GameFly’s no longer just an online service, as the company has begun to roll out a physical distribution scheme in the form of the “G-Box,” a rental kiosk for Wii, PS3 and 360 games.
GameFly has heretofore been an online-only rental service a la Netflix, but with the debut of The G-Box the company’s getting all up in your physical space. The game rental kiosk made its debut at Texas Tech University recently and will start popping up across the States in the future.
It works essentially like those DVD rental kiosks that you always see when you’re at the checkout counter of the supermarket – you know, those things with the touch screens that let you rent the latest romantic comedies with a credit card. The G-Box will stock the latest PS3, 360 and Wii games, and charge your Visa/Mastercard/Discover by the day, with rates running at $2.49 a day for PS3/360 games and $1.99 for Wii games. There’ll also be a rent-to-own plan. The G-Box won’t have due dates or late fees, but if you don’t want to get charged $2.50 a day for a copy of LEGO Batman you have no interest in owning, you’ll probably want to return something before long.
“The kiosk program is a way to extend the GameFly universe into the physical world,” company co-founder Sean Spector said.
Hopefully it’ll make it easier to rent new releases, which is often not exactly convenient using GameFly’s online distribution, which often seems short on supply when it comes to the latest titles.
File this one under “Things that make me wish I were still in college” next to being able to wear sweatpants 24/7 and having the time to finish JRPGs. Conversely, if you’re in college, file it under “things that will drop my GPA by a whole point.” If you’re not in college yet or never were, well, just file it under more ways to waste your money.
[Via 1UP]
(Image)
