Guide Rating - When you compare the price of renting games vs. movies, you'll find that it usually costs more for the games than the films. Plus, there's the fact that you have to return things you've rented; I'm too embarrassed to go back to Hastings for fear of the employees recognizing me from the Most Wanted poster the manager has hanging beside the doors. Luckily, Gamefly.com allows me to rent my games online, having them delivered by mail without requiring me to walk farther than my mailbox.

• Offers four rental plans, ranging from $15.95 per month to $36.95 per month.
  
• No late fees; you keep the games as long as you like.
  
• Gamefly pays all shipping fees; they provide pre-paid envelopes for returning the games without a hassle.
  
• Huge selection; over 5000 game titles.
  
• You can easily purchase the game used if you decide you want to keep it.

Unlike traditional stores, where you rent a movie and return it five days later and that's that, online rental services traditionally work as a subscription. You pay a monthly fee, and then rent as many games as you like. It works like this:

 

1. You start by selecting up to 50 games that you would like to rent. These games are placed on a "Q" for games to be sent to you.
   
2. Gamefly sends you the top 1, 2, 3, or 4 games on your list, depending on your subscription plan.
   
3. When you are done with a game, you return it via the pre-paid envelope provided by Gamefly, and they send out the next game on your que.

1. One game out at a time for $15.95 per month.
   
2. Two games out at a time for $22.95 per month.
   
3. Three games out at a time for $29.95 per month.
   
4. Four games out at a time for $36.95 per month.

Of all the online game rental services available, Gamefly.com is probably one of the best. The two most important elements to consider when deciding if it's worth it to rent your games online through Gamefly are turn-around times (how long it takes you to receive your games from Gamefly), and selection.

• Turn-around time: Gamefly has decent turn-around time. While they are certainly slower than the DVD rental company Netflix, which pioneered this business model, they are fast enough to make it cost effective when compared to the prices at your local rental store. It takes 5 days to receive a new game after placing the old game in the mailbox for return to Gamefly. On the 2-game plan, you can keep each game for 5 days before sending it back and still play six games a month at $22.95. Renting locally, those same six would probably run about $42 dollars. That's assuming you don't come across a game you give up on after just ten minutes of play, or a game that you just can't give until 10 days down the road.
  
  
• Selection: Hands down, Gamefly has an excellent selection. Not only do they carry games for every major console system on the market today, including the handhelds like the GBA, Nintendo DS, and PSP, but they have nearly every game you could possibly want to play. Games become available either at or near launch, and while they maintain the right to delay sending certain games if the demand is too high, I've never encountered such a delay.

Gamefly.com is an excellent service that is well worth the money if you're a dedicated game player. If you're a casual gamer that is unlikely to spend more than $15.95 per month renting games from the local rental store, Gamefly doesn't make as much sense; the subscription plan basically assume that you would normally rent at least two games per month anyway. For those of us that are hard-core gamers,

Gamefly lets us try games before we buy them, and tinker with the "ok, but not great" games that we normally wouldn't take the time to toy with if we had to purchase or rent them at a higher price. Gamefly's online system is easy to use, and you'll find yourself a more avid game player just because it's fun to browse the entire catalog of games for your system; who can resist finding presents in the mail six times a month?