It can be used to your advantage though. A blockbuster near me closed recently, and I was able to buy a few used games, then sell them back to Gamestop for about $20 dollars in profit.

Part of me doesn't give a flying flip about Blockbuster going downhill, but that's just me being bitter. I've had bad experiences with them that became part of the reason I turned to Netflix and never looked back.

The rental store that I miss was a Mom n Pop one that was down the street from where I lived as a teen. You could get there by a fifteen minute walk down a road with no sidewalk. The old man who ran the rental store charged $3 for five days, and he used some sort of heat gun to burn the name of the store into the game cartridges. At the time that seemed to be the only thing you needed to ensure someone wouldn't just make off with the game, I guess. My brother and I used to go there all the time to rent games for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, and the store owner was like that uncle who always had all the cool stuff. The store's been turned into something else now but I'll never forget where it stood and what an awesome part of my life it was.

Unfortunately, I don't play games enough to have a Gamefly membership. But, that's also another reason why I'm not feeling that bad for Blockbuster. They've moved into the online rental-by-mail venue and do games as well as movies. Blockbuster may be losing its physical presence in towns but I believe it will continue to live on, and it may even be better than before. Personally, I consider getting a DVD in the mail from Netflix like having Christmas every other day. You get home and there's that recognizeable red package sticking out of your mailbox with something you've been waiting to see. For me, that feeling of getting a "gift" almost everyday replaces the one of browsing aisles. So while I sigh at the fond memory I have of the old man's rental store I used to visit, nowadays I feel giddy with anticipation over what film on my list of must-sees will be coming in the mail.

Blockbuster isn't the only video game rental place. There's online ones (gamefly) and other local rental stores as well. As sad as it would be to lose Blockbuster altogether (I used to work there) maybe it's time! Perhaps now is the era in which blockbuster is no longer needed. Just like how movie theaters are going to be soon.

Onlive and other things like that will take their place in the same way Steam took retail game stores

I miss places like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video. I miss the days when my brother and I would walk around the aisles, checking out what kind of games there are and what we should rent. Now, the place where Hollywood used to be is now an empty space that has yet to be bought for the past three or so years. My local Blockbuster was also taken down as well.

It's kind of depressing seeing some of the places from your childhood get taken away as you grow older. It just shows you don't know what you got till it's gone.

R.I.P Blockbuster and Hollywood. We'll never forget you.

CyanideDream:
So, did you guys know that there is a 1-week, FULL refund policy when buying used games at Gamestop? No strings attached. So it is like renting a game at blockbuster, except you get a better selection, for a longer rental time, and for absolutely free.

Knowing this makes this article irrelevant. At least until Gamestop discontinues this policy because, apparently, I blew their secret wide open.

Haha, that used to be their new game policy as well! I think I bought maybe 3 games for the first few years the PS2 was out, at least till they changed the policy. It was ludicrous... and ocmpletely awesome all at once.

OT: They have this service called Gamefly. It's Netflix for videogames. $10/month gets you a rental at a time with no late fees or anything..... I know you guys know what I'm talking about. This article is very dramatic, haha.

As a Blockbuster employee and avid game, I'm upset at the state of my employeer. I wish I could do something to make them realize they need more games sent in, because currently we get at most 2 copies of a 360 game, and 1 of a PS3 game. Wii usually is about the same as PS3, with a single copy of a hot new game. That's a say $60 investment, and the rental for it is currently (with tax included) $9.67, meaning you start making money on the game on the 7th rental and beyond. However, there seem to be about 3 people a week wanting a game, and usually it only gets rented out once a week, meaning it takes at least 2 and a half months to make money on a PS3 game, and a month to make money on a 360 game.

I also tell people, trying to get people to preorder games, that preordering at our store rather than gamestop is better, because you can take risks. You put the 5 bucks down to preorder the game, but instead of coming in to buy the game when it comes out, rent it first. If you think it's worth the money, you can pick up the game, but if you think you won't like it, get the money back, because we will return the money if you change your mind.

The point of this is, it seems like Blockbuster doesn't use games to it's full potential.

I wish I rented more games, but for some reason I can never bring myself to do so. I like the feeling of owning the game, and it feels that much better when I know I've earned that $60 through hardwork, smart spending, and patience.

I tried out GameFly as well, but it took much too long for them to receive and send the games, sometimes up to two weeks (and I live relatively close to one of the shipping centers!). Netflix does better than that in three days. Though I suppose that is a testament to the whole culture of "here and now".

With all the crazy amount of great games coming out relatively soon, though (Portal 2, L.A. Noire, InFamous 2, etc...), I may just have to resort to renting. There's a Blockbuster still surviving just a few minutes from my house, maybe I can utilize the time...

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Rigs83:

XxRyanxX:

I doubt that Netflix, Youtube or Onlive would ever be wiped out from the internet. Youtube is owned by Google which is probably the biggest internet provider in all the world. Along that, Netflix is expanding with a wide range of customers who watch their favorite movies and shows constantly like my Dad.
Not to mention that to prevent their function of existing is futile, because they are always needed or liked to a degree of being well-known. So internet providers can never destory the Net Neutrality, but only delay it if they become that successful.

Not to mention that the empty spots those rental joints have are only for those who live near it. We're fortunate to now have places like GameFly to rent games for only $7.95 by mail. However, to buy a game for the price of $60.00 plus tax isn't something to take lightly. To understand this man, you must know how he feels about his subscription being cut off. Which isn't a bad thing, it made him realize that he's been missing out on games thus thanks to him, we now take note about the stores like Blockbuster being 45 miles away since the rental joints are being wiped out in some cases.

I am not worried about Youtube, Netflix or Onlive (I use them as examples of innovative companies that exist now) because they were created now in the time of Net Neutrality I am worried what will happen to the next entrepreneurs that will not be able to compete with established entities that can manipulate the bandwidth to their advantage.

Here's the thing. Net Neutrality is a practice that hasn't been codified into law. There's nothing right now that actually stops an ISP from just stopping all of a specific type of traffic, except potential threats from entities. I'm worried that companies will actually decide they don't actually need to be fair anymore, because who's going to compete against them.

It gets even worse in North Carolina, with the State bill that would make a municipality ISP illegal. That's another story, and I think that should be told mostly though the staff who actually live near there, as opposed to me. I'll just be visiting.

The ISP I work for blocks bittorrent traffic. It's not a practice I like, but there actually is a reason behind it. Until we started blocking it, bittorrent traffic represented nearly 50% of all internet traffic on our network(and it was growing). This is a real problem where we are because we are unable to increase total available bandwidth. It's not a money issue, we just can't do it. What that means is that one type of bandwidth use can increase only at the expense of bandwidth for everything else.

This is something that people don't always think about. Bittorrent, streaming video, streaming gaming(if that ever took off), Steam, etc. use up monstrous amounts of bandwidth. Eventually there is going to be a price for that. For those that have it now, unlimited bandwidth will likely either go away, or will come at a premium. That's going to be the only way that ISPs will be able to justify the cost of laying down the fiber necessary for the future Internet.

Renting games is awesome. It means i avoid the massive, expensive disappointments that accompany 80% of this gen console games.