GameFly releases 'GameCenter' iPhone app
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Oct 22nd 2009 at 9:00PM } 
The "Games" tab is essentially a database, with specs, controller details (pretty handy), Achievements, Trophies and reviews. The "News" tab, which can be divided to show specific platforms, is currently a feed from the company's recently acquired Shacknews. Spector plans on future app updates featuring community functionality, trailers and more news sources.
Spector tells us that he expects "all the functionality that's in GameFly on the app" in the future. Meaning that users will have access to the full GameFly store and easier queue rearrangement (slide functionality, rather than inputting numbers). For subscribers, the commerce and "Keep It" functionality work just like on the main site, with properly applied discounts and coupons. Spector also noted that those without a GameFly subscription who download the app receive a 15-day free trial.
GameFly seems serious about making the app as useful as possible and is asking for feedback. If there's anything you want to see after trying it out, send the company an email or leave feedback through the app, which can be found under "Settings" tab.
GameFly GameCenter (free)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
t3hguitarman @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:27PM
Hm... Won't let me download on the ipod touch. Is this an iPhone ONLY app? The error message says that "This app requires a microphone."
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:54AM
That means you've got a first-gen iPod Touch, which means Apple is determined to screw you and force you to buy new hardware. I'm in the same boat.
DeadPlasmaCell @ Oct 23rd 2009 2:58AM
Must not work for 1st gen iPod Touches.. I'm hoping they'll fix that with the quickness.
ifalldownstairs @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:11PM
no WebOS love?
...aww, who am I kidding.
Davy~Rush! @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:18PM
No Wii Controller on the image? How Racist!
ChomskyKnows @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:39PM
that guy lost it when he hit the TV with it...
Burns11 @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:19PM
It's nice to know they are working hard on stuff like this when I go day after day without a game being shipped.
Sircolby45 @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:18PM
I have been having the same issue. I am just waiting for Blockbuster to release their game rental service and then I am jumping ship and never looking back.
PedoJokerBear [Planeteer | Power of Gall Bladder] @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:23PM
i on the otherhand got borderlands today
Tiptup300 @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:52PM
I went a full month, no games, 3 games in queue. That's when I canceled and told them to go f themselves.
D dogg @ Oct 23rd 2009 9:27AM
"3 games in queue"
Dumbass, it's your own fault you didn't get any games. I would bet ANYTHING there are more than 3 games you want to play on ANY system.
Dumbass.
Burns11 @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:28AM
Ironically enough, there is an ad under my 2 games out saying "For less than 25¢ a day you could have a fourth game out!"
futurebiblehero @ Oct 23rd 2009 3:09AM
Gamefly certainly needs competition from SOMEONE. I've lived an hour and a half from a Gamefly distribution center and Netflix still outclassed them on service every day out of the week. You can't entirely blame the USPS when games, available games, are sitting in my queue for three or four days without shipping.
Once the holiday season is over, I'm cancelling and hoping a better alternative eventually pops up.
Woz @ Oct 23rd 2009 9:04AM
I found it to be cheaper just to walk into my local video store and rent a game for $5 and return it a week later. For an average month, I'd get four games out of my local store for $20 versus the $22 I paid for the monthly subscription to get fewer games. Plus, I was more likely to find a game released within the past year. The only thing I could get sent to me from GameFly were games at least a year old.
Bananarama @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:21PM
How about they spend less time making iPhone apps and more time improving their service so I don't go 2 weeks between games.
tmacairjordan87 @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:23PM
Where's the app that will get my games to me in under 3 days, as well as getting them back there? I mean, I've got a damn Tampa distribution center like an hour away!!!
Woz @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:34PM
Hahaha. Just yesterday I cancelled my account from my iPhone web browser.
Neon Jebus @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:35PM
Sounds like everyone is saying the very reason I just left the service after nearly 3 years. I was tired of paying a monthly fee and waiting 7-10 business days to get my games.
D_Average @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:44PM
Gamefly is the shiznit when it comes to buying used games. Just picked up WWE Legends and Godfather 2 for around 20 bones total. I love them guys.
Ignatius @ Oct 22nd 2009 9:48PM
I'd like to see them release an Android app alongside this.
As for all the comments about long wait times, I must be the only one getting their games received earlier than normal and shipped off with Fast Return.
Wish that the USPS would work with GameFly to help speed up the return process, it wouldn't be that difficult. Too bad there are workers that are stealing games.
xFenixKnightx @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:01PM
Yeah, I'll be getting the Android and would welcome an app as well. Check it out here. CANT WAIT!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vd7SglA91A
AcrobatSausages @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:14PM
its not the usps' fault. im a mailman. we arent required to seperate gamefly envelopes like netflix, but most of us do anyway. if gamefly had more distro centers, itd be a lot better.
and i demand an android app!
please???
Ignatius @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:23PM
I'm not saying it's the USPS' fault, but if GameFly and USPS would work together on it, game return and send times would probably be much lower. Then there was that one worker who had stolen 2200 games in under a few months... it doesn't help customers when that happens.
Burns11 @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:41AM
@ Acrobat
If it's not the USPS' fault, whose is it? Did Gamefly lose games in a void for days? Is it Gamefly that can't get mail across 390 miles (Louisville to Pittsburgh) any faster than 2000 miles (Louisville to LA)? Is it Gamefly that gives priority to other mailings? is it Gamefly that won't work with Gamefly to improve shipping?
Gamefly's problems aren't all linked to the USPS, but to sit there and act like the USPS isn't complicit in many of their problems (if not by far their most glaring problem) is ludicrous.
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:55AM
My opinion of the USPS is forever affected by Newman...
Vcize @ Oct 23rd 2009 8:58AM
Burns, I can send a game cross-country via first class mail in 3 days consistently (sent over 600 ebay items that way in the last year). 2 days if it's in the same region, 1 day if it's in the same state.
Yet, when I ship a gamefly game back, it's often as much as a week before it shows up as returned in their system. Now, I highly doubt the USPS is intentionally pulling aside Gamefly games to make them go slower, so either Gamefly uses media mail (slow as hell), or they're getting the games in a reasonable amount of time and taking several days to process them. I'm guessing the latter.
Burns11 @ Oct 23rd 2009 1:35PM
Yay, conspiracy theories.
Gamefly sends games first class (read the envelope) and they have no reason to hold games like that (use some common sense, if they were going to hold games, they would hold them rather than set a game as returned but with another unshipped).
At any rate, if this was all some conspiracy why even have the fastreturn stuff, which DOES work when the USPS bothers to properly handle the games? It took me a week of calls with the USPS to finally get my post office to properly handle the games so they would get scanned and it worked flawlessly until there was a personnel change at the post office and magically my games were no longer scanned (it's not worth the calls to try and get it straightened out again). You going to try and put that on gamefly as well?
AcrobatSausages @ Oct 23rd 2009 4:22PM
@ burns
you sir, are a jackass. you have no idea what its actually like in a post office. games arent scanned at local post offices. "properly handling" them is just separating them, along with netflix and blockbuster envelopes. it's to avoid damage, not speed up delivery.
Burns11 @ Oct 23rd 2009 8:43PM
@ Acrobat
Thanks for the insult. It's not my fault the USPS is to blame for some of this, and I get the feeling your incompetence isn't helping given your overly defensive nature.
Did you miss the part where I said I was on the phone for a week with USPS (my local office and others)? I know full and well it's not scanned here, but if it's not handled correctly here it's not going to get scanned. This isn't me saying this, it's the half dozen or so supervisors I had to talk to before getting things worked out. Once my carrier was told what to do, games were magically scanned, then when he left my route they magically weren't. When I called, the local supervisor had left and I didn't feel like jumping through hoops like a trained poodle to get something done correctly.
Shagittarius @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:11PM
Does it show coming soon release dates?
Baxter @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:25PM
Yep
Jedi_Liz @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:18PM
would the app work with iPod touch as well? I may be getting one.
Sometimes my games get the FAST RETURN scan and sometimes they don't, My distribution center unfortunately is Austin and my mom says it takes forever for mail to be received there and that's why sometimes they don't receive games for several days.
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:55AM
It works with second generation Touches and newer.
Peter Moore [Planeteer | Power of Fucking Your Mother] @ Oct 23rd 2009 3:45AM
That sucks. I have a first generation iPod touch.
It won't let me download it, saying it requires a microphone.
Why the hell does it require a microphone?
Tim Parsons @ Oct 22nd 2009 10:48PM
wow judging by your comments the Canadian service i have gameaccess.ca is by far superior. But State side users can only Buy
bamb0o-stick @ Oct 23rd 2009 10:08AM
Great, now I find out what games I'm NOT getting while on the go.
Baxter @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:09PM
Just downloaded it and at first glance I'm going to say it's probably the most thorough, well designed video game related app available to date. I'm a gamefly subscriber but I like that it extends beyond gamefly functionality. Think I'll be tinkering with this one quite a bit. It pretty much covers the spectrum. Cheats, reviews, codes, controller details (sweet!), achievements and on and on.
@shagittarius: it does have coming soon dates (under the gamefly tab).
@jedi_liz: if it works on the iPhone it'll work on the Touch too.
Martin Greenberg @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:21PM
Except...you know...you can't actually RENT games with it.
Baxter @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:24PM
Yes you can.
Baxter @ Oct 22nd 2009 11:21PM
@shagittarius: actually, it's got "coming soon" dates right on the front page. Didn't realize that out of the gate, I'm still playing around with it.
Lil_Mermaid_Girl @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:26AM
I just cancelled Gamefly and started using GameMine instead.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:41AM
nice.....I wanted this for a while now....
kal326 @ Oct 23rd 2009 2:00PM
@Baxter
I am going with the Greater Internet Dickwad Theory.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19/
saleen4971 @ Oct 23rd 2009 12:56AM
why dont you make an app not for the POS iphone and its yuppy, moron users?
oh wait, because you are all brainwashed retards who think anything put out by apple is awesome.
NEWSFLASH. APPLE AND ALL OF THEIR PRODUCTS ARE NOT THAT GREAT.
now go die.
Dr. Bradwart @ Oct 23rd 2009 1:12AM
Calm down...they're going after the easiest userbase with this app. Don't forget, the newer Touch models can run this too.
me @ Oct 26th 2009 1:54AM
@saleen4971
you first moron
Baxter @ Oct 23rd 2009 11:15AM
Wow, do you behave like that in person or just behind the internet veil?
Baxter @ Oct 23rd 2009 3:58PM
@kal326 I think you're on to something
Monica Dickey @ Oct 23rd 2009 2:43AM
Nice! The ability to browse games in the PALM OF MY HAND!
And come on saleen even if you hate apple, you know an app for this in windows mobile would suck
Baxter @ Oct 23rd 2009 11:17AM
Couldn't have said it any better myself.