The end has come for Hollywood Video, so what does that leave for rentals?

We’ve hit a point in our life where video games are officially everywhere. We’ve also hit a point where they cost more than the average person has to freely spend all willy-nilly. When I was a kid there was always the salvation of the video game rental, but these days you have to think harder whether you really want to rent a game or just purchase it. Here’s my two cents on the subject matter, although it’s recommended you have more than two cents saved up should you decide to rent a game.

Your Three Options

At this very moment, you have essentially three options for renting games in the traditional sense. Blockbuster Video still exists in most places, most likely leaving it as the only video store in your town now that Hollywood Video moved on like your last girlfriend. The second option is the Mom & Pops video store you may actually nearby, though don’t get too attached as those may very well move on, too, just like your current girlfriend. The third option is Game Fly, the video game version of Netflix. So which method is best? Stop being so pushy! This is why your girlfriends keep leaving you!

The Last Great Juggernaut

Just don't get too attached...

Okay, so let’s start off with Blockbuster since, uh, I mentioned that first. Blockbuster’s first priority is that of a chain movie store. They are riddled with company policy and deals they constantly want you to buy. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. The bad news is that the price for a game rental is currently $9 for five days, which in the simplest terms is exactly $Ridiculous. You have to really know that you will be satisfied with your game rental within that five-day period, otherwise I have a better option for you. Still, I’ll give you some titles that work well for that rental time.

The good news for Blockbuster though is that because they have the cash flowing in semi-regularly, they can offer coupons here and there, plus if you mention you love renting video games to relatives they are more inclined to get you a giftcard to Blockbuster, knowing you’ll have one nearby and they’ll have something you’ll rent. But as I said before, they’re run by corporate policy, meaning they have no wiggle room 99% of the time if you, say, take a game back after one night and say you can’t play it anymore since you’ll kill someone as a result of being bad at Street Fighter IV (totally hypothetical). Doesn’t matter, you’re not getting any money back.

Frickin'...STOP KICKING ME! ...Totally hypothetical.

The Local Option

As for the second option, the Mom & Pops store, you have similar aspects to consider. While they’re smaller in size, to stay competitive they may have rentals for much cheaper or much longer, sometimes both. The reason behind this is they don’t hinge a lot of sales on game rentals, so they can afford to let those go cheaper. The inverse means they won’t put a hig...