Blockbuster weighs games-by-mail, Netflix dismisses it

Yeah, cause you can't stream games is why... (and I don't want to either *looks with despise in his eyes at OnLive)

Madden 95 wouldn't have been on a disc anyway.

Still, Blockbuster needs something. $9.00 in store for 5 days is outrageous.

I may use this service for the episodes of liberty city on ps3. Does anyone know if Niko makes a cameo or anything else that would link to the normal game besides the town and era?

it's awesome advertising so i doubt anyone cares too much. it's not like the spammers...

There are action flicks from the 80's that don't hold up well when compared to modern action movies. And there are games from yesteryear that still hold up well when compared to modern stuff. To me, sounds like the guy from NetFlix is just blowing smoke up its own ass.
But I thought BlockBuster already had this as an add-on to their NetFlix-wanna be service, but there was some absurd service charge attached?

Because all movies in 1972 were obviously great.

The irony here is that Pong and Hunt the Wumpus both originally came out in 1972. More irony, since he cites "Madden '95": 1995 is the year Suikoden came out (in Japan at least), and that sucker still sells for over two hundred dollars on eBay. Thank God you can get that through the PS store now, I couldn't find that game for YEARS.

He makes an interesting point. I think you're more likely to have rentals of old or "classic" movies than you are for old games. The market just isnt there. It's not significant enough to warrant keeping those old games in stock, anyway, save for a select few. That's why GameFly does huge inventory clearing sales every once and awhile.

There are several old games that are still fun to play...the problem is that not everyone has a SNES or Playstation at home to play them.

This is where virtual console/XBLA/PSN come in and why the Netflix rep is only partially right about old games not being in high demand.

"who wants to play Madden '95?"

Someone should have said that to Jakks Pacific back in 2004. While it's great that Digital Eclipse made a laudable port of the Genesis version for Jakks' TV Games line, it didn't sell well, for what I think should have been fairly predictable reasons. Sports games depreciate faster than any other genre.

Anyway, it's a little odd that he picked that specific iteration of Madden to mention. Was he actually thinking of the failure of the TV Games remake?

I guess that guy doesn't know that not every game is a yearly slightly-improved-iteration sports title?

eww movie from 1972.... Im the opposite of how they think.. I would most prefer to watch newer movies than some old piece of shit... with crappy camera work.. bad color horrible actors ect.... as for games I would love to play old games esp super Nintendo.

I had Blockbuster for 2 years and recently switched to Netflix for the streaming. I would go back in a second if they added games to the service, as long as they don't double the price.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/3/10/

You should find that funny.

jerry, speak for yourself. silent movies are the shit. this may come as a surprise to you, but there are people out there who *gasp* like different things than you do. just because *your* attention span doesn't last longer than 5 minutes doesn't mean that films other than hollywood blockbusters have no value to anyone (though to be fair, i enjoy hollywood blockbusters as well).

Yeah, no one wants to play Madden '95. But no one wants to watch Gigli now. Doesn't Netflix know how much Modern Warfare 2 made in sales? Oh 550 Million its first 5 days? Oh ok, Netflix you still rent movies that are happy to make 50 million.

Silent movies will always trump Madden 'xx

I won't know anything about how good it is until I hear the price as well as all the details of how it works and how reliable it is. I have heard you can order things without a subscription though, which would be pretty nice.

JERRY! I was going to visit your site and give you loads of my money until you insulted black and white films along with subtitled (that's the word you were looking for dumbass) and silent films. That's real good business sense to knock something while you're trying to sell something. Stupid Blockbuster fanboys have no business trying to be in business.

I thought that Blockbuster was supposed to have this service happening by the end of last year. In fact, I could have sworn I remembered reading they had a pilot program going on in certain parts of the country.

I can't imagine that Netflix would go that route, though. They are focused on their business and it's a business they do really really well. In addition to the fact that streaming is growing incredibly quickly and continues to get better. Regarding their mail program though, most moves are around 2 hours long, people watch them once, and send them back. It's easy to predict the return schedule.

Games on the other hand have a much more involved predictability schedule. Some games are 8 hours, others are 80. There's a lot more work involved to anticipate availability, not to mention the overall higher price of purchasing games.

I would absolutely love to see Netflix get into the gaming business and have a heavy hitter to compete with Gamefly (which I canceled two years ago because of frustrating availability, a fact that could have changed in the meantime), but frankly, it just doesn't seem like it would be worth it to them. Their business continues to grow using the model they've set forth years ago. Yet, Blockbuster already has a foothold in the gaming world and it wouldn't be as much of a stretch for them to dip their toes into this arena. And it would give them another bullet point in their battle against Netflix. A battle that they appear to be losing pretty badly.

One day game developers will figure out this rather important point, and figure out a way to sell their games for more than 3 months - like every other art/entertainment form.

That will be a great day.

in the meantime, we have GOG... and (at least in the UK) there are loads of DVD-by-mail stores that already do Games by mail.

I think Jerry has a point. Sure, SOME people enjoy classic hollywood era films. Most don't though. It's dated. There may be some merit or artistic concept worth viewing - But the same is said for games. Super Mario World may not be the cutting edge, but it's still plenty playable. It's still fun.

How many times have they released Namco Arcade classics by now? Pac-Man, Galaga, Space Invaders, Dig Dug, Pole Position... Or how many years has Tetris been a completely engaging experience with very minimal alteration? Some games are timeless, some are shlock. Same for films. Some films will stand the test of time, some games will. Most from both won't though. For every generic FPS or platformer there is a Hottie and the Nottie, Catwoman, Gigli, and a slew of romantic comedies not worth remembering.