One of the downsides to PC gaming (and one of the defenses that some PC gamers use for piracy) has always been the lack of ability to rent the games that we are the most interested in. Sure, there are demos available, but we all know that demos don’t necessarily showcase a game in the best way possible. But what if you could rent PC games, and do it legally?
That’s the very question that Direct2Drive, also known as D2D, addresses in a new announcement: beginning today, they are offering a PC gaming rental service. Basically, you pay $5.00 to download a game to your hard drive. You get 5 hours of playing time. If you decide you want to keep it, the $5.00 goes toward the full purchase.
Honestly, getting the money toward your purchase makes this an even better deal than traditional video game rentals. While they’re only offering a handful of games at the moment (Silent Hill: Homecoming, Grid and Divinity II), this is definitely something to keep an eye on. I’d love to see this service expanded into something even bigger and better. It should also be noted that OnLive offers PC rentals, but that is via streaming, as opposed to downloading and playing the game directly.
So, what do you guys think of this? Cool? Uncool?
Source – D2D