• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Does your local public library let you rent PS4 or Xbox One games yet?

I don't think that the purchase of video games is the proper appropriation of resources for a taxpayer funded library personally, but no, never seen games at mine.
 
Mine JUST started doing this. On a whim, I searched their catalog and saw a bunch on order. I put a hold on MLB 14 and amazing spiderman 2. Yesterday I received the email that they are ready for pick up. 7 days for free.
 
This thread motivated me to go check out what they have

Xbox One:
Thief
Rayman Legends
Call of Duty Ghosts
Lego The Hobbit
Forza
Ryse: Son of Rome
Dead Rising 3

PS4:
Thief
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes
Killzone Shadow Fall
Need for Speed Rivals
NBA Live 14
Call of Duty Ghosts

Pretty decent selection overall. There might be some discrepancies or things I'm missing because in my search Thief for Xbone didn't show up on the big list but when I searched for it specifically it showed up for PS3, PS4, 360, and Xbone.
 
maverickjs said:
I don't think that the purchase of video games is the proper appropriation of resources for a taxpayer funded library personally, but no, never seen games at mine.
Click to expand...

Why not? They have blu-ray movies, music and even 3D printers. Games are relatively expensive and thus inaccessible to a lot of tax payers.
 
There's a selection of Wii and 360 titles at my local library to borrow but I've never seen PS3 games or anything from this gen.
 
nope, i rented a few xbox 360 and wii games last gen and it was pretty cool, they had some good games

whats worse is netflix not carrying PS4/Xbox one or Wii u games, i think they botched the idea since it was suppose to happen in the beginning of April, smh
 
Mine does all 7th gen expect PSP, and 3DS,PS4,WiiU.

No XOne games yet. I wonder if they still think they can't rent them out because the whole used games thing lol.
 
Yes but it's very limited so far. I think there about 12 PS4 games most of which I either have or I'm not interested. I'm not complaining though. I should be getting MLB: The Show soon I hope.

edit: speak of the devil! just got an email informing me it's on hold
 
I knew that many libraries around the US had started years ago, but ours hadn't locally last time I checked years ago. Just a cursory search right now shows that one local branch actually carries PS3 and 360 games, which is pretty cool. 7 day borrowing period, 50 cent per day late charge.

I reserved Splinter Cell Blacklist because why not, I wanted to try it out but I'm not wasting a GameFly slot on that right now.
 
Yep....PS2,PS3,XB1,PS4, Wii, and WiiU
7 days for free, dollar a day after. Good selection to of popular and weirder games (got Killer is Dead from them a while back)
 
2n2 said:
Yeah. I had no idea, and agree. Are these just donated games?
Click to expand...

It's all purchased by the library, just like all media.

I had a friend on another forum years ago who actually was the guy in charge of purchasing games for his library. He was a big gamer and said he'd go into GameStop once a month with the expense account credit card and roll out with like 30 games in a box. He had a budget and full discretion to buy what he deemed necessary for the library so he would make sure to get lesser known and niche titles along with the big hits.
 
My local library has most 7th gen games and a few PS4 games. You can borrow them for four weeks for free.
 
This thread just reminded me to go get my library card. Gonna go borrow Pinball Arcade PS4 for the weekend. It seems weird to get games from the library, especially the violent shooty ones(COD/BF4 are both in stock), but it's almost like PS+ v.2!
 
Sadly, the only one I know which isn't too far from where I live, stopped somewhere back in '11 buying newer games.
But they still got plenty of PSX360 games, I'd say around 150-200 all together
 
I assume that all you people talking about this are outside the US? Cause I have never heard of this in the state before...
 
Just checked, and they have a surprising variety. Quick search pegs them at 35 PS4 games and a similar number of Xbox One games (it also returns some 360 stuff as you can't filter by platform).

I've borrowed quite a few WiiU games recently and currently have out GTA5 and Stick of Truth. It's a pretty awesome way to play short games for free or try out others and they give you 3 weeks which is pretty generous.
 
Haven't thought to check... I live about 5 minutes from one of the newer/nicer libraries around here but have only went there to vote. ;)

I know I used to borrow DVDs from them a lot back before Netflix and streaming was a big thing. They only carried PC games and a few crappy PS2 games back then at a tiny lil branch did have great DVD sets though.
 
No library I have ever been in rented out games. Only movies, some of which were banned in other countries apparently. I had no idea people had libraries that did this. I have no intention to go to my new local library to find out if they do though.
 
Wow kinda surprised, I registered for a library card because of this thread. My libraries don't carry PS4 or Xbone but has Wii U games. Just have 13 titles but a few on my want to play list: NSMBU (only played LuigiU) and Wonderful 101 (Gaf recommended).

Edit: wtf 226 Xbox 360 games at my main branch alone... 476 titles total between our 5 county branches even have Wolfenstein The New Order on order.
PS3 = 486 total (191 at mine across the street) even Drakengard 3.


tempest3 said:
No library I have ever been in rented out games. Only movies, some of which were banned in other countries apparently. I had no idea people had libraries that did this. I have no intention to go to my new local library to find out if they do though.
Click to expand...

Search online? That's what I did.
 
My school's library lets you rent out games from last gen and this gen. Then again we have a giant game room in the library and it is pretty state of the art so...
 
Well look at that. They do have a bunch of games. Seem to be only at the big main county branch site, though.
 
I was going to head to my local library to pick up Console Wars today and this thread got me to check out their video game section. I had only ever seen Wii (along with one PS3 and one Wii U) games. Until today. They had NBA 2K14 for PS4. Thanks for the heads up!
 
Yea, this thread made me look it up. I haven't been to a public library in 6 or 7 years? Only the one at school and university. Well, time for me to head to the library. I'll post what i find at mine.
 
bitesnintendog said:
No public Library that I've been to has ever carried games. Are those of you with libraries that do in major cities that may have more money or does it come down to donators?
Click to expand...

Yes, a lot of them in Canada are from what people donate, but libraries do seem to have a budget for media. I think they stopped doing blurays in my local one. It's just DVD's now.
 
The one down the street doesn't have one yet but I've seen some that do. The BANQ doesn't have PS4 or Xbox One games that I'm aware of. They have lots of other games though, and EA Montreal donated a bunch of titles. Looking it up, they apparently have over 1000 games and you can reserve them for 3 weeks.
 
alr1ght said:
Well look at that. They do have a bunch of games. Seem to be only at the big main county branch site, though.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't matter where as long as you're in the same district. They'll send the item to any library close to you and you can return it there too.

Some of the opinions and ideas on what libraries can and should offer around here are absolutely baffling. You could check out VHS tapes at the library as far back as the 80's, CDs and DVDs in the 90s, and internet access has always been available.

Hell some branches around here have *GASP* play areas and computer rooms set up just for children to use. Also, VOTING BOOTHS during election days. The humanity....
 
Too many boomers in my library system for them to embrace renting vidya. Hell, they've barely started letting people download ebooks. Maybe in 10 years.
 
Jado said:
I'd feel bad about any library renting out non-educational games to children. That just makes no sense and runs counter to a library's purpose as a place for reading, doing research and general learning. There was one computer where one could book appointment for playing games, but it was stuff that made sense, such as "Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?"

It was bad enough when the city's libraries got Internet-capable computers in the '90s and got flooded with kids doing nothing but lounging around waiting for their appointments. At my local branch, all the kids would line up early or show up immediately after school and grab all of the day's appointments and just goof off (including me, but at least I still read books). It got so bad, that they started enforcing a block of time strictly for kids who actually needed to get schoolwork done.
Click to expand...

I don't even know where to begin with this, but libraries are not just for research. A high quantity of books checked out from libraries are done so for entertainment value, which is also why they carry popular films, and even video games. This notion that libraries are solely for learning and research is a completely outdated one.
 
Hell no. We get enough DVDs stolen at the library I work at, no way are we ever going to loan out games again. They experimented with it briefly in the early 2000's and not a single game from the time remains in our possession. We have games but the kids have to play them here.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Poll
Xbox owners: do you fear losing access to your library?
2 3
103
1K
KellyM replied
Marathon rated for PS4 and Xbox One
2
94
1K
Redneckerz replied
Why are Collections of older games skipping PS4 & Xbox One ( sometimes even Xbox Series) lately?
21
467
Shtof replied
120 Steam users now own 20,000 games or more, three whales own over 40,000 games — one player's library is worth nearly $750,000 at today’s prices
2
96
549
Guilty_AI replied
If you can't buy a computer, HP will now let you rent a gaming laptop starting at $50 a month
Business Cringe Hardware 
9
266
Topher replied
Top Bottom