Video games via BB Movie Pass

[Richard Winfeld]

It looks like video game rental is a joke.


I tried to add a recently released title, "Resistance 3", to my queue and it came up "Unavailable" even though the title was released over a month ago and is in the Blockbuster stores. I was able to add a game that was 4 months old, "Red Faction: Armageddon", but it was listed as "Very Long Wait".


Here's the other catch: you can't make an in-store exchange for a "new release" video game, which I found out means any title that isn't discounted to 99-cents per day. Browsing the shelves of my local Blockbuster, this excluded almost all the desirable games in stock. I would say less than 30% were 99-cent games, and none of these titles were less than a year old. In fact, some of them were so obscure that I didn't recognize the titles, and others were previous titles in a series, like the older "Call of Duty" titles. "Red Faction: Armageddon" was priced as a "new release", even though it came out June 7th.


So, they won't let you even add the newest titles (less than 2 months?) to your queue, and even 4 month old titles come up "Very Long Wait", while in-store exchanges for games are extremely limited to very out-dated titles.

 

[gregleg]

Selection is definitely limited, and I don't even HAVE any local stores, but I still regard the games as a bonus -- I can use this to play a few games that I wanted to try but didn't deem purchase-worthy (Duke Nukem for instance). It's been working ok for me that way.

 

[Scherrman]

It works perfect for me. It gives me a chance to play games I've been interested in playing but didn't want to spend the money on to buy. I've been playing Dead Rising 2 right now. I'm thinking of trying out Ghostbusters next.

 

[Richard Winfeld]

I picked up Ghostbusters on a whim about a year ago using a rebate coupon I had from GameFly (I think it cost me about a dollar-fifty after discounts)... I enjoyed playing it (and the funny voice acting) for awhile until it got harder, then I quit it and never went back.

I guess the Movie Pass deal on video games is fine if your expectations are low, and you use it to catch up on older games (like you said), but they've been playing up the "No Extra Charge" for blu-ray and video games without letting people know that the "video games" part is extremely limited to the extent that new video game releases are entirely "Unavailable" to Movie Pass customers and in-store exchanges must be for games that are so old there is dust on the rental boxes.

I love the in-store exchange for newer blu-ray movies, though, and I'm going to cancel my Netflix subscription soon, before my next billing... but any hope of being able to cancel my GameFly subscription as well is gone.

 

[daddygt]

I've have experienced the instore exchange b.s also. It is not listed anywhere about the limitations of the video game side of the moviepass. they really hype it up with the "we have video games statement." But they have no games.. who wants to play the old stuff.. i'm mad because i cancelled my gamefly subscription for this... horrible service

 

[meStevo]

Loosely related, Ghostbusters is $2.50 on Steam this weekend for Halloween.

 

[catnap1972]

Video games are also limited on the "paid" Blockbuster plans as well, so they're not just picking on us. Far as I remember, they didn't offer a new game release through BBO until 3 months after it had been out (by design)

 

[Richard Winfeld]

I've had a hard time figuring out how Blockbuster handles video game rentals by mail. I wondered why a game like "Resistance 3", which was released on Sept. 6, was not available for rent by mail at all. I finally found a listing that said Resistance 3 would be "available" for rent through the mail on Dec. 20 (3-1/2 months after its release in stores and on Blockbuster B&M shelves) -- but it also said that you could rent the title by mail now for a 7-day period if you paid them an extra $8.99.

It's kind of ironic that Blockbuster is complaining to the movie studios about forcing a delay in the rental availability of movies already released on DVD & Blu-ray, while at the same time Blockbuster is artificially creating their own delay of renting new video games by mail, and using that delay to charge extra for people who don't want to wait to play a new game.

 

[Character Zero]

I am happy with the games by mail. I have a ton of games in my queue that I never got to play mostly because the reviews said they were too short. So without any more game rental places around, its the only cheap way for me to play some of these games. And since its not overly expensive like Gamefly (I added a disc for the extra $5) I don't have to feel like I need to play the games as fast as possible.

 

[demsd]

I have no complaints with games rentals either. There aren't many places to rent video games now-a-day with all the video rental stores dropping like flies. In my area, there is ONE place to rent games, not including Redbox. The closest blockbuster is about 20 miles from me. Furthermore, a comparable one-out-at-a-time plan at Gamefly is $15.95/month, and all you get is games. Not all new titles at BB are long wait, and I still have a PS2, so there are a slew of games available.

 

[fbbonline]

The game rental restrictions definitely feel like a bait and switch. Also, if you read the fine print it says that you should be able to trade your movie in for a "full price" game rental at a discounted price. However, none of the stores in my area honor this. Anyone else been able to use their trade-in to get a discount on a game rental???

 

[Skee7ix]

Why none of the games I selected are "Available"?
All of the games in my queue are from Short Wait to Very Long Wait...

 

[wormil]

The newest game I could find under "New Releases" was 12 months old (xbox). And there are only 6 different games under Top Rentals.

 

[Tecmo SB Guy]

Anybody here have any video games in their queue?

Because every time I put a video game in my queue it doesn't show its availability status. For movies, it shows what it's supposed to show, like "Very Long Wait", "Long Wait", "Short Wait", or "Available". Whenever I put a video game in my queue, it's blank under the "Availability" column so I can't really tell if it's available or not. I was wondering if anybody else here is experiencing the same?

 

[Richard Winfeld]

I've kept the 2 PS3 titles I originally put in my queue as a curiosity (never expecting to get either of them in the mail) and they always have a status indicated, but it's almost always the "Wait" ones. They are Red Faction: Armageddon and Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage. Fist has never showed anything other than "Very Long Wait", which I suppose really means "we don't have it, but we'd rather not tell you that, so you don't think our selection is as crappy as it really is". I was surprised that the last couple of times I visited the web site, Red Faction availability was listed as "Now" -- but I just checked it and it has been changed back to "Short Wait". I am a GameFly subscriber, so I don't really care if I ever get a game from BB@Home or not... and I certainly wouldn't dream of giving up GameFly and expect to ever get any desirable games through BB@Home.

 

[Tecmo SB Guy]

Thanks, Richard.

I added those 2 games (and removed them later) to my queue you had above just to see what would happen and I still don't get an available status on them so I guess something is wrong with my queue. I still have no problems with availability status when I add movies to my queue though.

 

[mdavej]

I've been afraid to try game exchanges because of this in the terms and conditions:
" In-store game exchanges do not count toward the customer's plan maximum and are subject to all of Blockbuster terms and conditions, rental terms, due dates and fees associated with any video game kept beyond the due date."

What exactly does that mean? I thought, like movies, you could exchange for a 99 cent game and keep it as long as you like, no extra charge. The above says you pay the daily rate. So those of you who have used it, how does it really work. Are 99 cent games treated like movies or are they treated the same as if you walked in off the street and rented one (pay for every day you keep it)?

Thanks

 

[satjay]

I've been afraid to try game exchanges because of this in the terms and conditions:
" In-store game exchanges do not count toward the customer's plan maximum and are subject to all of Blockbuster terms and conditions, rental terms, due dates and fees associated with any video game kept beyond the due date."

What exactly does that mean? I thought, like movies, you could exchange for a 99 cent game and keep it as long as you like, no extra charge. The above says you pay the daily rate. So those of you who have used it, how does it really work. Are 99 cent games treated like movies or are they treated the same as if you walked in off the street and rented one (pay for every day you keep it)?

Thanks

That's a good question, we recently rented did a movie for game exchange abut only kept it for one day. Will have to ask mpmext time I go

I did though have to politely inform the staff that you can exchange movies for games. The person there said at there store they do not get many movie for game exchanges

 

[satjay]

I know some have mentioned video games actually being available from the que. We are getting one, dropped off a DVD last night at blockbuster and got the email today that a phineas and ferb game is on its way