So I signed up for Gamefly last Wednesday on yourbeliefs' recommendation. Between the backlog of games on my shelf and my new PC collection 1 disk out at a time would have been enough for me until I catch up on that stuff. With the price difference being pretty small ($15 for one disk or $22 for two) I decided to just go with two disks at a time though.
Right now I have a lot of purchased games to play but I'm hoping GameFly can ween me off buying just like Netflix did for DVDs and Blu-Ray. In the future, as I rent more and buy less I'm sure I will want at least two at a time. I didn't see an option for more than that.
I was happy with the selection of games they offer. I checked out the PS3, 360, and Vita sections because those are the systems I will be using the service for. They had every game I searched for. I have read some horror stories on random forums saying that newer games are very hard to get. There are a few games coming out that I would like shipped to me within a few days of release but I don't have to have every AAA game the day it comes out. I don't have time to get to most games day one anyways unless it is something I am really excited about. As long as I am able to get them within the first month or two I will be happy for the most part.
To test game availability I chose God of War Acension and Ni No Kuni as the first two games in my GameQ. These are both games I wanted to try out but not enough to buy them. God of War had only been out a week at the time and Ni No Kuni had been out a couple months but it is still a popular game. I was happy to see that both games were shipped the day I signed up. No waiting and no skipping to older titles in my queue. Pittsburgh is my distribution center. I got the emails that both games had shipped on Wednesday. I received God of War on Friday. A day slower than Netflix in my area but not bad considering that unlike Netflix, the distribution center isn't in my home state.
Here comes my first problem though. Although I got an email saying that both games shipped Wednesday, Ni No Kuni never showed up. It makes me a little nervous that on the very first shipment I have a missing game. I finally reported the shipping problem this morning. I immediately got a confirmation of my complaint saying they would follow up with me after they researched the problem. As of right now, about 10 hours later, I still haven't got any follow up or confirmation that another copy is being sent to me. Even though I'm not ready for Ni No Kuni yet this still bothers me quite a bit. When I have had disks that didn't show up from Netflix for whatever reason they would immediately send me another copy, no questions asked. I understand that this is most likely a postal service problem and not their fault but it still irks me to see how much better Netflix customer service handles the same problem.
I thought the free PC game downloads sounded really cool until I checked out the selection. Most of the free games looked to be very old. I understand that just like Netflix instant you aren't going to get the newest blockbusters from the PC unlimited service but if you sort this category by most popular most of the games were released between 2004 and 2008. Some of the games I thought about trying, like the original Fallout and Thief, say that they aren't even compatible with Windows Vista/7/8. I'm not saying it is GameFly's fault that these older games haven't been, and never will be, updated for newer computers. I only mention it to show that this is the era their free games are coming from. I am glad to see the original Bioshock offered here though. I played it on my 360 when it first came out but I have been wanting to replay it for a while. I don't have the disk because I originally borrowed it from my roommate when I was in college.
Overall I think I will be happy with this service as long as I can continue to get newer games and I don't have this missing mail issue too often. They also seem to have some great purchase prices on both PC and consoles. For example I can keep this copy of God of War for $10 less than it is selling at the store right now and they will ship me the original box with any manuals and download codes included. With how new the game is only 1 person at max could have used this disk before me so if I wanted to buy it would basically be a new game with a $10 discount. The price of $22 per month seems a little high but there aren't many months where I don't buy 1 or more games right now. I think this will save me quite a bit of money in the long run.
The only thing missing for me is a way to rent new release PC games and have it count as 1 of my 2 games out at a time. I don't think there is any way they could do this because they would have to get some kind of Gamefly DRM built right into the game. It's just something on my wish list because I built a brand new gaming PC and I would prefer to play some of these games on that over my PS3 or 360.
Right now I have a lot of purchased games to play but I'm hoping GameFly can ween me off buying just like Netflix did for DVDs and Blu-Ray. In the future, as I rent more and buy less I'm sure I will want at least two at a time. I didn't see an option for more than that.
I was happy with the selection of games they offer. I checked out the PS3, 360, and Vita sections because those are the systems I will be using the service for. They had every game I searched for. I have read some horror stories on random forums saying that newer games are very hard to get. There are a few games coming out that I would like shipped to me within a few days of release but I don't have to have every AAA game the day it comes out. I don't have time to get to most games day one anyways unless it is something I am really excited about. As long as I am able to get them within the first month or two I will be happy for the most part.
To test game availability I chose God of War Acension and Ni No Kuni as the first two games in my GameQ. These are both games I wanted to try out but not enough to buy them. God of War had only been out a week at the time and Ni No Kuni had been out a couple months but it is still a popular game. I was happy to see that both games were shipped the day I signed up. No waiting and no skipping to older titles in my queue. Pittsburgh is my distribution center. I got the emails that both games had shipped on Wednesday. I received God of War on Friday. A day slower than Netflix in my area but not bad considering that unlike Netflix, the distribution center isn't in my home state.
Here comes my first problem though. Although I got an email saying that both games shipped Wednesday, Ni No Kuni never showed up. It makes me a little nervous that on the very first shipment I have a missing game. I finally reported the shipping problem this morning. I immediately got a confirmation of my complaint saying they would follow up with me after they researched the problem. As of right now, about 10 hours later, I still haven't got any follow up or confirmation that another copy is being sent to me. Even though I'm not ready for Ni No Kuni yet this still bothers me quite a bit. When I have had disks that didn't show up from Netflix for whatever reason they would immediately send me another copy, no questions asked. I understand that this is most likely a postal service problem and not their fault but it still irks me to see how much better Netflix customer service handles the same problem.
I thought the free PC game downloads sounded really cool until I checked out the selection. Most of the free games looked to be very old. I understand that just like Netflix instant you aren't going to get the newest blockbusters from the PC unlimited service but if you sort this category by most popular most of the games were released between 2004 and 2008. Some of the games I thought about trying, like the original Fallout and Thief, say that they aren't even compatible with Windows Vista/7/8. I'm not saying it is GameFly's fault that these older games haven't been, and never will be, updated for newer computers. I only mention it to show that this is the era their free games are coming from. I am glad to see the original Bioshock offered here though. I played it on my 360 when it first came out but I have been wanting to replay it for a while. I don't have the disk because I originally borrowed it from my roommate when I was in college.
Overall I think I will be happy with this service as long as I can continue to get newer games and I don't have this missing mail issue too often. They also seem to have some great purchase prices on both PC and consoles. For example I can keep this copy of God of War for $10 less than it is selling at the store right now and they will ship me the original box with any manuals and download codes included. With how new the game is only 1 person at max could have used this disk before me so if I wanted to buy it would basically be a new game with a $10 discount. The price of $22 per month seems a little high but there aren't many months where I don't buy 1 or more games right now. I think this will save me quite a bit of money in the long run.
The only thing missing for me is a way to rent new release PC games and have it count as 1 of my 2 games out at a time. I don't think there is any way they could do this because they would have to get some kind of Gamefly DRM built right into the game. It's just something on my wish list because I built a brand new gaming PC and I would prefer to play some of these games on that over my PS3 or 360.
