If you read my previous blog post entitled "easy points", you'd know I re-subscribed to the online video game rental service, Gamefly. Well, I've had the service for a month now, and I'm starting to have some second thoughts. This is mainly due to how Gamefly is shipping out their games. Not the lack of games or how long they take to arrive (which is still a long time btw).

My first two games were Need for Speed Carbon and TMNT, both on Xbox 360. I played NFS for an hour tops. I liked it enough and decided I'd rather own the game instead of renting it until I've had my fill, so sent it back the next day. I finished TMNT and got all 1,000 points in it and sent that back a few days later. There were 3 or 4 games at the top of my queue with long waits, (which I wasn't expecting to receive), Transformers, The Darkness and Earth Defense Force, and then there were 3 or 4 games that were listed as available now; Spider Man 3, Crackdown, Bullet Witch and Phantasy Star Universe. You would think that they would send me Spidey 3 next, right? Nope. Ok, maybe Crackdown or PSU? Wrong again. I was sent two games that were way down my queue, at about items 12 or 13. Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime and Elite Beat Agents.

I was a little steamed that I couldn't play Spidey, PSU or any of the other games that were listed as "available now" and were several items above the DS games. I thought it was a computer error at first so I didn't think much of it. I played Elite Beat Agents for like 15 minutes, and completely sucked at it. I mean completely sucked. Even on easy. I said, "ok rhythm games are not my thing, even though it looked cool on On the Spot." I sent that back right away. DQH: Rocket Slime is really fun and I want to purchase that game instead of just rent it so I sent that back after I played it for a couple hours.

My queue was exactly the same as it was before, 3 games on long waits, then 4 games listed as available now. Guess what happened again? Yep, I got two more DS games that I had way down on my list. Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales and Hoshigami Remix: Ruining Blue Earth. I thought WTF?! I sent an email to customer service asking them what the deal was and I get a response a couple days later. They said that Gamefly customers have told them that shipping times are very important. So Gamefly sends the next available item on your queue that is at the closest warehouse. Hopefully that doesn't sound too confusing. GF has two warehouses, in California and Pittsburgh. I guess they send out the next available game in your queue, depending on which warehouse is closest to you. So if the top 10 games in your queue are only available at the CA warehouse and you have a game at item 11 that is at the PA warehouse, they send you that game. That completely defeats the purpose of having a numbered game queue. I might as well just have a random list of games I want to rent and hope they send me the one I want to play the most. This system makes absolutely no sense.

I think what I'm going to do is remove all the games I don't want to play right away, and keep only the games that I'm dying to play. That way I'm sure to get a game I really want. Even then I shouldn't have to do this. Gamefly really needs to open up more Distribution Centers across the county. They really need one in the center of the US, like Chicago.

FFF: Chocobo Tales was kinda fun at first, but then the minigames got real boring. The music is great though, it uses a lot of cl@ssic FF songs. I sent it back right away, and I don't think I want to play it again. Hoshigami Remix was absolute crap. It tries so hard to be like Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre but fails miserably. After the last two DS games I finally got a game I wanted to play, Lost Planet. That game is awesome. I loved every minute of it. Until the worm achievement that is. I sent it back after a few days because I want to buy it at some point. This week I will be getting Spider-Man 3 on 360.

Let's take a look at how many games I got in one months time. I received 3 360 games (Spidey doesn't count since I haven't got it yet) and 4 DS games. It costs about $24 a month for the 2 games out at a time service. If I were to rent all these games at a Blockbuster or Hollywood video it would cost me approximately $45.00. That's a pretty good deal but you have to consider the fact I barely played several of the games. I really only played TMNT and Lost Planet. I think I'll give the service another month and see how many games that I'm looking forward to playing right away, arrive in the mail instead of other games I can wait on.

Has anyone else tried out Gamefly? If so, what are your experiences with it?