GameMine has leapt to the top of the U.S. games rental industry in the past year, boasting some great swap and buy options as well as excellent customer service. Gamemine appear to be one of the few rental companies which did well during the recession, now boasting distribution centers in New Jersey and Florida, and Nevada. They've jumping from number four to three on our charts in 2010, and made number one in mid-2011.
GameMine has an excellent selection of 7,000+ titles listed in 8 genres, and you can browse alphabetically, by release date, or even by parental rating. They display multiplescreenshots of games and list a description, publisher, release date, genre, rating, even linked description tags so you can click through to other similar games. Gamemine now have one of the most detailed game info screens we've seen, witha section for member reviews as well. We like their new feature where you only have to mouseover a game to get a quick mini popup of the key facts, which speeds browsing considerably.
They have a very useful facility to speed up mailings called 2xSPEED. Basically, you pop your last game back in the mail, and then, click 2xSPEED on the site, and GameMine will send your next film without waiting to receive the titles, cutting a day or two off of transit times. GameMine also ship Saturdays, a rarity among game rental companies, which should speed things further.
GameMine also have the best set of parental control facilities we've seen, where you can set access according to ESRB game ratings, so you can block the Adult Only (AO), Mature (M), and/or Teen (T) level of games, with all blocked, this would just leave the Everyone (E) and Everyone 10+ (E10+) titles.
They have a generous cancellation policy in their Terms and Conditions--you have 10 business days to return any outstanding games. GameMine also has an option to buy used games at a low price, including the game you are currently renting. While many other game rental companies also offer this facility, it's just one of the extras GameMine features; when taken together, we think the sum of these features make it a top choice in US game rental.
Prices: GameMine has no free trial, but does does offer great prices. Prices have been reduced, and are now only $8.99 per month for 1 game out, maximum of two swaps in the month, or $19.99 for 2 games out, unlimited swaps. Personally we think the one game out plan is the best value--it lets you play through two games a month.
There are significant saving to be had by buying their long-term plans up front; for the 2 game plan, buy three months get one free ($59.99 for 4 months, plus a $10 store credit), or buy six months get a seventh month free ($119.99 plus get $15 in store credit. We suggest trying the service for month month to start, then if you like them, go for the four month plan, which is best value for money.
