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i used to rent games all the time in the 90s. like constantly. i swear the last game i actually rented was shadowman on the n64 and i think it was in 2001. never rented a game again after that, pretty sad to be honest. game rental would never work today.

That's a really interesting question... It was almost certainly something for PS2 or GC, probably PS2. I really want to say it was the second ".hack" game, but I can't be sure I didn't buy it from Hollywood Video.

I think game rentals would definitely work today, and it's baffling to me that Redbox stopped their game rentals. They only ever dabbled in it and never had Switch/Vita/3DS games or any good selection at all for systems they did support. An entire brick-and-mortar store probably wouldn't work unless an existing business like GameStop transitioned into providing rentals on top of their existing business structure, but a Redbox-style system seems like it could find an untapped market. Gamefly is less fast and convenient, so I think it would work.

I don't see a reason why rentals wouldn't work today. It seems adjacent to timed demos. Or, like, getting temporary access to a title through Game Pass or what-have-you.

...I don't remember renting tons of stuff on the 360, but 'Final Fantasy 13' was definitely in there. (Yeah, yeah, the obvious joke------"ff13 was so stanko it made boo stop renting games forever!") Ehhh.

maybe they could but i feel like a lot of 'physical' copies of games are just install files that lead to the online download, at least i dont think physical media for games will last forever. its in pretty serious decline now

Booyakasha wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:18 am

...I don't remember renting tons of stuff on the 360, but 'Final Fantasy 13' was definitely in there. (Yeah, yeah, the obvious joke------"ff13 was so stanko it made boo stop renting games forever!") Ehhh.

Funny thing is I used to hate FF13, but FF15 & FF16 are so bad in comparison that it's practically decent by comparison now.

emporornapoleon wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 7:24 am

maybe they could but i feel like a lot of 'physical' copies of games are just install files that lead to the online download, at least i dont think physical media for games will last forever. its in pretty serious decline now

Yeah but the physical copies still let you play the game, though the download part is annoying it's just part of modern gaming unfortunately. Physical media is in decline but that's in terms of ownership, I'm not sure it would necessarily effect rentals.

And even if next-gen PS6 & Xbox whatever go fully digital I'm sure Nintendo won't for a while yet.

I'm not going to bag on FF13 too much. Like, I can accept it probably wasn't as good as the other Final Fantasys and all, but, well, I'm not much on JRPGs, anyway. It could have been the best FF ever, and I still probably wouldn't have played it a hundredth as much as I played 'Kingdoms of Amalur' or 'New Vegas'.

I don't think I've ever rented a game, unless you count borrowing from the public library, in which case the most recent one was Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (so I could unlock a spirit in Smash Ultimate).

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

I don't think I've rented anything since SNES. I did rent some games just for the sake of trying them, but also I was a big fan of Koei, which had such limited distribution that the only way I could play many of their games was to keep renting them. Today just about anyone can get distribution somewhere.

The last game I remember renting was Super Mario Galaxy. I didn't have much time to play it, but at least I didn't have to pay for the rental since I was working for the video store.

CaptHayfever wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 2:11 pm

I don't think I've ever rented a game, unless you count borrowing from the public library, in which case the most recent one was Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory (so I could unlock a spirit in Smash Ultimate).

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

That's interesting, did you never rent movies either?

No, we rented movies.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

Shane wrote: ↑

Thu Dec 28, 2023 8:37 pm

I don't think I've rented anything since SNES. I did rent some games just for the sake of trying them, but also I was a big fan of Koei, which had such limited distribution that the only way I could play many of their games was to keep renting them. Today just about anyone can get distribution somewhere.

i was a very heavy renter during the n64 era, probably as much as i was during snes. i rented absolutely every game i could, but completely stopped caring during the gamecube/ps2 era. never rented anything after that

Pretty sure it would have been a GC game. Lost Kingdoms 2 is possible.

Back before anime was mainstream, Blockbuster let me rent 'Akira' when I was much, much too young. It sort of broke my brain------------like, my mom knew I saw it, but I was smart enough not to tell her much of what happened in it. (We also pirated some movies. I wanted to have the Star Trek movies, and as a school librarian, my ma had access to multiple VCRs. It wasn't necessarily a good thing, but we were pretty broke.)

Maybe Rogue Squadron 2 for Gamecube in the early 2000s, but I can't say with 100% certainty. There was a place doing $1 rentals, and it was packed with people. Sucks they all went out of business.

^Yeah. I know there were (are?) places you can rent physical games online (sort of like how Netflix used to operate), but it's hard to beat the feel of a brick-and-mortar rental place.

(EDIT: Huh. GameFly still exists.)

I used to use Blockbuster Online for a while, I remember their selection being a bit weak. I guess that's why they folded but GameFly still exists.

It's incredible how poorly Blockbuster adapted to the changing market, we kinda see GameStop floundering in much the same way.

Yeah. I hear Blockbuster passed up the chance to buy Netflix early on. That must sting.

I've never heard of GameFly, it's successful still?

I don't know, I've never used the service. I remember seeing it advertised on gaming websites, magazines and YT videos like twenty-odd years back; maybe that's a sign the company is doing well, or maybe it's just limping along.

I took a look at their website earlier, and it barely has anything earlier than the XOne/PS4/Wii U, which makes it unlikely I'd give the service a try (I'm keen to try out older games that are out of print, not things released in the past ten years that I could almost certainly download anyway). Still, it's nice that the service is there.