bucks us for new xbox and ps3 games

[sephfire]

I do the little "GamePass" thing. $20 bucks a month, hang on to a game as a long as you want and swap it out any time. The rental store is just a mile down the road, so it's an easy trip and it lets me try a lot of games I'd never bother with otherwise. And it drastically reduces the number I purchase as well.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I haven't rented a game since Resident Evil 4 on the GC like 2 years back, and even then I barely did it. Thing is, Blockbusters and most video rental places I've been hitting have either shit for games or only one copy of one game that everybody and their mother wants to play and thus is gone at ALL times.

Also, since this new generation of systems usually have demos up for most of the games I want to play, I just download those.

Although I can understand why you'd just want to rent a game like an RPG as opposed to an FPS being that you could rent that game for awhile and still end up paying less than you would buying it, thus not having a game taking up shelf space that you only played through once.

I remember the good ol' days when renting games were like 3 bucks.

[OverCoat]

I haven't rented a game since Resident Evil 4 on the GC like 2 years back, and even then I barely did it. Thing is, Blockbusters and most video rental places I've been hitting have either shit for games or only one copy of one game that everybody and their mother wants to play and thus is gone at ALL times.

This is my situation. I used to rent games all the time though, but I just stopped playing my Gamecube so I don't have much use for renting anymore

[The Damned]

The only good place to ever rent games in town was a place called Gamer's Edge. They changed hands over the years, and towards the end tried to go into general media; they got rid of some games and went more into movies, putting them in direct competition with the five video stores.

They used to be the only place that would rent Gameboy carts...

[Evilhead]

Back in the 16-bit era renting games was one of my main joys in life. There were so many throw away games back then, and for a lot of games 5 days or so was usually more then enough time to get all the enjoyment out of them. Now I don't have the option to rent anything (Japan must be like Europe in that sense), but I just pirate anything I want these days...

[OverCoat]

Evilhead yeah, also there's not many short games out there anymore, save for FPSes. Everything else takes way more than 5 days to beat, for me.

[Dyne]

I haven't rented a video game since the Playstation era. Honestly, I stopped because everytime I'd rent a game, it was always scratched because people were stupid and didn't give a damn because it was a rental.

Anyway, I doubt I'd rent games these days, I'd rather just buy them outright, unless it was something really iffy. For example, Haze. I doubt I'd really buy that game, maybe I'd rent it, but not likely.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I think it's usually because the video game aisles are just so dark and gloomy to me nowadays. I dunno, but I think something changed in me over time. Maybe it was the throngs of crap games that kept coming out for last generation's systems, maybe it was because I've just grown out of it from not even going to video rental stores(kind of like how I don't watch TV anymore), maybe it's just that I'm not at the point where I can just see a game cover and go "oh hey that looks like a badass game!" anymore.

Generally speaking, after I read about a game extensively online(which is another factor, maybe I'm just more well-informed), I'll probably go out and buy it.

Whatever the reason is, renting games is just "bleh" to me now.

[Darth Lime]

I think the last game I rented was for my PSX, and I think it was either one of the Spyro games or The Emperor's New Groove.

Other than that, I usually do lots of research before I go out and buy a game. That way I am not disappointed in it after the initial purchase.

[Maco70]

There are some games I wish I had rented, but with demos, I have a pretty good feel for what games are worth my money.

[Strike911]

The last time I rented ANYTHING was when Sega Genesis games and NES games cost $2 - $3 dollars at Blockbuster. Actually, I lied. I rented a few N64 titles 10 years ago for $5-$6, which I thought was a ridiculous price at the time.

Games are just expensive to rent now... what, like $9-$10 bucks? I'd rather pay the $50 or $60 on good game for a lifetime, than a whole crapload of mediocre games every week.

If I see something I want I just buy it. Haven't really rented games in 10 years.



exactly, with demos there's no need. If I really want to play something different I'll play a demo. I have no need to waste money on some rental. Rather save it for a stellar game worthy of the purchase.

[I-n-j-i-n]

I think it's usually because the video game aisles are just so dark and gloomy to me nowadays. I dunno, but I think something changed in me over time. Maybe it was the throngs of crap games that kept coming out for last generation's systems, maybe it was because I've just grown out of it from not even going to video rental stores(kind of like how I don't watch TV anymore), maybe it's just that I'm not at the point where I can just see a game cover and go "oh hey that looks like a badass game!" anymore.

Generally speaking, after I read about a game extensively online(which is another factor, maybe I'm just more well-informed), I'll probably go out and buy it.

Whatever the reason is, renting games is just "bleh" to me now.

Wow. Do you live in the 90's? Or maybe the 80's? People physically rent videogames now? That notion is just retarded. It's called Gamefly. I still have a subscription for a few Wii games that I simply refuse to buy since a lot of them are 'play then let dust gather' types.

If you don't rent games or don't do it anymore, that is just fine and dandy. But I never knew decades old rental cliches were funny anymore, or relevant.

Oh, and I'll never understand the whole "I used to watch TVs" thing. Okay, so it's like a growth spurt. Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[FiremanJoe]

My local video store considers Twilight Princess an 'overnight new release' rental, so to answer the question: No.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Wow. Do you live in the 90's? Or maybe the 80's? People physically rent videogames now? That notion is just retarded. It's called Gamefly. I still have a subscription for a few Wii games that I simply refuse to buy since a lot of them are 'play then let dust gather' types.

If you don't rent games or don't do it anymore, that is just fine and dandy. But I never knew decades old rental cliches were funny anymore, or relevant.

Oh, and I'll never understand the whole "I used to watch TVs" thing. Okay, so it's like a growth spurt. Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Wow... What?

[The Damned]

You have to remember, I-n-j-i-n is OCR's living internet-awesome-barometer. He is what we all should be comparing ourselves to.

[FREAK55]

I don't rent, but I did borrow Guitar Hero II for the PS2 from my local library. I had fun for a week and didn't spend a dime!

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

You have to remember, I-n-j-i-n is OCR's living internet-awesome-barometer. He is what we all should be comparing ourselves to.

That much I already knew. The post quite literally left me stupefied for a few moments.

[Zophar [insert new name]]

I hardly rent games anymore as every title from the PS1 era were scratched, so I used to borrow from friends and family who took better care of their games.

I also make use of Gamefly as well.

[Linkjing Donuts]

i rent games. i recently rented and returned okami for wii after beating it 100%


really, if you know you won't play the game again until years and years later, why pay 50 bucks when you can rent it for 6. and, for me, after beating a game, it would take almost a year till i feel like playing it again, at which point i could get it used or find it cheaper than its launch


but if its something that'd i'd play constantly (brawww) shit yea i'm buying it

[Fishy]

We used to rent a few mega drive games from blockbuster way back in the 90's, but really these days, if I play a game at all its because I have an interest in completing it in my own time, be that a few hours or a few weeks.

You can't really rent FF style rpgs or online shooters, which make up most of what I play, so I have no reason to rent anything.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

i rent games. i recently rented and returned okami for wii after beating it 100%


really, if you know you won't play the game again until years and years later, why pay 50 bucks when you can rent it for 6. and, for me, after beating a game, it would take almost a year till i feel like playing it again, at which point i could get it used or find it cheaper than its launch


but if its something that'd i'd play constantly (brawww) shit yea i'm buying it

But what if years later you can't find it at the rental or anywhere else? At least for me, I prefer having the game on me as opposed to well... not.

[Linkjing Donuts]

But what if years later you can't find it at the rental or anywhere else? At least for me, I prefer having the game on me as opposed to well... not.
iuno.... go out side and play with your friends?

[Doulifée]

it's illegal here :-P

[JCvgluvr]

i rent games. i recently rented and returned okami for wii after beating it 100%


really, if you know you won't play the game again until years and years later, why pay 50 bucks when you can rent it for 6. and, for me, after beating a game, it would take almost a year till i feel like playing it again, at which point i could get it used or find it cheaper than its launch


but if its something that'd i'd play constantly (brawww) shit yea i'm buying it

This is exactly how I feel. I'm beating Okami for the second time, but after that, I have absolutely no intentions whatsoever to play it for a third time. I'm one of those gamers who doesn't enjoy playing a lengthy game more than once or twice. I'm just hardwired that way. Renting is very helpful for guys like me.

[Hawkwing]

Back in the SNES days my mom would stop in at the local Video-to-Roll store, and pick up games based on the cashier's recommendations to surprise my brother and I.

One day she came home with Harvest Moon and Final Fantasy 2. Forever changed my life.

[Israfel]

I generally haven't been a renter since the SNES. But I'll probably start up a Gamefly account soon. It's a great way to try out games I'm a bit unsure about.

[I-n-j-i-n]

Wow... What?

Read English? Or not realize that renting games isn't what it was like 20 years ago?

[Maco70]

Read English? Or not realize that renting games isn't what it was like 20 years ago?

Come to think of it... all the Movie galleries and block busters in my area closed. I haven't gone to rent a movie in such a long time, I didn't even realize it until I went too rent bioshock.

[I-n-j-i-n]

That's the thing. When people say video game rental places are dilapidated and such, I can't help but tune it out like it's not even real. I just don't put up with it anymore. Same with movie rental places. Hopefully with the 360's Netflix deal, I don't have to ever worry about even using the postal system for movies now. Maybe in the future, people can rent games straight out of the 360/PS3 online services. Maybe especially for 360 since they already have a deal with Gamefly.

[Linkjing Donuts]

just remember to get out there to the gym or streets and get some exercise

[TheSnowStorm]

I haven't rent a game in such a long time. Since I couldn't afford video games back when I was a kid, I would used to rent games.

Eh, I buy games now once their prices have dropped.

[MisterBiggler]

When Blockbuster Total access offered that free movie/game rental coupon every month, I was on it. Finished Fable, Bioshock, and a few others within a week or so. My roommate will rent games occasionally though, which is cool as he'll often get co-op games on 360. I'm trying to get him to buy his own 360 now that I'm moving out though.

Honestly though, with Gamestop allowing you to return a used game within 7 days, no questions asked for the most part, I don't rent games anymore. Anytime I'm interested in a game, I call a Gamestop and ask if they have a used one in stock. If I feel it's worth my money after a week, I keep it.

It may seem costly as you're paying whatever Gamestop charges for a particular used game (much more than you would pay for a rental) but there's no way to get your money back at Blockbuster or whoever. usually though, I'll read up on a game quite a bit before deciding to buy it, so on the occasions when I do this, I keep a good amount of the used games I buy.

Another thing is that I usually don't care to play too many games as soon as their released, so when I do want to check a game out, enough time has passed that there's usually a copy around my local store.

[Wolfstan]

When I want to try a game in its entirety, I put this 100Mbit line to good use.

[Ajax]

I never rent video games anymore. I hardly even buy games nowadays. Though I can't remember how many times I rented Super Mario All-stars, Kirby Super Star and Megaman X4. I pumped so much money into renting those games, that I should have bought them.

[Dunther]

I've rent games only 2-3 times in my life, but I loved it.
Unfortunately it's difficult to find a place where you can do it.
I was at blockbuster last week and I found NiGHTS for Wii (the only interesting title they have for rent).
I'm very happy to play games without paying the full price (that is often too much)