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Originally Posted by karkyco Ah yes, you're right. So it would take 2 of these transactions to beat B2G1. The limitation of this deal to full price $59.99 X360 and PS3 games is the real killer, for me at least. Even as you approach the max savings of $25 off per game, how many games are there worth buying?

Exactly. If they'd do something similiar for Wii/3DS titles I wouldn't be nearly so annoyed. This is always the time of year I rack up on my 1st party Nintendo games.

I guess it's my fault, I shouldn't have been counting on this sale the way I was, but my Nintendo systems are going to be seeing much less attention without it. And I guess I'm gonna have to suck it up and pay full price for Pokemon B2 for my nephew

I also disagree about the arguments against the TRU gift card deals. TRU has had good deals during the holiday seasons in the past. I see no reason how you wouldn't be able to redeem these anyways.

Well no stacks this week at bestbuy which sucks. Then again there could always be a msrp drop. Not to mention I havent gotten my mag yet so its all good

If you buy a lot of games $50 GC is better than b2g1 free (except for the whole 6 hour wait thing)

if you "chain" the GC and keep using them the discount is 41.66% (or 38.76% with tax for me)

versus 33.33% with b2g1 free

38% savings > 33.33% savings

tru had some pretty interesting deals lately. i am going to keep an closer eye on their weekly deals for now on.

Originally Posted by Donut2922 I also disagree about the arguments against the TRU gift card deals. TRU has had good deals during the holiday seasons in the past. I see no reason how you wouldn't be able to redeem these anyways.

Not to mention they typically (for the last two years) run a promotion from November-Christmas where you earn 10% back in TRU rewards on all your purchases (up to $50 in rewards).

I don't like how they issue rewards (they expire in like two weeks after being issued) but they do work on video games now.

Originally Posted by Donut2922 lol wut. You miscalculated the 29.5% savings. You're not paying $510. My post was simpler in that your value per game is $25 versus $20. Put it this way, the receipt will ring up the eligible games as: B2GC promo $35 return value (42% savings off MSRP) B2G1 promo $40 return value (34% savings off MSRP) The chaining is irrelevant Karkyco. It only has cash flow considerations which my argument was from purely a value perspective. The minute you've paid for 2 games, you've automatically maxed out on the deal. You're not stuck having to find a 3rd game. Whats confusing you is the 3rd game since these promos are disimiliar. Nice try though

Donut, you can't max out the savings on this deal without chaining multiple transactions. The first deal will be getting $170 worth of goods for $120 (plus tax, if applicable). The savings would be $50 off of the $170 value of goods you are getting, or $50/170 = 29.4% off. If you don't chain the promo, this will always be the maximum savings (again, not considering tax or future deals off of whatever you spend the $50 GC on) regardless of how many transactions you perform. You will always be getting a multiple of $170 worth of goods for the same multiple of $120 cost per transaction if you don't chain.

As Confoosius noted and we all know, you can't apply the gift card to the same transaction you get it from. That would be the only way to get the max savings of 41% off. Of course, if someone considers a TRU giftcard the same as cash, after one transaction you can say that you got those two games for $35 a piece...along with a $50 gift card. In any case, you've still spent $120 to get $170 worth of goods.

Now if you chain the giftcards, here are the savings:

transaction 1 = $170 worth of goods for $120, so $50 off of $170 = 29.4% savings

transaction 2 = $290 worth of goods for $190, so $100 off of $290 = 34.5% savings

transaction 3 = $410 worth of goods for $260, so $150 off of $410 = 36.6% savings

...transaction n, where the max you are saving is basically $25 off every $60 game = 41.66% savings.

I'm not saying this is a bad deal, just that performing only one round of this deal is worse than B2G1. The price and system limitations also work against this deal, at least for me. Of course, with B2G1 you have the limitation of requiring 3 games of the same value to maximize the deal. Each one of these deals has their own pros and cons relative to each other...

Originally Posted by TooPoor This modelling is inaccurate. To compare B2GC and B2G1, you have level them so that you have purchased the same amount of games, and other factors. If you calculate the average cost of buying 2 games with B2GC, and the average cost of B2G1, B2GC would have the advantage not considering the GC scaling factor. A simple counterexample. I wanted to buy 3 $59.99 games right now, and these games do not have any discounts anywhere. For B2G1 I would pay $119.98 + tax on $119.98, for B2GC I would pay $129.97 + tax on $179.97. To compare those two, you need a assumption on the number of games in need, and assumptions comparing purchase options elsewhere. In summary, you cannot compare those two promos, mathematically, without knowing the data input, i.e. the games that you need to buy at TRU.

If you need 3 games, then buy 4 and sell the extra game. You don't have to know the input if you can sell the extra that you don't need. Obviously if you buy an odd number b2g1 is better because this promo is for even number of games.

if you buy 6 games
$120+$50GC +($120-$50) + ($120-$50) = paid $260 + have a $50 GC (having used the other giftcards)
b2g1: 120*3= $240 and no GC

so what is better paying $260 for 6 games and a $50 GC or paying $240 for 6 games

If you value a $50 gc at more than $20 cash then the GC is better than b2g1 free.. period

Originally Posted by TooPoor This modelling is inaccurate. To compare B2GC and B2G1, you have level them so that you have purchased the same amount of games, and other factors. If you calculate the average cost of buying 2 games with B2GC, and the average cost of B2G1, B2GC would have the advantage not considering the GC scaling factor. A simple counterexample. I wanted to buy 3 $59.99 games right now, and these games do not have any discounts anywhere. For B2G1 I would pay $119.98 + tax on $119.98, for B2GC I would pay $129.97 + tax on $179.97. To compare those two, you need a assumption on the number of games in need, and assumptions comparing purchase options elsewhere. In summary, you cannot compare those two promos, mathematically, without knowing the data input, i.e. the games that you need to buy at TRU.

For the scope of this discussion, I'm trying to make it as simplistic as possible (as this thread would be at risk of deletion if we were to get too OT) before we lose the CAG members here but yes I agree on the tax factor. There will be a slight offset against the B2GC promo since there is no tax on every 3rd game in the B2G1 as compared to the B2GC. I don't mean to get into long winded posts comparing deals but I think you understand my point.

will this be the only place to get a deal on XCOM and 007 legends?

Originally Posted by jrr6415sun If you need 3 games, then buy 4 and sell the extra game. You don't have to know the input if you can sell the extra that you don't need. Obviously if you buy an odd number b2g1 is better because this promo is for even number of games. if you buy 6 games $120+$50GC +($120-$50) + ($120-$50) = paid $260 + have a $50 GC (having used the other giftcards) b2g1: 120*3= $240 and no GC so what is better paying $260 for 6 games and a $50 GC or paying $240 for 6 games If you value a $50 gc at more than $20 cash then the GC is better than b2g1 free.. period

You would need the data input to make accurate comparison, if you need to buy x games where x>4 then the comparison can be summarized as follows, if you need to buy less than four then the comparison is different, if you consider selling than you would need a scaling factor depending on your selling capabilities. By definition the comparison model I was undertaking does depend on x.
----------------------Math Begins Here----------------------
So, if you buy x (x>=4, x is even) games that are valued at $59.99 (rounded to $60 in the discussion below) at TRU, assume your tax rate is T:
B2GC: pay 60x + 60x*T - 25x + 50, but you have $50 GC in hand (assuming you can chain the GCs)
B2G1: pay 40x + 40x*T

Originally Posted by karkyco As Confoosius noted and we all know, you can't apply the gift card to the same transaction you get it from. That would be the only way to get the max savings of 41% off. Of course, if someone considers a TRU giftcard the same as cash, after one transaction you can say that you got those two games for $35 a piece...along with a $50 gift card. In any case, you've still spent $120 to get $170 worth of goods.

But this was my point all along. That the intrinsic value of the gift cards are bring considered purely for value comparison as most cags will always find a way to max out any deal or store credit. And I agree this deal isn't going to be for everyone because they are different promos after all.

TooPoor;

you are incorrectly assuming that the $50GC MUST be spend on a $60 game with no added value.

That is one way to go but it is not a smart one. I can assure you that $50GC will either be going back into this deal or towards another deal (i.e. new release with $10/$15/$20GC or towards a future B1G1 40% off promo).

with the TRU deal you DO NOT have to buy a third game at $60. You're forcing that into your calculations.

Edit: and this deal isn't for people that NEED to buy a certain amount of games. I don't "need" any games but I know how to maximize this so that the games I want I can get for much cheaper then if I had to buy a 3 at a time.

The way you're doing math you're basically saying that this weeks two for $70 (FIFA, Madden, NCAA, NHL) is worse then B2G1 free because if you bought three games you'd be paying $130 whereas the value isn't in buying three games it is in buying four.

Originally Posted by UnlockPotential Not sure if anybody else here has a Capital One credit card but they've got a feature deal ending 10/17. You get $10 credit on any purchase you make at TRU.

What? hot damn ...

at least it's an intelligent response to the problem of people wanting to buy and return to take advantage of games released outside the b2g1 window instead of canceling the promotion outright

Originally Posted by GBAstar Not to mention they typically (for the last two years) run a promotion from November-Christmas where you earn 10% back in TRU rewards on all your purchases (up to $50 in rewards). I don't like how they issue rewards (they expire in like two weeks after being issued) but they do work on video games now.

This is news to me. Earlier this year RZone certs didn't work on games. Thanks for the heads up.

Originally Posted by vherub at least it's an intelligent response to the problem of people wanting to buy and return to take advantage of games released outside the b2g1 window instead of canceling the promotion outright

True... no pun intended lol

We certainly have some passionate math majors on this thread.

I'm going to have to bag this deal for a different reason, TRUs crappy new game selection in my area. If you want a AAA blockbuster title you can find it @ TRU, however I was hoping to snag Persona Arena & Xcom EU, 2 very good games w/o multi-million dollar advertising budgets. Forget it, my TRUs carry neither. Just something to consider with this TRU deal if you have interest in a game that's NOT a huge brand. Hopefully, BB will do something along these lines in a couple weeks, I know they carry both games.

Originally Posted by GBAstar TooPoor; you are incorrectly assuming that the $50GC MUST be spend on a $60 game with no added value. That is one way to go but it is not a smart one. I can assure you that $50GC will either be going back into this deal or towards another deal (i.e. new release with $10/$15/$20GC or towards a future B1G1 40% off promo). with the TRU deal you DO NOT have to buy a third game at $60. You're forcing that into your calculations. Edit: and this deal isn't for people that NEED to buy a certain amount of games. I don't "need" any games but I know how to maximize this so that the games I want I can get for much cheaper then if I had to buy a 3 at a time. The way you're doing math you're basically saying that this weeks two for $70 (FIFA, Madden, NCAA, NHL) is worse then B2G1 free because if you bought three games you'd be paying $130 whereas the value isn't in buying three games it is in buying four.

I know, but I cannot formulate indeterministic factors such as using a $50GC towards a future different deal unless I spend an hour to formulate this with random variables. To model this as a simple math comparison, you would have to restrict a lot of assumptions, or else the math comparison does not exists. Of course, you can always do this subjectively, but where's the fun in that?

I agree, using the $50 GC to buy another $60 game is not a smart move, save it for a future deal, or something you want.

if it's something you won't spend $50 on, why would you spend a $50 GC on it?