Online video game rental leader GameFly takes a small step offline with the introduction of their G-Box rental kiosk, which allows gamers to swipe their credit cards for instant gaming gratification, much like the DVD rental kiosks that have been popping up all over the country lately. The G-Box will stock the latest games for the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, allowing players to rent as long as they want for $2.49 a day ($1.99 for Wii titles), with an option to rent-to-own.

"The kiosk program is a way to extend the GameFly universe into the physical world," said Sean Spector, co-founder and senior vice president of business development and content for GameFly.

The kiosk, located in the on-campus Barnes & Noble bookstore, is only the first step in building up GameFly's physical presence, with the company planning to roll units out around the country.

"I think it'll allow students who don't have the ability to get out to a Blockbuster to rent games," (Spector) said. "Students who live in dorms or are on campus more often will have the ability to get recent releases."

So what do you think? $2.49 doesn't seem like too much to pay for a day with a new game. If anything it makes for an excellent try before you buy opportunity for titles released without demos. Would you rent a game from a machine?

Gamefly G-Box allows students to rent video games on campus [The Daily Toreador - Thanks John!]

Limpit over at WiiDs found this outdoor Wii kiosk in his home town of London. Two young gentlemen in white puffy Wii coats and hats demoed Wii Sports outdoors to an adoring crowd of onlookers on a Samsung HD TV.

This could really add a whole new level of realism to Wii Sports. Imagine dragging your Wii and your big ole TV outside and playing a round of Wii baseball in the rain, just like the professionals do! Your neighbors could pull up lawn chairs and boxes of popcorn and coolers full of beer that they can throw at you when you make a particularly terrible play. It would be the ultimate in virtual reality. Flynn De Marco

Wii Outdoors ?! [WiiDs]

Starting today, DS owners will be able to download game demos from kiosks installed in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Six of the kiosks went live today in the airport's T, A and B concourses and the airline plans to do the same in other airports in the coming months.

I'm not quite sure if Delta has figured out a way to make these demos available onto to their customers or if anyone can swing by a kiosk and get to downloading. Also, aren't you supposed to turn off your DS on take-off? That sorta sucks, because the demo will disappear.

Other than the odd take-off issue, it sounds like a great fit. Delta's got like a 50-percent on-time ratio for their flights, so you need something to do while you sitting around the airport watching all of the other airlines fly out on time. Brian Crecente

Game On! Delta Air Lines Partners With Nintendo to Provide Travelers Access to Free Video Game Demos

ATLANTA, Nov. 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) — Just in time to entertain holiday travelers, Delta Air Lines is partnering with Nintendo to provide customers with access to free video game demos for the Nintendo DS portable gaming system. Today, on-the-go Nintendo lovers can begin downloading the interactive demos — including Brain Age, Elite Beat Agents, Clubhouse Games — in Delta terminals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Through this new service, travelers can easily and wirelessly download Nintendo video game demos for free by bringing their Nintendo DS video game systems with them when they travel to or through Atlanta, standing within a few feet of the DS Download Station and following the simple download instructions. There are six units in the Atlanta airport on Concourses T, A and B. Delta also plans to provide this exciting enhancement in other airports in the coming months.

``Delta is excited to partner with Nintendo, makers of some of the most popular video games of all time, to provide yet another innovative entertainment offering to travelers,'' said Joan Vincenz, Delta's managing director of Product Marketing. ``This program reflects our ongoing commitment to provide a distinctive, enjoyable travel experience — both on the ground and in the air — especially during the busy holiday travel season.''

This airport technology addition is one of many changes Delta is making to improve the travel experience for customers. In September, Delta introduced the first of its new two-class, domestic transcontinental aircraft featuring all-leather seating in both first-class and coach. On these refurbished aircraft, every customer has a front row seat to great entertainment with Delta's state-of-the-art, digital in-flight entertainment — boasting movies, live television, music and games — available on demand at every seat. The airline's new standard in domestic transcontinental flying will be available to all passengers traveling on select Delta flights over four hours (or more than 1,750 miles), including those from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to cities including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Seattle and others, beginning this month.

Earlier this year, Delta also began updating its international BusinessElite class with a similar, industry-leading entertainment system on its current fleet of 75 aircraft flying international routes. And beginning in 2008, Delta will be the first U.S. airline to offer its international business class customers a true lie-flat seat in its BusinessElite(r) cabin on ultra long-haul flights to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Play Beyond is all about demystifying the technology behind the Sony console through surreal commercials and a shit-ton of kiosks.

The Sony spokesfolks say that their ads have already had 500,000 hits on YouTube and their print campaign till hit more than 40 million impressions, while their online ads will reach 150,000 impressions.

Boring, no?

Fortunately, they did sneak in one number that's interesting: 14,000. That's the number of Playstation 3 kiosks that will be showing off the consoles at retailers around the country.

Finally, that Playstation Experience big rig, packed with PSP, PS2 and PS3 games, will be hitting the road later this year. Brian Crecente

Just returned from my local Gamestop, where the store manager informed me that their Wii demo station would be arriving tomorrow afternoon, sans the Wiimote, which would be hand delivered early next week by their regional Nintendo rep. His store and one other would be the first in the Atlanta area to receive the kiosks, with other stores getting staggered shipments up till launch.

I can only assume that the rep has to personally affix the Wiimote for security reasons. All I know is getting a Wii kiosk without a Wiimote is liken to ordering a fully functional lifelike android only to find the genitalia are on backorder.

I'll see if I can get grab some pics tomorrow. Not of the genitalia. Michael Fahey

They may still be in bland cardboard shipping boxes, but they're there. Restless Wiis are now patiently waiting to be freed from their corrugated prisons by the local Nintendo reps and set up for the unwashed masses to poke, prod, molest, and fondle.

Actually, reader Brian A. wrote in to let us know that his local Gamestop already has a naked Wii kiosk on display.

The Gamestop I frequent near Lynnwood, Wash. (north of Seattle) already has a Wii kiosk. The console and screen are all there for everyone to drool over but it isn't operational yet. The guys at the store said they're waiting for their Nintendo rep to stop by and get it up and running.

I expect nothing less than a series of campouts from the Nintendo faithful, awaiting the arrival of their haggard Nintendo rep. If you don't have the means to camp out, I suggest you call your local Gamestop every 15 minutes asking if their Wii kiosk is playable.

Thanks for the photos, Jordan! Michael McWhertor

The store will have a dozen Wii kiosks up and running with a bunch of games playable including Wii Sports and Excite Truck. To kick-off the launching of the kiosks, the store will be throwing a party from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. All Nintendo says about the party is that they will be giving away some "great prizes." Could one of them be a Wii? Brian Crecente [Thanks Matthew]

Some of the Playstation 3s we played on at Gamers' Day were just sitting around on tables, like they would be at your house, but others were strapped inside the fancy PS3 kiosks that will be hitting stores in the near future.

At various points throughout the night they needed to revive hot and sweaty consoles. But I only saw them pop one of the kiosks open once. Inside? Another PS3. What the hell? So I'm guessing the one on display is just there for eye candy and to distract wouldbe thieves while the gooey insides of the kiosks actually houses the strapped console. Weirdness. Brian Crecente

And is PLAYSTATION 3 unit is also NOT FAKE. Last month, tipster sirpilf sent along images of the Wii and PS3 demo units, along with info as to when they'd be hitting American shops. Some doubted them, but here's video proof that those kiosks are for reals. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [Wii-UK] Thanks, Mike!

We posted last week about the Playstation Portable kiosks set to hit the U.S. in the near future. Today I received official word that the FlatIron Crossing Mall will be one of the first three malls in the country to test the new kiosks out.

The Sony Access machines will include digital cameras, MP3 players, headphones, PSPs, PlayStation games, movies, USB devices and other stuff, according to the press release. The goal is to have ten of these bad boys in malls, airports and gorcery stores by the end of the year. Man, this is going to be very dangerous for me. The only reason I don't drop my whole paycheck into gumball machines, fake tattoo dispensers and claw games is because of the look's I'd get. Now I have an excuse. Take my credit card please!

I'm going to be checking out the Boulder Sony Access machine next week and I'll make sure to post up some pics of it in action. Brian Crecente

Oooooooh performance analysis tools, I can't wait.

On March 23rd, the Xbox 360 finally launches in idyllic New Zealand. To promote the event, a custom metallic bus is bringing 360 goodness to all Kiwis. Inside the bus, there are playable demos of Project Gotham Racing 3, Fight Night Round 3, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Call of Duty 3, Perfect Dark Zero, Dead or Alive 4, Kameo: Elements of Power and Amped 3. The bus will be touring Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and loads of other cities throughout the North and South islands. Kiwis, you have no excuse not to get your game on!

Full Story Here [VG NZ] Thanks, Raja!

Remember those customized Xbox 360 Holdens? The cars have been cruising around Down Under, promoting the MSoft console's upcoming March 23rd launch. Reader DunnyPanMan spotted one at The University of Queensland, Brisbane. The Holden was expanded in full repose, displaying the Samsung HDTVs and multiple speakers. What games were on hand? "They seemed to only be playing PGR3," writes our tipster.

Demos for Australians [Kotaku]

Some of you have already had a hands-on, some of you haven't. But for those living in Japan, heads up, there will be playable Ninety-Nine Nights demos at the end of February or early March. For those living in Tokyo, Jean Snow sends word that there is (and has been) a demo at the Xbox Lounge.

The pic above shows a kiosk with a unplayable demo loop running.

N3 Dated in Japan [Kotaku]

UK Kotakuites: Don't let all these horror stories yer hearing from us Yanks scare ya away. By the time the 360 is released in Europe, all these kinks in the console should be ironed out. The key word here is "should."

More Images Here [Flickr] Thanks Peanut!

Starting this weekend, Microsoft will be rolling out FIFA 2006 kiosks at Adidas stores in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The kiosks are bound to look way better than this crappy Microsoft Paint creation.

Image Here [Dengekionline]

Last Friday at the world-famous Bundoukan, Microsoft dragged out those Xbox kiosks to promote their Japanese wrestling game, Wrestle Kingdom. I wouldn't exactly call it a mob scene.

Full Story Here [Famitsu]

On the screen: "System Error, Contact Xbox Customer Support."
Below the monitor: "You're watching games in high definition.
Only on Xbox 360
*The best Launch line-up of games ever
*Enjoy movies, music and photos"

Don't mean to kick a dog when it's down, but this is delicious.

Screen Close Up [Xbox-Scene] Thanks MadIsp!

They say that a solution was developed within 24 hours of the problem cropping up and that they are in the process of rolling out the fix.

Here's the company's official line and a Q&A:

Q: I heard Xbox 360 is interfering with retailer's inventory system; what's going on?
A: Our Xbox 360 retail kiosk program rolled out this week and we encountered some minor wireless interference issues that are specific to some retail environments. Since the advent of 2.4 ghz signals, such as those found in next generation consumer electronics like cordless phones, wireless routers and now, Xbox 360, some retailers have discovered that their network-based inventory management systems can be impacted by products using modern wireless signals. While retailers are constantly updating their internal management systems, sometimes new products being introduced into the market can cause this kind of temporary interference. We are working closely with our partners to provide a software solution that mitigates this problem within their retail environments. Adjustments and tweaks to kiosks of any kind are quite common once they're deployed in a live retail environment and we consider making such adjustments a standard part of the launch process.

Q: How can I be assured that Xbox 360 isn't going to interfere with other wireless devices in my home?
A: This issue is specific to the equipment used in a few retail environments. Xbox 360, like portable phones, wireless network routers, and Bluetooth devices emit radio frequency operate in the 2.4GHz band. Microsoft has one of the most robust testing programs in the industry and has ensured that Xbox 360 meets all FCC/ETSI requirements and rules for operation in the 2.4GHz band. It is possible that devices that do not comply with FCC/ETSI rules of operation in this band may not properly handle interference from other 2.4GHz sources. Such devices would be extremely rare in a home environment.

Q: Has this caused damage to your retail relationships?
A: We have strong relationships with our retail partners and we work collaboratively with them all the time. We can assure you stores are experiencing "business as usual" and we are deploying a solution for consumers to experience Xbox 360 in the retail environment.

Another Kotaku reader hit the local Walmart for some hands-on Xbox 360 action.

What's that crap on top of the Xbox?

Thanks Adam!