Redbox boss Mitch Lowe says that he's holding the talks in an attempt to not only expand the range of products they can offer, but also to try and pre-empt the kind of disputes Redbox currently find themselves in with movie studios.

Studios like Fox, Universal and Warner have withdrawn from Redbox's kiosks in recent months, unhappy with the way the company charges so little for rentals, as they feel it undermines actual DVD sales.

So Lowe is sounding out the idea with a number of undisclosed publishers, one of which is THQ. "If you look at movies and music in some ways", THQ boss Brian Farrell says, "resisting new business models has not been a great formula for success, so one of the things I like about our industry is we tend to think, 'We have to adapt to this change.' So it's part of our DNA".

To help with the talks, Redbox have already begun trialling "Gamebox" machines in a number of locations in the US, like the one above, sent in by reader Richard. They've been in select markets since the middle of the year. Should these talks go well, though, you can expect them in a lot more markets.

Redbox talking with video game makers [Reuters]

Last month, GameFly filed an order to force the USPS to provide figures showing how many of its retail locations have Netflix, Blockbuster, or other dedicated mail slots for DVD-based mail. The Postal Service said, in effect, "don't know what you're talking about," and said such slots, if they exist, would be against USPS policy. GameFly came back with pictures taken in Alturas and Susanville, Calif. (Susanville pictured above; both towns are well in the northern part of the state) showing just such a thing. The Postal Service has refused to authenticate the pics.

Dedicated mail slots are just one facet of GameFly's overall complaint against the Postal Service, which includes hand-sorting of competitors' and peers' disc mail, to avoid breakage, and that USPS automatic sorters break $300,000 worth of GameFly games per month.

The case is still, as they say, pending. Still, has anyone out there seen dedicated Netflix slots at their local Post Office?

Update on Gamefly Complaint With USPS That Netflix and Blockbuster Get Preferential Treatment [Hacking Netflix via Game Politics]

Renting a movie off of the PSN, now, that's something that would expire, and we're all familiar with that. Fareo at the Retail Gamer posted these shots with the same quality applied to games. And, purely speculation here, he reasons that since PSPgo owners are no longer able to rent games from GameFly or anywhere else - lack of the UMD drive and all that - such a service would only make sense. Wouldn't it?

Sure. This isn't a completely foreign concept. Sony's also surveyed the acceptability of such an idea.

Here's another screen proving the point.

Digitally Renting PSP Games? [The Retail Gamer]

Right now, there are around 7000 stores worldwide, but many of those aren't too profitable, so they're being shut down. 280-300 stores will be gone by the end of this year, with the rest to come throughout 2010.

Sad? Course you're not. The death of physical stores renting physical copies of games (and movies!) will be a slow, painful and protracted one, and this just part of the process.

Blockbuster to shutter up to 960 stores [Cnet]

The kiosks will cover the major consoles (PS3, PS2, Wii and 360) and the $2 per night doesn't blow the doors off Blockbuster's $9 for 5. But it does offer a different sales pitch - mainly, an impulse grab while you're out doing something else.

Unfortunately, selection seems to be an issue with just 13 360 titles offered. There are also no online reservations (naturally) so this is truly a grab-and-go model. But for those in RedBox's range, who use rentals as part of their playing habits and buying strategy, this extra convenience could prove useful.

RedBox Launches $2 Video Game Rentals [Zatz Not Funny, via Gizmodo]

The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession also shows that gamers have increased their purchase of used games to "record-breaking totals" since Nielsen began tracking used game sales.

"Overall, the uncertain economy has not hurt gameplay and may have accelerated it as gamers look to get more value out of the games they own," The Nielsen Company says.

More interesting, I think, is what type of gamers Nielsen seems to think is driving this increase in play.

"Primarily, we believe mainstream gamers are playing more of the broadly appealing games (i.e Wii Fit, Guitar Hero and Rock Band) pushing their hours of gameplay up," said Michael Flamberg, director of client consulting, Nielsen Games. "The social aspects of these games have engaged them. We don't believe hardcore gamers are driving up the usage averages we've observed. Second, gamers may be looking to stretch their entertainment dollar further through playing games they own more. The importance of value for them is evident in the findings on used game purchase."

Gamers are also making more use of rental services like Gamefly, according to the survey.

The results seem to show that developers need to continue to concentrate on making ways to extend the life of their games if they want to increase sales and lengthen the time a person holds on to a title. New downloadable content, episodes and, of course, strong multiplayer elements all seem to help that.

The Value Gamer: Play and Purchase Behavior in a Recession [Nielsen]

Yes, Blockbuster, the 24-year-old chain that rents "more video games than any other company, store-based or online, in the nation," is in rather dire financial straits. It told the SEC that it may not be able to continue, given that it may not be able to meet the conditions of a $250 million loan that would help keep it afloat.

While things look grim for Blockbuster, there's a chance it could soldier on, something we'll know for sure mid-May. But hopes for the chain's video game rental by mail service to hit later this year sound iffy.

Blockbuster gets going concern notice: SEC filing [Reuters]

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!]

Rentrak used Home Video Essentials, which measures consumer rental activity and grosses on more than 65,000 film and video game properties, looking at retail, online and kiosk locations. The service tracks more than one billion rental transactions a year.

Other interesting tidbits:

Both Xbox 360 and Wii have increased their overall rental market share in 2008. Xbox 360 increased from 26.1% to 36.8%, while consumer spending on Wii game rentals increased from 7.3% in 2007 to 17.1% in 2008.

In 2008, Xbox 360 jumped up two titles from 2007 with seven of the Top Ten Renting Games, versus having five of the Top Ten Renting Games the previous year.

In 2008, seven of the Top Ten Renting Games were rated Mature, versus in 2007 only four of the Top Ten Renting Games were rated mature.

It's interesting to see the sorts of games that people tend to rent. Most of the ones up there, like Call of Duty, Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Mario Kart, seem like the sorts of games you keep for quite awhile for replayability and multiplayer, not rent.

Videogames verhuren plots verboden [De Standaard, thanks everyone!]

UPDATE - Seems the De Standaard report left a few things out. Namely that the root of the problem has been that rental stores have been buying retail copies of games then renting them, instead of paying publishers the licensing money for a rental copy. Cheeky. So that's what the BEA are cracking down on. If a rental store wants to pay for a rental copy (which we guess they never do), they're more than welcome to rent games to their heart's content.

In GameFly's weekly run down of top releases they show that while Grand Theft Auto IV for the Xbox 360 took the top spot and Grand Theft Auto IV for the PS3 took the number three spot, Iron Man managed to wedge itself between the two, creating a crunchy GTA sandwich. The game based on the movie was also the top PSP and PS2 rental last week.

Not bad. Hit the jump to see the full list of cross-platform rentals for the week of GTA.

1 Grand Theft Auto IV Xbox 360 Action Adventure Take Two
2 Iron Man Xbox 360 Action Adventure Sega
3 Grand Theft Auto IV PlayStation 3 Action Adventure Take Two
4 Mario Kart Wii Wii Racing Nintendo
5 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Xbox 360 Shooter Ubisoft
6 Dark Sector Xbox 360 Shooter D3P
7 Iron Man PlayStation 3 Action Adventure Sega
8 Army of Two Xbox 360 Shooter Electronic Arts
9 Viking: Battle for Asgard Xbox 360 Action Adventure Sega
10 Ninja Gaiden 2 Xbox 360 Action Adventure Microsoft

Looks like the mail rental service is going after some of GameStop's business, hoping to pay bottom dollar for more of its library. I can't imagine there are too many publishers and developers who will be thrilled to learn of yet another game retailer who's tapping into the used market.

One of our readers tipped us today to let us know that the Los Angeles based company was informing its subscribers about the change which would be rolled out to a limited number of members while they get up to speed. While not much a renter myself—I prefer to buy, then let games collect dust unopened on my shelf—those looking for another rental option may want to check it out.

Thanks for the heads up, Justin! Michael McWhertor

I can't believe Chromehounds is number two. Trust me, it won't be on the list next-week. The game's far too spotty. I just got a copy of Prey like five minutes ago. Far too late for me to review for the Rocky Mountain News, but I can still play the hell out of it. Anything missing from the list, do you think?

1 Prey Xbox 360 Shooter Take Two
2 Chromehounds Xbox 360 Shooter Sega
3 Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II Xbox 360 Sports Electronic Arts
4 NCAA Football 07 Xbox 360 Sports Electronic Arts
5 Dead Rising Xbox 360 Action Adventure Capcom
6 NCAA Football 07 PlayStation 2 Sports Electronic Arts
7 N3: Ninety-Nine Nights Xbox 360 RPG Microsoft
8 Gears of War Xbox 360 Shooter Microsoft
9 Over G Fighters Xbox 360 Strategy/Sim Ubisoft
10 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow PlayStation 2 Action Adventure Bethesda

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