Reduced price game guides, all stores. Thread 6

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floormat

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3-17-07 Here should be most of the information that anyone would need in acquiring guides. please read ALL the information below before asking questions. most question are answered below. Again thank you 6669 for all your contributions to this thread and web site.



My wifes web site - Nice jewelry good prices.

www.ladieslovejewelry.com



For hopefully the latestest most current up to date guide drops please refer to the

"CAG Strategy Guide WIKI page"

recent drop section

http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_(recent_drops)

master list section

http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides_(master_lists)

they will be filetered from the thread posts to the WIKI page as often as possible. Thank you for your contribution.




Listed in the wiki is the most up to date compiled list of all known guide deals from the posts of this thread and similar threads. I will update the wikis lists as people post new guide deals. Everything listed in this thread “should” be the price listed or lower. These prices are typically company wide price reductions and not YMMV. But just because the prices are typically universal does not mean that they are guaranteed to be sold to you. Most stores have a destroy clause with the guide companies. So whether or not you get these guides depend on many many factors from how diligent a staff is to how reasonable or friendly one is. Good luck on any you may find and good luck on acquiring them. Please dont have a fit if a store wont let you have them just move on. Causing trouble rarely gets guides and most of the time stops others from getting guides in your area. If anything is incorrect or missing please post so corrections can be made.


Now you can just cut, paste, print, and GO!!!



What is a Penny Guide:

To answer this question fully, one first has to understand the longstanding legal agreemenat which [book] publishers have with book sellers such as Borders, Barnes & Noble and other chain and Mom & Pop shops, as well as other retailers who similarly sell their books.

For several decades, publishers such as Simon & Schuster, Penguin, Random House, et cetera will send out X-number of a title to stores to be sold. After a time, when it is decided that those older titles have little chance of selling and the store shelf real-estate would be better used for newer publications, they issue a recall to the vendors to field destroy all remaining copies of titles A, B & C.

The stores then will pull those titles from their inventory to be field-destroyed, and in their systems mark the publications as 1¢. The 1¢ price is to indicate to the publisher that they are no-longer selling the pulled title, and it is also to serve as a Red Flag to any cashier who might ring up a title (on the chance that the titles were not pulled as legally they were required).

When the pull lists are sent out by the publishers, and the stores adjust the price in their inventory (and pull and field-destroy the books), the stores also are to report to the publisher the number of the books they pulled. (This is generally done at a corporate level.) The publisher then credits the stores full cost of the books.

So lets say, MegaChain orders 8000 copies of the Bread Baker strategy guide for their stores in North America for say, $4 a piece. They owe $32,000 to Publisher X. Bread Baker being a big seller and a hard game, then sells 6000 of those 8000 guides, leaving around 2000 guides on the shelves when Publisher X issues the pull demand. Publisher X then issues MegaChain an $8000 credit for the 2000 unsold copies of the guide.


According to IAmTheCheapestGamer, some retailers also have deals where each copy of pulled titles sent to their recognized Recycling Centers are additionally issued further credit for being environmentally responsible in the manner in which they field destroy each book.



How you can help: You can keep a printed copy of this list in your jacket, wallet, purse whatever and when you go to any store that carries guides look for guides for games that have been out typically around six months or more and ask for a price check or better yet use a store scanner if they are available. If they are anything less than cover price write it down for us. Also please when you post the info here if it looks like it’s a temporary sale, please post that as well otherwise it will be assumed to a be a permanent price reduction. If you scan a guide and it comes up a different price that what the master lists suggests please list the day and store that you had the guide scanned. Also please list if you physically saw a self-scanner’s price, physically saw a cash registers price or vocally heard a price from the store’s staff. This might sound like a lot and of course we will take what we can get but this will go a long way to having the best master list as well as ferreting out different store practices and policy’s. All help is appreciated and thank you.




Trading: I spoke with the post office and found out that the cheapest form of mailing to the 48 contiguous states would be to use “media mail” It will take a little longer but it will also allow the least amount of money per transaction when trying to acquire guides for your collection. For an average guide weight of about 9 oz its $1.42 cents. All you need to do is put it in an envelope and ship it media mail. He mentioned no one should have a problem if you use the same envelope several times to cut down on costs. He also mentioned that when shipping Media mail that you cannot have any personal correspondence in the envelope. Only books and an invoice are acceptable. If trading is in you interest you do whatever is most comfortable for you and your trading party this was merely a FYI and a good way to keep it cheap.



Helpful links to check for reduced priced guides or guides in general. You will likely never find one cent guides here but various discounted guides and possibly some that you have been searching for.


Best Buy

Best Buy guide search


Circuit City

Circuit City guide search


EB Games

EB Games guide search


Gamestop (babages,software etc,funcoland)

Gamestop guide search


Overstock

Overstock guide search


Toys R Us (uhh best link I could find)

Toys R Us guide search


strategy-guides.net (another large site of guides)

strategy-guides.net guide search


bookpool (guides typically 45% off or so )

Book pool guide search


Looking for assistance: I am looking for some staff from Best Buy’s, EB’s, Gamestop’s and stores of the like. When EB Games or Gamestop has a price reduction their shelves can be empty in a day or two to even as little as just a few hours. EB and Gamestop have daily price changes so all depending on the store’s staff they could be all gone almost immediately. If I could get some staff that can either post here first thing any day that they have a price reduction on guides or that might be able to text message me with such price reductions so that I might be able to inform CAG’ers ASAP. Whether or not us the end user would actually be able to get them from a particular stores staff is very much an YMMV but if there is anyone who can help this would greatly increase the chance’s of CAG’ers being able to pick up guides from these locations. If anyone is interested and able to help please e-mail me at [email protected]. Thank you all for your consideration.



Thank you all for making CAG what it is and for all your contributions.


Disclaimer: This list is intended to help all guide hunters. Please feel free to print yourself a copy and get what you can find. Please do not post this list on another site. {e-mail me please if for some reason you would want to. [email protected]} Please just link to this thread, add to this list and help it grow. Thank you





all guides are now listed in the wiki please go there. thank you.
 
I doubt that though, since many other guides have had second releases with new info added to them. The Oblivion guide being a PRIME example. However, if it was a price mistake, that was one HELL of a 'boo-boo'.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I doubt that though, since many other guides have had second releases with new info added to them. The Oblivion guide being a PRIME example. However, if it was a price mistake, that was one HELL of a 'boo-boo'.[/quote]

Wheres that tradelist?
 
well I am not sure but I could stop by again today and see what the deal is. I got two World of Warcraft Atlas's a few weeks ago when they drop so I could check the bar code on mine and see if it changed.
 
Nah I actually had to stop by at BB for something else and made a note to check things out. It was the same book, no indication of 2nd edition, looks to be the same thickness, and had the regular price tag on. I compared the ISBN number with the one i wrote down from the one I got at home. Same number. I bought it up with my other merchandise and it rang up the reg. price (and of course had to make some lame escuse that I didnt want it all of the sudden). So this is why I think it was a price mistake or a glitch in the system if you will. Chitty but true (at least at my store).
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']World of Warcraft Atlas actually has a retail price of $34.99.

Still, sucks if they really raised the price.[/quote]

I think the original retail is actually 29.99 using bradygames site as reference. Best Buy I think sold it initially (and atm) for 24.99
 
[quote name='62t']I think someone mentioned the new Oblivion guide has the same SKU as the old one.[/quote]
It doesn't. I already checked that.
 
[quote name='floormat']minor wiki update

http://wiki.cheapassgamer.com/index.php/Category:Strategy_Guides[/quote]Why are there only a handful of CCs guides listed? Has no one gone through the old threads to list all the guides which have been marked down? I know it's a big job, but we have a Strat Guide listing in the wiki and no one has done jack with it.

Or was there a decision that only new price drops should go in there? Either way, we should have (at the least a little) more in that wiki than we have. If no one volunteers to update the wiki, I'll do it after the holidays. (albeit slowly
blush.gif
)

Edit: taking a quick look at the wiki edits, it seems only Floormat has been editing the list. Floormat, do you want to be the only one working on this list? If so, I won't touch it. If you're okay with it, I'd like to help out.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Why are there only a handful of CCs guides listed? Has no one gone through the old threads to list all the guides which have been marked down? I know it's a big job, but we have a Strat Guide listing in the wiki and no one has done jack with it.

Or was there a decision that only new price drops should go in there? Either way, we should have (at the least a little) more in that wiki than we have. If no one volunteers to update the wiki, I'll do it after the holidays. (albeit slowly
blush.gif
)

Edit: taking a quick look at the wiki edits, it seems only Floormat has been editing the list. Floormat, do you want to be the only one working on this list? If so, I won't touch it. If you're okay with it, I'd like to help out.[/QUOTE]


I created the wiki for all of us to update. I have far to many responsibilities to update this thread correctly as often as it deserves. What I was going to do one day when time permiting was go through the last 50-80 pages of posts and fully update the master list and then as time permits cut and paste the wiki to the master list.

Basically my goal was that we would all be able to be update the wiki on the new guide drops with a good stable back up here on the master list. This should hopefully prevent most errors as well as keep us from falling behind again. I personally would suggest that we just go forward at this point and sometime soon I hope I will refilter the last years worth into the master thread.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Why are there only a handful of CCs guides listed?[/QUOTE]
CC doesn't penny guides. They either go on clearance, or just fade away until they are sold out.
[quote name='floormat']I created the wiki for all of us to update. I have far to many responsibilities to update this thread correctly as often as it deserves. What I was going to do one day when time permiting was go through the last 50-80 pages of posts and fully update the master list and then as time permits cut and paste the wiki to the master list.

Basically my goal was that we would all be able to be update the wiki on the new guide drops with a good stable back up here on the master list. This should hopefully prevent most errors as well as keep us from falling behind again. I personally would suggest that we just go forward at this point and sometime soon I hope I will refilter the last years worth into the master thread.[/QUOTE]
Cool, since you don't mind, I'll try to update the wiki as well (assuming I have the time too ;))
 
Okay guys found a few more oldies today. Up for trade or sale (if you buy multiple):
N64->Castlevania Legacy of Darkness (ill fated n64 castlevania game) -pending
Banjo-Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Pokemon Stadium 2 (I can get the game used as well if anybody's interested)

Ps1:
Vandal Hearts 2 - pending
Tomba 2 (would like to keep, but will let go for right offer)
 
[quote name='dragonjud']Okay guys found a few more oldies today. Up for trade or sale (if you buy multiple):
N64->Castlevania Legacy of Darkness (ill fated n64 castlevania game)
Banjo-Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Pokemon Stadium 2 (I can get the game used as well if anybody's interested)

Ps1:
Vandal Hearts 2
Tomba 2 (would like to keep, but will let go for right offer)[/quote]

holy moly...what time warp did you stumble onto to encounter those?
 
I managed to find used guides for Bushido Blade, Bushido Blade 2, and Mario Party 2 at a Gamestop that I rarely go to today ($.80 ea after discounts). God only knows how many years they've been sitting there.
 
[quote name='lawdood']holy moly...what time warp did you stumble onto to encounter those?[/quote]

Small local store that somehow didn't throw or sell these a long time ago. They're eliminating them at dirt cheap prices, so I pick what I want. Most importantly they might as well be new as they show less wear than most guides at typical retail stores.

With the Wii VC, some of these may actually be useful (N64). Hopefully some of the more rare ps1 games will also be released via the new ps3/psp service.
 
[quote name='floormat']I personally would suggest that we just go forward at this point and sometime soon I hope I will refilter the last years worth into the master thread.[/quote] If that's what you want then I'll leave things alone. What I was hoping to do was to go through the back threads and list all the guides which have been pennied out in the past (with their stores and if listed, the dates). This way there's an easy way for people who want to know, "if I stumble across X guide in a store, is it full price or 1¢?"

I don't hit these threads very often. (Possibly because there are seemingly hundreds of posts to sift through to find the information for which I'm seeking.) So I wouldn't be a great candidate for updating only with new incoming information. But as I said, I'd like to help out in the large backlog of old threads and old guides.

As 66 is interested and we're both wiki editors, perhaps she and I could divy up the older threads come the new year?



[quote name='6669']CC doesn't penny guides. They either go on clearance, or just fade away until they are sold out.[/quote]
wooper.gif
I wasn't so much asking about the CC guides, but why there was so little info in the wiki regarding the tons of pennied out guides from BB and EB/GS.
 
[quote name='guinaevere']As 66 is interested and we're both wiki editors, perhaps she and I could divy up the older threads come the new year?[/QUOTE]
We definitely could. I still need to Wikify the free mags thread. My last day of school is Weds, so I should have more free time then. I guess we can start from the OP of the last thread. That should cover all the guides, as I think floormat added them all, up to the last date listed.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85976
 
That sounds awesome! Just give me till the first of the year before I can really get to work on this. And then hopefully, it'll be nice and organized and if someone needs to do a quick check to see if the strat guide for Dr Muto ever was pennied out, they'd have a quick and easy way to find out.

Of course, if someone actually plays Dr Muto, they have more problems than just finding a cheap strat guide.
 
Unfortunately, I can confirm that the World of Warcraft Atlas was raised to $29.99. Found 4 copies in a local Best Buy, rang up as $29.99. There was no special UPC tacked on, and the book didn't seem to be special in anyway. I didn't have one of the old pennied versions to compare to, though.
 
Just picked up Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends at Best Buy for .01, i carry around a piece of paper that i scribble down the names of penny guides and had Rise of Nations listed but wasn't sure if the Rise of Legends edition was on sale but i grabbed the whole stack of guides and brought them to the cash register to price check them and told the guy to ring them up to see if they're on sale and when he saw the one cent price he was like something is wrong so i immediately was ready with them "oh yeah these go on clearance and i buy them all the time because i'm a collector of game guides" so i was able to get them without any hassle.

btw, JAMES good luck getting some of these at the valley store because i didn't get a chance to swing down there plus i figure since you'll be trying to get these i'll leave the valley store for you and i'll take the north side store. Laterz
 
[quote name='6669']We definitely could. I still need to Wikify the free mags thread. My last day of school is Weds, so I should have more free time then. I guess we can start from the OP of the last thread. That should cover all the guides, as I think floormat added them all, up to the last date listed.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85976[/QUOTE]


the date at the top of the first page is the date that I last went through all the posts and updated the thread. This would currently include the drops listed by date store and price section. The master list section is a year behind.

If you 2 want to split going through the last 100 pages of post to relist the guides by date/store/price/alphabetical order I will do my best to make time to take what you 2 get and filter it into the master list so we have a full update.

Thank you both for this offer of help.
 
I suppose that the .01 cent guide thing is YMMV?

I went to a local EB Games B&M store yesterday and saw they had a whole bunch of older guides which should technically be .01 cent, according to the list, but they were all still full priced when I had the salesperson scan the guide for a price. Maybe they were lying to me, but I see no reason for them to do that, since they had what looked like dozens of guides that should be considered old.

Some of the guides I saw were;

Castlevania: Curse Of Darkness (this is the one I had the salesperson scan)

God Of War

Goldeneye: Rogue Agent

Jak II

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Zelda: Wind Waker

just to name a few.


I didn't bother having the rest scanned since it seemed that they would all ring up at full price.
 
[quote name='GunPanther']I suppose that the .01 cent guide thing is YMMV?

I went to a local EB Games B&M store yesterday and saw they had a whole bunch of older guides which should technically be .01 cent, according to the list, but they were all still full priced when I had the salesperson scan the guide for a price. Maybe they were lying to me, but I see no reason for them to do that, since they had what looked like dozens of guides that should be considered old.

Some of the guides I saw were;

Castlevania: Curse Of Darkness (this is the one I had the salesperson scan)

God Of War

Goldeneye: Rogue Agent

Jak II

Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando

Zelda: Wind Waker

just to name a few.


I didn't bother having the rest scanned since it seemed that they would all ring up at full price.[/QUOTE]
1. Old guide does not equal penny guide.
2. Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando, Jak II and Goldeneye: Rogue Agent are penned at EB. it is possible the price was adust manualkly.
 
Like 62t said, just because a guide is very old doesn't always mean it will be a penny.

Also, Curse of Darkness is not on the list for EB, or anywhere at all.

Dawn of Sorrow, 64, Legacy of Darkness, [SIZE=-1]Symphony of the Night (Survival guide/[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]Unauthorized Secrets & Solutions[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]), and Lament of Innocence all are, but no CoD. [/SIZE]
 
[quote name='floormat']the date at the top of the first page is the date that I last went through all the posts and updated the thread. This would currently include the drops listed by date store and price section. The master list section is a year behind.

If you 2 want to split going through the last 100 pages of post to relist the guides by date/store/price/alphabetical order I will do my best to make time to take what you 2 get and filter it into the master list so we have a full update.

Thank you both for this offer of help.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I can help towards the end of the week, when schools out.
 
Ok, I'm going to clear up the whole World Of Warcraft Atlas confusion. I went to a BB last night & received this book for .01, now they had 2 different books there, one with the bookmarks and one without. Here are the UPC's for each:

Bookmarks: 752073006969 $.01
No Bookmarks: 752073004415 $29.99

On the back cover there was a paper insert on each one. The one with bookmarks states in the upper left hand corner: WOW Atlas Gift Pack. The other one does not say that. Also Bookmark guide retailed at $34.99 & the other one retails at $29.99

I hope this info helps other CAGS.
 
I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)
Good luck getting them, I'm sure some cashiers will balk at giving them away for free.
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)
Good luck getting them, I'm sure some cashiers will balk at giving them away for free.[/QUOTE]

That's insane... if someone gets me an Enchanted Arms guide I will hook you up.
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)[/quote]Where?
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)
Good luck getting them, I'm sure some cashiers will balk at giving them away for free.[/QUOTE]

I found a copy of the original Oblivion guide at Best Buy (without the black trim) and I was so excited but when I price checked at the register, it came up as $9.99 . . . I left it behind (and silently shed a few tears).
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)
Good luck getting them, I'm sure some cashiers will balk at giving them away for free.[/quote]

Nice. Can someone else confirm this as well?
 
How do any of you find things for 0.01? That's impossible where I live. The lowing things get around here is 10-15 dollars, seriously! How can I find things for 0.01?
 
[quote name='Strider Turbulence']I checked on the prices for Oblivion, Enchanted Arms, and Tomb Raider Legend. They didn't drop to a penny....they dropped to $0.00 :)
Good luck getting them, I'm sure some cashiers will balk at giving them away for free.[/quote]

I doubt it.. the Enchanted Arms guide is still on the website for $9.99. Maybe an indication of a coming drop, or a YMMV markdown? I'm still gonna hope for it, though! I know a Best Buy that's good with pennied guides that has about 8 of these left last time I checked.
 
Okay so, I stopped by the local bestbuy that never lets me down, and I asked the supervisor of the games department for the hardcover guides for Zelda TP. He sends one of the guys to the back to see if there're any extras, and 5 minutes later he comes back with nothing.
So, as I'm ready to give up and walk out, I remember that they have a separate location for PC guides, and that sometimes the workers are lazy and just put stuff there to avoid overcrowding the game section.
Searched around, and YESSSSS!! found 3 of them.
So, there're two up for sale at $16.00 paypal. The first 2 pm, get them.
If I don't have any pms by tonight, I'll just return them.
 
I got extras to both enchanted arms and oblivion. My store had a ton. I was too much of a coward to just get free guides so i ended up buying RE4 for PS2 for $14.99 with ggc. Been meaning to get it anyways.

I have 4 oblivion guides and 2 enchanted arms guides available. Roufuss gets 1st dibs on enchanted arms because he asked first and because he's Roufuss.
 
I can confirm that Enchanted Arms is a penny/free at Best Buy today. Went to finish off the rest of my Christmas shopping a few mins ago and checked on it, and yep it's marked off. The employee let me take it for free. Huzzah for free Christmas presents, my cousin is going to love it.

Also, after I was checked out the guy behind me left the line and picked up an assload of them. No idea if he got away with all them or not. This was at the Wilkes-Barre Best Buy in PA, by the way.
 
Also I should mention my oblivion guides were odd. Some had a sticker over price and THAT rang up at price of $0.00 while ones without sticker didn't. She checked the guides and gave me em all at $0.00 price since she didn't care though.
 
WTF is up with the middle of the month drop? I and others checked these the first monday of the month and nada. Damnit, and I was just at BB yesterday, didn't bother checking anything.

Anything else drop too?
 
[quote name='Brian9824']I got extras to both enchanted arms and oblivion. My store had a ton. I was too much of a coward to just get free guides so i ended up buying RE4 for PS2 for $14.99 with ggc. Been meaning to get it anyways.

I have 4 oblivion guides and 2 enchanted arms guides available. Roufuss gets 1st dibs on enchanted arms because he asked first and because he's Roufuss.[/quote]

I keep getting 504 errors trying to PM you. What do I have to do to get one of your Enchanted Arms guides from you?
 
Yeap Yeap. All guides mention above is $0.00. Glad i pickup Zelda: LE guide for $4.99 after $5 off coupon ($5 off any Prima Guide found in Fall Codes & Cheats Book expires 12/24/2006). I also pickup TMNT 3 for PS2 for $4.99 after $5 off Game Pro coupon. I scored Tomb Raider Legend, Obivilion and Enchant Arms guide for $0.00. They guy ringup get confused and i told him it's on clearance ........ I paid $10.XX & thanks him

I may comback later today empty all the $0.00 guides, lolz
 
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