Joystiq

Redbox Instant, GameTrailers apps now on Xbox Live

Jordan Mallory — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 03:55:00 EST

Redbox's new "Redbox Instant by Verizon" video streaming service has moved out of beta and is now available to Xbox Live Gold subscribers. The app itself will require its own additional subscription for unlimited streaming, though purchasing and renting movies can be done regardless.

Two levels of Redbox Instant subscriptions are available: Four kiosk DVDs and unlimited streaming for $8 a month, or a Blu-ray version of the deal for $9 a month. A one-month free trial is available for anyone wishing to see how Redbox Instant's catalogue compares with its competitors.

Meanwhile, Xbox Live's other miscellaneous entertainment offerings have also expanded by way of a new GameTrailers app, which brings the video portal's various reviews, original programming and, well, trailers to the Xbox. This way, everyone with an Xbox 360 can enjoy staged interviews with purported burn victims.

Redbox Instant, GameTrailers apps now on Xbox Live originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 03:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox Instant Xbox 360 app on the way

David Hinkle — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST

There is a strange cult of people out there - you may have seen them, huddled around those giant red vending machines outside your local gas station or grocery store. These people are actually renting DVDs from those machines, called Redbox. We know, it's so precious!

Redbox is testing the streaming waters with a new beta program called Redbox Instant, and Major Nelson has announced a corresponding app will be available on Xbox 360. Nelson says those in the beta right now - if you want in, you can sign up here - will receive an email with their Xbox 360 download code "in the coming days."

Redbox Instant is a combined monthly subscription service that provides unlimited online streaming of content and four one-night rental tokens for use at local Redbox vending machines. Redbox Instant subscribers can opt into the DVD package $8 or upgrade to Blu-rays for $9 a month. Other supported platforms for Redbox Instant include iOS, Android, Vizio, Samsung, LG and Google TV.

[Note: Image taken from iOS Redbox Instant app on iPad.]

Redbox Instant Xbox 360 app on the way originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox reveals top rentals of 2011

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:40:00 EST

Ubiquitous disc kiosk dispensary Redbox has shared its top game rentals of 2011, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 for Xbox 360 commanding the top spot. It's no surprise that Modern Warfare 3, which earned $775 million at retail in a week, would also find itself again in fifth place with the PS3 version. It was, like, the biggest game launch ever.

Ubisoft has two members of its successful Just Dance franchise on the Redbox list, with Just Dance 3 and Smurfs Dance Party in fifth and seventh spots, respectively.

Surprise summer hit Dead Island rounds out the top three. The game's rocky launch may have scared off some purchases, but that didn't stop Deep Silver (and Square Enix) from shipping millions of copies of the game.

This was Redbox's first "official" year of game rentals, expanding its test market of 5,000 last year to nearly 27,000 kiosks nationwide over the summer. Check out the full top ten after the break.

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Redbox reveals top rentals of 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox stuffing more kiosks with games

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST

Redbox's addition of games to its crimson kiosks has apparently been a success, with the company announcing today that it will expand the availability of games to 27,000 kiosks nationwide beginning August 1. The company also stated that it has rented over 4 million PS3, Wii and Xbox 360 games since it began its game rental experiment in 2009.

The August 1 expansion means that approximately 5,000 additional kiosks will carry games, which the company currently charges $2 a night (plus tax) to keep. Find the game kiosk nearest you by heading to the Redbox site.

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Redbox stuffing more kiosks with games originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Redbox kiosks packing games, starting tomorrow

Christopher Grant — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:42:00 EST

As promised, video rental kiosk outfit Redbox is expanding its operation to include other things that appear on optical discs, beginning tomorrow. It's a simple idea, we know, but considering the market GameFly has been able to build up with its over-the-mail service, ala Netflix, we're surprised it took Redbox this long to leverage its omnipresent kiosk army to dispense something besides movies.

Unlike GameFly, selection will be limited to what actually fits inside a 'box. Tomorrow's selection spans all three home console platforms and will include major new releases like Duke Nukem Forever, LA Noire, Red Faction: Armageddon, and Infamous 2, while also including some notable evergreens, like Call of Duty: Black Ops and Just Dance 2. Game rentals will run $2 each day, compared to $1 a day for DVDs, $1.50 a day for Blu-ray discs, and $10 a day for Laserdiscs.

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PSA: Redbox kiosks packing games, starting tomorrow originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox officially launching game rentals June 17

Randy Nelson — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST

Refrigerator-sized movie rental kiosk operator Redbox began testing video game rentals nearly two years ago, but they'll be available at more than 21,000 locations nationwide starting on June 17, 2011. The test market expanded from 5,000 locations last October.

In announcing the launch date, the company confirmed that its kiosks will offer games for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii covering "top releases to popular family and kids titles." Game rentals will run $2 a day, compared to $1 for DVD and $1.50 for Blu-ray movie rentals. By comparison, brick-and-mortar rental chain Blockbuster offers five-day rentals for $8.99 per game and by-mail rental service GameFly lets its users check out two games at a time for a $22.95 monthly subscription fee.

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Redbox officially launching game rentals June 17 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox expanding game rentals to 'thousands' of its kiosks

Mike Schramm — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Redbox has been playing around with video game rentals from its disc-spitting kiosks for a few years now, but the company has decided the program is ready for the big time, and will reportedly expand the program to "thousands" of its 24,000 machines around the country. Rentals cost $2 and let you take the game home for just one day, which, given the apparently shrinking lengths of popular titles, is more than doable, depending on the game and the day.

If you want to find a box near you, you can punch your zipcode in on the company's official website and see if there are games in your neighborhood to be rented. Most of them seem to be at 7-Elevens or other convenience stores, which seems pretty convenient if you ask us.

Redbox expanding game rentals to 'thousands' of its kiosks originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 Oct 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox expands game rental program to Orlando

Justin McElroy — Thu, 27 May 2010 06:00:00 EST

As a staff with a statistically high number of social phobias, we're big fans of automated rental kiosk company Redbox. Renting movies at 2 a.m. from outside the local Kroger is not only convenient, it's also strangely illicit, like the robotic equivalent of perusing the stolen watches in a street vendor's furtively opened trench coat. Replace "stolen watches" with "copies of Valentine's Day" and the metaphor totally works, we promise.

Sadly, if you'd like a similar way to anonymously rent games, you're out of luck ... unless you live in Reno, Nev., Wilmington, N.C. or -- now -- Orlando, Fla., where Redbox's video game rental program is being currently being tested. If you've got a spare $2 per night, why not hike to your local Winn-Dixie, 7-Eleven or Walgreen's and let us know what it's like living in the future?

[Via Yo! Jmo's Blog]

Redbox expands game rental program to Orlando originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 May 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox to offer Blu-ray rentals later this year

David Hinkle — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:20:00 EST

If the convenience of streaming content via Netflix and/or having magical pixies deliver discs to your mailbox (that's how they get there, right?) aren't your thing, then know your insatiable desire to view high-def movies will soon be satiated via Redbox. The aptly-titled crimson structure that spits out discs inside your local supermarket or at your favorite strip mall has begun an initiative to see Blu-ray rentals offered starting sometime around mid-2010, Blu-ray.com reports.

Of course, all of those extra defs won't come cheap: CEO of Coinstar -- Redbox's parent company -- Richard Davis exclaimed that a pricing structure for Blu-ray rentals hasn't been finalized yet, though it will likely be "higher than our standard DVDs." So ... two dollars, then?

Redbox to offer Blu-ray rentals later this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Redbox experimenting with video game rentals

Majed Athab — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:00:00 EST

Been to the grocery store lately? Ever noticed that giant red box outside the entrance that spits out DVD rentals for cheap? Well, guess what? Those things could be packing video games real soon, too. The company that owns those rental kiosks, the aptly-named Redbox, has just hired a new VP of video games to oversee game integration into its rental service.

According to Video Business, Redbox will be putting up two new types of machines: one solely dedicated to game rentals and the other a hybrid of games and movies. It appears Redbox will host mostly current-gen, home console games (Wii, Xbox 360 and PS3) and will even offer game trade-ins at the kiosks, as well. Currently, Redbox is still in the testing phase with only a few select cities participating in the market test.

[Thanks, Daniel P.!]

Redbox experimenting with video game rentals originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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