Game Access, A Canadian Gamefly

ColdForged wrote:
the secret Canadian handshake

Just so you guys know, what you guys consider a "secret Canadian handshake" is commonly referred to as a "reacharound" in civilized sections of the world. Hence, we'll be staying down here for a while longer, thanks.

So you're suggesting that if you knew of a place where you could consistently get a reacharound, you'd stay away? P-shaw. You're not foolin' anybody, mister.

Is there a diagram floating around the net?

Oh I hope not.

So you're suggesting that if you knew of a place where you could consistently get a reacharound, you'd stay away? P-shaw. You're not foolin' anybody, mister.

It ain't the reachin' so much as the, erm, pokin'.

ColdForged wrote:
So you're suggesting that if you knew of a place where you could consistently get a reacharound, you'd stay away? P-shaw. You're not foolin' anybody, mister.

It ain't the reachin' so much as the, erm, pokin'.

As I look back on that day, I realized that me and Winnie Cooper just weren't meant to be. My father died of lung cancer two years later, and my brother Wayne became a pilot. But as I think back to that defining day in my life, nothing disturbs me more than learning the true meaning of a reacharound.

IMAGE(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/Swat_R2/kevin-arnold-winnie-cooper.jpg)

Swat wrote:
ColdForged wrote:
So you're suggesting that if you knew of a place where you could consistently get a reacharound, you'd stay away? P-shaw. You're not foolin' anybody, mister.

It ain't the reachin' so much as the, erm, pokin'.

As I look back on that day, I realized that me and Winnie Cooper just weren't meant to be. My father died of lung cancer two years later, and my brother Wayne became a pilot. But as I think back to that defining day in my life, nothing disturbs me more than learning the true meaning of a reacharound.

IMAGE(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v255/Swat_R2/kevin-arnold-winnie-cooper.jpg)

It's even better that it was more implied than spelled out. Though really, you should totally have hit Winnie.

JimmDogg wrote:
Funny fact: Canada is the world's second largest country, behind Russia.

Another Fun fact: 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US Border.

Also, 65% of all statistics are made up.

True! And? There's something you wanna say? HUH!?

ColdForged wrote:
the secret Canadian handshake

Just so you guys know, what you guys consider a "secret Canadian handshake" is commonly referred to as a "reacharound" in civilized sections of the world. Hence, we'll be staying down here for a while longer, thanks.

We already have your wife. We don't need you.

Mr.Green wrote:
ColdForged wrote:

Hence, we'll be staying down here for a while longer, thanks.

We already have your wife. We don't need you.

And she sounds so happy :(.

Well, the service and game selection has been really solid so far. The mail time has remained rock steady at four days to and from my place which is ok but not great. This is thanks to Canada Post rather than anything they're doing wrong. I think it's worth subscribing to if you can maintain a steady rotation of games with a two game at a time plan (three would probably be optimal) to mitigate the wait time a bit.

As for me, I'm going to have to cancel and it's mainly just a matter of timing. Because I need to able to talk about new games soon after they're released I'm much better off buying and trading or renting locally. If you have a bit more patience though, I think it's well worth trying out!

Well that, and your gamer card was revoked when your Fallout revelation was made.

We believed in you, and it turns out you were as phony as a George O'Leary resume!

*Legion* wrote:

Well that, and your gamer card was revoked when your Fallout revelation was made.

We believed in you, and it turns out you were as phony as a George O'Leary resume!

IMAGE(http://www.rps.net/QS/Images/Smilies/liar.gif)

You know what I was playing just after I posted that? FALLOUT. I WAS KILLING RAIDERS AND SCORPIONS. IRRADIATED ONES!

I'm on the road to recovery, Pyro almost tarred and feathered me.

Certis wrote:

You know what I was playing just after I posted that? FALLOUT. I WAS KILLING RAIDERS AND SCORPIONS. IRRADIATED ONES!

I'm on the road to recovery, Pyro almost tarred and feathered me.

Go! Play Fallout! Do it for Christmas and puppies!

Wise fwom your gwave!

So does anyone still use this service, has it proven reliable?

I do. Yes.

Worth noting that Green is closer to them than you are, I think their service is good but Canada Post may be slower getting the game to and from you in Alberta.

I signed up for their trial a while back and decided to keep it going for a month or two. I live in Ottawa which is only about two hours away from their offices and even I experience a high turnaround time. When I send a game out, it usually takes three business days for them to acknowledge receipt of it and another three to four business days before I get the new game. I've also had problems with 360 titles I've rented from them skipping badly or having read errors in my 360, even though the discs are clean (the games I own are fine.) However, their customer service has been absolutely phenomenal. They have repeatedly apologized for the slow turnaround and said they are yelling at Canada Post regularly to speed things up. Also, when one of the games I had during my trial wouldn't read right in my 360, they rushed me a replacement copy and extended my trial by five days for the inconvenience which I wouldn't have expected them to do. They are at a loss as to why their 360 titles don't read right in my console. I believe the barcode stickers they put on the top of the discs are causing them to unbalance at high speeds, but they insist they can't reproduce the problem. I'm also on my second 360 and had this problem with both of them. They've asked me to keep track of it though and if it continues to happen, they assure me they'll investigate and I image if I ask, they'll credit me a month or something for this headache. So for me, they haven't been free of problems but the great service and their commitment to make things right (values which I try to hold in my job) is getting them a wide berth from me. I'll give them a while to sort things up before cancelling.

I just signed up the other day.

I live in a small town in western Newfoundland and the Xbox 360 selection here locally is supremely lacking. When I say lacking I mean all we have to rent are the original launch titles and maybe some newer EA sports games. That's it. So I'm looking forward to the idea of having more selection available to me with Game Access.

Even if Canada Post is an issue, I'm used to waiting longer than normal for anything. Newfoundland gets things a hell of a lot slower than the mainland.

I like the concept of the online rental service. For my situation, it's very appealing. I'm sure I'll post some review after the initial confirmation process is completed. Apparently they have to reach you by phone and if not then by email to confirm your mailing address when you make a new account.

Edit: Corrected some things for clarification.

I'm not sure what you mean about the Xbox 360 selection. They have the entire catalog on there and get new games on launch day. I've rented Dead Rising, Saint's Row and others recently. Their turnaround time has improved much for me lately, though I am in Ottawa and that's much closer then Newfoundland.

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean about the Xbox 360 selection. They have the entire catalog on there and get new games on launch day. I've rented Dead Rising, Saint's Row and others recently. Their turnaround time has improved much for me lately, though I am in Ottawa and that's much closer then Newfoundland.

I said the selection of Xbox 360 games to rent in western Newfoundland was lacking. Sorry if I worded everything a little too vaguely.

If anyone is curious about followup information:

My first two games took one week from Montreal to Newfoundland. Sent on a Monday and received on the following Monday. That's pretty average in my area, so I'm satisfied.

The two games I received were not in my top 5 and I can't remember whether or not they were even in the top 10 of my list. One can only assume it was due to lesser quantities of my top titles (50% stock capacity as the bar would have me believe) and the fact I'm still under the 10-day free trial. We'll see what happens once I start paying. So far so good.

I think Game Access must've received some new funding or something recently because their stock level on almost everything has gone from nothing to around 50%. Normally I wouldn't take that to mean much since they can make it say whatever they want, but the last three titles I've received have all been ones at the top of my list. I was blown away when yesterday I got an e-mail saying Marvel Ultimate Alliance was on its way (suck my 360 is going out for service yet again.) It appears as though they've bought numerous additional copies of almost everything in their catalog and that getting a new game before it's been out for two months is no longer the case. I really hope so.

ARISE!

I got some PR from them today, they're still kicking.

A giant is born: Gameaccess.ca is now the biggest online video game rental service in Canada!

Montreal- Canadian gamers understand more than ever the advantages of online video game rental. The growing demand for this type of service allowed Gameaccess.ca to become the biggest online video game rental service in Canada after only sixteen months of existence. With the arrival of a vast new selection of games for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and with the constant improvement of its service, Gameaccess.ca is growing rapidly.

Gameaccess.ca is always looking to improve its service by taking in account the recommendations of its members. By modifying the interface of its website, renting video games has become child's play. Moreover, by increasing the selection of games for the eight major consoles on the market, its repertoire has climbed to more than 3 500 games! In order to accelerate all game deliveries, Gameaccess.ca is presently developing a fast return feature that will reduce shipping times by 50%.

Several new services are now available to the gamers. Two of the new major features are: the option to buy games and a referral program. The purchase of games, new and used at a reduced price, is now offered to Gameaccess.ca members. This service allows users not only to save money, but also to try a game before buying it. The purchased games are delivered to members homes via Xpresspost. Subscribers pay the shipping of the first game and the next nine from their order are shipped free of charge! The referral program allows members, by referring friends, to obtain additional rental days at no extra cost. This way, members can play for free while helping their friends join the best game rental service in Canada.

Gameacces.ca continues to innovate by developing new applications based on the recommendations of its users. These innovations make it possible for this Canadian company to continue its rise in the world of online video game rental. The best is yet to come!

The promise of reduced shipping times is a compelling one, not sure if I'm read to jump on board again though.

I wouldn't. I left them for GetGames.ca a while ago. They been promising this "fast return" feature for almost a year now and GetGames.ca has done it since launch. The main reason I left GameAccess.ca was because their system misrepresented stock levels. For the last couple of months, the stock bar was always half full on every title, yet I rarely got sent anything above position 15 in my queue. Whenever I asked why, I always got a wishy-washy answer. To be fair, GetGames.ca isn't perfect and I have had issues with unreadable game discs from them but every time that has happened, they've given me a month's free service. I also don't always get the top items in my queue but they also don't promise stock levels and I do regularly get stuff that's fairly high up (including several Wii games I had on my GameAccess.ca list since before launch and never got one of.) Once they launch the "fast return" feature, I may go back on a trial and see if things have improved.

Arise(...again...)!

Anyone still using either Game Access, or the GetGames.ca site Parallax mentions? There are too many great games that I only want for the single player that are coming out this season (not to mention all the games I never got around to from the past year) and one of these services seems like the most affordable way to start working through them.

So does anyone have any thoughts on which I should go with?

I actually kept meaning to update this thread. I switched back to GameAccess over a year ago and I've been much happier with them. They added the Fast Return feature as well as a Reserve system that allows you to hold an available rental slot for your top title and get dibs on it when it comes in. These do cost extra but they're worth it in my case as I'm able to ensure I get new titles this way. GetGames.ca had no reserve system which meant that aside from one occasion, I always got very old titles and I had reached a point where almost every second game wouldn't read. After about the 5th time, they basically accused me of damaging the discs myself to get free extensions from them so I told them to beat it. I've been much happier with GameAccess since going back and their customer service has improved significantly. I highly recommend them again. They just redid their entire web site a couple of days ago and the new interface is awesome and gives a better representation of stock levels now. If you're looking for this kind of thing, I'd definitely give their trial a shot. Just mention I sent you.

I have to agree with Parallax. Having signed up with them 3 months ago, their service has been solid, and the fast return/reserve a game are a must. I am on the 4 games out package, and paying bi-annually, for a sum total of $225 every six months (20% discount). Well worth it for the constant flow of games. Being in Edmonton, my turnaround is about 4 business days one way. If I were to drop the fast return, I would be leery of only going on the one game out package. They are also currently looking for an ideal western Canada distribution center to cut the turnaround down. All in all, I am quite pleased and saving a bundle!

I'm using GA as well, which gives this household a total of 7 GA games at a time (4 from PA, 3 from me). It's been a real treat lately. Occasionally high profile games set as reserve aren't quick to send out, but I'm usually very happy.

Arise!

Are people still using Game Access? I quit some time ago (early 2007) due to having to wait two weeks from the day I returned a game to the day I got the next in my queue and most of the time I never received a game from my top10. Since then I've received a couple of nice email promotions from them with apparently better shipping times. Now that I'm living in the capital of Newfoundland my shipping times have greatly improved so I'm thinking about it.

Still using it, and still loving it.

Still using it, still a phenomenal service for me. The capital of Newfoundland is sadly still in newfoundland... I think they generally ship out of quebec. Definitely spring for the "reserved" feature. You'll get your top 10 games then.