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I Miss Renting Video Games


Gotakibono

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Watching this is gonna make me sad. Renting a video game was part of our Friday night routine as a family throughout the 80s. There are still some video rental stores around here, but their video game rental sections are relatively small and the games I was interested in were usually checked out. 

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1 minute ago, DaivRules said:

Watching this is gonna make me sad. Renting a video game was part of our Friday night routine as a family throughout the 80s. There are still some video rental stores around here, but their video game rental sections are relatively small and the games I was interested in were usually checked out. 

 

Friday night was my rental night as well! It was always the highlight of my week going to the local Xtravision armed with a fiver and a shelf full of games for me to discover. The rental market is completely dead in Ireland, though; that wonderful Xtravision closed a few years ago. Always walk pass where it used to be it with a sad smile these days.

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Trying to bring some light to this. 

 

If you have a library near you, go check it they might have video games. I don't know why but I have seen an increase of video games on libraries where you can rent them. It isn't the same as it used to be but it can fill the void

Edited by maiathewinners
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The library in my city and 45 other libraries work together, and they got games. If they have a game I wanna borrow in a city 50 km away they send it to my library, take some time but its great. They have a nice collection :)

Edited by Maaden_Swe
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The video was a nice blast from the past. I had a Video Tyme by my house that I would rent from. The good ole days. The only bad part was that it was impossible to get your hands on a new released game unless you went early Friday. Eventually it was bought out by Blockbuster. I miss those days. You could rent an entire console back then. One thing that I definitely do not miss is the ridiculous late fee's that they charged. It was funny how they would charge you per day. It didn't matter if you you owed $500 on a $50 game. They wanted their money. Who knew technology would put them out of business? These days, people still rent games. It's pretty much what places like Gamestop do to make all their money. They push their used games on you for a slight discount. You save $5 on a used title. Then you sell it back to them for a fraction of what you paid. All the while they are making money off you, hand over fist.

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Renting is still around, it's just not confined to physical stores anymore. In many ways it's improved, being much more convenient by sending the games to you, and having a much wider variety of games available. When I used to go into Blockbuster and ask for more obscure games, they'd often have no idea what I was talking about.

 

Being in Northern Ireland you could use Boomerang Rentals, which offers every physical game that's been released since PS3. It's not the only video game rental service for the UK, but I haven't tried any of the others.

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1 minute ago, Shadiochao said:

Renting is still around, it's just not confined to physical stores anymore. In many ways it's improved, being much more convenient by sending the games to you, and having a much wider variety of games available. When I used to go into Blockbuster and ask for more obscure games, they'd often have no idea what I was talking about.

 

Being in Northern Ireland you could use Boomerang Rentals, which offers every physical game that's been released since PS3. It's not the only video game rental service for the UK, but I haven't tried any of the others.

 

We have a company called GameFly, which is pretty much what Netflix was when it first began. They ship you games from your list of games you want. The have a lot of hard-to-come-by games. The only draw back is the wait time/ turnaround. Once you finished a game and dropped it in your mail box, they wouldn't receive it for a few days. Then they send out your next one and it wouldnt show up for a few days more. So it could be 2 weeks before you see another game depending on the postal service. That's half the month you are without a game that your paying a monthly premium for. I used it for awhile, subscribed to two games at a time to help offset the wait time. At the time it was great. I think I was paying $10 a month. I could get any game I wanted. Beat it on the weekend and send it back.

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We used to have so many places that rented games :( Microplay, Renegade, Star Time, Blockbuster, Rogers Videos etc.

 

Friday after school going with your friends to Blockbuster to rent THE game you were going to play that weekend was such a great feeling. You would order a pizza, have your snacks and that would be your evening :D

 

When I worked for blockbuster one of the saddest moments I remember was 4 guys (18 or 19) coming in and each buying a copy of COD MW2 and talking about how they would see each other online. I was thinking "so you are all going to go to your own homes and not hang out with your friends?"

 

 

 

 

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Like the people above me, libraries!  Where I live now...not so much.  But my hometown library had a HUGE video game collection and a lot of new stuff shortly after it came out.  My friend who still lives there is constantly telling me what she's renting.  They also allow quite a few retail renewals before you have to take it back, enough to platinum a few games.  That's where I got Trails of Cold Still I and a few others.  Next time I go visit her I'm going to pick up one of the Hitman games to try since they have them all.

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Everybody saying "go to the library" should feel lucky to live in an area that provides that service. Here in bumfuck South Carolina, I'd have to drive at least an hour to get to a library with a VG section.

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I remember being hyped to rent Mortal Kombat the first day it came to the Sega Genesis and my utter disappointment when they had already rented out all of their copies at the local Blockbuster. Of course, my mother had no idea what Mortal Kombat was at the time and when she found out I was promptly forbidden from playing it until I begged my father and he gave me permission. Good times.

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Renting is still big in my household as my two kids each have their own game systems, in addition to myself.  So buying games for multiple systems is kind of costly.  We rely mainly on GameFly and the local library to get a lot of our games.  

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I remember going to blockbuster at a really early age and my dad getting a film for my sis and beat em up games for me. 

 

Last time i went in a blockbuster was because they were the only shop in town that hadnt sold out of mass effect 3.

 

They shutdown not long after iirc. 

 

 

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On 10/06/2020 at 2:20 AM, Shadiochao said:

Renting is still around, it's just not confined to physical stores anymore. In many ways it's improved, being much more convenient by sending the games to you, and having a much wider variety of games available. When I used to go into Blockbuster and ask for more obscure games, they'd often have no idea what I was talking about.

 

Being in Northern Ireland you could use Boomerang Rentals, which offers every physical game that's been released since PS3. It's not the only video game rental service for the UK, but I haven't tried any of the others.

 

I'm living in the west of Ireland, so unfortunately there's no real options in regards to renting. It's amazing to see so many of you have similarly fond memories of renting games.

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