How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

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How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by retrolinkx »

So, after listening to some dank vaporwave watching AVGN's massive movie collection on Youtube and him making comments on how he tried to make it have a "video store" feel, it got me thinking of places like Blockbuster and such, and to add some discussion to CI why not ask here.

How many of you are old enough to remember video rental stores? I know they were around until at least the late 00's and we're all mostly 18+ years old, so why not share your experience with this dinosaur of a relic.

I only really remember renting several movies back in the early 2000's with my brother and my dad. I never got the full "pick a game, movie and candy" experience that you Americans apparently got every Friday after school, but it was close enough. We never had a place like Blockbuster close to us, instead it was a place called "Apollo Video" and was quite small but it did well. I don't think I ever had an input on the films we watched as kids since I was still quite young, but still at least I'm not young enough to have never been in one.

I think my parents would rent a film for them to watch and we'd get a cartoon film or two. I remember watching "Looney Tunes: Back in Action" in 2003 or so from a rented DVD and then my mother would always get super annoyed with us as we'd always find a way to lose the DVD/VHS we were meant to return and have to suffer a late fee on it when we did eventually find it days later.

There was also a Blockbuster around 2 miles away from where I lived. I never rented anything from it but I did see it from time to time whenever I'd be in the area. The building it was housed in still remains just without any Blockbuster identification on it, it's still sad to see sometimes.

How about you guys?
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Jeffery Mewtamer »

My family sometimes rented VHS cassettes back in the ancient past of the 90s. Can't say I remember much about the experience since I was in the single digits back then.

Don't think I've ever rented a DVD or video game though.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Roaxes »

Even though how much of a rip off it was, just being inside blockbusters always made me happy for some reason. It's also where I found many of the games I love now like Kingdom hearts.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by chaoadventures »

Wait, 2008/9 is a relic? Does that mean I can sell my copy of Brawl for $80 like the people selling Melee on Amazon yet?

Ah, Blockbuster, the place I when to rent games... that my little brother or I broke or lost.

I remember going to Blockbuster (or the equally as close Hollywood Video) and renting these games like, Kirby Air RIde, Smash Bros. Melee, and Sonic Rush Adventure
(I didn't finish Rush Adventure before returning it but I was really close).

I think I lost the games like half the time.

I also rented Luigi's Mansion. I never actually got to play it, since I was too scared to play it the night I got it, so it's a GameCube game that I still haven't played yet.

Incidentally. we also went to Game Stop/EB Games to buy non-rented versions of these broken/lost games.

...i have a literal stacks of cases of sa2b, sadx, mario sunshine, and at least two cases of most gamecube games from a 6 year old's game breaking carnage please send help guys
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Rajikaru »

Renting didn't just disappear in the time between 2006 and 2010, Retro. Renting was very common, especially for people in lower income households who couldn't afford to just flat out buy newer games or movies(like myself). I still rented video games in 2007, if I remember correctly, the last video game I specifically remember renting was the Billy and Mandy Smash Bros knock off in late 2006 early 2007.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by ZipoCXG »

We used to rent movies for weekend family nights, never rented any games though.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Ivogoji »

I remember Blockbuster.... they put all the hen tai right there next to the children's cartoons.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Nano »

Rajikaru wrote:Renting didn't just disappear in the time between 2006 and 2010, Retro. Renting was very common, especially for people in lower income households who couldn't afford to just flat out buy newer games or movies(like myself). I still rented video games in 2007, if I remember correctly, the last video game I specifically remember renting was the Billy and Mandy Smash Bros knock off in late 2006 early 2007.
I wouldn't say it disappeared for sure, but it definitely started to slow down. Around that time a lot of stores (at least in my area) began to completely close down. I think we had maybe one or two blockbusters in my city, which eventually closed down.

Personally, I always loved renting from things like Blockbuster, Hollywood videos, etc. We had a really neat place built into our Hollywood video that rented out video games, so we'd often rent a move and a game while we were there and it was just really fun. Once that died down, it was replaced by streaming services and digital games which made renting obsolete. $8 a month for a large amount of streaming, or $3-$2 for each movie assuming you watch it that night. It just was far too expensive to rent all the time considering Netflix basically let you replace cable.

Still though, there was a certain charm to video rental stores that just made me happy. It was a time where games weren't easy to just get whenever you wanted. If this new game came out, you'd have to rush to Blockbuster and hope you could rent it and that it was there. If what you wanted wasn't there, you often found yourself searching around the store looking for nothing in particular, which always lead to interesting discoveries. I love and miss that feeling a lot tbh.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by NiGHTSIsLife »

There used to be a Blockbuster by my house, and I would rent DVDs and VHS tapes (I still have that VCR), but not games. I would just buy them.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Jeffery Mewtamer »

Not that I ever used them, but did Netflix completely do away with their by-mail rental service? Is gamefly still offering by-mail game rentals?

In practice, how does buying a physical game used and selling it back compare these days with renting back in the day as far as net cost is concerned(fundamentally, buying used(or even new) with intention to resell is the same as renting at a flat rate with a security deposit you get back when you return the item)?
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Crazo3077 »

Honestly, I don't see where this idea of video rentals being gone comes from. At least in the United States, Redbox is literally everywhere, and some smaller, more local chains of video rental stores exist, at least three in my area. Heck, when Guardians of the Galaxy came out on home video, most of the DVDs were bought by a local video rental store owner. She had a cart PACKED. I'd also say that streaming services were a local follow-up and still work like a rental service. You're paying some amount of money for the temporary access to a piece of media. This isn't even mentioning libraries now carrying seemingly endless collections of television and movies.

That being said, rental wasn't nearly big enough in my own home. Sure we rented movies from time to time, but my parents would tend to just buy us a few tapes or DVDs a year and then let us watch them on loop as long as we like. Plenty of games reviewers mention how they regularly rented games growing up, and that's an aspect that I wish were easier to offer to people. Too often we just have people who don't even try a game because they don't want to pay for it.

Also I think video rental might be smarter than ownership sometimes. Especially if you're not committed. I've only used Redbox a few times, but it was worth it every time. It's legal, it is cheap, and it doesn't take up space once you're done with it.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Sable »

rentals are still relatively pretty profitable in my town, it's a pretty small place (privateer/sumter area) but the one chain here is almost perpetually packed until it closes
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by eblu »

being 15 (almost 16 woo!) i never really got to experience video rental stores per se, but my family has had a netflix account since about 2009 so i got to experience mail-in rentals instead. i still remember the dark ages of limited instant streaming, queues, and silverlight, so i guess you guys had it better. it still was a blast to see what my dad got us when a netflix dvd came in the mail though.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Rajikaru »

Jeffery Mewtamer wrote:In practice, how does buying a physical game used and selling it back compare these days with renting back in the day as far as net cost is concerned(fundamentally, buying used(or even new) with intention to resell is the same as renting at a flat rate with a security deposit you get back when you return the item)?
Depends on the game's popularity and cost. If it's a fairly popular first party game, as long as you don't mind selling on eBay, you can usually get most of your cash back (assuming you bought it new). The most you'd lose would be $10-15, $20 if you have it for months. However, if it's a lesser known and/or older game, you won't get much for it, or you'll be waiting a while while selling it.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by fieryQuantum »

I have vague memories of going to Hollywood video and seeing all the TV screens on the wall. I was small so it was really big to me. I remember the place being way bigger than it actually was, since I was so small at the time.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Lamby »

ew ebay, what grandma still uses that???

yeah i remember rentals; didn't go super much because i basically got bought games as a kid, also christmas and birthdays from three families. here there was a place called movie time and movie gallery (who purchased hollywood video before blockbuster could lol) and random local ones. kids get this when i first saw one DVDs didn't exist whoaaa ooo
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Enzo03 »

Lamby wrote:ew ebay, what grandma still uses that???
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Lamby »

ew socially awkward dad jokes...
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by thatguyinthecorner »

My mom used to bribe me into paying attention in class by renting a video game at the end of the week.

It was a simpler time ;w;
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Jeffery Mewtamer »

Is there any decent alternative to eBay for buying and selling old stuff most second-hand stores won't deal in and can't be found on Amazon?
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Rajikaru »

Craigslist, though it involves actually meeting people and is much more shady because of that.

There are also always local places that dabble in specific things, IE if youve got an older video game, a local game store that isn't Gamestop might be interested, the place I used to go to before it closed down had games from Xbox 360 to PS1 and N64
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Mephilesfan1 »

technically redbox still exists and is a video rental service, and it's not that bad of a rental service, just more of a hassle i guess.

however i do remember going to blockbuster very often back in middle school with my dad and little sister before it shut down. i remember we went there all the time on weekends and would rent movies. then it shut down and i was really upset, i had no idea video rental services were dying. oh well. there is a video rental service (maybe it's still there, i'm not sure as i do not live there anymore) where i used to live in new york before i moved, but in the 5 years i lived there i never set foot in it, despite wanting to many times. it was more of a drive from the apt and not really as close compared to everything else that was near the apt. i do miss video rental services like blockbuster though.. good times. my mom, little sister and i hardly get redbox anymore because our dvd remote broke and we've been procrastinating getting a new one lol.

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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Tsui »

All I'm going to say is, when I was young, we rented a lot of games and had blank discs around. But let's not go any further than that.

But we also rented the Sailor Moon R movie when I was 6 or so years old. That's the only notable movie I remember us renting.
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Lamby »

yeah i played copied games too
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Re: How many of you kids are old enough to remember Video Rentals?

Post by Ivogoji »

I saw a video store/rental yesterday.
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