Alert: New game markdowns
For some reason Blockbuster is selling a ton of not quite new release new games for sometimes significant discounts off of MSRP. Here's the list (may not be comprehensive):
Army of Two $20.99
Assassin's Creed $24.99 (probably $20.99 now)
Battlefield Bad Company $30.99
Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway $44.99
Burnout Paradise $21.99
Call of Duty 4 $49.99
Chronicles of Narnia Price Caspian $22.99
Civilization Revolution $39.99
Club, The $33.99
Condemned 2 $27.99
Dark Sector $13.99
Deadliest Catch $23.99
Devil May Cry 4 - $27.99
Enemy Territory Quake Wars $44.99
Facebreaker $22.99
Grid $37.99
Guitar Hero II w/guitar $52.99
Guitar Hero Aerosmith w/guitar $71.99
Guitar Hero Aerosmith $37.99
GTA IV $40.99
Incredible Hulk $23.99
Lost Planet Colonies Edition $22.99
Lost Odyssey $25.99
MLB 2K8 $20.99
NBA 2K9 $45.99
NCAA Football 09 $39.99
Ninja Gaiden II $28.99
Pure - $43.99
Quake Wars - $44.99
Rainbow Six Vegas 2 $39.99
Rock Band 2 $45.99
Saint's Row 2 $44.99
Tiger Woods 09 $45.99
Timeshift $17.99
Too Human $39.99
Unreal III $30.99
Viking $27.99
Wall-E $30.99
Army of Two $20.99
Assasins Creed $20.99
Battlefield Bad Company $30.99
Call of Duty 4 $32.99
Club, The $33.99
Condemned 2 $27.99
Dark Sector $13.99
Devil May Cry 4 $27.99
Enemy Territory Quake Wars $44.99
Grid $49.99
GTA IV $40.99
Guitar Hero 3/W guitar $52.99
Guitar Hero Aerosmith/w guitar $71.99
Guitar Hero Aerosmith software $37.99
Haze $29.99
Incredible Hulk $23.99
Lego Batman $36.99
Lego Indiana Jones $36.99
Madden 09 $ 45.99
MLB 2k8 $ 20.99
Metal Gear Solid 4 $37.99
NBA 2k9 $45.99
Pure $43.99
Ratchet & Clank $32.99
Saint's Row 2 $44.99
Soul Caliber IV $44.99
Tiger Woods 09 $45.99
Rainbow Six Vegas $27.99
Turok $19.99
Uncharted $39.99
Unreal III $39.99
Viking: Battle of Asgard $27.99
Wall E $30.99
Battle of the Bands $13.99
Big Beach Sports $15.99
Blast Works $15.99
Boom Blox $27.99
Bully $20.99
De Blob $37.99
Dragon Quest Swords $27.99
Guitar Hero 3/ with guitar $46.99
GH Aerosmith game only $30.99
Houses of the Dead 2 & 3 $20.99
Lego Indiana Jones $36.99
Madden 09 $38.99
Mario & Sonic at the Olympics $27.99
Mario Party 8 $27.99
Mario Strikers Charged $27.99
Mario Super Sluggers $37.99
NCAA Football 09 $23.99
Ninja Reflex $19.99 (or $22.99?)
Sega Superstar Tennis $20.99
Star Wars: Force Unleashed $36.99
[highlight]Super Mario Galaxy $24.99
Super Smash Bros Brawl $33.99[/highlight]
Tiger Woods 09 $38.99
Wall-E $30.99
Wario Land Shake It $37.99
Wario Ware Smooth Moves $27.99
We Ski $19.99 (or $22.99?)
Wonderworld Amusement $30.99
Brain Age 2 $11.99
Drawn To Life
Drawn To Life Spongebob (both reduced, forget the actual price)
Flash Focus $12.99
Guitar Hero On Tour $37.99
Kirby Super Star$ 23.99
Lego Batman $22.99
Mario Party DS $21.99
My Sims $16.99
Mystery Case Files $15.99
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon (both) $23.99
Professor Layton $21.99
SimCity Creator $22.99
Sonic Chronicles $26.99
Spectrobes Through the Portal $22.99
Spore Creatures $22.99
Star Wars Force Unleashed $26.99
Zoo Tycoon 2 $13.99
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What is this thread for?
The primary function of this thread is to discuss current trade-in and sale promos, post any trade-in values you have obtained, and discuss new and used game selection and availability. Please post trade-in values with the date of the trade (or quote) and system.
It is also permissible to discuss system availability, credit issues, etc. As long as it is related to game trades or sales at Blockbuster it is generally OK to discuss it here.
Unlike more tightly focused clearance threads, it is OK to discuss more general Gamearush/Blockbuster issues here as well as trade requests as long as they are kept to a minimum (and usually just during specific deals).
Due to the questionable stability of the Gamerush brand, it is also permissible to discuss ways of converting credit from Blockbuster to other stores (ie, which games may be used for trading in to other stores such as Gamecrazy or EB/GS). As of right now, we have no indication of Gamerush's imminent demise, but given Blockbuster's ongoing financial difficulties we need to be aware of the possibility.
What is this thread NOT for?
Please do not discuss the flipping of games from one Gamerush store to another should another such opportunity arise (through trade-in deals). It is one thing to "play the market" with trade-in values from one chain to another (GR to GC to EB) - free market buy low/sell high and all that. But taking advantage of loopholes in a single store's policies/promos is frowned upon and has, in the past, led to trade-in bans from GR.
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Blockbuster Game Trading Info
- You must sign up for a trade account in addition to your regular Blockbuster account
- You must sign up for a new trade account at every store you wish to trade at, even if using the same main account
- Trade-in credit can be placed onto your store account or onto a "Value" card
- Credit on store accounts can only be used at that one store
- However, credit can be transferred from the store account to a card at any time
- Value cards can be used at any location
- Clerks at one store cannot see your trading/purchasing history at another store via your account
- Gamerush stores often do not get new game stock until the Friday of the release week, thus a few days later than most retailers
- Depending on state law you may or may not get sales tax added to your trade-ins (and thus get more than normal). You will always be charged sales tax where applicable on purchases, even when using credit from a Value card.
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Gamerush vs. regular Blockbusters
All Blockbuster game-related discussion belongs here. Most threads created in the Deals forum will be merged in to here. There seems to be the impression by many CAGs that if they don't have a Gamerush store near them (see here for a list of GR stores: http://www.blockbust...meStoreList.pdf) then this thread does not apply to them. However, regular (non-GR) Blockbuster stores often run the same promos and generally have the same trade-in values. I'm going to elaborate on the last sentence as people apparently don't understand that when I say regular BB's have the same trade-in values as Gamerush that it means [highlight]regular Blockbuster stores accept game trade-ins just like Gamerush stores[/highlight].
The key differences:
- Only Gamerush stores sell used video game hardware and generally have a much wider selection of new hardware. Many regular BB stores had a PS3 bundle available over Christmas 2007 and since then they have expanded their hardware sales. As of right now (Summer 2008) most Blockbuster stores are selling PS3's, Xbox 360's, and Wii's. They just started in mid July selling DS Lites at most stores as well. As a result of not selling used hardware, however, regular Blockbuster stores will not take hardware in for trades.
- Both Gamerush and regular Blockbuster stores take preorders for new games for a $5 deposit (or you can pay any other amount beyond that). Gamerush stores will get many more games in than the regular stores but unfortunately a preorder at either place is not a guarantee you will get the game. Sometimes they do not get certain titles in even if you preorder them months in advance.
- While many Gamerush stores have cut back on their new game stock, most regular (non-GR) Blockbusters have started selling new games. They usually have a very limited selection of top-selling new 360, PS3, and Wii games.
- Trade-in values are controlled centrally and are uniform across all Gamerush and Blockbuster locations EXCEPT if the Blockbuster is a franchise location. You can tell from the receipt if your store is a franchise store. All Gamerush stores are corporate-owned so they will have uniform pricing.
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Featured Preorders
Most Blockbuster stores (in addition to Gamerush stores of course) are featuring several games for preorder. $5 is required for a deposit. There are a few others in addition to what is listed below:
Multiplatform (unless otherwise stated they are for all SIX "current" platforms - 360, DS, Wii, PSP, PS2, and PS3)
Tale of Despereaux (360, Wii, PS2)
They usually get these featured games in on release day like any other game retailer (though note - as of late they have been very bad about this and have gotten many games several days late!). Note that you can preorder just about any other game as the system will allow them to preorder anything they have listed (yes, even at regular stores). I have preordered Mario Super Sluggers and Dragon Quest IV myself even though they are not "featured" as preorders. However, if it is not a featured preorder they may or may not get it in, and it may arrive as late as Friday of the release week (postscript - Mario Super Sluggers did indeed arrive on Friday when every other store had it Tues. or Weds. and Dragon Quest IV never arrived).
Of course you can cancel a preorder at any time and get your deposit back or switch it to another game, even after the game comes out. So don't worry about preordering something they might not get - you can always switch it to something else. However, since I've always used credit for purchasing things at Blockbuster I'm not sure how they would handle a cancellation of a cash deposit. They may simply issue a credit to your account so beware of that if placing a cash deposit on a preorder.
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List of decent $9.99 (and under) used games at Blockbuster
Blockbuster tends to shift rentals to used merchandise fairly regularly and this often results in lower than usual (compared to Gamestop or Gamecrazy) prices on certain used games. The condition of these games can vary wildly, of course, depending on how often they got rented. But I was somewhat surprised to find that in many cases they may have never been rented at all meaning you can get a practically mint game for very cheap. The purpose of this list is to keep track of particularly good deals relative to Gamestop and other places and to make sure CAGs don't overlook some great deals to use their cheap Blockbuster credit on. $9.99 is sort of the magic price that many CAGs are willing to get used games for at Blockbuster, so the list will focus on those with a few specific cases of decent values at higher prices mentioned afterwards. Below that I will put a "wait list" of mostly $14.99 games that ought to be coming down to $9.99 sooner or later and are readily available at most stores.
Armored Core 4
Beautiful Katamari
Bee Movie Game
Blue Dragon
Dark Sector
Earth Defense Force ($6.99)
Golden Compass ($4.99)
Harry Potter Order of Phoenix
Meet The Robinsons ($6.99)
Phantasy Star Universe
Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End ($6.99)
Ratatouille
Shrek The Third ($6.99)
Spiderwick Chronicles
Star Trek Legacy
Virtua Fighter 5
Battle of the Bands
Bee Movie Game
Crash of the Titans
Geometry Wars Galaxies
Metal Slug Anthology
Nights
Octomania ($6.99)
Sega Superstar Tennis
Spyro
Super Swing Golf Season 2
Table Tennis
Tony Hawk Proving Ground
Dark Sector
Genji
Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End
Virtua Fighter 5
Manhunt 2 ($6.99)
Ratchet & Clank Size Matters
Rogue Galaxy
Valkyrie Profile 2 ($6.99 - needs to be verified)
Assassin's Creed ($6.99)
Flash Focus ($6.99)
Other notables:
Bioshock $19.99 Mass Effect $19.99 No More Heroes $14.99Wait list ($14.99 games that ought to hit $9.99 soon):
Godfather
Sonic Riders Zero Gravity
Spiderwick Chronicles
Worms Space Oddity (currently $24.99)
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Current Trade-In Deals
There are no trade-in deals at this time.
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Trade-In Values
Trade-In Price Wiki <-- An archive of older trade-in prices is kept here. Unfortunately this site is no longer editable, so the information is out of date. Supposedly a new CAG 2.0 feature to be rolled out soon will allow for storage of game trade-in information along with other game-specific information (like reviews, current MSRP, sales, etc). As soon as that happens we will resume compiling trade-in prices.
Trade-in prices are usually universal at both Blockbuster and Gamerush, but can be wildly different at franchise Blockbuster stores. Trade-in prices generally used to change on Tuesdays. However, it appears they are in the midst of changing this and now prices seem to change Monday first thing in the morning. To be safe, do any game trading by Saturday if you are worried about the price potentially dropping.
Also note that many stores will no longer accept video games without cover art. This is the official policy for DVD trade-ins but apparently many clerks will confuse the two and not allow it for games either. Just beware that it might be a hassle if you have a disc-only game to trade.
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Gamerush website
The old Gamerush web site is now defunct, but the following link will take you to Blockbuster online, which may or may not have some info there about games. I dunno - I haven't looked at it in years.
http://www.gamerush.com
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Links to previous Gamerush Threads (dating back to June 2005!):
1 (by no means the first one but the earliest that can be found - check it out for some drama)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Edited by io, 10 December 2008 - 09:06 PM.
Legend of Zelda TP $14.99 -> $12.50
Star Wars Battlefront II $9.99 -> $9
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shiny. I prefer a more dull finish myself.
