Renting games instead of buying?

[Rob P]

Struck me today that if you only play a couple of games at a time as the rest gather dust that paying £15/month for unlimited (2 discs at a time) from lovefilm is quite a good deal.

Cant really remember all the games I've been through in a year but I'm sure paying £40 for a new title, most end up back in Gamestation being traded for around a tenner if not less.

Some top games quickly become worthless - Crackdown and RS Vegas only worth £6 within a few months of purchase. Even Ebay prices seem to dive after the initial hype of a title, usually while we are all still playing it!

Discuss.

[mrmr96]

Great shout. I didn't realise you could rent games from Love Film...

[matc]

The only problem I found when I did this a couple of years ago was the games were never in stock; even the ones I pre-ordered for launch.

[Rob P]

Good point, but how long is too long to wait for a launch title? I wouldnt mind waiting a few weeks but agree if its a long wait then it defeats the purpose.

[Steve Evil]

I rent from whybuygames which is one of the better companies and pretty cheap, turnaround is good too, so you get a game sent out usually the day they get yours back.

I only use it as a backup though, for those average games that I don't want to play on launch day, or can't see myself playing more than once. You basically have a pool of 10 or more games and they send out whichever ones are available, sometimes you'll get the ones near the top of the list, but most of the time you'll get any old random ones that you've only got on there to bulk up your list to the minimum required.

Certainly I can't see you getting a game on release day as everyone will have it on their list and time their returns in order to get the best chance to get the latest games, so it becomes something of a lottery.

[toastboy]

I've been with Lovefilm for ages and they still have me on my original pre-games deal of 13.99/month for 3 discs, dvd and/or games now.

I usually have one game on the go, currently GTA4 and do the rest on DVDs.

No complaints so far.

[matc]

Rob P said:

Good point, but how long is too long to wait for a launch title? I wouldnt mind waiting a few weeks but agree if its a long wait then it defeats the purpose.

I was with them for a year and the only 360 game I managed to get in the whole time was ridgeracer which was only on the list to meet the minimum requirment, I also chose a couple of old ps2 games that I thought might be a laugh and these turned up almost stright away.

I understand the concept as often I will only play a game for a few weeks and then never touch it again; it would be fine for the obscure games that i'm not too bothered about playing, but I don't think I could wait for months for those epic games like gta4 which are ofetn worth keeping in the collection anyway.