GamezNFlix vs. Gamefly

By Shamus Posted Thursday Apr 19, 2007

Filed under: Random 21 comments

So I want to rent games. There are two major services I’ve found so far. GamezNFlix and Gamefly. I’ve signed up for both so that I can properly compare. I will cancel one (or maybe both) before the trial runs out.

When it comes to price, GamezNFlix wins. They offer 3 games at a time for $17, as opposed to Gamefly’s 2 at a time for $22. No contest.

When it comes to availability, GamezNFlix wins. Everything that caught my eye was available now, as opposed to GameFly, where nothing I wanted was available. GameFly is either an appaling joke, a scam, or managed by fantastic morons. You have to wait for days for most titles, weeks for others, and even ones which seem to be available can jump to unavailable without warning.

When it comes to movies, GamezNFlix wins. GameFly doesn’t have any movies. (Although, it seems like they don’t have any games either.)

So in this little contest, Gamefly isn’t even trying. They offer an overpriced service that offers to ship you fewer games never. That’s a tough sell, no matter how much you’re charging.

Except…

Gamefly offers Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance games, and GamezNFlix doesn’t. We own two Nintendo DS’s here, which can play both DS and GBA titles. This was a major selling point with us.

So what to choose? The service which doesn’t do everything I need, or the service which does everything I need, but has terrible service and costs too much?

Right now I’m leaning towards canceling both and giving up. Although, if you want to rent games and you don’t care about the DS, then without a doubt GamezNFlix is the way to go. I’ve only been a customer of Gamefly for twelve hours, and have yet to give them any money, and already they have managed to annoy me in numerous ways. It is the only task for which they have shown any enthusiasm or skill.

 


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21 thoughts on “GamezNFlix vs. Gamefly

  1. LemmingLord says:

    Thanks for your observations.I’ve got a DS, but fro mthe sound of it…gamefly isn’t the way to go.
    First.

  2. I’d still be interested in hearing your post-trial observations. It’s always possible that their back end is better than their front end, right? Right? …maybe?

  3. sdstone says:

    Have you tried GPlay (http://www.gplay.com/)? I haven’t, but I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has. I couldn’t take the delays and stupidity from GameFly anymore and had to quit. They resort to bribery (tell a friend about GameFly and get $X in GameFly bucks) because there is no natural positive word of mouth. Even if you do have money to spend for purchasing their games, outside of the Keep It functionality (if you actually can get a good game), their store is barren, filled with tons of copies of very few different games.

  4. Vegedus says:

    I think you should cancel both and instead buy some of the sure hit games. Some of those long and replayable games that aren’t really suited for rent anyways. I’m assuming there must be some PS2 games that you have enough faith in to actually. If you could not find any games that are worth the price in the PS2’s massive archive, you would not be a gamer.

  5. Jeremiah says:

    And if you’re looking for a great DS game, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords all the way. It’s pure awesome.

  6. Teague says:

    Your description of Gamefly sounds the MP Cheese Shop sketch, or, more obscurley, part of the lyrics to a Wierd Al song……(superultramega geek points to anyone who can name the song)

  7. Shamus says:

    Teague: You are exactly right: Gamefly is indeed the Cheese shop.

  8. Corwin says:

    How is the movie selection at GamezNFlix? I’ve been with Netflix for a while now to feed my bad movie habit, but I would love to be able to rent games in the same way. Netflix constantly surprises me with the obscure B movies I can find on there.

  9. Nathaniel says:

    Teague: Albuquerque? (“You got any /glazed/ donuts?”)

  10. Jim says:

    I know you’re not the type to get out of the house, and I don’t know what part of the country to you live in, but you should try to find a place that deals in used games. A few of them here where I’m from allow you to “buy” a used game, try it for a few days, and either keep it or return it and try a different game.

    On a related note, I would like to recommend the FIRST Jak and Daxter game. The follow-ups aren’t nearly the gem the first one is. NO load times, and fairly freeform play. Ratchet and Clank (by Insomnia) uses a variation on the engine.

  11. I use IntoTheGame: their selection isn’t as varied as I would like and they’re a bit more expensive than GamezNFlix; but they do carry PSP & DS games – heck, even a few old Sega games, too.

  12. Maryam says:

    I subscribed to GamezNFlix for a while, and I was not terribly impressed. The major con was that many of the titles I queued up were, like your Gamefly list, years old and unavailable for immediate sendage, and stayed that way for a long time. You may have just hit a lucky streak right now. Also, you can’t see the availability until you subscribe… nor can you see that while the title may be in the catalog, they may not actually have it in stock or even ordered yet (I don’t think you even see that until you actually place it in your queue). Supposedly, if a customer shows interest in one of those unordered titles, they do order it and you should receive it within thirty days. Didn’t happen once for me (I was only subscribed for a few months, but a few of those titles were definitely on there for at least thirty days).

    Second con was the lack of DS/GBA titles, and their statement that they did not plant to implement them, because they did not have the right envelopes for them. There was also a distinct lack of a customer service number or email address anywhere on the website; for service, you *had* to submit a query to their FAQ database.

  13. Griffin says:

    I had a decent experience with GameFly (free trial, then cancel). Poor turnaround time — shipping from San Jose (?) to Houston, about 4 days each way. But I was there for GBA games, and they had a good, available selection of the ones I was interested in.

    I also tried NumbThumb.com. Sounds and looks a bit sketchy, but seems decent. They have GBA, but a poorer selection (at least the ones I was interested in … they’re even missing some of the recent FF re-releases). Shipping time was terrible, though: they seem to be just one place (I assume) in a minor town in Washington; it took over a week for the games to arrive, and almost that long to go back. Also, one disturbing quirk is that they sent me games #5 and #6 off a 6-game queue, even though all the others were listed as available. Not sure if that’s coincidence, a bug, or what.

    Unfortunately, neither of them is fast enough to be really effective as a try-before-you-buy service, which is what I was hoping for.

  14. BeckoningChasm says:

    Have you thought about contacting GamesNFlix and asking of Nintendo will be available from them? Sometimes, if enough people ask, they’ll start to offer them.

  15. Hal says:

    A great DS game to try to get? Either of the Phoenix Wright series. Seriously, you won’t put the DS down until it’s finished.

  16. john says:

    GameZNFLIX.com Came off as one great service my first month i had fast turnaround quick rentals and even item that had long waits arrived before the end of the month… ON to Month 2 i rented 3 titles and put 4 in queue… all with full availiblity… OK i only received 2 by the end of the month (3 out at a time plan) okay maybe a slow return month month 3 i sent all my titles back and had 6 titles in queue, listed with a full bar of availibilty, 2 week later not one have shipped sent a message they say the bars are uncertain and not alway perfect okay so i put godfather part 2 on order… still 1 week later not received check online i finally get an email that says my item has shipped 3 days later i get it fine send it right back and put 3 more on queue (now 10 total tiles) its now week 3 of month 5 and i have received 1 title in 2 months (3 title plan) THEY ARE HORRIBLE>>> I HATE THIS SERVICE THEY DONT HAVE PHONE SUPPORT ONLY EMAIL AND AFTER YOU SEND A MESSAGE THEY MARK IT CLOSED AND SENT A FORM RESPONSE NEVER DO YOU GET A PERSONAL RESPONCE I THINK THE WHOLE COMPANY IS RUN BY A COMPUTER AWEFUL SERVICE

  17. Kill Major Nelson says:

    Just wanted to tell everybody not to rent your games from GameZ’n’Flix! They have been reported to the Better Business Bureau for fraud. Just wanted to give a heads up to everyone who’s thinking of signing up for their web site, don't they will over charge your credit card. 94 people have reported GameZnFlix to the Better Buisness Bureau in the last 3 months. Something is wrong, these 94 people can be all at fault!

  18. Alan says:

    That was entertaining! I just came off the trial for Gamefly and paid 16 bucks for one game out per month so I thought to myself, “Self, I wonder if there is another game renting service out there that doesn’t charge this much for my damn Xbox/PS3 games…” so I searched on google and here I am.

    Sadly I have already paid for the first month beyond the trial.

    Very entertaining and well written “fantastic morons” (loved that one). Heading to gamesnflix now.

  19. shawn jones says:

    LMFAO,, this mustive been writen by a gameznflix owner. Ive rented games and movies online for years and try every service out again after 6 months or so. Gameznflix is a scam, I currently have 70+ items in queue, and they send me items from around #70. I dont even know 70 games i wanna play, godo thing I found a way to rip gameznflix off. I wont share here, but they figured it out after several months and now i am done with their once usefull service. Gameznflix will send u whatever u want the first week or month, after that, you get nothing, gamefly on the other hand you pay a little more and get pretty much whatever you want. Its allways been this way with these 2 companies, the person who wrote this works for gameznflix.

  20. jason says:

    Not a done deal yet but I currently own a sign business and am looking for other ventures. After going to the local video store and renting one ps3 game for $8 I thought of the online rental Business. I know there were a couple already but I like to try and one up big boxes. Doing my research I notice one has now left everyone in the dust leaving one major choice. I would like to hear more from the people that either want or due subscribe to the services on what they are looking for so I can make the final decisions on the business model or even if I continue. Things like type of games, do you rent more newer games or older games, what platforms, incentives interested in, pricing plans, how many out at a time, etc. I already have things down but I know you have to listen to your customer base so I need as much info as I can get. Hoping for April 1, 2009 release but want to make sure enough inventory is available before going live.
    Thank you
    [email protected]

  21. Game Renter says:

    My experience with Gamefly was awful. New released games were never available, I never received the games at the top of my queue and they take days to send out the next game once they receive the game I had checked out. The best move I made was leaving Gamefly and joining a newer company, http://www.2gamerent.com. All the games I wanted are in the library and they offer an option to add games that are not. I requested a title and it was added in three days. Once added I received an email asking if I wanted to move it to the top of my queue.

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