It seems quite a few people feel that renting PC games over the internet is going to be the next hot thing. Yahoo has just recently announced that they will be launching technology to allow people to rent games like Civ3 to download/play over the net. You can rent a game for just a few days for a Blockbuster size fee, or pay like $10-$15/month for a larger package style thing giving you access to several games.

Success, however, will hinge on Yahoo's ability to attract hot content. Most of the 40 titles Yahoo offers at launch are games that have been available at retail for a year or more. Some, like ``Thief'' and ``Addiction Pinball,'' date back to 1998. For game publishers, Yahoo's service opens a fresh distribution channel -- and a way to collect revenue from titles, months after their retail launch. ``This is low-risk stuff from Activision, Infogrames, Take2 and Eidos,'' said P.J. McNealy, research director for GartnerG2, a San Jose technology research firm. ``It's a safe bet, and it gives some of their back catalog more shelf life.''

One would assume that if things go well, we might eventually see new titles showing up through this system. This is I believe the 4th company now that is getting in to this technology.