[IMG-L=4876]4504[/IMG-L]Welcome to The 9th Annual Cheapy Awards! It's the only awards that recognize the best (and worst) in video game retail, nominated and voted on by the Cheap Ass Gamers, the most knowledgeable video game shoppers in the world. This year, the CAGs voted across 13 different retail related categories and 5 CAG community categories.
Congratulations to BlueLobstah and langjaikenny both of whom have won a $500 Amazon Gift Certificate for participating in the Cheapy Awards voting.
Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com
Best Game Trade-In Program: Amazon.com
CAG Community Award: Tony, A.K.A. Amazon DVG Deals
Amazon takes home four awards this year, marking the 6th year in a row they've won Best Online Retailer and Best Online Customer Service, and their 3rd consecutive Best Game Trade-in Program win. Tony (Amazon DVG Deals), also picked up the CAG Community Award for his interactions with the CAG collective.
In response to their impressive victories, the Amazon Video Game Team provide a few statements:
"We’d like to thank the CAG community for these distinguished awards. This recognition really means a lot to us since everything we do is focused on providing the best customer experience for gamers. Also, being gamers ourselves (as well as veteran CAG users), this is especially humbling. Thank you again"
The Amazon Trade-in team adds:
"To all the CAG members who voted for Amazon.com as top trade-in program, thank you! We appreciate your feedback and have always taken your concerns seriously. We have a lot of great things planned for this year, so stay tuned!"
And last, but certainly not least, Tony, A.K.A. Amazon DVG Deals, winner of the CAG Community Award, states:
"Thanks for the phenomenal support this year, I can’t tell you how honored I am to receive the CAG Community award. I’m extremely proud of the tight knit group we have helping shape and drive our business here on CAG and want to personally thank all of you for your constant feedback, suggestions, and evangelism. It is amazing to browse through the internet and find CAGs spreading the word about Amazon Game Downloads. I hope 2012 is shaping up to be as awesome as you all expected, we’ve got a ton more in store for you!
Cheers,
Tony
P.S. The Hamsters send their thanks as well, we gave them all a day off to celebrate."
Best Online Deal: Steam: Holiday Sale
The fourth time is the charm for Steam, as this is the forth year in a row they have been nominated for Best Online Deal and after years of coming up short, Steam finally wins their first-ever Cheapy Award. Congratulations to the folks at Steam/Valve and best of luck in the future.
Best Used Game Retailer: GameFly
In it's 3 years of existence, GameFly wins the Best Used Game Retailer award for the 2nd time. Monthly and sometimes nightly sales which include cheap prices, free shipping and a guarantee of a box and manual helped push GameFly past last year's winner, Amazon Warehouse Deals.
A representative from GameFly addressed their win with this statement:
"GameFly is thrilled to have been recognized as the Best Used Game Retailer from the CAG community for 2011. We strive to deliver the best possible customer experience whether it be in rentals, new game sales, digital game sales/subscription service or used game sales. We hope we continue satisfying our consumers in all service categories in 2012!"
Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy
Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Best Buy: Black Friday Deals
Best Buy was outshined by Kmart last year, but works its way back to the top, picking up it's 5th Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer award. Best Buy also picks up the Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year award for their outstanding Black Friday deals. In addition, Best Buy's Deal of the Day sales managed to finish in 2nd place.
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Nintendo 3DS Price Drop
Nintendo dropping the price of the 3DS just 5 months after release was the biggest shopping news for CAG readers. In order to not upset early adopters "Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors Program" allowed existing 3DS owners to download ten NES games and ten Game Boy Advance games as compensation for paying an $80 premium on their 3DS handhelds. This was such big news it even overshadowed GameStop's Onlive voucher fiasco.
Speedy1961 Deal Buster Award: Enuf
The Deal Buster award was very tight this year, which highlights how important everyone's contributions are to CAG.
Enuf responded to his victory with the following statement:
"I just want to thank the CAG community for all the support & I'll keep trying my best to provide as many deals as possible to save CAGs' money. Thanks again, and I'm glad so many people where able to save money from deals that I found."
Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
This is the 6th year that Play-Asia has taken home a Cheapy award, dominating the competition.
Jan Neuhaeusser, Director, Play-Asia.com responded with the following:
"Gratefully we accept the award for being voted the best Specialty game retailer. Play-Asia.com is constantly seeking out to improve the service, variety, logistics and of course: pricing! We are closing in on our first decade in business this year and we've come a long way. We wouldn't be here without you, our loyal customers – a big Thank You to all our supporters!"
Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer
Yup, CAG rules.
Best Game Value: Skyrim
In previous years, this category is usually one of the closest races, but the power of (and abundance of content in) Skyrim made this year's contest a landslide victory.
Pete Hines from Bethesda responds:
On behalf of everyone at Bethesda, thanks to the CAG community for awarding us Best Game Value of 2011. We’re pleased folks have enjoyed the game and think it’s the best bang for their buck.
Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com
Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
Yup, it's the 6th year in a row for GameStop, as the winners of the Worst Online Game Retailer and Worst B&M Game Retailer "awards". It wasn't all doom and gloom for GameStop this year as they were able to snag a nomination for Best Game Trade-In Program.
Most Memorable CAG Villain: Gargus
Super close race for the award I care the least about.
Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): CAG/PS3 Red Faction: Guerrilla Night
As you can deduce from the name, The Red Faction: Guerrilla thread has been around for awhile. In fact, it was nominated for this award last year and lost.
I contacted bmachine to inform him of the win, and he response is below:
"Thanks to everyone who voted for the Red Faction: Guerrilla thread! The game is certainly getting on in years and, while we don't play together as much as we used to, the friendships made on RFG night persevere.
We're grateful to CheapyD for allowing us to use his website to bring like-minded gamers together and for everyone that's ever enjoyed this amazing game with us."
Best CAG Blog: The Mana Knight
Congratulations to The Mana Knight, whose blog provides an eye-opening look at what it's like to be a modern-day gamer, among other things.
The Mana Knight provided the following statement:
"I want to thank everyone for reading/looking my blogs ever since they first started on CAG. I enjoy blogging about the random things that go on in my life and look forward to continue doing it for many more years to come. Just keep on reading since you all will see what I do next."
Thanks to all the CAGs who participated in this years voting and nominations for The 9th Annual Cheapy Awards. A special thumbs-up to the award winning retailers who provided us with great deals and service in 2011. See you next year!
Quick rundown of winners:
Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com
Best Online Deal: Steam Holiday Sale
Best Game Trade-in Program: Amazon.com
Best Used Game Retailer: GameFly
Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy
Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Best Buy: Black Friday Sales
Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Nintendo 3DS Price Drop
Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer
Best Game Value: Syrim
Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com
Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
CAG Community Award: Tony, Amazon DVG Deals
CAG Deal Buster: Enuf
Most Memorable CAG Villain: Gargus
Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): CAG/PS3 Red Faction: Guerrilla Night
Best CAG Blog: The Mana Knight
Previous winners:
8th Annual Cheapy Awards
7th Annual Cheapy Awards
6th Annual Cheapy Awards
5th Annual Cheapy Awards
4th Annual Cheapy Awards
3rd Annual Cheapy Awards
2nd Annual Cheapy Awards
1st Annual Cheapy Awards
Congratulations to BlueLobstah and langjaikenny both of whom have won a $500 Amazon Gift Certificate for participating in the Cheapy Awards voting.
Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com
Best Game Trade-In Program: Amazon.com
CAG Community Award: Tony, A.K.A. Amazon DVG Deals
Amazon takes home four awards this year, marking the 6th year in a row they've won Best Online Retailer and Best Online Customer Service, and their 3rd consecutive Best Game Trade-in Program win. Tony (Amazon DVG Deals), also picked up the CAG Community Award for his interactions with the CAG collective.
In response to their impressive victories, the Amazon Video Game Team provide a few statements:
"We’d like to thank the CAG community for these distinguished awards. This recognition really means a lot to us since everything we do is focused on providing the best customer experience for gamers. Also, being gamers ourselves (as well as veteran CAG users), this is especially humbling. Thank you again"
The Amazon Trade-in team adds:
"To all the CAG members who voted for Amazon.com as top trade-in program, thank you! We appreciate your feedback and have always taken your concerns seriously. We have a lot of great things planned for this year, so stay tuned!"
And last, but certainly not least, Tony, A.K.A. Amazon DVG Deals, winner of the CAG Community Award, states:
"Thanks for the phenomenal support this year, I can’t tell you how honored I am to receive the CAG Community award. I’m extremely proud of the tight knit group we have helping shape and drive our business here on CAG and want to personally thank all of you for your constant feedback, suggestions, and evangelism. It is amazing to browse through the internet and find CAGs spreading the word about Amazon Game Downloads. I hope 2012 is shaping up to be as awesome as you all expected, we’ve got a ton more in store for you!
Cheers,
Tony
P.S. The Hamsters send their thanks as well, we gave them all a day off to celebrate."
Best Online Deal: Steam: Holiday Sale
The fourth time is the charm for Steam, as this is the forth year in a row they have been nominated for Best Online Deal and after years of coming up short, Steam finally wins their first-ever Cheapy Award. Congratulations to the folks at Steam/Valve and best of luck in the future.
Best Used Game Retailer: GameFly
In it's 3 years of existence, GameFly wins the Best Used Game Retailer award for the 2nd time. Monthly and sometimes nightly sales which include cheap prices, free shipping and a guarantee of a box and manual helped push GameFly past last year's winner, Amazon Warehouse Deals.
A representative from GameFly addressed their win with this statement:
"GameFly is thrilled to have been recognized as the Best Used Game Retailer from the CAG community for 2011. We strive to deliver the best possible customer experience whether it be in rentals, new game sales, digital game sales/subscription service or used game sales. We hope we continue satisfying our consumers in all service categories in 2012!"
Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy
Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Best Buy: Black Friday Deals
Best Buy was outshined by Kmart last year, but works its way back to the top, picking up it's 5th Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer award. Best Buy also picks up the Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year award for their outstanding Black Friday deals. In addition, Best Buy's Deal of the Day sales managed to finish in 2nd place.
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Nintendo 3DS Price Drop
Nintendo dropping the price of the 3DS just 5 months after release was the biggest shopping news for CAG readers. In order to not upset early adopters "Nintendo 3DS Ambassadors Program" allowed existing 3DS owners to download ten NES games and ten Game Boy Advance games as compensation for paying an $80 premium on their 3DS handhelds. This was such big news it even overshadowed GameStop's Onlive voucher fiasco.
Speedy1961 Deal Buster Award: Enuf
The Deal Buster award was very tight this year, which highlights how important everyone's contributions are to CAG.
Enuf responded to his victory with the following statement:
"I just want to thank the CAG community for all the support & I'll keep trying my best to provide as many deals as possible to save CAGs' money. Thanks again, and I'm glad so many people where able to save money from deals that I found."
Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
This is the 6th year that Play-Asia has taken home a Cheapy award, dominating the competition.
Jan Neuhaeusser, Director, Play-Asia.com responded with the following:
"Gratefully we accept the award for being voted the best Specialty game retailer. Play-Asia.com is constantly seeking out to improve the service, variety, logistics and of course: pricing! We are closing in on our first decade in business this year and we've come a long way. We wouldn't be here without you, our loyal customers – a big Thank You to all our supporters!"
Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer
Yup, CAG rules.
Best Game Value: Skyrim
In previous years, this category is usually one of the closest races, but the power of (and abundance of content in) Skyrim made this year's contest a landslide victory.
Pete Hines from Bethesda responds:
On behalf of everyone at Bethesda, thanks to the CAG community for awarding us Best Game Value of 2011. We’re pleased folks have enjoyed the game and think it’s the best bang for their buck.
Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com
Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
Yup, it's the 6th year in a row for GameStop, as the winners of the Worst Online Game Retailer and Worst B&M Game Retailer "awards". It wasn't all doom and gloom for GameStop this year as they were able to snag a nomination for Best Game Trade-In Program.
Most Memorable CAG Villain: Gargus
Super close race for the award I care the least about.
Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): CAG/PS3 Red Faction: Guerrilla Night
As you can deduce from the name, The Red Faction: Guerrilla thread has been around for awhile. In fact, it was nominated for this award last year and lost.
I contacted bmachine to inform him of the win, and he response is below:
"Thanks to everyone who voted for the Red Faction: Guerrilla thread! The game is certainly getting on in years and, while we don't play together as much as we used to, the friendships made on RFG night persevere.
We're grateful to CheapyD for allowing us to use his website to bring like-minded gamers together and for everyone that's ever enjoyed this amazing game with us."
Best CAG Blog: The Mana Knight
Congratulations to The Mana Knight, whose blog provides an eye-opening look at what it's like to be a modern-day gamer, among other things.
The Mana Knight provided the following statement:
"I want to thank everyone for reading/looking my blogs ever since they first started on CAG. I enjoy blogging about the random things that go on in my life and look forward to continue doing it for many more years to come. Just keep on reading since you all will see what I do next."
Thanks to all the CAGs who participated in this years voting and nominations for The 9th Annual Cheapy Awards. A special thumbs-up to the award winning retailers who provided us with great deals and service in 2011. See you next year!
Quick rundown of winners:
Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com
Best Online Deal: Steam Holiday Sale
Best Game Trade-in Program: Amazon.com
Best Used Game Retailer: GameFly
Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy
Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Best Buy: Black Friday Sales
Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Nintendo 3DS Price Drop
Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer
Best Game Value: Syrim
Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com
Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
CAG Community Award: Tony, Amazon DVG Deals
CAG Deal Buster: Enuf
Most Memorable CAG Villain: Gargus
Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): CAG/PS3 Red Faction: Guerrilla Night
Best CAG Blog: The Mana Knight
Previous winners:
8th Annual Cheapy Awards
7th Annual Cheapy Awards
6th Annual Cheapy Awards
5th Annual Cheapy Awards
4th Annual Cheapy Awards
3rd Annual Cheapy Awards
2nd Annual Cheapy Awards
1st Annual Cheapy Awards
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