Boston University gamers need look no further for their next gaming fix than Barnes & Noble in Kenmore Square.
Online video game service Gamefly installed a G-box kiosk filled with releases for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as part of a pilot program in March, allowing users choose a game on the touch screen, swipe a credit card and receive the game in seconds.
‘We’re just trying to provide another opportunity for students to have access to stuff that’s not currently on campus and ultimately help put traffic into the store,’ Barnes & Noble store manager Steve Turco said.
BU is one of a handful of colleges chosen for G-box installation, according to Gamefly co-founder Sean Spector.
Spector said the company considered the size of the campus and student body, the quality of the bookstore and the gamers in the area when they decided where to put the G-boxes.
‘We chose BU because they met all those marks,’ Spector said.
Barnes & Noble will probably see an increase in profit from the influx of gamers visiting the store who would not go in otherwise, he said.
Spector said Barnes & Noble and the G-box are a good partnership because of the store’s secure location, good store hours and available employee assistance.
‘If it was just in the student union, like a lot of campuses, there wouldn’t be anyone there to help or answer any questions, and so, by being in the bookstore, it really allows for a good customer experience,’ Spector said.
Although Gamefly installed the G-box to heighten the rental experience of on-campus gamers, Stan Sclaroff, BU’s computer science department chairman, said the concept of a kiosk is outdated and inferior to the current state of video game technology.
‘Gamefly uses a business model that is quickly becoming antiquated,’ Sclaroff said. ‘Why leave the couch in your dorm room? Look at Netflix moving to delivery of movies on-demand via their website.’
For BU gamers, the kiosk may be more convenient than waiting a few days on the couch for a game to arrive in the mail, students said.
‘The kiosk is very convenient especially because I live within easy walking distance of it, and I would therefore not need to wait for the mail,’ College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Augie LaSala said.
However, LaSala said he would still prefer to order video games online.
‘I prefer online rentals, because there are more game choices,’ he said.
Gamefly currently offers more than 6,000 games online, according to its website. The kiosk offers ‘hundreds’ of games, according to an article published in a student newspaper at Texas Tech University, the first to receive one.
College of Communication sophomore Francesco Cardiello said the cheap $2 price offset the small selection in the G-Box.
‘The titles seemed cool but the variety wasn’t much, which is understandable because they just installed it,’ Cardiello said. ‘It’s much more convenient than going down to Mass Ave. and getting it at Blockbuster.’
The G-Box is at home in Barnes & Noble, School of Management sophomore Shahrose Aziz said.
‘I’m one of the few people that believes is an art form, and so it’s appropriate for it to be in Barnes & Noble with other forms of art,’ Aziz said.’
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