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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That they would and wouldn't it figure though that the ONLY time I found something worthwhile on clearance at Wally World, I didn't have nearly enough money on me to get it. I found a sweet dual layer DVD-R drive for my pc, which was $150 or something originally for $45.

I had about $25. :whistle2:X
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']If you find an extra copy, please pass it along. :D I may not like them anymore, but I'm curious as to their origins and what not.

Oh and slowdive, about the only coupons I ever came across for a discount on a guide was either using the Edge card on one or buying the guide with the game, they typically discount the guide by 1/5(20%) if you buy it with the game.

That is, unless you count the e-mail I had from the district manager of the Gamestops around here, who said I could get 50% ANY guide with the e-mail printed up. This was before he realized I was hitting every damn store in his large district for 30-40 guides each store.[/QUOTE]
I did pick up an extra, although we may use that as a contest item for GamezoneRadio. I'll PM you if there winds up being a contest!
 
I know from reading this thread that penny drops tend to happen on the first monday of the month, but is it possible for these drops to happen on mondays throughout the month? I just noticed that Condemned 2's guide is no longer on BestBuy.com.
 
It could've been one we may have missed from last Monday's, in all honesty Guardian, since I think we have missed a couple. I do wish we had another insider besides Vahn to rely on who worked media in Best Buy to give us more detailed info. Either that or I wish that Best Buy would do like they have done for prior drops and mark the ones which pennied in store on their site as .01.

It would save ALOT of time and aggravation, that's for sure.
 
Well I've been watching this thread for a while, posting only once or twice, but this item from the Turok drop just needs to be said.

My local Best Buy has been pretty good on pulling the guides quickly. Not a huge deal, I mainly go just to see if I can catch any. Well I got lucky on the last one and everything is still there. So I pick up a couple of the EA books and the Turok guides. I was not even 2 feet away from their guide area when this Best Buy employee runs up to me and literally rips them out of my hands, yells at me "You're not allowed to buy these!" and runs to get the rest of the guides.

Okay, I was a little pissed, not because I wasn't able to buy them, but because the SOB ripped them out of my hands completely without saying anything else but yell at me. Needless to say I complained, and I even told the manager on duty I wasn't mad because I wasn't able to buy the penny guides. It was the complete lack of manners or anything else resembling civility that pissed me off. They apologized and I ended up getting a $25 gift card, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to shop at Best Buy again if that is how they train their asshat employees.
 
[quote name='jp0213']Well I've been watching this thread for a while, posting only once or twice, but this item from the Turok drop just needs to be said. My local Best Buy has been pretty good on pulling the guides quickly. Not a huge deal, I mainly go just to see if I can catch any. Well I got lucky on the last one and everything is still there. So I pick up a couple of the EA books and the Turok guides. I was not even 2 feet away from their guide area when this Best Buy employee runs up to me and literally rips them out of my hands, yells at me "You're not allowed to buy these!" and runs to get the rest of the guides. Okay, I was a little pissed, not because I wasn't able to buy them, but because the SOB ripped them out of my hands completely without saying anything else but yell at me. Needless to say I complained, and I even told the manager on duty I wasn't mad because I wasn't able to buy the penny guides. It was the complete lack of manners or anything else resembling civility that pissed me off. They apologized and I ended up getting a $25 gift card, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to shop at Best Buy again if that is how they train their asshat employees.[/quote]

How old was the person who ripped it out of your hand? Seriously, most employees don't care at any retail store unless their super young and its their first job or the employee is thinking they have a career position. The rest just dont want to get into trouble and get fired. I'm guessing the person is young...
 
[quote name='jp0213']Well I've been watching this thread for a while, posting only once or twice, but this item from the Turok drop just needs to be said. My local Best Buy has been pretty good on pulling the guides quickly. Not a huge deal, I mainly go just to see if I can catch any. Well I got lucky on the last one and everything is still there. So I pick up a couple of the EA books and the Turok guides. I was not even 2 feet away from their guide area when this Best Buy employee runs up to me and literally rips them out of my hands, yells at me "You're not allowed to buy these!" and runs to get the rest of the guides. Okay, I was a little pissed, not because I wasn't able to buy them, but because the SOB ripped them out of my hands completely without saying anything else but yell at me. Needless to say I complained, and I even told the manager on duty I wasn't mad because I wasn't able to buy the penny guides. It was the complete lack of manners or anything else resembling civility that pissed me off. They apologized and I ended up getting a $25 gift card, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to shop at Best Buy again if that is how they train their asshat employees.[/quote]

Chances are, it was probably the person who was in charge of the media department, who just came back from maybe getting the list to pull the guides and realized you would've alerted management that they weren't doing their job right. I mean, I've gone AT STORE OPENING during the past couple of drops when we KNEW what dropped and I found ZERO guides each time.

You know why? They pulled them before the store opened, like they're SUPPOSED to. So, you just got an employee who figured they would be in deep shit if you got up to the registers with those.

Oh and.....before someone else says it, could you please space your story out a bit more next time, so it's not a giant wall of text. Thanks.
 
[quote name='ets']How old was the person who ripped it out of your hand? Seriously, most employees don't care at any retail store unless their super young and its their first job or the employee is thinking they have a career position. The rest just dont want to get into trouble and get fired. I'm guessing the person is young...[/quote]

I would guess around 26 or so. I mean, I understand that they aren't supposed to be sold like that. I wouldn't have minded at all if he would have calmly said they weren't for sale and ask for them back. I would have given them to him to questions asked.
[quote name='yukafls']Thats fuckin insane. I would have demanded they sell them if they were out on the floor.[/quote]

It wasn't worth the hassle. Also, it took me by surprise.

[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Oh and.....before someone else says it, could you please space your story out a bit more next time, so it's not a giant wall of text. Thanks.[/quote]

Normally I try to do that, but I'm at work so I was just typing it up quickly while no one was around.
 
[quote name='jp0213']I would guess around 26 or so. I mean, I understand that they aren't supposed to be sold like that. I wouldn't have minded at all if he would have calmly said they weren't for sale and ask for them back. I would have given them to him to questions asked.[/quote]

Wow 26, I was assuming it was some high school kid because he ripped it out of your hands. My assumption was wrong :whistle2:#
 
[quote name='jp0213']Normally I try to do that, but I'm at work so I was just typing it up quickly while no one was around.[/quote]


I was wondering if you were or not. I felt bad the one time I went on my one employer's internet to check my Hotmail, though I did do it on my break/lunch. It just amazes me as to how many people DO get online at work and sit on some sites to talk.
 
Well my job requires me to pretty much be online all day. Most of the time I'm working on customers servers remotely, so I have a some time to kill while I'm waiting for something to reboot or update. I do have to go on-site sometimes but for the most part I'm in my office remotely working. I also work from home quite a lot, so I feel justified since I'm using my internet.
 
[quote name='jp0213']Well I've been watching this thread for a while, posting only once or twice, but this item from the Turok drop just needs to be said.

My local Best Buy has been pretty good on pulling the guides quickly. Not a huge deal, I mainly go just to see if I can catch any. Well I got lucky on the last one and everything is still there. So I pick up a couple of the EA books and the Turok guides. I was not even 2 feet away from their guide area when this Best Buy employee runs up to me and literally rips them out of my hands, yells at me "You're not allowed to buy these!" and runs to get the rest of the guides.

Okay, I was a little pissed, not because I wasn't able to buy them, but because the SOB ripped them out of my hands completely without saying anything else but yell at me. Needless to say I complained, and I even told the manager on duty I wasn't mad because I wasn't able to buy the penny guides. It was the complete lack of manners or anything else resembling civility that pissed me off. They apologized and I ended up getting a $25 gift card, but I'm not sure if I'm ever going to shop at Best Buy again if that is how they train their asshat employees.[/quote]

The thing thats most ironic about stories like this is the company will waste the man hours to destroy the guides and plus takes a loss of giving out a $25 GC when they could and should have just sold them to you....i had a similar thing happen to me last week, maybe BB is cracking down again.....Vahn where are u man?????
 
That's what I've been asking, Sacred, although Vahn said they don't work in media anymore so I think we need a secondary 'inside person' at Best Buy. I mean, the last couple of drops have been hectic, with people having to scan every damn thing to find out what dropped and what didn't.
 
This is true and I'd hate to see another CAG get sued, like Speedy was by Circuit City for leaking the PS3 info, but I'd rather have a couple days advance notice at least, so I could go stash at least one of each guide I want.

It sucks, since my local stores were always good for 1-2 of each guide being left on the shelves, but now they yank them BEFORE the store opens so I have NO CHANCE.
 
[quote name='yukafls']Same here, the only guides I got were for free at GS cause they were a penny and the guy just said to take them.[/quote]

My local GameStop has actually taken to setting back Xbox 360 guides for me if they get pennied out. The next time I come in they hand them to me. They've found some old pennied out guides that were in a box and given them to me.
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I did pick up an extra, although we may use that as a contest item for GamezoneRadio. I'll PM you if there winds up being a contest![/QUOTE]

Am I reading this correctly? A penny guide as a contest prize???
 
[quote name='jp0213']My local GameStop has actually taken to setting back Xbox 360 guides for me if they get pennied out. The next time I come in they hand them to me. They've found some old pennied out guides that were in a box and given them to me.[/quote]

Define 'old' pennied guides, since the one CAG who is about an hour or so from me said the one mall Gamestop by them just threw out guides going back about 5+ years maybe 3-6 months ago.

Thing is, I was in that very store maybe a year or two ago(before gas started going nuts)and had I asked them if they had any older guides,I would've probably died of dehydration from drooling over the score I could've had there.
 
I was in Long Island this weekend visiting my family, and I had some luck finding a penny guide. I saw an Oblivion guide (with Knights content added) on the shelf, and I was pretty sure it was pennied but I was wondering why it was still up there. The store doesn't have scanners, so I went up to an associate and had him scan it. It was a penny like I thought and he handed it back to me with an eye up. I knew something was up though and I just said "sweet" and backed away as fast as I could. Sure enough, he pulls another associate of to the side and he busts out the scanner trying to find some penny guides. I was an aisle over when he said to the other "I don't check every guide, but we better pull them if we find one..." as they scanned each one. I just got out as fast as I could with the guide, and thought for sure I was gonna get rejected at the counter since it was such a big deal to them. I'm lucky though, because it wasn't and I got out with it. That's the first time I've seen it be such a big deal though.
 
[quote name='jp0213']My local GameStop has actually taken to setting back Xbox 360 guides for me if they get pennied out. The next time I come in they hand them to me. They've found some old pennied out guides that were in a box and given them to me.[/quote]


Cool, which ones did you pick up??
 
[quote name='Antic']I was in Long Island this weekend visiting my family, and I had some luck finding a penny guide. I saw an Oblivion guide (with Knights content added) on the shelf, and I was pretty sure it was pennied but I was wondering why it was still up there. The store doesn't have scanners, so I went up to an associate and had him scan it. It was a penny like I thought and he handed it back to me with an eye up. I knew something was up though and I just said "sweet" and backed away as fast as I could. Sure enough, he pulls another associate of to the side and he busts out the scanner trying to find some penny guides. I was an aisle over when he said to the other "I don't check every guide, but we better pull them if we find one..." as they scanned each one. I just got out as fast as I could with the guide, and thought for sure I was gonna get rejected at the counter since it was such a big deal to them. I'm lucky though, because it wasn't and I got out with it. That's the first time I've seen it be such a big deal though.[/quote]

Which BB (assuming Best Buy...) was that? Definitely sounded like the one in South Setauket.
 
[quote name='yukafls']Cool, which ones did you pick up??[/quote]

They've only been giving me 360 versions, and on this one they gave me some PS2 guides because I've been buying a decent number of PS2 games. I'm not going to complain at all. Going through, it does look like some of these were from the December drop. They didn't tell me why they had them in a box, just said they were mine if I wanted them.

Crackdown
God of War 2
Manhunt 2
Oblivion
Spiderman: Friend Or Foe
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent
Virtua Fighter 5
 
Not a bad mini score there, jp, I had every one of those between God Of War 2 and Spiderman: Friend Or Foe for a while. Some of them I had in multiples. Which God Of War 2 guide though, since I think the hardcover edition pennied there too, don't quote me on that though.
 
It wasn't the hardcover. I would definitely like to have that one. The only game out of that little score that I don't own is Spiderman: Friend or Foe. My younger brother has that, so I just gave it to him when he stopped by.
 
[quote name='Chronis']Which BB (assuming Best Buy...) was that? Definitely sounded like the one in South Setauket.[/quote]

I think it's South Setauket. It's sandwiched between a massive Target and a Home Depot, and it's across the street from a Stop and Shop I believe. Ever had problems there before with guides?
 
all I got last drop was a single Frontlines guide - a week after the drop (they pulled before I got there on drop day).
 
I went to Salem OR, and their best buy has every guide in plastic wrap. I took up a guide I knew dropped (since I own it) and it rang up full price. Is this what the future holds, or are they new guides with different bar codes?
 
[quote name='GuardianE']Which guide was it? Quake: Enemy Territory has a new version out, and a few others as well.[/quote]

FF XIII the only difference was it was in plastic wrap that said something like don't open until sold
 
[quote name='ets']FF XIII the only difference was it was in plastic wrap that said something like don't open until sold[/QUOTE]

HOLY SHIT! BUY THAT GUIDE NOW! IT'S FROM THE FUTURE

seriously, sorry, really tired and that amused me for no apparent reason. please continue on your merry way
 
If you're talking about FFXII Revenant Wings, I think it's been reported that it has gone back up for some reason. Some places, it's a penny and others it rings up at full price.
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']Am I reading this correctly? A penny guide as a contest prize???[/QUOTE]
...Why not? The contest wouldn't cost any money or require anything of value. Furthermore, you wouldn't be paying shipping where the value of this prize comes into play, especially if you can't find the item locally yourself. It's a desireable item and you could get it for free by particpating in the contest.
Does that make more sense??? question mark
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']...Why not? The contest wouldn't cost any money or require anything of value. Furthermore, you wouldn't be paying shipping where the value of this prize comes into play, especially if you can't find the item locally yourself. It's a desireable item and you could get it for free by particpating in the contest.
Does that make more sense??? question mark[/QUOTE]

It makes sense, I was just surprised to see a penny guide as a prize, is all. If it works and helps generate excitement, then that's swell.
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']It makes sense, I was just surprised to see a penny guide as a prize, is all. If it works and helps generate excitement, then that's swell.[/QUOTE]
Well, it's not a guide to March Madness 05.
You're swell.
:)
 
[quote name='Antic']I think it's South Setauket. It's sandwiched between a massive Target and a Home Depot, and it's across the street from a Stop and Shop I believe. Ever had problems there before with guides?[/quote]

Shoot, you're kidding. That one is my pennyguide bread and butter. :cry:
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I did pick up an extra, although we may use that as a contest item for GamezoneRadio. I'll PM you if there winds up being a contest![/quote]

I think you got beaten to it. They gave away the EA book on Tapezilla.net's podcast this week.
 
[quote name='GuardianE']If you're talking about FFXII Revenant Wings, I think it's been reported that it has gone back up for some reason. Some places, it's a penny and others it rings up at full price.[/quote]

Odd, I got that a weeke or two ago and it rang up a penny. Guess I got lucky.

[quote name='Antic']I think it's South Setauket. It's sandwiched between a massive Target and a Home Depot, and it's across the street from a Stop and Shop I believe. Ever had problems there before with guides?[/quote]

Yeah, that's the one. Though I've never had problems there, I always feel like the employees are following me if I have more than one guide in my hand. Which brings me to my point.... I scored 2 EA books there today. :D :D :D :D :D!!!! Looks like you (and Slim Gatsby) forgot to check the actual books section next to the CDs. Anyway, one is for me to keep and the other I have a specific CAG in mind. If he doesn't want it, a second CAG in mind. If neither wants it, it'll be up for grabs.
 
[quote name='Chronis']
Yeah, that's the one. Though I've never had problems there, I always feel like the employees are following me if I have more than one guide in my hand. Which brings me to my point.... I scored 2 EA books there today. :D :D :D :D :D!!!! Looks like you (and Slim Gatsby) forgot to check the actual books section next to the CDs. Anyway, one is for me to keep and the other I have a specific CAG in mind. If he doesn't want it, a second CAG in mind. If neither wants it, it'll be up for grabs.[/quote]

I don't really need the EA books, because I have 2 spare ones. I found them at my Best Buy in my area through looking at that section as well. The Oblivion guide is a pretty good find though. My friend started playing it and needed the guide. I saw a Frontlines and Turok guide on the shelf as well, but I didn't really need it and I'm positive the clerks pulled it when they were going through them again.

Congrats though! :)
 
[quote name='Zmonkay']HOLY SHIT! BUY THAT GUIDE NOW! IT'S FROM THE FUTURE

seriously, sorry, really tired and that amused me for no apparent reason. please continue on your merry way[/QUOTE]

Hahahhaha
 
[quote name='erehwon']Has anyone heard anything about a drop today?[/QUOTE]

No, why else would there be no indication of a drop? It's not like somebody has some juicy intel and they were just waiting for someone to ask.

It's not the first Monday of the month, and before anyone says it, guides have dropped to a penny on days other than the first Monday, sure, but it's happened, like, twice in 2 years that I can recall. So, if people want to go in to Best Buy every day and have them scan every guide, they will be banned pretty quickly.
 
[quote name='erehwon']Has anyone heard anything about a drop today?[/quote]

Too be honest there is a HUGE drop and since you were the ONLY one to ask if there was a drop on a non-first monday of the month then i'm going to ONLY give you the list so hurry up and PM me already for your list!!!!!
 
[quote name='h3llbring3r']Thanks for PMing me the drops man. Good sh*t, cleaned two stores out.[/QUOTE]

Is this a joke? If not, can you please post the list? Thanks!
 
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