Not many deals these days?

RudyPants

RudyPants

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I've been on CAG for just about two years and it seems like the deals section has gotten more and more unimpressive each year.

Granted, there are a few highlights each year, but I used to remember there being way better deals on current generation games, systems, etc.

Maybe it's just me, but does anybody who has been on the site for a long time find themselves passing on most/all of the deals posted in the deals section these days?
 
I've become spoiled, thanks in a large part to the CC $8.96 July 4th deal the year before last and the Kmart clearance sales. I refuse in many cases to spend over $2-10 for ANY game anymore, though I may well break that cycle come this month with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2.
 
let's see:

FYE 50% EVERY VIDEOGAME ITEM (except systems)

Itunes Code Facebook exploit (People got HUNDREDS of free itunes)

$98 hd dvd player at BB and Waltard

Buy the HD DVD add on for the 360 at

CC and get Heroes S1, Planet Earth, and Ultimate Matrix for free.



Those are just a few of the biggest craziest deals. You need to pay more attention...
 
But fragged, not everyone has a 360 to even be bothered to notice two of those deals. And, as far as the 50% off any games thing @ FYE, I think that was just for stores eliminating their gaming stock, unless I missed a sale someplace.

And, I couldn't be bothered to end up signing up for another 'social' site, so the Facebook thing meant squat to me too.

The only 'big' deal that I missed out on was the Blockbuster 5 for $25 any movies or games deal. I missed out on exploiting that(was told it was a scam) by about uhhhh 14 hours.

Otherwise, I'll stick to my Kmart clearance watching.
 
Plus doesn't FYE have ridiculously overpriced games to begin with?

Seems like most of the deals are YMMV deals and various clearence threads that aren't applicable in most locations.

Hopefully we'll see some better deals starting on black Friday.
 
[quote name='fraggedbylaggers']let's see:



Buy the HD DVD add on for the 360 at

CC and get Heroes S1, Planet Earth, and Ultimate Matrix for free.


[/quote]

Please explain more, and does this also include the 5 free hd-dvds?
 
I am not sure that an FYE 50% off clearance would be worth it for me. Last time I was in FYE I saw copies of Dave Mirra BMX for GBA marked at 39.99, plus nothing but other overpriced games. Sure there are a few YMMV deals inbetween but other than that they are a place to avoid for games.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I've become spoiled, thanks in a large part to the CC $8.96 July 4th deal the year before last and the Kmart clearance sales. I refuse in many cases to spend over $2-10 for ANY game anymore, though I may well break that cycle come this month with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2.[/QUOTE]
This is pretty much how I feel about things, too. In the last gen, I did get to a point where I wouldn't spend over $10 for (almost) any game because of finding so many amazing deals on this site. I guess there are still a few great deals that come along every now and then, but I'm finding fewer and fewer that are deals on things I want.

Lately, I find myself spending much more time in the contest threads and the CAG lifestyle threads than deal hunting.
 
[quote name='Danimal']This is pretty much how I feel about things, too. In the last gen, I did get to a point where I wouldn't spend over $10 for (almost) any game because of finding so many amazing deals on this site. I guess there are still a few great deals that come along every now and then, but I'm finding fewer and fewer that are deals on things I want.

Lately, I find myself spending much more time in the contest threads and the CAG lifestyle threads than deal hunting.[/quote]

QFT. I think I use the site more these days just in the console threads than in the deal threads.
 
Plus not only did that FYE 50% off deal only apply to ones getting rid of games, some areas like mine have FYE's that stopped carrying games a year or more ago.

I think the other problem is lack of blowout clearances. 50% off a new release game might be considered a hot deal but $30 for a game is still too much for me. Under $10 or $5 are the deals I am looking for.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I've become spoiled, thanks in a large part to the CC $8.96 July 4th deal the year before last and the Kmart clearance sales. I refuse in many cases to spend over $2-10 for ANY game anymore, though I may well break that cycle come this month with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2.[/QUOTE]

The 8.96 CC sale couldnt hold a candle to the $5 games they had the year before that... There were some real gems in that sale such as Rez (when it was valuable) Marvel vs Capcom 2, Resident Evil CV GCN and many others

Then again by sheer volume, the monthly CC markdowns later on the next year or so were amazing too, especially when you'd hit up the CC that didnt care to mark anything down, Id spend over an hour looking through all the games, it was a like a treasure hunt... walk out with a huge bag of games for next to nothing

The last really memorable blowout sale was the Best Buy one earlier this year, but my BB only had a few games

Alot of this is due to the 3 newer systems with newer games, I think the deals will pick up longer in the life cycle... I couldnt find any PS2 deals for the longest time when I got that years ago
 
[quote name='zman73']The 8.96 CC sale couldnt hold a candle to the $5 games they had the year before that... There were some real gems in that sale such as Rez (when it was valuable) Marvel vs Capcom 2, Resident Evil CV GCN and many others

Then again by sheer volume, the monthly CC markdowns later on the next year or so were amazing too, especially when you'd hit up the CC that didnt care to mark anything down, Id spend over an hour looking through all the games, it was a like a treasure hunt... walk out with a huge bag of games for next to nothing

The last really memorable blowout sale was the Best Buy one earlier this year, but my BB only had a few games

Alot of this is due to the 3 newer systems with newer games, I think the deals will pick up longer in the life cycle... I couldnt find any PS2 deals for the longest time when I got that years ago[/quote]

That was the July 4th sale in 2005, right? See, I had joined this site maybe a month or two later in 2005(checking my own post, I now see I joined the month OF the sale), plus I didn't really pay much attention to sales back then. Now though, forget about it, unless there's a 'real' sale(games for $10 or under), I won't even bother with going to a store during some usually great shopping period like BF or July 4th.

I did manage to get in on SOME of the $1.99 games from the BB clearance earlier this year, but not many, and my luck with the super clearance priced games @ CC is hit or miss. Most managers at CC must be programmed to believe that NO game should go out the door for UNDER $10-30, since I was denied a bunch of times on $1.96 games. Had I been the person I am now back then, I would've complained to corporate to try and either get the game for that price or get a gc for my time/trouble.

It's too bad that CC completely blew off keeping with tradition this year, as I don't even think they HAD a July 4th blowout sale. Shame really, since that's the only time I find myself going there anymore, but it seems like deals are becoming few and far between.

Oh and RudyPants, as someone else said, you have to LOOK for bargains @ FYE. They ARE there to be had, if you just LOOK. It's how I found my $15 copy of Futurama(used and with surface scratches, but still cheaper than Ebay).
 
Hmm lets see...

I don't have a FYE near me..
I don't have a 360
I could care less about HD DVD's
Could care even less for I tunes...

Don't really think all these deals were all that spectacular to many people
 
Cheapest - I tried to find games at my FYE and they just had newer 360 and PS3 titles, none of which were on sale. Unless I wanted to buy an Ice Cube Greatest Hits cd, there were no deals to be found near me.
 
True, some FYE's have crap for selection, but my local ones are decent. They were having a 'buy 4, get 20% off' deal last week or the week before and I believe that was on ANY level games.

So, off of $15 games, that'd be $12 total off 4. While not phenomenal, if you could find multiple copies of Futurama and turn around and Ebay those, you'd more than make your money back.

Plus, numerous FYE stores were clearing out their game sections a while ago, my local just got done with their clearance about 2 weeks ago. Sadly though, they only ever made it to 50% off.
 
[quote name='zman73']The 8.96 CC sale couldnt hold a candle to the $5 games they had the year before that... There were some real gems in that sale such as Rez (when it was valuable) Marvel vs Capcom 2, Resident Evil CV GCN and many others[/QUOTE]

The $5 2004 clearance sale was the best clearance ever for me over all even though my store didn't have alot of the best stuff (Ikaruga, Resident Evils on GC, Rez, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 etc.) Only game they did have that was worth a ton (before reprint) that I remember was Gitaroo Man, but still I got a ton of great stuff that was a no brainer at 5 bones each. Looking at the $17 Circuit City has been doing monthly it's safe to say they won't being do anything like the 2004 sale again with the selection, price & availability that clearance had.

It's easy to say that it's been slow just because the new systems are just starting out and while I'm sure in a few years we'll see some good sale & clearances for them I just don't think it'll be as good clearance-wise with the PS2/Xbox/GC.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I've become spoiled, thanks in a large part to the CC $8.96 July 4th deal the year before last and the Kmart clearance sales. I refuse in many cases to spend over $2-10 for ANY game anymore, though I may well break that cycle come this month with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2.[/QUOTE]

that is sad, simply because super mario galaxy comes out this month... and if you don't like mario... you aren't a gamer
 
[quote name='jennie25']that is sad, simply because super mario galaxy comes out this month... and if you don't like mario... you aren't a gamer[/quote]

LOL I like Mario, but I'm not willing to spend over $10 to play any game with him in it. And, since SMG is only coming out on Wii and I just sold my long collecting dust NIB Gamecube, I doubt I'll be playing ANY Mario game anytime soon again.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']LOL I like Mario, but I'm not willing to spend over $10 to play any game with him in it. And, since SMG is only coming out on Wii and I just sold my long collecting dust NIB Gamecube, I doubt I'll be playing ANY Mario game anytime soon again.[/quote]

Well the truth is that when you're only willing to spend such a small amount on product, no retailer nor company is going to be heartbroken at losing your business. Not knocking you, as I love the K-Mart clearances, but it's really early in the new generation of consoles, and as such things will remain expensive for quite some time.
 
[quote name='Derrick1979']Don't really think all these deals were all that spectacular to many people[/quote]
Those deals aren't shit compared to what this site used to have. I believe ever growing popularity of "deal" websites (slickdeals, fatwallet, CAG) is partially to blame as well. But nowadays you don't even need to be a part of their communities, Joystiq and Kotaku will just go ahead and post them as "news." Leaving us CAGs high and dry as the deals get picked up right quick.

And the worst part is they normally don't even credit CAG (Kotaku just credited gonintendo.com with the Mario Galaxy deal, it even looked like they used the same pic from the thread).

The best deals we've seen in a while have come up in the last 2 weeks. Sears misprint of Guitar Hero III and Mario Galaxy $25 giftcard.
 
The problem with the deals is you have to jump on them right away. At places like CC & Kmart you pretty much have to buy them the week it clearances at either over or a little under $20 or your chance of getting the game at any clearance price is slim to none. You can't wait for the game to drop below $10 because it will just be gone. Maybe it's because I live in a big city, but that's from my experience.
 
[quote name='Blackout542']The problem with the deals is you have to jump on them right away. At places like CC & Kmart you pretty much have to buy them the week it clearances at either over or a little under $20 or your chance of getting the game at any clearance price is slim to none. You can't wait for the game to drop below $10 because it will just be gone. Maybe it's because I live in a big city, but that's from my experience.[/quote]

In my area, the deals sat here for months and months, but due to the Kmart 30% off clearance deal the past couple weeks, I've seen less and less @ my local Kmart.

Then, there's also the games which are buried behind other ones in the cases, which most normal shoppers won't even take the time to notice. And, my local Kmart has/had a bunch of games sitting in the back of the store on a cart.

So, if they had that sitting in the back, I can only imagine what the local Sears has sitting in their back room, since they had 4 huge bins @ one point and are down to two now. I doubt someone just swooped down and snagged every last game from those two bins.

It's only when I make it publicly known where the games are that they disappear, so as I said before, I'm being a vague as possible anymore so some bastards don't come in and snag them all.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']In my area, the deals sat here for months and months, but due to the Kmart 30% off clearance deal the past couple weeks, I've seen less and less @ my local Kmart.

Then, there's also the games which are buried behind other ones in the cases, which most normal shoppers won't even take the time to notice. And, my local Kmart has/had a bunch of games sitting in the back of the store on a cart.

So, if they had that sitting in the back, I can only imagine what the local Sears has sitting in their back room, since they had 4 huge bins @ one point and are down to two now. I doubt someone just swooped down and snagged every last game from those two bins.

It's only when I make it publicly known where the games are that they disappear, so as I said before, I'm being a vague as possible anymore so some bastards don't come in and snag them all.[/quote]

For pretty much any deal I have certain locations I go to that I know will have at least something (guides, games, etc). Most places after the first week are gone...penny guides, VP 2 @ CC, that massive 50% boost at Crazy...games were all at CC & GS, after the deal hit they were pretty much wiped out. I think it's a lot harder to nab deals in a big city, but that's just me.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That was the July 4th sale in 2005, right? See, I had joined this site maybe a month or two later in 2005(checking my own post, I now see I joined the month OF the sale), plus I didn't really pay much attention to sales back then. Now though, forget about it, unless there's a 'real' sale(games for $10 or under), I won't even bother with going to a store during some usually great shopping period like BF or July 4th.

I did manage to get in on SOME of the $1.99 games from the BB clearance earlier this year, but not many, and my luck with the super clearance priced games @ CC is hit or miss. Most managers at CC must be programmed to believe that NO game should go out the door for UNDER $10-30, since I was denied a bunch of times on $1.96 games. Had I been the person I am now back then, I would've complained to corporate to try and either get the game for that price or get a gc for my time/trouble.

It's too bad that CC completely blew off keeping with tradition this year, as I don't even think they HAD a July 4th blowout sale. Shame really, since that's the only time I find myself going there anymore, but it seems like deals are becoming few and far between.

Oh and RudyPants, as someone else said, you have to LOOK for bargains @ FYE. They ARE there to be had, if you just LOOK. It's how I found my $15 copy of Futurama(used and with surface scratches, but still cheaper than Ebay).[/QUOTE]


If you joined a month or 2 after that sale, you must've been in on the $2 Overstock games bonanza... the first $2 games Id ever bought... and I would have bitched about CC not selling me games that I had every right to buy and that HAD been marked lower in the computer. Small talk always works when they question something. My local CC had NOTHING save for a couple XB games at the $2 price, but trips out of town were amazing... great memories... did buy more than I needed, but reselling some of the games later worked out nicely for me, since they were sealed

There WILL be deals in the future, but I still thing we are too fresh into this new cycle of consoles to get the really good deals we crave... Sears has been really good to me over the past couple years on a more consistent basis than CC was for a time. My CC finds (Karaoke Revolution party, V Profile PSP, GTA Trilogy XB among others have come from out of town CC's)...
 
[quote name='djkunai']Milk is the deal.[/quote]
i third that, my wife just got some. milky deals are good until they are spoiled rotten..

i've only caught a few games from last years $8.96 sale at CC. it was around the time when i joined i believe or maybe a few months after. but the industry as a whole has grown quite a bit. if people could spend $599 for a console, they will buy the games at full price at $59.99. if people are to spend $60 on a game, without a doubt they'll grab something at $22/16.96 games. its been tough to find games at CC lately because of this theory. the deals ive caught on this year was the cool deals and the extra 33% including the buy-1-get-1-1/2-off-handheld-games. those were the best deals this year. one should also realize how cag is so much more popular these days because of the game blog mentions, and cheapyd being a celebrity and all.

i also think that these companies (except for kmart) are actually looking at their pricing strategies closer maybe because games have been profitable these days. if people are buying the games at $16.96 at CC they will keep it at that price. the only reason they are lowering them is because nobody's buying them.. i noticed this when i bought Zelda Four Swords for the GC for $16.96 and a year later i found another, and still the same price.
 
[quote name='Blackout542']For pretty much any deal I have certain locations I go to that I know will have at least something (guides, games, etc). Most places after the first week are gone...penny guides, VP 2 @ CC, that massive 50% boost at Crazy...games were all at CC & GS, after the deal hit they were pretty much wiped out. I think it's a lot harder to nab deals in a big city, but that's just me.[/quote]

I'm in Los Angeles and k-marts & sears pretty much suck for any deals. Regarding CC, BB & GS, finding games can be hard beyond the first week but I think big city cags have more locations to hunt in. I have 3 BB within 10 miles of each other and 3 CC within 15 miles. Two of the BBs are < 2 miles away from each other. I can think of about 10 GS/EB not more than a 10 minute drive away from me.
I joined cag in september, before that I used to rely on the actual ads themselves for any deals. Having deals for $2 and $5 games seems unbelievable to me. I don't think we will ever see those type of deals again, not when everybody (myself included) jumps at clearance games at CC for $16.96 or at BB front row games for $9.99 and $14.99.
 
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