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for games that have a multi-player option in which you are playing with others in a greater community of gamers, creating a larger experience than you could have on your own. Your not able to enjoy the multi-player option on a consistent basis if you don't have the game readily available at all times.

For the person that is looking to rent there are a few options to look at before asking the questions of what they are wanting from their gaming experience. Today there are two options in renting, traditional or on-line. Traditional renting involves renting from a store, such as Blockbuster, at a fixed price for a limited time. The going price today for a next gen game is $7 for 5 days. If you can beat a game in under 5 days for just seven dollars, that is a great deal compared to the purchasing it for $60. But of course that depends on the game type involved and your personal lifestyle. If you are a high school or college student that can procrastinate your scholarly duties to play for a few straight days head on than that is great for you but if you are a working, in a relationship or married that may not work well for you. If you have the game past the 5 days you could incur late fees or just rent it for another 5 days for the same price. Online renting, however, has a much more flexible option available to gamers. Plans involve a small monthly fee for rentals that are mailed to you free of charge. You are able to keep them as long as you want without the worry of late fees and when you are done you can send them back and have another sent to you. Pretty simple. Gamefly, an online video game rental company, has plans that let you start out for only $8.95 for the first month and then change to $14.95 a month for a mailing of one game at a time or $21.95 a month for a mailing of two games at a time. With the smaller priced plan alone if you turn around one game a month in four months you would have played for games for the price you would have paid in purchasing one game at retail value. Definetely seems like a great option for those needing time without worry of late fees and the ability to enjoy great games at much less the cost of retail value purchases.

As you can see, the options are varying in degree and are dependent on you personal gaming needs. If you are looking for the comfort of knowing you own a game and being able to jump into a multi-player game at any time than buying is a great option for you. But if you like to speed your ways through games or take your time
without the worry of fees online gaming may be a better option for you. (For you Xbox 360 users you can add a sizable increase to your gamerscore this way.)
Either way it's entirely up to you.

With it's change over the last 30 years, gaming has become one of the greatest forms of media we have seen on this earth. With this understanding, hopefully you too will be able to enjoy all it has to offer in the years to come.

See you on Live.

CrossXcalibur

Learn more about this author, Daniel Clare.
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