I read recently that Redbox is planning on introducing Video Game rentals to its kiosks.

If you’re unfamiliar, here’s the Redbox business model: Rent a movie for $1/night, put kiosks  in high-traffic locations to generate impulse buys.  And in all likelihood, bank on drunken fools to lose the disc before even getting home to watch the movie and charging them like $50 a pop (but hey, we all still love you, Danny).

Why this fails: the system doesn’t scale.  Movies, purportedly, you can watch in a single night.  The barter when I pick out my Redbox movie is only for a buck.  Videogames take a long, long time to complete. (Unless we’re talking Super Mario World.  I can actually do this in under 20 minutes.) Most modern games would take weeks for anyone with school or a day job.  And then, on top of that, Redbox plans on charging $2/night.  You’ve just gone from a $1 impulse to a $25 investment.

Here’s a curious idea, though: What if, anticipating that videogames will take twice as long to return, Redbox charged half as much? $4 for a week or so of play, maybe I could stomach.  Maybe further, I’m more likely to forget about the game for an extra twenty seven days while charges continue to pile.