I recently became a member of Gamefly. For the uninitiated, Gamefly is the Netflix of video games. A monthly subscription fee of $21.95 allows you to rent two games at a time ($28.95 for three) for as long as you like with no late fees. You can also opt to buy the game if you like it, and they will send you the original case and manual. They offer a huge library of games from every console manufacturer including the Next-Gen offerings and handhelds.
I have found Gamefly to be a huge money saver in my household. As a father with a 6 month old son, money is at a premium, and cutting costs is a very real factor in our every day lives.
As someone who used to spend $60 to $180 every month on games, often returning them after a week because of dissatisfaction and only getting a fraction of the purchase value in in-store credit, Gamefly has been a welcome way to increase entertainment while reducing costs.
Gamefly is very convenient; you simply make your game choices in order of desire on their website, and the games arrive in the mail 2 to 4 business days later. The envelope converts to a postage paid return envelope. By using "Fastscan" technology, when a returned game is scanned at your local post office, Gamefly receives the information instantly and ships out the next game on your list before the last one is even received back at the warehouse. Pretty slick! (note: the Fastscan feature isn’t available in some rural areas where electronic scanning technology is still not used).
In the 3 months that I've been a member, I've rented 12 games. Had I purchased those games, I would have spent roughly $700. That’s a savings of $635 for me and my family. Every game I've rented so far has been free of defects, and it’s been a great way to catch up on some of the games I've missed out on over the past year.
One of the best features of Gamefly is the prices for games you choose to purchase. They are significantly less than used prices offered at regular game retailers.
The greatest benefit I've personally received is the improved attitude of my wife towards my gaming. She used to constantly drop not-so-subtle hints about the costs of my gaming. Now, she doesn't mind me playing nearly as much because of the huge reduction is money spent for gaming each month. In fact, she has rented a couple DS games herself and we bought Mariokart DS after renting it and we play it together. Now, that’s a win-win situation!
All in all, I whole-heartedly recommend Gamefly as a great way to both save money and to try out the games you are interested in to see if they are worthy of a purchase.
