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Howdy Dakka Fans,

Well, I just joined up to Gamefly last week to give it a go.  I figured I'd just log my activity here with them for a bit, which should serve as a sort of 'review' for anyone else who's considering such a service.

 

-Russ

3/15/06: Signed up for Gamefly's free 10 day trial.  I really only want to be on the 1 game at a time plan ($14.95) however the free trial sets you up for the 2 game plan. ($21.95/month).

This is a little tricky because unless you get both games back inside 10 days, you'll be charged for the 2 game deal.  So I came up with a plan. 

My girls like Madagascar, and Gamefly is selling it used for $14 (a very good price), so I figured I'd get 1 360 game, and Madagascar, then use the "Keep It" function to buy Madagascar just before my trial expired, so I'd only have one game out and could switch back to the 1 game plan.

On 3/15 I set up my "GameQ" and put "The Outfit" and "Madagascar" as items 1 and 2 on my list.  Gamefly sent e-mails stating both were shipped on the same day.

Sat 3/18/06: Recieved Madagascar in the mail. Not bad, 3 days after I joined. I was a bit worried since Gamefly's only distribution center is in CA and I'm in NH. I figured the vagaries of the US postal system mean that the other game, "The Outfit" was a day behind and should arrive on Monday, 3/20. We'll see.

Monday 3/20/06: Received "The Outfit", 5 days since joining, but since one day was Sunday, that's really only 4, so not too bad.  Game disk had a scratch and initally wouldn't work.  I have a disk resurfacer which I used and fixed the problem nicly.  Game is good fun, probably will end up keeping it until I solve it (about a week or so). 

Are there rules/limitations about resurfacing?

Are there rules/limitations about resurfacing?

Don't know, but the disk didn't work when I got it, so I figured either I'd have to send it back, or give this a try. I think if they get a disk back and it doesn't work, then there's a problem. But if it does work, then no worries.

Game works fine now. So no worries.

3/25/06: Well, this was the day my 10 day free trial ended. My original plan was to buy Madagascar and downgrade my plan to 1 game. However I was still having fun with the Outfit, and Blazing Angles was released 3/25 so...

I decided to keep the 2 game plan ($21.95) for this month. I paid up and moved Blazing Angels to the top of my que. I then clicked 'keep it' on Madagascar and bought it for $14, as my girls really love this game.

I got an e-mail about an hour later stating that my Madgascar case and instructions were on their way. Another e-mail stated that Blazing Angels was shipped. Whoo Hoo! Now lets see how long it takes to get them.

Side Note: Right now I'm totally obsessed with Oblilvion (a game I traded in old stuff for), another reason I'm not ready to send "the Outfit" back yet. So I'll probably end up taking longer to swap out Outfit and Angels than normal. Still, it's nice to have some quick shooters for those times you only have a short gaming block of time and don't feel like getting sucked in to the deep world of an RPG.

3/28/06: Received Blazing Angels exactly 3 days from it being shipped. Right on schedule.

4/13/06: Dropped "The Outfit" in the metered mail slot at the Post Office today. I'm hoping to get Tomb Raider shiped to me. I chose metered mail because I'd heard that Gamefly's "FastReturn" works better through that.

4/24/06: Recieved "Gun"...wow, that took a long time. I guess the "metered" mail slot trick didn't work too well. I'll try the regular first class slot next time to see if fast return works. Fortunatly Oblivion is keeping me quite happy, so I didn't miss it too much. But the long delay did mean I missed out on the new Tomb Raider release and got something lower on my que.

That did take a while. Gun? I know its supposed to be a good Xbox game, but the 360 version is just a hi-rez Xbox1 version. I guess that's exactly what Gamefly is good for, I guess.

If I had more time to devote to video games, I'd likely join Gamefly. I'm happy with Netflix and its basically the same concept.

I *finally* got an online game of Burnout in. . .and I've had that game for a while now. I'm actually afraid to get Oblivion because if I get sucked into something I simply won't have time to do *anything* else.


I've got a suggestion for you Russ: Put "Psychonauts" on your que. You'll have to bust out your Xbox1 to play it, but you can finally give it a try. If you don't make a point to collect every little trinket in the game (and bust right through it) I'd guess you can pass the game in a pretty short amount of time.

Running around on a hex-board napoleonic wargame level is worth checking it out for any miniature gamer IMO.

Good call on Psychonauts, I'll add it to my que.

Gun was low on my list, but everything above it happened to be short wait.

Gun's a fun title. I've got it for my X-box1. It didn't suck me in like certain other things (*coughOblivioncough*), but it's a good, well done title IMO.

KW

5/9/06 - Ok, after the failure of the "Metered Mail" trick I decided to try my standard good 'ol mail box in front of my house.  I put "Blazing Angels" in there to be sent back.  We'll see how long this one takes.

5/17/06 - Recieved Tomb Raider: Legend. Excited because I wanted to try this game, but Gamefly is certainly not what I would call speedy. At least out hear on the East coast.