Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Nine

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IAmTheCheapestGamer

IAmTheCheapestGamer

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First off, let me welcome you all to the new guide thread. Second, I'd like to ask you all to please keep conversations not pertaining to guide drops or which ones you've grabbed to a minimum to avoid cluttering the thread. It's not that I don't enjoy the chit chat, but that it may stop others from locating information on the newest drops.

That being said, let me thank Cheapy for creating this site, without which I would've spent probably 10 times what I HAVE spent on games and guides. Moreover, let me thank each and every one of my fellow CAGs for continuing to contribute to making this site a great place to find out about sales and clearances of the items we as gamers use most. Without a great community, NONE of this would be possible.

Furthermore, I would like to thank our Wiki editors HeatDolphin and Rocko for updating the Wiki. Great job.

Now, with that out of the way(and before I get to rambling), let's get on to making this new thread.

Useful Information(and links):

Game Guide Trading Clearinghouse(old one, locked now):
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102021

Game Guide Trade Thread(KEEP ALL TRADE REQUESTS HERE OR IN PM'S)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175548

PLEASE keep ALL trade requests in there or PM's. Thank you.

Reduced Price Guide Discussion Thread(KEEP ALL DISCUSSION NOT RELATED TO GUIDE DROPS HERE!!!)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

Guide Lists(master drop lists and recent drops):

Master Drop List(by store, alphabetically):
http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_%28master_lists%29

Recent Guide Drops(by date,also check the second post in this thread):
http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_%28recent_drops%29

What is the purpose of this thread?

The purpose of this thread is to let our fellow CAGs know when a guide has dropped to a low price(it's NOT ALWAYS A PENNY), so they can go out and grab guides for themselves and for trading with other CAGs.

Anytime you have guide drops to report, post them here. Please specify at which store you found them and which guides you found and list them in alphabetical order. Thank you.

What are penny guides?

Penny guides are guides which have been on the market for a while and the publisher(or store chain) decide that the remaining stock of these guides have little to no chance of selling, so they issue an order to pull them from the shelves and destroy them. At that time, they are also marked as .01 in their inventory system, except in the case of BBV, which marks them .01 only AFTER pulling them.

Most stores have an agreement with the publisher that states that if they destroy the remaining stock of those items, they will receive a credit for their value from the publisher. This is why many stores are usually annoyed when we CAGs come in and buy the guides AT the penny price, since otherwise they would've received a full credit for those items.

According to an employee at a local BB, they also have a recycling program for the pennied stock, so as to not clutter landfill space with the guides. As to how true it is, I cannot confirm, but I would hope that the paper is at least recycled instead of just dumpstered.

Prior Reduced price game guide threads:

Guide Three:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50515&highlight=guide
Guide Four:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1496376
Guide Five:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85976
Guide Six:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116918
Guide Seven:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131717
Guide Seven and a half:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142400
Guide Eight:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167157

Finally, below is a list of website links, each of which goes to their respective guide page. Whenever possible, I will update the links with better ones(if available).

Amazon
Barnes&Noble
BestBuy
BookPool
CircuitCity
Gamestop
Overstock
StrategyGuides.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, Guinavere and anyone else who has created and maintained the guide thread before, as well as to all of those who find out either advance information on drops or provide a list of which ones dropped when we do have a drop.

The post below this one contains a list going back at LEAST six months of the more current guide drops, which stores they occured at and which ones dropped. Note that sometimes(Oblivion guide, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory)there are multiple versions of a guide, be it that there are Prima versions, Brady versions and the occasional Nintendo and Doublejump guides.

Please specify WHICH version has dropped when mentioning possible guide drops. Thank you.


 
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[quote name='gi60']GS at Puente hills, ca has 3 gears LE but the guy wants to charge me $9.99 (adjust manually, he said that he'll give me a $20 off $29.99) after spending 5 minutes asking somebody on the phone on why it's ringing up a pnny. so I just left. I also wants to buy $135 worth of games but I told him to forget it. And go to another gs across the street.
There are 3 employees working this afternoon and all of them are surprise it's ringing up .01.

That GS is a mess and poorly run IMO. The 2 employees don''t know anything about games, more like your typical cashier at burger place. One of the employee wants to give a lady in front of me a gutted copy of Rockband 2 even though the lady ask for a sealed copy and after 5 minutes looking she can't find it. The other employee heard the argument and told her that she's looking in the wrong place ( used drawers). She has huge boobs and low cut shirt so that helps my waiting time. :)[/quote]

lmao. half the stores I went today had employees that dont know anything about their owns deals going on or why theres signs in their stores advertising deals, etc...it's pretty embarrasing, they are basically helpless.
 
^to be fair, most of the employee in orange county and long beach area at least know about games and only some that doesn't know about their deals ( you can tell from their surprise look after they hit enter) but the stores are mostly well kept and most know about penny guides since it's not a deal and something that they encounters every month.

But this puente hills mall is something else. They're not suppose to sell the penny guides and this guy wants to jack up the price.
 
[quote name='gi60']^to be fair, most of the employee in orange county and long beach area at least know about games and only some that doesn't know about their deals ( you can tell from their surprise look after they hit enter) but the stores are mostly well kept and most know about penny guides since it's not a deal and something that they encounters every month.

But this puente hills mall is something else. They're not suppose to sell the penny guides and this guy wants to jack up the price.[/quote]

Hey a CAG in city of industry. You must be stealing all the clearance games i've been looking for LOL. :bomb:
 
Anyone know if any retailer still keeps Socom: Confrontation strategy guide? Pennied is best, reduced would also work I guess. Would much rather buy directly from someone in the NYC area, but I doubt anyone has it except the retailers. Didnt sell that well from what I gather :roll:
 
[quote name='Link927'] I picked up some promotional display posters they were about to toss out, CoDWaw and Fire Emblem. I suppose they're strict on the guides and pulling them asap but they're willing to give me those, so they're pretty cool in that sense. [/quote]

Lol, is that Fire Emblem one purple? That one is new and is supposed to go up in marketing for the next 2 weeks. Someone might be missing that soon. Oh well, their loss is your gain! :bouncy:
 
[quote name='iamcool388']Anyone know if any retailer still keeps Socom: Confrontation strategy guide? Pennied is best, reduced would also work I guess. Would much rather buy directly from someone in the NYC area, but I doubt anyone has it except the retailers. Didnt sell that well from what I gather :roll:[/QUOTE]

Gamestop just pennied that one out. Best Buy will probably follow suit in a month or two.
 
Went to 9 Gamestops

I actually found more Final Fantasy guides that were pennied than anything and was turned down a bunch of times.

Got:

GOW x2
Socomo x2
Tales of Vesperia
Spiderman WOS
WOW Bestiary x2
Castlevania
Spectrobes x2

Searching in vain now for the Fable LE, guess I will have to wait until BB drops. Also I just realized I passed up a COD4 :wall:
 
[quote name='igotnodough']Hey a CAG in city of industry. You must be stealing all the clearance games i've been looking for LOL. :bomb:[/quote]

Haha.. don't worry.. I'm not from that area.. I'm just there to meet a friend. That mall is a dump anyway.. haha..
 
Went to 3 GS and they were cleared out. The employess must be on top of it for a change. Oh well, back to hunting for a Gears of War LE.
 
[quote name='h3llbring3r']Can't get there until 2[/quote]


Taking a quick look on the site, I don't see anything that may have dropped. I wouldn't bother today, but if it's on your way home...:)
 
[quote name='WingsDJY']Went to 3 GS and they were cleared out. The employess must be on top of it for a change. Oh well, back to hunting for a Gears of War LE.[/quote]


Yeah, I was there the day before the drop and they were oozing with Gears 2 LE's but suddenly they vanished. I never got the impression from these guys that they were on top of their game.
 
[quote name='animemaniac14']damnnn went to sooo many GS's today and they have gotten GOOD about taking all the guides off the rack...very sad..[/quote]Business is a little more slow at this time of year, so it's very likely that pulls are addressed expeditiously. Not always, obviously. There are stores with management who ignore their pulls at any time.
 
any idea when the WoW beastiary will penny out for bestbuy? cus i saw atleast 5 of them in newington NH

and it would make a good gift for my brother who plays that game all the time lol
 
[quote name='Antic']No drop at BB. I just checked pretty much every guide[/quote]

Thanks Antic, saved me a trip!
I think I'll never get that GoW2 LE HC! WAHH! JK
 
[quote name='slowdive21']I am waiting for metal gear :drool:[/quote]

I would look for it to drop at Gamestop on Thursday. I think the Fallout 3 LE might be another good candidate, since it's also Prima and it came out around the same time as Fable II and Gears 2. Again, this is just speculation, but I think it'll happen.
 
This is a great thread. But one question: what's the best way to ask about pennied guides? At CC, I asked a sales guy to check the prices and then took the deals to another register to pay for them. But at CG, I'm thinking they need to know you. Is it YMMV or are they some "magic" words to lay on them for best results?
 
[quote name='radman99']This is a great thread. But one question: what's the best way to ask about pennied guides? At CC, I asked a sales guy to check the prices and then took the deals to another register to pay for them. But at CG, I'm thinking they need to know you. Is it YMMV or are they some "magic" words to lay on them for best results?[/quote]

Usually, in my experience, at Gamestop they will not sell them get all huffy. But I have also been lucky, so it's definately YMMV.

Now that being said, and I have not had this luck, but if you offer to make 2-3 pre-orders, they will let you take them. You can always go back a day or two later and cancel them.
 
Found a Gears 2 LE guide at Gamestop today. As expected, they wouldn't sell it to me. Told me he would've sold it to me if they had a whole bunch of them, but since he only had one he didn't want the boss to get upset. I wasn't going to argue about it.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']Found a Gears 2 LE guide at Gamestop today. As expected, they wouldn't sell it to me. Told me he would've sold it to me if they had a whole bunch of them, but since he only had one he didn't want the boss to get upset. I wasn't going to argue about it.[/quote]

He wants it for himself.. :)
 
[quote name='iamcool388']Anyone know if any retailer still keeps Socom: Confrontation strategy guide? Pennied is best, reduced would also work I guess. Would much rather buy directly from someone in the NYC area, but I doubt anyone has it except the retailers. Didnt sell that well from what I gather [/quote]
Your best bet, if you can't find a copy of it at any of your Gamestop stores, is to check the Strategy Guide Trade/Sell thread where people list their guides they have for trade/sale. Someone is sure to have a copy of the guide you need there.
[quote name='radman99']This is a great thread. But one question: what's the best way to ask about pennied guides? At CC, I asked a sales guy to check the prices and then took the deals to another register to pay for them. But at CG, I'm thinking they need to know you. Is it YMMV or are they some "magic" words to lay on them for best results?[/quote]
The best thing I've found to say is 'you heard these might be on clearance', since saying you heard these are 'pennied' may raise suspicion that you have some sort of insider info and that'll make them less likely to want to sell them to you. As for CC, the chain is going out of business in the US, so the prices on any pennied guides there should be marked back up to the normal FULL retail price with a percentage off of that.
[quote name='Number83']Usually, in my experience, at Gamestop they will not sell them get all huffy. But I have also been lucky, so it's definately YMMV.
Now that being said, and I have not had this luck, but if you offer to make 2-3 pre-orders, they will let you take them. You can always go back a day or two later and cancel them.[/quote]
That doesn't help ONE BIT around here, though other districts may be different since employees are always looking for pre-orders to pad their numbers with.
[quote name='Doomstink']Found a Gears 2 LE guide at Gamestop today. As expected, they wouldn't sell it to me. Told me he would've sold it to me if they had a whole bunch of them, but since he only had one he didn't want the boss to get upset. I wasn't going to argue about it.[/quote]
That's because that employee probably wanted it for themselves. I would just try another GS store if you have one close enough.
 
stopped at a GS today - checked for guides and didnt see anything from drop...then a Beastiary WOW guide caught my eye.

Grabbed it and was able to get at least one guide from this drop - unfortunately not my big wants of the 2 LE's and Vesperia.
 
Well, it was a nice run, by my favorite GS has a new store manager now - and he seems to be on lockdown with the guides, despite my having friends who would have helped hold some otherwise. I guess its just Best Buy or bust for me now...
 
Actually according to the CC topic it is going to be depend on the liquidator. Some stores still have them at 1 cent, while some store actually mark it up above the MSRP ($24.99 for a $19.99 guide)
 
Just picked up @ Best Buy:
Rock Band .01
Super Mario Galaxy Deluxe Hardcover Edition .01
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Deluxe Hardcover Edition .01

I just happened to be in there and thought I would check a few guides. I hadn't checked this thread in a while, so I wasn't sure if any of them were pennied. I had brought 4 up to the register, but GTAIV was still $19.99.
 
Man. I just went to my gamestop that let me grab the guides but the gay manager came in as soon as it was my turn in line and he rang me up. I had 11 guides with me including a TALES OF VESPERIA!!! Argggg. He rang them up and acted like he was going to sell them to me and then he says " Um you know I can't sell you these right?" man. I lost that guide, revenant wings, bully, 007, wow beastary, wow burning crusade, final fantasy tactics a2, dragon quest 4, okami, and a few other good ones. Oh yeah, hell boy, iron man and something else. Man I wish I could have just put them back on the shelf so I could get them tomorrow, but he had to take them. Oh well. Hopefully I have more luck tomorrow.
 
[quote name='BarbblerElf']Man. I just went to my gamestop that let me grab the guides but the gay manager came in as soon as it was my turn in line and he rang me up. I had 11 guides with me including a TALES OF VESPERIA!!! Argggg. He rang them up and acted like he was going to sell them to me and then he says " Um you know I can't sell you these right?" man. I lost that guide, revenant wings, bully, 007, wow beastary, wow burning crusade, final fantasy tactics a2, dragon quest 4, okami, and a few other good ones. Oh yeah, hell boy, iron man and something else. Man I wish I could have just put them back on the shelf so I could get them tomorrow, but he had to take them. Oh well. Hopefully I have more luck tomorrow.[/QUOTE]

You want better luck next time? Don't bring up 11. Review the list, and see if you can find 2 or 3 that you REALLY want. Any more and it's asking for trouble. This time I brought up 3, got them, left the store, then came back in with a 'oops I forgot a couple, is that still cool?' line and he said 'yes'. If he said 'no', at least I'd have had the first 3.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']I would look for it to drop at Gamestop on Thursday. I think the Fallout 3 LE might be another good candidate, since it's also Prima and it came out around the same time as Fable II and Gears 2. Again, this is just speculation, but I think it'll happen.[/QUOTE]

That's a nice rumor... However I don't see the Fallout 3 Hardcover guide on Gamestop's website. Have you seen one in the store? If so, might want to check it now... I am wondering if they even carried it.
 
[quote name='hellmutt']You want better luck next time? Don't bring up 11. Review the list, and see if you can find 2 or 3 that you REALLY want. Any more and it's asking for trouble. This time I brought up 3, got them, left the store, then came back in with a 'oops I forgot a couple, is that still cool?' line and he said 'yes'. If he said 'no', at least I'd have had the first 3.[/quote]

I know. I got too greedy. The other 2 times i brought up 9 and 9 and i got them both. I loved paying for 9 guides with a Dime. It's so awesome.
 
Why does Gamestop even have the guides on the shelf if they don't want to sell them? Are they a library now?? I rarely shop at Gamestop because of stupid practices like this.
 
[quote name='ntmonster']Why does Gamestop even have the guides on the shelf if they don't want to sell them? Are they a library now?? I rarely shop at Gamestop because of stupid practices like this.[/quote]

I know. This gamestop had about 100+ guides on the shelves and about 30 of them are pennied. I dont see why they dont want to free up the space and just give them to me rather than the garbage dumb.
 
[quote name='hellmutt']That's a nice rumor... However I don't see the Fallout 3 Hardcover guide on Gamestop's website. Have you seen one in the store? If so, might want to check it now... I am wondering if they even carried it.[/quote]

To show backordered products, click the little red button on the bottom of the page when you search; I can see it now. I mean, it would make sense if they end up doing Prima guides this week. I'm going to print out the lists of store locations that have various guides tomorrow, so I can be prepared for a potential drop.
 
Well,

I went to another store and finally hit a good amount of guides. Here they are.

PennyGuides001.jpg


While I was at that Gamestop picking up Legendary, I noticed a couple of guys were looking around the store and taking some specific pictures of Street Fighter IV advertising. When they left, I talked to the cashier and he told me that they were from Capcom and they stopped by to make sure they were advertising RE5 and SF4 heavily. They also let him have 4 copies of the SF4 Training Manual. They kept 3 of the 4 and gave the last one to me. Made my trip!

Here.

PennyGuides002.jpg


I got almost all the guides from this drop but missed Tales of Vesperia and Fable 2 LE. I'll make my request on the trade thread promptly.

--Michael
 
[quote name='BarbblerElf']I know. This gamestop had about 100+ guides on the shelves and about 30 of them are pennied. I dont see why they dont want to free up the space and just give them to me rather than the garbage dumb.[/quote]
Whereabouts in Jersey are you located?
 
[quote name='BarbblerElf']I know. This gamestop had about 100+ guides on the shelves and about 30 of them are pennied. I dont see why they dont want to free up the space and just give them to me rather than the garbage dumb.[/quote]

Because for everyone that makes it to the dump the publisher reimburses them.

Anyone who can find a Tales of Vesperia guide send me a message.
 
[quote name='loxthefox']^
A Winner Is You![/quote]

Not only that, but I noticed the Mirror's Edge bag poking out in the corner of the first picture. Tell me you used it to carry away your spoils of victory ;)
 
So if I find guides that are supposed to be pennied out on the floor with the regular 19.99 price on it, can I just bring it up to the register? I found a couple at Gamestop today but they still had the regular price and I didn't want to make it seem I knew about the pennied thing so I didn't bother questioning why it was still $19.99.

And if it's BestBuy, will they be pennied out on the floor or it'll only show up when you bring it up to pay for them?
 
[quote name='thecheapness']So if I find guides that are supposed to be pennied out on the floor with the regular 19.99 price on it, can I just bring it up to the register? I found a couple at Gamestop today but they still had the regular price and I didn't want to make it seem I knew about the pennied thing so I didn't bother questioning why it was still $19.99.

And if it's BestBuy, will they be pennied out on the floor or it'll only show up when you bring it up to pay for them?[/quote]

They hardly ever put a price sticker of $.01 on them, though it does happen.
 
[quote name='Civickid96']While I was at that Gamestop picking up Legendary, I noticed a couple of guys were looking around the store and taking some specific pictures of Street Fighter IV advertising. When they left, I talked to the cashier and he told me that they were from Capcom and they stopped by to make sure they were advertising RE5 and SF4 heavily. They also let him have 4 copies of the SF4 Training Manual. They kept 3 of the 4 and gave the last one to me. Made my trip!

Here.[/quote]

Wow, are those publicly released anywhere? I've never seen any advertising regarding a training manual. Truly awesome.
 
[quote name='GuardianE']Wow, are those publicly released anywhere? I've never seen any advertising regarding a training manual. Truly awesome.[/quote]

Nope. At least not yet I think. I talked to the GS employee and they only got 4 of them. I was truly lucky to get one. I think it was featured on kotaku.com and it basically has all the characters in SFIV along with moves and the history of Street Fighter.

[quote name='Link927']Not only that, but I noticed the Mirror's Edge bag poking out in the corner of the first picture. Tell me you used it to carry away your spoils of victory ;)[/quote]

LOL. Nice observation. I use my runner bag to do trades back and forth between BBV and GS. Makes carrying multiple games much easier. :lol:

--Michael
 
[quote name='Civickid96']LOL. Nice observation. I use my runner bag to do trades back and forth between BBV and GS. Makes carrying multiple games much easier. :lol:[/quote]It is a cool bag. I use mine for holding extra controllers, because I couldn't think of a better use for it. I suck at the game, though.



Okay folks, listen up. I have some potentially bad news for everyone.

Cyric told me yesterday that a GS Manager was just fired for trading in pennied out guides to a used-book store. So DMs are being told to crack down and make sure penny guides are field destroyed (they're supposed to be field-destroyed in the first place, most DMs and managers get extremely lax about this policy, which is why many of us are able to score the guides when they drop).

With a little luck, many DMs and Store Managers wont be too worried about field destroying future penny drops. And those who do crack down, only do so for a short while.

Just an FYI.
 
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