Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Eight(MODS: Please lock, Thread Nine is up)

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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(current one):
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(please keep all conversation NOT related to guide drops HERE. Thanks.): http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

Guide Lists:

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

Recent Guide Drops(by date):
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

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
B&N
BestBuy
Borders
BookPool
CircuitCity
Gamestop
Overstock
StrategyGuide.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, who did threads 3,4,5 and 6 and provided me with the links to them.

Thanks to Gwen for allowing me the honor of giving something back to CAG by doing this new guide thread. I hope you all enjoy it and it isn't TOO hard to read.
 
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Alright guys, how many more confirmation posts do we NEED? We don't need to know what was purchased at EVERY Best Buy in the country. We get one original post, then 1 or 2 confirmations. That's more than enough.

Also, I don't know why people continue to post their thinly veiled trade requests in here. There is a specific place for it, and we have all been warned many, many, many times not to do as such in here. You guys are lucky I'm not a mod because a lot of these posts are getting old.
 
[quote name='jimijumper']Went to my local BB and scanned EVERYTHNIG in sight.

The following are all still ringing up full price:

Orange Box
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed w/ Artbook
FFXII
FF Tactics Advance
Super Mario Galaxy Collector's
COD 4
Mass Effect
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Halo 3
Lego Star Wars: Complete
Turok
Advance Wars: DOR
LOZ: PH
SimCity Societies
Bioshock
LOR: Shadows of Angmar[/quote]

also the ea hardcover book
crysis
advance war
fire emblem
 
It was weird today. I went to one of the Best Buys I go to for drops, and the whole shelf had been filled with guides from the last drop. They definitely weren't there before. They must have had them all stored in the back.

There was a Halo 2 guide for the PC, and a Star Wars Galaxy guide that rang up as full price as well (not sure if they've been mentioned for full price guides left)
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']Alright guys, how many more confirmation posts do we NEED? We don't need to know what was purchased at EVERY Best Buy in the country. We get one original post, then 1 or 2 confirmations. That's more than enough.

Also, I don't know why people continue to post their thinly veiled trade requests in here. There is a specific place for it, and we have all been warned many, many, many times not to do as such in here. You guys are lucky I'm not a mod because a lot of these posts are getting old.[/quote]

LOL You too, huh? I swear, I'm just glad I'll only be c/p'ing the info from the first and second posts into a new thread, should there ALREADY be a need to make a new one. And, from the looks of the post Gwen made warning everyone to NOT post trade requests in here and what not, we may be having a new one in a couple of days easily.

After seeing how many thinly veiled trade posts were in the last couple threads, I tried making the Discussion thread to keep this sort of banter to a minimum. But, I guess just like me, if people don't see the Discussion thread on the first page, they aren't going to go looking for it.

I'm gonna go edit the second post and remove the 'needs confirmation' thing, since we did get them confirmed today.
 
The South Setauket, NY BB didn't have much to begin with; I found about 2 of everything but Unreal Tournament, and left behind a Quake and a Universe at War if memory serves.

World in Conflict was also full price.
 
I tried the most hated BB and found only the Quake guide. Tried to buy, but the cashier had two strikes against him, so he called up the manager. The evil queen of hell came to his rescue and refused to sell it. I asked, once again, why this particular store is the only one that flat out refuses to sell penny guides still on the floor when all the others around in an 80-mile radius will sell them if they are on the sales floor. "We just follow the policy, and I can guarantee that (the nearest other BB) doesn't sell the penny guides." She's full of it and if I can ever get a cellphone pic of her, I'll post it so all CAGs can see the true face of evil.
 
[quote name='shajek']I tried the most hated BB and found only the Quake guide. Tried to buy, but the cashier had two strikes against him, so he called up the manager. The evil queen of hell came to his rescue and refused to sell it. I asked, once again, why this particular store is the only one that flat out refuses to sell penny guides still on the floor when all the others around in an 80-mile radius will sell them if they are on the sales floor. "We just follow the policy, and I can guarantee that (the nearest other BB) doesn't sell the penny guides." She's full of it and if I can ever get a cellphone pic of her, I'll post it so all CAGs can see the true face of evil.[/quote]

show her a receipt from another BB.
 
Oh, I checked my local BB today for the latest drop, and unlike last time, they were all on the front shelves still (yay!). Today I managed to get:

Tabula Rasa
Enemy Territory X 2
Gears of War (for windows) X 3
Unreal TOurnament 3 X 3
Universe at War X 3
 
[quote name='shajek']I tried the most hated BB and found only the Quake guide. Tried to buy, but the cashier had two strikes against him, so he called up the manager. The evil queen of hell came to his rescue and refused to sell it. I asked, once again, why this particular store is the only one that flat out refuses to sell penny guides still on the floor when all the others around in an 80-mile radius will sell them if they are on the sales floor. "We just follow the policy, and I can guarantee that (the nearest other BB) doesn't sell the penny guides." She's full of it and if I can ever get a cellphone pic of her, I'll post it so all CAGs can see the true face of evil.[/quote]


Don't feel bad.. The same thing happened to me.. Again it was a lady ...
 
Plz do, next time get her name and the time. BB takes the complaint line seriously about managers. I had a problem with one and got two phone calls over it. The first to screen my complaint with a low level cust. serv. assoc. The second call was a customer relations supervisor. He offered me a $25 GC, I told him I would rather see the employee repremanded. That manager now works at small retail store down the street.
[This was over a more serious price dispute and a comment by the manager that the cashier said crossed a line after cust. serv. reviewed it.]
 
Funny, the female manager that the cashier called at my Best Buy just said, "Yeah, those get dropped to a penny after a while, do they have any more Thrillville guides back there?" I left a few, I'm sure she got the rest :)
 
[quote name='shajek']I tried the most hated BB and found only the Quake guide. Tried to buy, but the cashier had two strikes against him, so he called up the manager. The evil queen of hell came to his rescue and refused to sell it. I asked, once again, why this particular store is the only one that flat out refuses to sell penny guides still on the floor when all the others around in an 80-mile radius will sell them if they are on the sales floor. "We just follow the policy, and I can guarantee that (the nearest other BB) doesn't sell the penny guides." She's full of it and if I can ever get a cellphone pic of her, I'll post it so all CAGs can see the true face of evil.[/quote]

Gotta love the people like that at my BB they are glad to get rid of them, Last time i was there the guy recomended that i take all the penny guides to get them off the shelf, I guess they usualy just get trashed in teh end due to the other CAG's around here not getting any(guides that is...).
 
[quote name='SpiderLocMTGO']Funny, the female manager that the cashier called at my Best Buy just said, "Yeah, those get dropped to a penny after a while, do they have any more Thrillville guides back there?" I left a few, I'm sure she got the rest :)[/quote]

Managers like that are cool, but I think that alot of the "looters" that CAG's like us hate are cool parents(aka managers) that take thier kids home a stack of clearance games.
 
[quote name='h3llbring3r']Plz do, next time get her name and the time. BB takes the complaint line seriously about managers. I had a problem with one and got two phone calls over it. The first to screen my complaint with a low level cust. serv. assoc. The second call was a customer relations supervisor. He offered me a $25 GC, I told him I would rather see the employee repremanded. That manager now works at small retail store down the street.
[This was over a more serious price dispute and a comment by the manager that the cashier said crossed a line after cust. serv. reviewed it.][/quote]

Owned by the customer service line. If the manager was out-and-out fired, then it must have been pretty serious.
 
I figured my local BB would have squat left, but I was wrong. They had 3 copies of the Universe At War guide left. Of course, this was only due to the fact that the guide was stuffed behind the game on the LOWEST shelf in the PC section. They still had the Madden 08 with the different UPC/SKU# on it, AND they had 2 versions of the GOTY(black cover) edition of the Oblivion guide. Both had different UPC #'s, including one with the UPC sticker OVER the original.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I figured my local BB would have squat left, but I was wrong. They had 3 copies of the Universe At War guide left. Of course, this was only due to the fact that the guide was stuffed behind the game on the LOWEST shelf in the PC section. They still had the Madden 08 with the different UPC/SKU# on it, AND they had 2 versions of the GOTY(black cover) edition of the Oblivion guide. Both had different UPC #'s, including one with the UPC sticker OVER the original.[/quote]


The GOTY hasn't pennied yet has it?
 
Didn't have any of these new guides at my BB, but strangely had a ton of guides from the last drop:

Blue Dragon
Conan
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (extended)
Final Fantasy
Folklore
Golden Compass
Kane & Lynch
Lair
Manhunt 2
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
MySims
Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja
NCAA Football 08
Project Gotham Racing 4
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction
Sims 2: Castaway
Spider-Man Friend Or Foe
Thrillville: Off The Rails
Warhawk

All in the TL
 
[quote name='loxthefox']Didn't have any of these new guides at my BB, but strangely had a ton of guides from the last drop:

Blue Dragon
Conan
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (extended)
Final Fantasy
Folklore
Golden Compass
Kane & Lynch
Lair
Manhunt 2
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
MySims
Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja
NCAA Football 08
Project Gotham Racing 4
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction
Sims 2: Castaway
Spider-Man Friend Or Foe
Thrillville: Off The Rails
Warhawk

All in the TL[/quote]

Could you get me a copy of lair and folklore?
 
[quote name='sacreddoctor']The GOTY hasn't pennied yet has it?[/quote]

Not that I know of, though there WERE two wholly seperate entries for it on BB.com and two different UPC #'s on the back of the guides last night when I checked.
 
[quote name='loxthefox']Didn't have any of these new guides at my BB, but strangely had a ton of guides from the last drop:

Blue Dragon
Conan
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (extended)
Final Fantasy
Folklore
Golden Compass
Kane & Lynch
Lair
Manhunt 2
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
MySims
Naruto: Rise Of A Ninja
NCAA Football 08
Project Gotham Racing 4
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction
Sims 2: Castaway
Spider-Man Friend Or Foe
Thrillville: Off The Rails
Warhawk

All in the TL[/quote]

Same thing happened to me. I would like to trade my away as well (see trade list).
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Not that I know of, though there WERE two wholly seperate entries for it on BB.com and two different UPC #'s on the back of the guides last night when I checked.[/quote]

I checked the white and the brown Thursday evening, still $19 and $24
 
There were about 200 guides from the last 2 drops at my BB as of monday, someone ninja looted all of them, but 5 Kayne and Lynch's, 10 Golden Compas's, and one Mario Party 8...Crazy.
 
I guess I should check the thread rather than the wiki. I hit 3 best buys on 3/4 and I must have seen 100 or so unreal guides. I was looking for the last drop with no luck. I scanned a HAlo 2 computer guide, but not the unreal guides. doh
 
Got rejected at Toys r us. They said they were not allowed to sell the guides because they were marked down to a penny. I called the store manager later in the day and he confirmed "their" policy. I was looking for a my sims guide for my son , when I saw the Madden 08 guides on the shelf with the sticker at .01. At the register, they rang up a penny and the associate called a supervisor who denied the sale. I love the site and wanted everyone to know my story. If anyone has an extra my sims please let me know. Thanks.

hsp
 
[quote name='hsp2099']Got rejected at Toys r us. They said they were not allowed to sell the guides because they were marked down to a penny. I called the store manager later in the day and he confirmed "their" policy. I was looking for a my sims guide for my son , when I saw the Madden 08 guides on the shelf with the sticker at .01. At the register, they rang up a penny and the associate called a supervisor who denied the sale. I love the site and wanted everyone to know my story. If anyone has an extra my sims please let me know. Thanks.

hsp[/quote]


I would call corporate about them being price stickered at .01. I was told years ago that the stickered price had to be honored, but only on the items with that sticker. EX: 1 Madden guide is priced at .01 and the others all say 5.00, they would only sell the 1 copy for .01 and the others would be priced as marked.
 
I called corporate ealier in the day and received a case number. The store manager called back and said all the guides have been destroyed so he was not able to help me. He then offered me a $10 dollar gift card which I accepted. I'll take what I can get, but it is just the principle of the situation. They would rather destroy something than take care of a customer. All of this crap over the search for a my sims guide.

hsp
 
WOW they were basicly saying we stuck those stickers on there, but we cant sell them for that price? CRAZY!!
 
thanks i picked up the following at BB tonight:

Gears of War (PC)
Unreal Tournament 3
Tabula Rasa
Universe at War
Quake Wars
 
[quote name='hsp2099']I called corporate ealier in the day and received a case number. The store manager called back and said all the guides have been destroyed so he was not able to help me. He then offered me a $10 dollar gift card which I accepted. I'll take what I can get, but it is just the principle of the situation. They would rather destroy something than take care of a customer. All of this crap over the search for a my sims guide.

hsp[/quote]

Wow, TRU never stops amazing me....instead of them giving away a guide or two that would have been thrown in the trash and cost man hours to do so and the cost to have it hauled away and the negative impact it has on our enviroment of filling our landfills with game guides....they instead give u a free $10 gift card....ignorants!!!
 
[quote name='hsp2099']Got rejected at Toys r us. They said they were not allowed to sell the guides because they were marked down to a penny. I called the store manager later in the day and he confirmed "their" policy. I was looking for a my sims guide for my son , when I saw the Madden 08 guides on the shelf with the sticker at .01. At the register, they rang up a penny and the associate called a supervisor who denied the sale. I love the site and wanted everyone to know my story. If anyone has an extra my sims please let me know. Thanks.

hsp[/quote]

That's common at most TRU stores actually, since I've been denied 8 out of 10 times I've tried for guides during a drop. In the past year or so, I've only had ONE 'haul' from TRU and it was an employee who just didn't give a crap, not even enough to call over a manager type. The other was a SINGLE copy of the Spyro: A New Beginning guide from a TRU store out in Paramus, NJ when I went out that way when the movie Sicko was only playing out that way. There was a stack of about 5-10 there, but since I had them check only ONE copy, they limited me to ONE.

I'm just thankful for ANY guides I grab at this point anymore, since most of my sources are completely dry locally.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's common at most TRU stores actually, since I've been denied 8 out of 10 times I've tried for guides during a drop. In the past year or so, I've only had ONE 'haul' from TRU and it was an employee who just didn't give a crap, not even enough to call over a manager type. The other was a SINGLE copy of the Spyro: A New Beginning guide from a TRU store out in Paramus, NJ when I went out that way when the movie Sicko was only playing out that way. There was a stack of about 5-10 there, but since I had them check only ONE copy, they limited me to ONE.

I'm just thankful for ANY guides I grab at this point anymore, since most of my sources are completely dry locally.[/quote]

The Worker at my TRU had some learning disabilitys and told me that halo 3 was the only guide that they had in, and when i asked about bargain games(They used to have a bin, im guessing that they moved it to a main asile outside the gamecenter) he proceded to read off every 360 game not marked 59.99. I felt sorry for the dude, but every time i told him it was ok, and that i didnt want that game he flet that he had to read off more games....I guess He tought i couldnt see the BOLD 72pt. font they print the prices in.
 
Last nite i got:

Manhunt 2
Sims 2 castaway
need for speed pro street
Tabula Rasa
Universe at war
Unreal Tournament III
Gears of War

It was a great nite in Bestbuy!!! Thank you CAG community!
 
May have been mentioned before:

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Fire Emblem for the Wii are now $9.99 at Best Buy. Not a penny but still a reduced price game guide.
 
[quote name='Number83']May have been mentioned before:

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Fire Emblem for the Wii are now $9.99 at Best Buy. Not a penny but still a reduced price game guide.[/quote]

Does that mean they will be in the next drop? I noticed a lot of the penny guides I've gotten are marked 9.99. Just wondering...
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Does that mean they will be in the next drop? I noticed a lot of the penny guides I've gotten are marked 9.99. Just wondering...[/quote]There's been some past behavior guides going from retail price to $9.99 and then get pennied, though most of them go directly from retail price to pennied status without anything in between.
 
[quote name='Number83']May have been mentioned before:

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Fire Emblem for the Wii are now $9.99 at Best Buy. Not a penny but still a reduced price game guide.[/quote]

If I remember correctly, RE: Umbrella Chronicles is $8.50 or some other weird amount IN STORE, so if you order it NOW on their site, you're paying MORE than if you went into the store to get it.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']If I remember correctly, RE: Umbrella Chronicles is $8.50 or some other weird amount IN STORE, so if you order it NOW on their site, you're paying MORE than if you went into the store to get it.[/quote]

You have to wonder what anyone would need with a strategy guide for an on-rails shooter anyway.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']You have to wonder what anyone would need with a strategy guide for an on-rails shooter anyway.[/quote]

There are those umbrella symbols that are hidden that someone may want to know where they are. I couldn't see justifying the buy for that price though.
 
[quote name='Richard Longfellow']You have to wonder what anyone would need with a strategy guide for an on-rails shooter anyway.[/quote]

Most of the info CAN be found on Gamefaqs, so WHY they continue to print these things is beyond me. But, there MUST be people buying them or they probably WOULD stop.

But, to me, if I'm in the middle of an intense gaming session and I'm hopelessly stuck, I'd rather flip open a book than traipse downstairs to my computer to look up a solution.
 
I found a couple copies of the recent .01 Oblivion guide tonight, but they didn't have the UPC sticker and were still $19.99. Were all those guides supposed to be stickered once they dropped or is there a difference between the ones with and without?

Also, there is one copy of Sims Castaway left at the Crabtree BB in Raleigh, if anyone wants it.
 
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