I realise now that I've been missing a part of my brain for the last twenty or so years that I've been playing games.

For other people and particularly, I think, in America renting games is a pretty commonplace activity, even moreso now that it generally gets done via the internet and post. Their mind has developed a natural filter, then, one that looks at an upcoming release and decides either, 'I want it, I want it; I'm gonna love it and feed it and treasure it forever more!' or 'Hey, that sounds like something I might enjoy, I'll give it a rent.'

Not me. I've bought or borrowed every game I've ever played, with the majority fixed firmly in the former category. This morning two things happened which made me realise how silly I've been (and not before time).

Firstly I curiously logged onto a website of a game rental service someone mentioned. It was gamefrenzy.co.uk and looks like a fairly good deal but I'm going to see what others are available before making any decisions.

Secondly I looked on my shelf and counted up all the games I've bought in the last year which I probably would have given a rent had I been subscribed to a rental service a year ago. Those games include Enchanted Arms, Eternal Sonata, Prince of Persia, Project Sylpheed (hey, it's underrated!) and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.


More shelf space...

All of those games were ones that I was interested in but not necessarily desperate to own, all of them I had my doubts about whether they were worth my money (turns out some I'm happy I played, others I wish I'd never picked up) and therefore perfect candidates for rental but for some reason until now the option has never occured to me. I like buying and owning games and the last time renting even crossed my mind was back when it was a horrid and complicated process involving remembering to take the game back on time and even having to leave the house. Now, of course, they like to make it as easy a process as humanly possible.

For all intents and purposes my experience of renting the above games would be exactly the same as buying them except much cheaper, without feeling any buyer's remorse or any obligation to have to like the game now that I've bet £40 on it and without it taking up a whole load of unnecessary shelf-space long after I've finished it for good.


More money to spend on games worth keeping. And, say, food.

Not only will renting save me money on these non-essential purchases but it'll give me the opportunity to play those games which I would never otherwise get around to. I'm talking about the sort of thing I would really like to play through once from last year, like Gears of War 2, Far Cry 2 and Lost Odyssey but know in my heart I'll never actually end up buying.

So, to summarise: doing this will allow me to play many more games, for significantly less money and with no real drawbacks, lifestyle changes or pacts with demonic beings. Can someone please tell me where this part of my brain has been for twenty years?