When we first received the news that Red Box would be offering games for rent I scoffed, I have always hated renting games.Though I thought Gamefly was one of the more brilliant inventions of this age, I was never a huge fan. I like keeping my games and with Gamefly, not only will you have to give it back, you have to wait in queue for your game to be available in the first place.You had to return it at a certain date or be charged the full price of the game.More than a few times that would result in a cancelled account with Gamefly and customer service reps calling you over and over asking for the game back even if you had already paid for it.I was repeatedly called about returning Beyond Good and Evil even after I told a rep that I’d be keeping it, go ahead and charge me for it, in those early days of Gamefly.

I went to check Red Box out, knowing full well that in the early stages of such a venture, things can go horribly wrong.Of course I made the most obvious comparisons to Gamefly and while Gamefly is better established, I found Red Box definitely has some strengths that Gamefly doesn’t.Check out our pros and cons below!

Above is a brief break down of some of the better features of both services.While Gamefly certainly offers the convenience of having a game delivered right to your door, we found that Red Box was the better choice for putting together last minute gaming sessions.If a bunch of your gamer girlfriends wanted to play Brink and you didn’t have it, you’d only need to visit the Red Box website and type in your location.It will tell you every Red Box in your area and which ones have the game you’re looking for.You’ll know exactly how many copies are there and it’ll even allow you reserve a copy so that no one else will have swiped your copy by the time you get there.

While Gamefly doesn’t allow a per rental model, it can be easier on the pockets in the long run, if you rent a lot of games.You’ll be able to play more games in a shorter period of time and for less money, going with the monthly model.Also is the addition of saving on gas by putting your game back in the pre-paid postage envelope and mailing it back.You won’t have to drive to your local box to return the game.

Both services do charge the full game prices, if you keep the game longer than 30 days, but neither will remind you when you’re nearing your cut off point.

One thing that we find both are lacking in, is the ability to prevent under-aged gamers from getting games they are not supposed to be playing.Yes one would assume that parents know their child is borrowing a credit card to pay for these services, but we also know that some more enterprising youngsters can find a way around that.With Red Box we’d dare say it’s even easier for them to do, being that all a child would have to do is wait until a parent was busy in the store, go get their game from Red Box, as they are most often located outside stores.I think Red Box is in a better position to require ID to be swiped, along with the CC to rent games than Gamefly is.But we’re sure they’ll catch on soon enough.

Both services have a great amount of pros and cons that could drive one crazy when trying to decide which one to use. So we say go with the one that has your game and can get it in your console that much faster and then game on.