Movie rental service Redbox today launched a games section, giving Redbox users access to a variety of PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii titles.
Redbox vending machines are situated in over 21,000 different places across the U.S., and games will now be available for rent for $2 a day via these machines.
Users are also able to reserve games online via the Redbox website, and then pick titles up from a machine later on. Although the catalog is currently limited, a number of newly released titles are available from the machines, including LA Noire, Infamous 2 and Red Faction: Armageddon.
The service was first tested out last year, with Redbox noting that it planned to expand the test program into more U.S. regions.
Talking to Gamasutra earlier this year, Joel Resnik, vice president of games for Redbox, stated, "At this point in time, we're focusing on the [home console market] based on the overall installed base of those platforms and [their use of the] physical media that we're familiar with."
They've been testing in my area for a while. I've never rented a game from them so far, but wouldn't rule it out if they had something I wanted to try.
Just started here in the Boston area recently. Still not at all Redbox machines.
Tested it out last night.
Great for consumers. It allows me to sample alot of games that I would not otherwise purchase because I just don't have the time to justify the $60 cost.
And I found when I used to rent games at Blockbuster a few years back that I mostly played the games the first night and rarely much the rest of the rental period. Saw them more like an evening's entertainment and discovery and rarely more. So this fits in with the way I was playing games outside the relatively few I'll purchase during the year and play more extensively.
Tested it out last night.
Great for consumers. It allows me to sample alot of games that I would not otherwise purchase because I just don't have the time to justify the $60 cost.
And I found when I used to rent games at Blockbuster a few years back that I mostly played the games the first night and rarely much the rest of the rental period. Saw them more like an evening's entertainment and discovery and rarely more. So this fits in with the way I was playing games outside the relatively few I'll purchase during the year and play more extensively.