Reduced price game guides, all stores. Thread 6

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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.
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']No, actually I believe he is simply stating that it's disappointing to see such valuable products getting destroyed, for whatever the reason the company chose.

Besides, early adopters and people who need the guide right away will buy the guides at full price. It's just like any product in the world. When a product gets released, the people who want it the most and have the money will buy it at full price at release. Everyone else will say "I'll buy it when it takes a big price drop". This situation is no different.

For example, on the last Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and Jak games, I knew that about a year after release, it would go GH for $19.99 like the previous games in the series. So, I waited patiently for about a year and picked them up for half-price each because I KNEW they would drop. Is that "bad" for the game companies?

If the guide publishers either made a product with more compelling features, or made it cheaper in the first place, then this wouldn't be as much of an issue.[/quote]


Yes exactly my point......isn't there something out there you love? Say a video game, beer something smokable, porn, etc, if you really love it then it will pain you to hear it was just thrown away. Seriously, these companies are making bad marketing decisions because i wanted a copy of Dead Rising for "when" i get the game. But now that it looks like i won't be able to get a copy of the guide i may not even get that game now because i prefer to play the game while having the guide sitting next to me. I hate stopping and looking crap up on the net, takes me out of the mode if yo know what i mean. These companies need to drop the price but maybe not so low. Why is the lowest they usually get say 5-10 bucks, why not lower them to 3 bucks or 4, seriously, what a waste to penny them and then throw them in the compactor to be destroyed. This is why i HATE CORPORATE AMERICA, each shit and die i say to all of them for having business practices like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
[quote name='sacreddoctor']Yes exactly my point......isn't there something out there you love? Say a video game, beer something smokable, porn, etc, if you really love it then it will pain you to hear it was just thrown away. Seriously, these companies are making bad marketing decisions because i wanted a copy of Dead Rising for "when" i get the game. But now that it looks like i won't be able to get a copy of the guide i may not even get that game now because i prefer to play the game while having the guide sitting next to me. I hate stopping and looking crap up on the net, takes me out of the mode if yo know what i mean. These companies need to drop the price but maybe not so low. Why is the lowest they usually get say 5-10 bucks, why not lower them to 3 bucks or 4, seriously, what a waste to penny them and then throw them in the compactor to be destroyed. This is why i HATE CORPORATE AMERICA, each shit and die i say to all of them for having business practices like this!!!!!!!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

Christ, calm down. It's just a book. The world will not end. If it meant so much to you then you should have bought it beforehand. You're not upset about their business practice, you're just upset that you missed out on getting something for cheap. There are greater tragedies in the world.
 
Unfortunately, penny guides are hard to come by in my area. If anybody is willing to cut me a fair deal on a bundle of guides, PM me. I am looking for:

Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus
Guitar Hero II
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence
New Super Mario Bros.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Xenosaga III
Yoshi's Island DS
 
[quote name='Orrimarrko']Found at my local TRU:

Metroid Prime: Hunters x5

CML if you're interested.[/QUOTE]
Were there any guides in particular you're looking for?
 
[quote name='schultzed']You, and many rich collectors.

For some reason, this guide has exploded in value . . . they sell for $100 on ebay. I sold mine off for $70 before Xmas. I got mine for free . . . see this odd story about how I got it (if you care)

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44843[/quote]

WOW never knew they went for so much. I sold mine around october I think for like $17. Now I wish I kept onto it for a little longer.
 
[quote name='botticus']If it was valuable, then you would have paid more than a penny for it.
[/quote]

Honestly, 'back in the day', I was one of those gamers who bought a guide for almost every game they bought. Sometimes, I waited till I got stuck on a part or three, but I knew that even if my local EB didn't have the guide NEW, they still had the used guide section I could thumb through.

I sorely miss the days when EB still had used guides people would trade in with their games(and get a mere buck each after spending $15 or so on them originally). What irks me more though, is how the price has gone up on guides since I used to buy guides with my games.

I remember paying $10-15 for guides. But now, most guides are $15-20, with the WOW Atlas and certain other ones being OVER that threshhold even. And for what? The paper quality hasn't improved in my opinion and neither has the depth of MANY of these guides. Most of the info IN these guides is available on Gamefaqs and other gaming sites for FREE, so how guides are still being made even is beyond me.

Admittedly, some buy them for the artwork and collectible nature of them, but honestly, HOW MANY guides actually hold their value or can truly be called 'beautiful'? Not a whole hell of a lot.

If Gamestop and the other stores actually dropped the guides incrementally(like GS has done with the Devil Summoner guide by putting it @ $5), then maybe some of us total cheapasses wouldn't mind picking up these guides for games we have BEFORE they hit a penny.

But, quite frankly, once I'm done with a game and if there's nothing left to do after completing it besides running around and just causing havoc in the game world, I put it and the guide for it aside and may never touch either again.

And, while I do get my $2-50 worth of pleasure out of the games, to spend $15-20 EVERY time on a guide which will sit there collecting dust because it's only worth a fifth of that SHIPPED on Ebay or CAG, I'd RATHER only pay a cent for it. At least THAT way, if I have no use for it and NO ONE wants it, I don't feel so bad when I donate it to Salvation Army.

Sorry for the LONG rant, but this is MY reasoning why I only buy the guides @ .01 anymore(cept for my MK Armageddon guide, which I paid full for). Oh and if any CAG has a spare copy of the Tomb Raider Legend guide for trade for a reasonable deal, PM ME, as I just finally splurged and bought the game last night @ TRU.
 
First time I ever went shopping for penny-guides. Pretty bare, but I was able to pick up a guide for Red Steel, F.E.A.R., and Kingdom Hearts 2. Happy about the last one. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Tried one more BB and one more TRU. Found F.E.A.R. at BB hidden behind a stack of other guides... the only penny guide available.

Found Dragonball Z: BT2 at TRU. The only penny guide there and I did take the only 4 copies left. It's a good thing...when I went to pay (outside the RZone area) the cashier had to clear it with the manager first... and she said they shouldn't have been on the floor to begin with.

I've got at least one of those for trade....
 
[quote name='shajek']The SE store had a bunch of the Yoshi's Island DS pocket guides on the bottom shelf.[/quote]

Really? I didn't see any...but I went around 6:00 PM though.
 
Selling guides by themselves on ebay is a waste of time, but combine them with the game and it's a different story. I just sold game/guides for FFX, GTA:VC, and Silent Hill 2 on ebay. Without the guides, I'm sure no one would have even looked at my auctions due to the fact that there are a gazillion of these games on ebay at any given time. As it was, I did okay ($16.07, $13.00, and $22.06, respectively). My main motivation in hunting down guides is for improving the resale of my games. But I also like to have them handy for when I get really really stuck in a game. It's a little more convenient than running out to GameFAQs.
 
[quote name='spookyhurst']Selling guides by themselves on ebay is a waste of time, but combine them with the game and it's a different story. I just sold game/guides for FFX, GTA:VC, and Silent Hill 2 on ebay. Without the guides, I'm sure no one would have even looked at my auctions due to the fact that there are a gazillion of these games on ebay at any given time.[/quote]

I find that putting guides alongside my Collapsible Traveling Bird Cages really increases the final value, as well.
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']I find that putting guides alongside my Collapsible Traveling Bird Cages really increases the final value, as well. [/quote]

You got Collapsible Travelling Birdcages with guides???

In for one! Thanks!
 
wow it seems that dead rising is perhaps the most wanted guide out of this drop, i could sworn there were tons of them at a best buy i saw just aw week ago, i wonder if i a hoarder took them all.
 
[quote name='scion of ys']wow it seems that dead rising is perhaps the most wanted guide out of this drop, i could sworn there were tons of them at a best buy i saw just aw week ago, i wonder if i a hoarder took them all.[/quote]

Well, I hope that hoarder will give me a deal on one of them. I'll say it again, that's the one guide I really wanted from this drop!
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']I find that putting guides alongside my Collapsible Traveling Bird Cages really increases the final value, as well. [/QUOTE]

LOL

Oddly enough, I bought a collapsible traveling bird cage on ebay just a few months ago. And it didn't have no damn strategy guides with it ;).
 
[quote name='schultzed']You, and many rich collectors.

For some reason, this guide has exploded in value . . . they sell for $100 on ebay. I sold mine off for $70 before Xmas. I got mine for free . . . see this odd story about how I got it (if you care)

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44843[/QUOTE]

Wait, you mean Zelda Minish Cap - the GBA game, THAT one, is worth more than the paper it is printed on? I think I may have 1 or 2 of those. I think I got them back when Best Buy used to leave crap out. I'll have to dig through my old stacks of guides - though I didn't see it when I updated my trade list with guides :whistle2:s.

In other news, I was able to find a Resistance guide today (only one of the drops at the latest BB I went to, very odd). Still looking for Oblivion and some others, CML.
 
Now that I know the 'mini' Yoshi's Island guides are ALSO pennied @ BB, I may take a second look @ my local stores, since I think they had 2-3 of those out when I went looking for guides on Monday.

I only thought it was the 'regular' sized guides. That's the only thing that was kind of missing from the 'warning' from Vahn, was which version of each guide was dropped in cases where the guides had more than one.
 
[quote name='62t']Vahn did give 2 sku number for yoshi's island, so it is pretty clear both version are on the list[/quote]

Was just about to say that, thank you.
 
This may sound dumb and sorry if it's been asked before, but do places like Borders or Barnes & Noble ever clearance their guides out?
 
[quote name='eclisis']This may sound dumb and sorry if it's been asked before, but do places like Borders or Barnes & Noble ever clearance their guides out?[/quote]Generally no (one of them still has a full-price Eternal Darkness guide), but if they did (penny them out, not clearance), you wouldn't find them. Being a book store, ripping off book/magazine covers and disposing of them is a regular activity, not so for a game store.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']


I remember paying $10-15 for guides. But now, most guides are $15-20, with the WOW Atlas and certain other ones being OVER that threshhold even. And for what? The paper quality hasn't improved in my opinion and neither has the depth of MANY of these guides. Most of the info IN these guides is available on Gamefaqs and other gaming sites for FREE, so how guides are still being made even is beyond me.

[/QUOTE]

Believe it or not, game guides are something like a $90 million dollar market and is the fastest growing segment in the publishing industry. I heard this from NPR of all places.
 
[quote name='angrywolf']Really? I didn't see any...but I went around 6:00 PM though.[/QUOTE]

I was there last night and saw the Prima pocket guides still there. There were also some Pokemon Ranger guides on the shelf.

The BB by Spring Hill Mall had some of the Ranger guides and two or three Oblivion guides with the stickers over the UPC... not sure if those are pennied out or not. I left all those behind and only picked up the 360 F.E.A.R. guide.
 
[quote name='shajek']I was there last night and saw the Prima pocket guides still there. There were also some Pokemon Ranger guides on the shelf.

The BB by Spring Hill Mall had some of the Ranger guides and two or three Oblivion guides with the stickers over the UPC... not sure if those are pennied out or not. I left all those behind and only picked up the 360 F.E.A.R. guide.[/quote]

Another person from here reported that they picked up an Oblivion guide from the Skokie, IL store with a new UPC sticker on the back and it rang up successfully. I went to the Skokie store and saw the same guide but didn't get it cuz I had it already. That person came after me and picked it up.
 
[quote name='vahn401']Was just about to say that, thank you.[/QUOTE]

Vahn,

Just wanted to say thanks for the heads up on KH2 game guide at BB. I've been looking for this forever and the BB near me had 2 last Friday. I stashed one and came back on Monday and it was the only copy left of the penny guides that you had confirmed were dropping in price on Monday.

Thanks again!
 
[quote name='shajek']I was there last night and saw the Prima pocket guides still there. There were also some Pokemon Ranger guides on the shelf.

The BB by Spring Hill Mall had some of the Ranger guides and two or three Oblivion guides with the stickers over the UPC... not sure if those are pennied out or not. I left all those behind and only picked up the 360 F.E.A.R. guide.[/quote]

Cool, I gotta return a game, I'll check it out in a few min., I did pick up the Oblivion one from the BB in SE, I didn't look for all the guides in the list since about half of them I wasn't interested in.
 
[quote name='angrywolf']Cool, I gotta return a game, I'll check it out in a few min., I did pick up the Oblivion one from the BB in SE, I didn't look for all the guides in the list since about half of them I wasn't interested in.[/quote]

If they have Dead Rising, can ya grab one for me? I'll give ya some gas money? :pray:
 
Paid another visit to the bb I went to on monday they still had most of the guides I saw Monday except Final Fantasy V Advance. I bought one more Yoshi's Island DS this one is in much better condition than the one I bought on Monday:), Bully, Saints Row, Yoshi's Island DS Prima, Pokemon Ranger rang up $16.99 this time around. Total spent $0.08.
 
[quote name='chicagoz']If they have Dead Rising, can ya grab one for me? I'll give ya some gas money? :pray:[/quote] Heh, I live literally a block away from the BB here, I didn't see any at all...the BB in W. Dundee, IL had most of the guides (multiple copies too) on the list available on Sunday (including Dead Rising, Bully, etc.) but all the popular ones were gone the next day.:bomb:

Anyway, thanks Shajek, I picked up a copy of Yoshi's Island DS, even though it's the Prima version, beggars can't be choosers, but it's cool since a fellow CAGer is hooking me up with the NP version though.

In case anybody is interested and lives in the area, they still have two copies left.
 
ooookay. The wiki has been updated to reflect any drops and discoveries since February 12 (the last revision).


Note to self: Some abbreviations need to be un-truncated when I get the chance (ie, bb= best buy) and work on standardizing formatting (ie. zelda wind waker = legend of zelda: wind waker)



I'd like to thank Vahn and BenBoxer for the inside and advance info. Also thanks to everyone who lists their discoveries in ALPHABETICAL order and by store name. That makes updating the wiki a LOT easier. (hint, hint)

And mega thanks to everyone for the tons of posts which have nothing to do with recent finds and only clog up these threads. I love wading through eight pages (and at 50 posts per page, that's a chore) to find price drops from the past three weeks.
cigar.gif


So. Could we please keep the griping and complaining to a minimum and trade lists in the trade thread? Haul lists are wonderful when they help keep us informed of what we may not have known was a penny drop. BUT... if you've got a haul and your main point is to inform others that you'll have trade material, please adhere to a more streamlined post?

[quote name='GameGuideTrader']Yo, I found a bunch of pennied guides today!

Mega Game Store
Grass Growing Simulation (x3)
Ultimate Bread Baker 2000

And then I also found at
Hole in the Wall Games
Blowed Up
The Pwning (x4)

The extras I'm posting for trade in the Game Guide Trading Clearninghouse.[/quote]

Just a comradely request.
 
[quote name='CGH']Paid another visit to the bb I went to on monday they still had most of the guides I saw Monday except Final Fantasy V Advance. I bought one more Yoshi's Island DS this one is in much better condition than the one I bought on Monday:), Bully, Saints Row, Yoshi's Island DS Prima, Pokemon Ranger rang up $16.99 this time around. Total spent $0.08.[/quote]

Wait, are you implying that the penny guides rang up full price? :???:
 
[quote name='Caliburn']Wait, are you implying that the penny guides rang up full price? :???:[/QUOTE]

Only Pokemon Ranger is $16.99 all the other guides are $0.01
 
[quote name='CGH']Only Pokemon Ranger is $16.99 all the other guides are $0.01[/quote]

Ah, ok. Yeah - I think only the Nintendo Power was pennied. Prima's guide is still full price.
 
I was just looking over the wiki and it doesn't appear this one is on the list...

Game Crazy:
Kingdom hearts: Chain of Memories $0.01

I wish he had someone that worked at GC that was reliable for sharing with us the penny guides drops cause its super easy to get them before they get cleaned out cause GC waits to do "inventory" before taking out the penny guides.
 
[quote name='freshzen']I was just looking over the wiki and it doesn't appear this one is on the list...

Game Crazy:
Kingdom hearts: Chain of Memories $0.01

I wish he had someone that worked at GC that was reliable for sharing with us the penny guides drops cause its super easy to get them before they get cleaned out cause GC waits to do "inventory" before taking out the penny guides.[/quote]

Wow it thats true, I am heading over there in a couple min. to pick that up since I know mine has at least 2.

Can anyone else confirm this price?
 
[quote name='Prepster']Wow it thats true, I am heading over there in a couple min. to pick that up since I know mine has at least 2.

Can anyone else confirm this price?[/quote]I don't recall ever seeing this in the threads, so if YOU can confirm this, I'll throw it in the wiki.
 
Well I'm not good enough to confirm? Have I ever lied about a deal before? :(

Anywho, I wouldn't know since I'm just a customer and not an employee, I just had one scanned over the weekend and it was a penny :)
 
I got very lucky to get KH2 today. My locl BB guides section is a mess cos everything is upside down. Yeah, CAG's fans in Independence in MO is very bad & un-organizing.
 
Best Buy has the following guides listed for 0.01 on it's site right now.

ALL ARE OOS - but availability checker is working so might help anyone trying to decide if it's worth the effort to check their local BB

Resistance:FOM
COD 3
Guitar Hero II
 
Not to discourage anybody here, but it's saying these guides are available at a lot of stores that I know they've been pulled from.

[quote name='jgamezcua']Best Buy has the following guides listed for 0.01 on it's site right now.

ALL ARE OOS - but availability checker is working so might help anyone trying to decide if it's worth the effort to check their local BB

Resistance:FOM
COD 3
Guitar Hero II[/quote]
 
[quote name='fairtrade']Not to discourage anybody here, but it's saying these guides are available at a lot of stores that I know they've been pulled from.[/quote]

If that's the case then it could be beneficial for anyone who's store comes up with the items in stock. Place the order for instore pick up and then if it gets kicked back Best Buy offers the option to have the order fulfilled by the online store with FREE shipping. You just have to call the customer service number that's included when you place an instore pick up.

I've been able to do this a couple of times in the past since it's their general policy on items that show up available for instore pickup but for whatever reason doesn't happen.
 
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