Game Factory: SEGA & Blockbuster's On-Demand Game Rentals
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- Back in the 90's, Blockbuster had two big problems. They knew their business model wouldn't last forever, and customers couldn't rent what they wanted due to inventory issues. The solution? On-demand kiosks. They tested this new technology on video games, and Game Factory was born. But it didn't last very long. Learn the story.
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A few months ago, fellow RUclipsr Grimsie42 gave me a pair of these Game Factory cartridges to check out. I didn't think much of them until I learned the backstory. I think the biggest thing I took away was that Blockbuster knew their business model wouldn't last even back in the early 90's!
Hope you enjoy, please share if you learned something new.
Did he know how much collectors are paying for these? They make Mega Man X3 look like chump change.
Well, Indeed, As With Every Episode, I Did Learn Something New!
Gaming Historian nice video and I did learn some thing :D.
To be honest I never heard of Buckbuster before I started watching your channel.
*Also I'd like to thank you for the signed Bluray and the shirt (it is good quality indeed)*
It was kinda cool, when I was looking what new mail I just received on my way to the office and it said “Norman has sent you a package“. I was like “Norman? I don't know any Norman that speaks english, so who....? OMG!“ and I nearly crashed my car :P
What I find the most interesting is that if blockbuster had perfected this tech they would have been the "first" to the market and would likely still be going today, but maybe not in the same form. In the end they walked away from tech that would have kept them alive.
Was this ever available in Canada? I don't remember it at all and I'm 30 and my main system as a kid was Genesis.
Am I the only one who misses the smell of walking in to a Blockbuster on a hot sunny day and all the cold air coming out as soon as you open the door
There's a nostalgic feeling there that can never be duplicated.
'aw dammit 15 copies of Mortal Kombat 2, all rented out!!'
one thing I miss was there was a video game store (Video Revue) in my neighboring town (Lincoln, IL) that would actually make hot fresh popcorn on an hourly basis. And it was free to just go into the popper and fix yourself a bag. SO that smell as you walked in is something locked away in my 38 year old mind and whenever I smell popcorn popping...I go back to that.
Every weekend my dad and I would rent games and movies, I really do miss the fun times we had at Blockbuster.
My dad, brothers, and I use to have the same weekend ritual.
Fun fact: the original meaning of "blockbuster" referred to aerial bombs strong enough to be capable of destroying a whole city block. The term was coined by the press in the early 1940s.
It saw its first use in the context of Hollywood within the same decade, with the RKO film _Bombardier_ being advertised as "The block-buster of all action-thrill-service shows!"
So, Jaws was a lie?
@@CaptainCat101 no
That's why I love this channel. When you think you know enough of video game history, suddenly The Gaming Historian comes to tell you something you ignored!
I'm over 30 and I never heard of this cart. Thanks for the video.
Perso Na me too, and I live in Columbia.
The commercial at 2:35 remind me of that scene in Walk Hard. "I don't wanna get no hangover." "IT DOESN'T GIVE YOU A HANGOVER!" "Sounds kinda... expensive." "IT'S THE CHEAPEST DRUG THERE IS!" "I don't wanna get addicted?" "IT'S NON-HABIT FORMING!"
I hate to admit it, but I actually miss the days of Blockbuster. It was nice to actually browse the shelves, and even if they didn't have any copies left of a game or movie I really wanted, that usually led me to rent games or movies I normally wouldn't play. Hell, I even got my first taste of Anime because my mother rented Mermaid's Scar for me when I was 13.
I eventually got to work at a Blockbuster later in life (2005-06), and getting five free rentals a week (nothing less than a month old though) was great. Not quite a dream-come-true, but a hell of a good time nonetheless. :)
Hell yeah! I miss them too! If i didn't know what game i wanted to rent, i LOOKED for the ones that were out of stock! Obviously those were the best games, and my local stores would give me a call when they came back.
Absolutely! I still remember going to the video rental store for Super Mario Bros 2 and seeing they were all checked-out. Dejected, I ended up randomly picking up a game with a really stupid looking cover called "Mega Man". I would have had no intention to ever try it, but after taking it home and playing it, it became my favorite series of the NES.
You dont miss the late fees lol
Customer: How do you know if you have it? I haven't even told you yet.
Clerk: We have everything!
Customer: But what if you're sold out?
Clerk: WE'RE NEVER SOLD OUT!
Customer: OK but what if --
Clerk: [Rips of human face to reveal horrific cyborg skeleton] I GROW TIRED OF YOUR QUESTIONS, HUMAN.
Lol
Nakajima:Shoots Clerk with Gun
Iwata:ooo right in the Face
Nakamura:in the face
Kutaragi:in the The dang face
blockbuster wouldn't be dead if they haven't rejected the netflix deal
There was a Netflix deal at one point?
2 different times, Blockbuster were offered the sale of Netflix. they declined both times
Wasn't this back when Netflix wasn't doing video-on-demand as they are now, as in, they were basically in the same field as Blockbuster?
yup and they turned it down.
such a shame though because blockbuster was pretty sweet.
the first time was before Netflix did ANYTHING, as in, they were offering a proof of concept. the second time was just before Blockbuster attempted their Video On Demand service.
I'm over 20.
And I remember going to the rental store.
They were magical times...
Wow, you’re so old xD le epic 90s and early 2000s kid 😍😍😍
If the technology could have been ready and available a year or two earlier it may have had a shot.
Reasoning?
@@BonsaiBuckeye because the Genesis wasn’t on its way out yet, it would’ve had more time to catch on. By the time this came out, Genesis was pretty much dead.
@@Rountree1985 they still would have had the issues of licensing and cartridge compatibility
When I worked at Blockbuster and they introduced the Game Pass. For $9.99 or maybe it was $19.99 a month, you could rent and return any game when you want. We had one guy come in, come in, rent 2 games on the pass, and bring them back a few hours later, then grab 2 more. I figured it out that he was more than likely copying the games and used our library to get all the games he wanted.
My thoughts exactly. If Game Factory launched in 1992 rather than 1994, it could have been huge. The problem, of course, is that download speeds weren't fast enough in '92 and storage space was still too expensive to make the system viable.
"Where am I? The Twilight Zone?" 😅😅
How in the world did Blockbuster do a thing like this and I've never heard of it? I practically LIVED there as a kid.
I remember hearing about Game Factory back in the day, but I don't recall ever seeing it at my local Blockbuster. So thank you, Norm, for explaining that it was only ever seen in South Carolina as a test market. Still, while Nintendo said "No" to the idea, I wouldn't be surprised if it wound up being the impetus for Nintendo of Japan's eventual Nintendo Power cartridge, which was a re-writable cartridge for Super Famicom & Game Boy during the mid-to-late-90s. Gamers could buy a blank cartridge, go to a kiosk at participating stores, download games onto the "SF Memory Cassette", & then pay at the counter. It was essentially Game Factory, but with the intent of it being permanently owned by the user.
That Galaga shirt is KILLER my dude.
8:14 I swear every time I'm about to hear that lady talk I feel she's going to say,
"Funding for Gaming Historian has been provided by PBS from viewers like you, thank you".
Geez, I miss Blockbuster. Luckily Family Video is somehow still around, but it isn't quite the same
There's also Redbox. Which isn't the same either but at least in my area they're EVERYWHERE!
how is Family Video not bankrupt? I totally forgot my town still had one until I read your comment lol
@@koomdizzle29 looked it up. Genius president is how. They knew this business would be dying so they bought the locations instead of leasing so they make a lot of revenue with renting part of the building. They partner with pizza shops to deliver DVDs too. And to return your DVD, just order another pizza lol. Man, that concept would've been amazing 20 years ago.
@@LetTheWritersWrite Wow that is genius! Now if only Blockbuster had someone like that, we would all be streaming Blockbuster owned Netflix lol
@@LetTheWritersWrite I know your comment is almost a year old but you made me realize suddenly why the two Family Video locations that I know of are connected to delivery places. That's awesome! Thanks for that bit of research. :) As a bonus note, the Family Videos I know of (Brunswick OH and Cleveland OH) both also sell CBD products as well these days!
Anyone remember the smell of a Blockbuster store? They had their own unique fragrance. Great memories
Could you talk about anything Microsoft? Recently, I've remember seeing a news thread that Microsoft tried to buy Sega among others after acquiring Rareware. It was early in the original Xbox life.
Igorowan you know if they did then we wouldn't have Mario and sonic at the Olympic Games and sonic vs Mario from smash bros
Igorowan Sega could theoretically get their shit together and start making tons of cool shit again. "Alien: Isolation" was amazing and had Sega's name on it.
I had heard that they were trying to work out a deal so they could legally make the original Xbox backwards compatible with Dreamcast games.
Inu's right, the plans Microsoft had with Sega were to make the Xbox compatible with Dreamcast GD-ROMs; the deal only collapsed due to creative differences over how online play would be implemented. All that said and done though, the original Xbox was basically a Dreamcast 2 in all but name, right down to the button layout.
Igorowan We need new Conker, Banjo, and Battletoad games on the Switch and PC. #MakeRareGreat Again
I'm 21 and I don't remember Blockbuster because I think there wasn't any in Spain but I can recall a rental shop called The Drugstore. Good times.
Here in Chile, Blockbuster was around at least until 2008. That year I bought a bunch of GameCube games at the store for a couple bucks each, Resident Evil Zero cost me 4 dollars in chilean pesos. That was a great year for my collection 😁
i thought it was until 2010 but i dont know
2012-2013 actually
Hey, if Dennis Miller endorses something, you gotta give it a shot, right?
If only School History was this enjoyable..
It's not that difficult if you know where to look. Unfortunately, most school systems don't bother looking in the first place, I feel.
Vezerlo Productions
Play Fallout
ikr
a lot of what I learned in High School history turned out to be skewed or completely wrong.
It is loser
I grew up in Columbia. I was a Nintendo kid back then so I never tried this out but I do remember the schoolyard chatter. The Sega kids were all about how this was going to be the Nintendo killer. I think I kinda remember seeing the display in the store and being curious, but it was so long ago. It might be a manufactured memory actually seeing the thing.
the history of sega channel!
I would like to see the history of Sega Channel. When I was a kid, I wanted it so badly but it was never available in my area.
@@dacypher22 You were missing out. I must've slept over at my cousin's house every single weekend back when he had it.
@@SkotchOG Oh, I was missing out and I knew it. I wanted it so badly but my tiny cable company had no idea what I was even talking about when I called and asked about it.
@Lance Pelissier nintendo had basically the exact same thing in japan
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Power_(cartridge)
I'm from Columbia originally and remember renting these carts. Had no idea it was Columbia only.
there are 12 blockbuster still in business! ~
yes, they are all here in Italy
Razor Koopa no, some in alaska
Rainbow Dash I seen one in Alaska. I was shocked
Calling them blockbuster stores is pushing it a bit though, blockbuster as a company is completely and utterly defunct and all of these stores are run completely independently by people with no affiliation to the previously existing company. Technically yes they are blockbuster stores but I personally don't view them the same as the previously existing ones.
there's one in Australia
I use the gaming historian videos for sleep aid, he's not boring but his voice is at a perfect pitch that it doesn't sound annoying when trying to sleep lol
I'm a newborn and I remember going to Blockbuster
Editson Rosales Who df doesn't
Welcome to Earth.
Geez, I had no idea about this service. You've certainly carved out your own slice of RUclips. I'm blown away by your content.
Heh. When Viacom bought Blockbuster, they grew less worried about the future sustainability of their business model. Guess it was that hubris that caused them to decline to purchase Netflix when it was offered to them. Well, just like Decca Records couldn't accurately forecast the future (and missed the biggest pop group of the last 100 years), Blockbuster missed this one. Sucks to suck.
They declined the Netflix deal because they had a deal with Enron to have on-demand movies, which went poof when Enron Enron'd
tbh they are still rich asf until the rest of their days
That further proves that the people running VIACOM are morons.
Game Factory was a little before my time with Blockbuster, I started going there more during the tail end of the fifth generation, so it's cool to see tidbits from its actual heyday!
Have you ever thought about doing a video on the Sears Tele-Games consoles? (Sports center, pong, their 2600 etc.) This video made me think of it since it's another retailer exclusive kind of thing 😄 Loved this video! I totally didn't know this was a thing.
Or store/company branded consoles/games in general including Tandyvision, Mr. Boston for the Vectrex, and the Burger King XBox games.
Erin!!!! 😁
I'm over 30, and live in south carolina, and even I never heard of these!!
I remember going to Block Buster and Hollywood Video back in the 90's. Those were the days. My brother, Dad and myself would rent SNES,N64 and PS1 games then. My dads friend would lend us original game boy games too. I never heard about this Sega on Demand service until watching this video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you GH! I was growing bored for a moment! lol
2:43 "WE HAVE EVERYTHING!"
Well, that came out under duress.
Dat Galaga shirt....where'd it come from? I need one of those in my life.
One of the best formats for a RUclips video here. Short intro with information relative. Music subtle and not too loud compared to the rest of the audio (big problem for most content providers, we don't want to hear what music you like) . And of course the actual information is concise and informative for most audiences. Great Job Sir.
Great episode!
This relation with Sega that Blockbuster had would certainly explain why i saw rental consoles of theirs at Blockbuster when i was young.
Where am I, the twilight zone?
Shout-outs to Columbia, SC! I actually remember these cartridges. My brother and I would go over to our Dad's house on the weekends we almost always rented the Genesis with a couple of games. These carts are worth more than their weight in gold due to their exceptional rareness. This was a revolutionary technology, and I had no clue what I was playing with.
Edit: I think some of the original dev carts slipped into some stores, and they have the new leaf logo. Those are the ones that are worth a lot of money, and I recall seeing them as a kid.
Where did you get your Galaga shirt? I love it!!!😍
mushman139 The shirt is being sold on the yetee's website. Here is a link.
theyetee.com/shop/detail.php?itemid=DREW-Gyaraga
Zero202020 cool thanks 😊👍
mushman139 No problem :)
Just when you think you know almost everything about old video games, the gaming historian digs up something "new". I am impressed.
"When they joined forces with viacom, blockbuster became less concerned that their business was unsustainable" lmao.
F.
That's so cool it was in Columbia SC! I live about an hour and a half north in Greenville SC.
At 6:40, the super gameboy remote box moves... Spooky.
Crimefightingchicken lol good eye. maybe it's a cockroach or a mouse haha
#2spooky4me
Huh, it's called airflow it moves when Norman moved his arms.
I love listening to this guy say "Famicom Disk System", good thing he does in almost every video.
heck ya thank you
I remember when Ocarina of Time released, my friend called to reserve a copy for rental. When we got there, they had an entire section of the shelf dedicated to OoT. It was a blinding eclipse of golden boxes.
Have you ever thought about doing a Tetris episode?
Have you ever thought about infinity?
I think he did lol
Great video. Apart from the failure to explain why the cartridges no longer work (I found the answer in the comments below, so no one need explain it again), you deliver your usual thorough coverage of the subject. Perhaps just as important, this is a subject that I had absolutely no prior interest in, and my attention was held for the entire length of the video. You found the most intriguing aspects of the story and presented them in an engaging way.
when you found the "world series 95' " sega game between the couch cushions that was due back at blockbuster 20 years ago...whoops
That's a hella big late fee! Unless you want to keep therefore steal it.
You should do an entire episode on Blockbuster itself! It's rise and fall makes for a very interesting tale.
Jokes on you
I still rent my video games
The Boss Stage1 with game fly right
RadMax 22 Or a Redbox Kiosk.
RadMax 22
Nope, a website called boomerang
Family Video are great rental stores that are still open. The prices are cheaper than when I was a kid.
Jeremy Seal What I like about family video is they pre-order the games and put the cases on the shelves. So when I rent a game I take the preorder content out of the case and use it for myself. 😁
God I fucking miss Blockbuster...like seriously...just seeing the name, all the movies you could get and the video games...God I miss it...the nostalgia...makes me want to cry.
Why do the cartridges not work now?
I think the cartridges still work, it's just you can't flash them anymore because there aren't any Game Factory machines publicly available anymore. As for why a cartridge wouldn't work, I guess the flash memory chip died or something. Assuming they did use flash memory; if it was volatile memory, then the batteries probably died.
For a variety of reasons. Flash memory dies over time, the CR2032 battery inside is probably dead, etc.
Leonardo Rosas Those are based on the more recent Flash memory tech making them a bit more comparable to M2 storage cards and SSDs. They'll last for a very long time along side blu rays.
I doubt they used flash memory if it apparently took 45 seconds to write a cartridge. Older flash cartridges from the early 2000's took minutes to write even small ROMs. Back then flash was pretty slow and even today flash memory has a lower write speed than read speed.
Based on the fact that you showed a battery in the cart and write times were so fast, the carts probably had RAM in them and relied on the battery to retain their content. A battery probably wasn't for save games, Sonic 3 used flash memory instead of SRAM. There were some genesis games that did use actual battery backed SRAM, but at that point in time I'm guessing flash and EEPROM were more common.
Or it could be the simplest answer; they don't have anything written on them, they're empty.
these videos are so well edited and i know about the ad pocalipse but keep up the good work
I remember Blockbuster😊
I remember the talk of Blockbuster starting using discs with a metal that degrades after a certain amount of time and having to use some device to essentially recharge it to stop the degradation.
4:52 If interested in seeing a young Kim Jong Un. Thank me later.
Its crazy how when I watch your videos, I'm fixated on the screen, where as on someone else's video, I will multitask. The worst enemy of mine is the damn red line that keeps going further and further to the right. Thanks for making your awesome videos.
As always in media distribution greed and fear over losses in licencing kill's ideas and innovation.
Greed over licensing must be the biggest factor in lost profit's I can think of, even though more availability at lower prices has showen to be vastly more profitable time and time again for media people still cling to the dark ages even today (mostly in TV/Series/Music/Movies).
Case in point I recently tryed amazon prime video........ what a joke, looks like I was 20 year's to early. (this program is available due to licensing issues)
Ever hear the military joke 'Generals always fight the last war'?
It's much the same thing. By the time you climb the ladder enough to be in an executive position, you're in your 40's at least (with some extremely notable exceptions), and at that time, it was even more pronounced. The older you are, the more resistant to change and/or new ideas you get.
Of the big Entertainment industries, it seems that interactive entertainment, followed closely by Music, is the most forward-thinking these days. Movies and TV lag painfully behind.
I was born in 2001 and every single weekend we will go to Blockbuster and rent a movie and a video game it was the time of my life back then
So this is basically the old version of xbox game pass?
PS Now too dumb dumb
Reminds me a bit of the EDOS system from the early 90's. EDOS was a computer game kiosk system with budget releases in europe. It supported C64, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad, ZX spectrum and IBM pc compatibles. The neat thing was that many titles where anvailible for various formats. The store would have a special computer with various disk and tape drives and a cd-rom drive with disk images of the games. The store clerk would type in the game's title code into the database and select the desired version and the game would be duplicated. The system was introduced around 1991 and lated until 1994. New titles where added to the system on a regular basis, pc games where often shareware titles and games for other systems where usually older games.
Fucking Viacom.
I'm 17 and I still remember getting movies and renting games from blockbuster. The last game I ever got from blockbuster was Lego Pirates of the Caribbean on the Wii.
wHeRe Am I, tHe TwiLiGhT zOnE?
Underrated comment
I went to BB 24/7 never saw or even heard of these carts. Great Video.
*#LikeBeforeWatching*
I know you are a busy man but I wish you were super human so you pushed out more content. I just love these videos! Keep up the good work man!
First
Blue Shell
Anthony Grigorian Lol
Rock Balancer Ayy
Around that Netflix started its DVD by mail business, an innovative company also took root- GameFly. Same concept, renting games by mail; that was pretty original at the time, especially with game rental stores starting to fade. The drawback compared to brick and mortar stores is the wait time, but far better upside is that there were no late fees, ever. You could play a game for as long as you needed. Also, the same option as Netflix existed where you could pay a flat fee to rent multiple games at a time. GameFly still exists today and are doing very well
I was really shocked back then that the record companies knew the on demand service would cut into their market seeing how the music industry is now it's sad that's pretty much what happened.
Im 14 and Blockbuster (And later, Family Video) was a huge part of my life up until 2 years ago
I'm 24 years old I still remember the Glorious Days of Blockbuster Video you can rent Video games🎮🕹 and Movies📼📀 just in three days😊
This,is why I watch your stuff. I learn important history about video games from you.
thank you
This might explain why they slept on streaming their movies. They tried On Demand content before with games, but probably got scared off when it didn't work. Sucks, too. Blockbuster was such a big part of my childhood. I miss it so much.
I remember when Metal Gear Solid 2 was first released. Blockbuster knew it would be huge, so they literally had an entire shelf unit lined with copies... and they were almost all rented out, but hey, almost is better than none, so kudos to my Blockbuster for thinking ahead.
Awesome episode but all I could think about was how much I want that Galaga shirt.
You are killing me with these slow uploads but it is worth it the quality is great
Another unsung piece of SEGA history that I don't recall knowing about until you brought it up? I'll take it, Norm! :D
It’s funny how often being ahead of your time can actually backfire.
I am 12 and remembered Blockbuster fondly. R.I.P. Blockbuster
This is a very interesting story not only concerning video games but general history of digitization and on demand services of entertainment. Congratulations on a great, informative and important video!
Dude, I was renting games until 2011. Not everyone has to be old to remember going to Blockbuster as a kid.
*spit take* Since I grew up in Columbia, SC and actually rented some of these, I decided to get one of the three types that exist a while ago. I bought a Blue and Green Game Factory cart from the same person. Well, what do you know but it's the exact two in this video! I wish I kept better records of where these came from!
Our local Blockbuster was expensive. $4.99 to rent a DVD (early 2000's) and that was for 2 days (due at 10 PM 2nd day). Video games were $6.99 for 3 days. I liked the ma and pop rental stores better.... the drawback was less games (and movies) to rent, though our local one was in business longer than Blockbuster by 6 years. $3.50 for 7 days (DVD) and $5.00 for 7 days (video game) As mentioned, ma and pop rental stores vary in price and amount of days you can rent DVD's and games for. I believe Blu-rays were $4.50 for 7 days. A lot of great memories!
My uncle was the manager of a Blockbuster so I always got new releases first, and when I was waiting for a game or movie to be returned he'd put the rental straight onto my account and bring it to me after work.
The craziest thing about this video is that 10 blockbuster locations were in one town
Oh do I remember those days. I even remember around 1996 going to a local mom and pop video store to rent Megaman X! I even remember Hollywood Video letting you rent a Dreamcast console and games.
They must have been up all night designing that Game Factory logo.
I wouldn't say this shows how far entertainment has come, incidentally, just how distribution methods change.
Do we know anything about what hardware was used for writing onto these carts?
Whilst you can buy things digitally now, there's nothing like waltzing into your local games store and playing it on the way home. Especially for vintage games and consoles.
Was always a huge Blockbuster fan and had no idea they ever tried this out!
I remember going to Blockbuster to just play the demo of Super Mario 64 at a kiosk. Good times
Great Video Norm. I watched this video in my living room, where my DVD & BluRay Collection is housed on shelves from a closed Blockbuster. I had never heard of Game Factory before. It's an interesting concept. I wonder what the cost of the carts were for the customer. You could "rent" different games until you found the one you wanted to own and then just keep it. I also wonder if you replace the button style battery in the cart if it would work again.
8:00 On demand media is a part of life
8:20 Buy my new physical media
Getting some mixed signals here...
I almost miss calling every rental store in town trying to find a copy what ever big title was out....almost.