* Cost: $15.95/mo - 1 Game Out
* Over 6000 Titles
* Games Arrive In 2-4 Days
* Free 10 Day Trial
* Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, PS3, Game Cube, Game Boy Advanced, Nintendo Wii, & Nintendo DS
* Email Support

Background on GameFly:

GameFly is currently the biggest online video game rental company in the US, and they have been doing business since 2002. They offer new members a ten day free trial for a two games at a time plan ($22.95/mo thereafter), or the chance of getting the first month’s membership at $8.95 for one game at a time or $12.95 for two games at a time. The prices after the free trial incentive ends are:

• $15.95 per month for one game at a time
• $22.95 per month for two games at a time
• $29.95 per month for three games at a time (although this option requires the member to have an active account of good standing for sixty days or more)
• $36.95 per month for four games at a time (as above)

There is no long-term commitment and can cancel, upgrade or downgrade any time you want – no questions asked. Just go into “My Account” on your membership page, choose “Change My Membership Plan,” and you are good to go. Read the rest of this entry

It seems like there’s a new Guitar Hero game coming out every other month.  The newest is Guitar Hero 5 for the PS3.  Just like the other games in the series, Guitar Hero 5 provides players with more music, more modes, and the ability to customize their characters like never before.  This time around, you can set up your band by adding or removing different drummers, guitarists, and vocalists.  You can even create crazy band combinations such as having four drummers or all vocalists.

It’s possible to switch between instruments during any of the 85 songs, which is a nice addition.  This way, if there are suddenly no vocals for a long stretch of a song, you can just swap to a guitar or to the drums and keep playing.  Another change is that star power is now built up by each player, not shared by the band as a whole.

Many of the standard play modes are back.  Career mode now includes some optional bonus challenges which provide extra difficulty for Guitar Hero masters.  All the songs are unlocked in quick play mode from the beginning.  Of course, there are unlockables still in the game, including venues, outfits, and even some surprise guest players.  The Party Play Mode allows players to join a game already in progress or leave as necessary.  Overall Guitar Hero 5’s greatest strength is probably also its greatest weakness: it’s more of the same great Guitar Hero fun we’ve come to expect, but it isn’t really anything that new or different.

*** UPDATE *** Beware of this company - do not give them your money. They have failed to respond to emails and phone calls, and numerous gamers have contacted me saying they never received any games. Check out GAMEFLY instead.

* Cost: $9.95
* 4000+ Titles
* Games Arrive In 2-6 Days
* Free 14 Day Trial
* Xbox, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Game Cube, Nintendo Wii
* Email Support

Rent Zero Review:

RentZero works just like NetFlix for video games—you select your games from their online catalogue, and they mail them to you. They have a good number of games available (over 5,000) for the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Gamecube, and Wii. There are no late fees or return dates, so you can keep the games for as long as you’d like. Once you return one game, they’ll send you the next one in your queue…if it’s available. Some new titles do have a wait time. The service has one shipping center in Texas, so it can take several days to get a new game.

RentZero’s rental plan is about average for game rental sites. One game at a time is $13.95 a month, while two games cost $15.95 a month. Three games at a time is $21.95 a month. There’s no limit to the number of games you can receive each month, so if you rent a game and decide you hate it, you can return it and get another one right away. If you pay for an entire year’s subscription at once, you can save almost $6 per month. That’s not a bad deal if you know you’re going to like the service. This is the “memberships starting at $9.95” that the site advertises. To get that price, you’ve got to pay for a year’s subscription. Read the rest of this entry