It seems like just around this time last year, we were celebrating the fact that one could from Redbox machines. You knowthose giant, red, Coinstar-backed kiosks in supermarkets and retail stores that allow you to borrow physical copies of movies for a super-low nightly cost. Think of them as a mash-up between a Blockbuster and a vending machine.

Well, Redbox made a promise in April that video game rentals would soon join DVD and Blu-ray titles within its army of rental machines. And after completing a two-year test of gaming rentals across roughly 5,000 of its kiosks, Redbox officially launched gaming rentals across 21,000 of its 27,000 total rental systems this past Friday.

According to the company, games will carry the highest price tag of all of Redbox's rentals: $2 for a day's worth of playing, which is slightly higher than the $1.50 daily charge Redbox places on Blu-ray rentals or $1 for DVDs. Each of the company's kiosks will carry anywhere from 22 to 28 different gaming titles, but there's no indication as to how often the selection of games will shift around.

So why gaming? It's not an altruistic move by Redbox. In its two-year test of gaming rentals, the company actually found that kiosks offering games in addition to movie rentals hit anywhere from 10 to 15 higher revenues than those offering merely movies. The news couldn't come a better time for Redbox, either: Company fourth quarter revenues were down two percent from the previous year to $23.7 million, partly due to an overestimation that DVD rentals would find a stronger demand among consumers.

But don't blame Redbox entirely for that onemovie studios continued their push over the past year to delay new releases from hitting the company's kiosks. That's new releases as in retail releases, which stores carry exclusive rights to sell for 28 days before Redbox is allowed to stuff its red machines with the films. Critics of the service maintain that this is one of Redbox's key detractors: By the time a particular film hits the rental service, it's old news.

There's no indication whatsoever that consumers will be prohibited from playing the latest gaming titles, howevera cursory search of Redbox's online inventory confirms that fact. Redbox might not be able to pull in your favorite movie for a while, but at least you'll have a brand-new game to keep you busy while you wait.

For more from David, follow him on Twitter @TheDavidMurphy.