Gamerang Review

About Gamerang

Gamerang is another online video game rental company that has been around almost as long as GameFly. They started renting video games in September of 2003 and now have over 5800 game titles available.

Gamerang has a discounted price for its first month of service at $14.95 for 1 game out at a time. After your first month, the prices are:

• $17.95 per month for 1 game out at a time.
• $24.95 per month for 2 games out at a time.
• $49.95 per month for 3 games out at a time, requires 75 refundable deposit.
• $59.95 per month for 4 games out at a time, requires 100 refundable deposit.

Signing Up for Gamerang

I selected the 1 game out plan and created my account. During the process, Gamerang has you select the Parental Controls you would like to have on the account. The options are:

• No Restrictions: Full access to the complete library of titles.
• Block "Mature" Titles: Titles rated "Mature (M)" have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. These titles may also include mature sexual themes.
• Block "Teen" and "Mature" Titles: Titles rated "Teen (T)" have content that may be suitable for persons ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violent content, mild, or strong language, and/or suggestive themes.

Gamerang accepts all major credit cards and ATM or debit cards that have the Visa or Mastercard logo. You can cancel the service at any time.

Once the signup was complete, I started browsing for game to add to my "Choice List". The Choice List is similar to GameFly's GameQ. This is a list of games you have selected to rent. Games at the top of the list will be shipped to you first. You can change the priority of your list, or remove games from the list, at any time. You will also see a list of any games you have out at the moment, with the shipping date and the estimated arrival date. Some games will also have an option to keep the game for a low used game price. If you choose to keep the game, Gamerang will send you the original game case and manual.

Video Game Selection and Platform Support

As of this writing, Gamerang has a selection of 5805 games to choose from. You can search games by using the "GameFinder" box. As you start typing in the box, a list of games that match will open beneath the box. The more you type, the narrower the list gets. You can also select the platform you want by using the drop down box next to the GameFinder.

If you don't have a particular game in mind, you can hover your mouse over the "Xbox", "Sony", "Nintendo", or "PC Games" on the top navigation menu. Doing so will bring down a list of consoles for those companies. The supported platforms are Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSOne, PSP, Wii, GameBoy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PC Downloadable games.

Select your console to view a list of all games. The default is 24 games per page, but you can change this to 48, 72, or 96 games per page with a simple click. You can also choose to only see games in certain genres such as, Action, Adventure, Racing, Puzzles/Arcade, RPG, Simulations, Sports, and Strategy or browse by the categories All Games, New Releases, Upcoming Games, Sports Fans, Kids Games, Online Enabled.

The search results page shows a small image of the game box, the game title, release date, publisher, number of players supported, customer rating, genre, ESRB rating (Entertainment Software Rating Board), the wait status, and whether it is playable online. There is a "Rent Game+" button to lets you add it to your Choice List or you can click the "Buy New" or "Buy Used" button to purchase the game.

Clicking the game image or game title will bring up more information on the game, including screen shots, a game description, and a review of the game.

The wait status for most games showed "Available" or "Short Wait". Gamerang defines the wait status terms as follows:

Available Now means we have the game in stock. If it's at the top of Your Choice List, we'll send it right away.

High Demand Short Wait means there is high demand for this game right now, and we have a waiting list of members who want to rent it. If a Short Wait game is at the top of Your Choice List, we'll wait 1-2 days to see if a copy becomes available. If not, we will send the next game that's Available Now.

Long Wait means the title is extremely scarce or no longer manufactured. There is a long waiting list for this title (could be several weeks). If a Long Wait game is at the top of Your Choice List, we'll wait 1-2 days to see if a copy becomes available. If not, we will send the next game that's Available Now.

Upcoming Release Reserve Now means the game isn't due to be released by the publisher until this date.

How Fast is Gamerang with Shipping

I added 5 games to my Choice List and waited for the first game to be shipped. Gamerang sends out an email notice when they ship a game with the estimated date of arrival. I was surprised to get such an email in less than an hour of signing up for Gamerang. And the next day I had "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare" sitting in my mailbox. It doesn't get much faster than that! I do have to admit that I live very close to their California distribution center. Your shipping times may not be that fast, depending on how far away your are from a distribution center. Gamerang ships games from the following locations:

• Santa Ana, California
• Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
• Purcell, Oklahoma
• Minneapolis, Minnesota

Special Promotions

Gamerang currently offers the following special promotions:

2 Months for $30 Bucks (1 Out-at-a-time, no monthly limit!)
2 Months, 2 Games $40 Bucks (2 Out-at-a-time, no monthly limit!)

Summary

Pros - Gamerang has a large selection of games for all the major consoles and handheld's. Most of the games are available for rent either immediately, or with a short wait.

Cons - The 1 and 2 game out plans are only $2 higher than GameFly, but the 3 game is $20 higher and the 4 game plan is $23 higher. Gamerang has a great service, but does not have as many features as GameFly. I could not find any reason to justify paying a higher fee for their video game rental service.

Conclusion

Other than the pricing, I didn't have any issues using Gamerang. If GameFly goes out of business or if Gamerang lowers their pricing, I would have no problem switching over to them for my video game rentals.

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