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Redbox recently announced that they are adding videogame to their rental kiosks nationwide. Good news for people like me who live in places where their local Blockbuster and other videogame rental services are out of business due to the economy. Last night I saw a Redbox with the sticker "Games Are Here!" and decided to investigate. Here are some suggestions for I came up with for Redbox Videogame Rentals.
Keep The Selection Up To Date
The most recent game Redbox had was Duke Nukem Forever, which isn't bad considering the game has been out for 8 days in the United States. I made it a point to check the videogame selection last night to see if Redbox had Shadows of the Damned, Fear 3, or Dungeon Siege III all of which were released yesterday. I didn't see any of these games, but that could have been because they were already rented out. If you want my money Redbox you have to have new videogames available the day they are released. I have no problem traveling 20 minutes to the nearest Blockbuster in order to rent a videogame on the day it was released.
Don't Raise The Price
Two dollars a night seems like a pretty reasonable price to rent a videogame. I thought it was a deal until I did the math. If you rent a game for 5 days at Blockbuster it is $9.55. Five days with Redbox will be 45 cents more. Not a huge difference, but Redbox is more expensive. If they raise the price it won't be a good look. There is also a grey area that Redbox might want to consider. Playstation 3 games are technically Blu-Ray. They come on Blu-Ray discs and play on the Blu-Ray playing PS3. It'd be cool if we could rent PS3 games for $1.50 like the rest of the Blu-Ray titles you keep in stock.
Add More Classic Titles
Redbox picked a good time to add videogames to their roster. Summer is notorious for the lack of videogames being released. One look at the upcoming games list shows that not many games are being released between now and September. Redbox should use this time to add critically acclaimed titles to it's selection. I know space is limited, but games such as Dead Space 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 could be added to the list.