I've had Gamerang for about three or four months, I think. Maybe less, I can't remember. At any rate, I've had about a dozen rental games shipped to me so far, two of which I've purchased. My initial impressions: they rock.

I went for Gamerang after an absolutely miserable experience with GameFly. More often than not, GameFly games took a week or more to ship, and when I sent them back, it sometimes took up to two weeks for them to show as returned. They also screwed up my billing, lost my credit card number, etc. With Gamerang, I've had none of that.

Gamerang's rental system is almost identical to GameFly's - you maintain a queue of games you're interested in, listed in order of priority (set by you). The first available game at the top of your queue is sent whenever you've got a rental available. The number of rentals you can have out at one time depends on how much you want to pay per month: prices are about $15 for 1 game, $20 for 2, $28 for 3, and $36 for four. You keep each game as long as you like, with the option to buy it at a used game price (for most titles - older games are often not for sale).

It looks like they've got six U.S. distribution centers. They tell you when they've shipped a game and when you can expect to receive it in your mailbox. In my case, I usually get the games within 2-3 days of the listed ship date. They've accurately predicted the arrival date on every game they shipped for me, except for one, which was only a day late.

The game selection is pretty huge - all the major current-gen consoles are represented, plus the PSOne, GBA, DS, and PSP. They've got most of the upcoming 360 games available as well. So far I've rented mostly new releases, which seem to ship within a day or two of the retail release date in most cases. I've rented a couple of older titles that showed as available after a "short wait" in my rental queue, but they shipped after only 2-3 days.

Gamerang's interface isn't as polished as GameFly's - it's a little more difficult to search for games, or find the info you need. Once you've figured out how it works, though, it's a snap. They don't have links to reviews and screenshots. For games not due out for several weeks, the release dates are often screwed up, but the info for anything coming out within a month is usually accurate.

Though I miss some of GameFly's site features, I'm more than happy to go without them for reliable, prompt service, which is what Gamerang's delivered so far. I'm anxious to see whether they keep up with the requests for 360 titles. I'll have four at the top of my queue, ready to ship on launch day so long as they're available.

I wish we had something like this in Canada. I can't seem to find anything though.

Hmmmmmm... I was thinking of firing Gamefly back up once the 360 hit, but you may indeed have swayed me over to Gamerang. Thanks for the info!

Hmmm, let's see...I can't see anything official, but no worries - anyone who signs up and likes it can just PayPal me some cash.

It's not that bad and it costs between 3 and 5 bucks depending what and when. Gee, Canada > USA, or something.

If I've increased a single GWJer's gaming joy by my comments, I am complete.

Does anyone know where their California distribution center is? Access to their website has been blocked by the network demons who haunt my place of business.

I LOVE MY CAPS LOCK.

Well, supposedly Gamefly has instituted this FastReturn program, but I haven't noticed any increase in the speed of their turnaround. If anything, they have been slower for me recently.

North Carolina emerges clearly as a new gaming powerhouse.

I guess one month's fee wouldn't break me or anything, and there are games I would like to play but don't know if I want to buy.

You know, I think I'm actually going to give this a shot.

*edit*

I'm all signed up. If it's cool I'll keep it after the first month. If not.. it's cheap. Oh well.

I hope they meant Washington state and not DC.

Washington State. Nice, may have to jump onboard. Will definitely if GWJ becomes an affiliate.

I've signed up to be an affiliate since people seem to like the service, but it takes them some time to clear you.