Online video game and movie trading community Goozex will offer free trading to all its existing PlayStation 3 trading members through May 31. Goozex will waive the usual $1.99 trade free needed to receive items on the site for any member that has sent or received at least one PlayStation 3 video game or Blu-ray movie prior to May 9. Goozex says that, while it is a small gesture of appreciation for its thousands of PS3 owners, the company feels that it is an important one given what PS3 users are going through.

Video game rental-by-mail firm GameFly has won a legal battle against the United States Postal Service. Filed in April of last year with the Postal Regulatory Commission, GameFly alleged that the USPS had discriminated against the company while giving preferential treatment to similar businesses such as Netflix and Blockbuster.

After a year of legal wrangling, court proceedings and a flurry of motions, the Postal Regulatory Commission has ruled in favor of GameFly and has ordered the USPS to remedy the situation in short order. The Postal Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that provides regulatory oversight over the U.S. Postal Service. It has the power to force the Postal Service into compliance on various complaints.

Direct2Drive, IGN's digital distribution channel for PC games, quietly launch a rental scheme for its line-up of games. For $5, users can try out select games from the site's catalog for five hours. If they like the game and want to buy it, they can simply pay the asking price and have $5 taken off the top of the purchase price.

Right now the selection of games that support this feature include Divinity II - Ego Draconis, F.E.A.R., Race Driver: Grid and Silent Hill: Homecoming. While the selection of games available during this early phase of testing is sparse, D2D promises that games supporting this function will “grow in time."

It is an interesting idea because it allows you to get a good taste of a game without committing to the full purchase price. Of course, it is all about balance and pricing: five hours in game priced at $15 seems like a waste, but $5 for that time in a $50 title might be worth it.

Video game rental service Redbox announced that it is testing video game rentals through its in-store kiosks in Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield-area Redbox users can rent a variety of video games from such platforms as PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii for $2 a night plus tax. The addition of video games in the Bakersfield area is a test designed to gauge consumer interest in video game rentals. Redbox will offer video game rentals through more than 70 area kiosks.

Redbox offers DVD and Blu-ray movie rentals through its kiosks nationwide. Adding games into the mix will allow the company to compete with competitors like Blockbuster and online video game rental services like GameFly.

You can learn more about Redbox, or find a kiosk near you, by checking out Redbox.com

Source: Bakersfield.com

Video rental company Redbox is testing videogame rentals in three test cities. The company, which makes use of video rental kiosks around the country, began testing videogame rentals last week in Austin, Texas, Reno, Nevada and Wilmington, North Carolina. The rentals cost $2 a day per titles. The initiative has been rolled out to 150 kiosks units in those regions, according to analysts familiar with the company.

Eric Wold, analyst with Merriman Curhan Ford in New York conducted a survey of kiosk in the target region; he said that the data showed an average of 2.8 video game titles and 3 video game SKUs (platforms) per kiosk.