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

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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.
 
It does seem to be on sale as per the website, but it's listed at $9.99 there. So I'd assume this is YMMV since Best Buy's website always seems to be in sync w/ the in-store price.
 
[quote name='jacknicklson']Its in the Guide Price Drop thread. It should be at all Best Buy's.[/quote]


That was the Spanish version, ese. No me gusta. :lol:
 
[quote name='jacknicklson']Its in the Guide Price Drop thread. It should be at all Best Buy's.[/quote]

No its not in the guide price drop thread. Spanish Edition of Halo 3 guide is $.01, this is normal version of Halo 3 guide for $.99.

Also its bestbuy hence the bestbuy icon in post.

As to whether its YMMV or not no idea yet. I've seen the website have totally different prices then the stores. Especially with clearance items they want removed from the stores. The bestbuy anime kiosk trick comes to mind.
 
I was planning on going to Best Buy later today. In the extremely unlikely event that they have them for $0.99, I'll grab one.
 
It's probably YMMV. Last time I checked, my BB still had the Halo 3 guides and Legendary editions on the display tables with 50% off stickers on them, if I remember correctly, and they weren't selling. I was a little tempted by the Legendary ed. but I'll be getting the standard ed. for $9 soon so it's probably good that I held off on it. $0.99 is a good price for the guide, but it would be better if it were 98 cents cheaper.
 
Oddly enough, the guide consists of just a front and back cover, and one single page on the inside. The page says:
Go play Call of Duty 4 instead.
 
[quote name='the ender']Oddly enough, the guide consists of just a front and back cover, and one single page on the inside. The page says:
Go play Call of Duty 4 instead.
[/quote]


Halo 3 > Call of Duty 4
 
Has anybody else seen this? What location was this found at? I just bought the guide yesterday in Springfield, VA for $9.99 but I haven't opened it yet.
 
[quote name='Brian9824']EVERY copy of the Halo 3 guide was marked at $.99 still sealed in plastic with an open item sticker on it at my bestbuy. No idea if this is YMMV but my store has NEVER done any sort of YMMV sale before so its worth checking out.

I asked the manager about it and they said its because they werent selling

Also snagged another leftover 15 penny guides that were still there.[/quote]But it is technically just the Halo 3 Spanish Edition that is ringing a penny right? 'Cause the BB I went to had a TON of Halo 3 and I'll be kicking myself if I could have had one for a penny :bomb:

Edit: Not sure why I made this post right after the Halo 3 post.... and then a bunch went in later, between the two.
 
[quote name='Mahoney07']Halo 3 > Call of Duty 4[/quote]

Nope, CoD 4 will always top Halo 3.

Anyone who says otherwise is just a Xbot &/or needs to play slow FPS' instead of something fast & intense like CoD.
 
[quote name='James in VA']Has anybody else seen this? What location was this found at? I just bought the guide yesterday in Springfield, VA for $9.99 but I haven't opened it yet.[/quote]

This answers the question for me as to whether or not I will look into this deal. BB seems to update prices on Mondays only so if it was $9.99 yesterday I'd have to suppose it is $9.99 today.
 
[quote name='UberNinjaz']Nope, CoD 4 will always top Halo 3.

Anyone who says otherwise is just a Xbot &/or needs to play slow FPS' instead of something fast & intense like CoD.[/quote]


Halo is just as fast as CoD 4 imo. Plus I like games where it's not always 1 shot kill because that leads to more team work. I also like the idea of powerups and powerweapons on a map because that plus the not usual 1 shot kills leads to less camping which makes the game faster.

You are ignorant to believe that anyone who likes Halo 3 more than CoD4 is an Xbot.

If you think CoD 4 is fast, play some Quake
 
[quote name='UberNinjaz']Nope, CoD 4 will always top Halo 3.

Anyone who says otherwise is just a Xbot &/or needs to play slow FPS' instead of something fast & intense like CoD.[/quote]

And it's people like this who make the COD4 online community.. pretty much crap.

Bravo.
 
[quote name='Brian9824']EVERY copy of the Halo 3 guide was marked at $.99 still sealed in plastic with an open item sticker on it at my bestbuy. No idea if this is YMMV but my store has NEVER done any sort of YMMV sale before so its worth checking out.

I asked the manager about it and they said its because they werent selling

Also snagged another leftover 15 penny guides that were still there.[/QUOTE]

Brian, did you pick up a copy of the guide? If so, did it scan at $0.99 or did the cashier/manager have to manually change the price so that it would get to $0.99?
 
[quote name='UberNinjaz']Nope, CoD 4 will always top Halo 3.

Anyone who says otherwise is just a Xbot &/or needs to play slow FPS' instead of something fast & intense like CoD.[/quote]

COD4 has potential, but when you die in a matter of 2 seconds at the hands of fa pistol half way across the map, you realize how unbalanced the game is. Then there are the connection issues where you spawn in the middle of a game (usually on the losing side) and the other person leaves when you enter (same team). Other than that, great game. Halo on the other hand is beyond broken in terms of hit detection. No questions about that.

Would love to pick up this guide for when i eventually sell my copy of Halo 3.
 
The reason is because they are "pennied out" of the system. Best Buy has to either sell them for that or they get sent back for scraps. I picked up over 10 guides a few weeks ago. Alot of times when this happens they decide to pull them anyway since $.01 is not really worth it.
 
[quote name='Mahoney07']Halo is just as fast as CoD 4 imo. Plus I like games where it's not always 1 shot kill because that leads to more team work. I also like the idea of powerups and powerweapons on a map because that plus the not usual 1 shot kills leads to less camping which makes the game faster.

You are ignorant to believe that anyone who likes Halo 3 more than CoD4 is an Xbot.

If you think CoD 4 is fast, play some Quake[/quote]

::nudges Mahoney07:: He aint lying dude, Cod4 is better then Halo 3, I saw it with my own two eyes
 
Halo 3 > COD 4. Unless you like games where having skills is optional, then you might enjoy COD 4 more, as you just need to run around, spray and pray and have martyrdom on.
 
BOTH games are good... take it from me who plays both. They both have there pros and cons, but overall both games are good in there OWN way.
 
Just picked up another round at a different BB.
(had 3 Bios paid for from the internet site)
Surprisingly found another dozen but just stuck with the popular ones for trading.
Offered one to my CS cashier, and another to security on my way out, even told him about additional DOMs I left.
My angle is that I save them from the landfill and may be back to buy a game after reviewing the guide...

Thanks again Op!
 
[quote name='iHack']BOTH games are good... take it from me who plays both. They both have there pros and cons, but overall both games are good in there OWN way.[/quote]

That is true in a way. Halo 3 story sucked, COD 4 was alright. I don't want to say that both games have noobs, because people who think things are noobish are an ass. On both games there is no good weapon, you just have to get good shots(unless it is a rocket or sword) I would say that both games are alright, just depends on the type of person you are.
 
I would say Vegas is better then both, but every game has their pro's and con's.
Vegas for example, has a REAL shitty way of play ranked games as well as a REAL shitty party system.
But the game play takes more "skills" then CoD4 ever will, and even Halo.
Someone told me Halo 3 is more run and gun then CoD4 and I laughed at them for five minutes straight.
 
[quote name='iHack']BOTH games are good... take it from me who plays both. They both have there pros and cons, but overall both games are good in there OWN way.[/quote]


Of course both are good, but one is better then the other, which is a purely subjective point.
 
[quote name='help1']Of course both are good, but one is better then the other, which is a purely subjective point.[/quote]

Yes, but I am just stating the obvious, I don't see the need to argue about it, childish IMHO
 
[quote name='yukafls']That is true in a way. Halo 3 story sucked, COD 4 was alright. I don't want to say that both games have noobs, because people who think things are noobish are an ass. On both games there is no good weapon, you just have to get good shots(unless it is a rocket or sword) I would say that both games are alright, just depends on the type of person you are.[/quote]


What do you mean by no good weapons?
 
*looks up*
Thought i might have clicked the wrong link and entered a Halo 3 vs COD 4 thread.
Nope, I didn't.

*deletes last 15 posts of bickering*
 
[quote name='genfuyung']how do u guys keep up with what guides are for a penny? the list is huge so i know no one prints it.[/quote]

Do you mean the CAGwiki or the second post on this thread? If you're talking about either, there's slim to no chance of finding any of the guides on either list outside of a few months prior to the current month.

On a rare occasion I have found guides that were 4-6 months old, but that is the exception and not the rule.

If you do find guides from the list, be prepared for a fight at Toys R Us, since they don't routinely let the guides go without saying that they're 'not allowed to sell them when they hit .01' and many times they will completely deny a sale of them.

Just a heads up for you....
 
[quote name='genfuyung']how do u guys keep up with what guides are for a penny? the list is huge so i know no one prints it.[/quote]

For me, I just rush to get there when the drop being discussed in the thread is happening with those ones written down on a piece of paper. If I can't find them, chances are I'll never see them again. There have only been a few times when I'll go there the following week and see that the ones I couldn't find before on the shelf. That's only because they had some out back before and didn't have enough room to keep them all out on the floor.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Do you mean the CAGwiki or the second post on this thread? If you're talking about either, there's slim to no chance of finding any of the guides on either list outside of a few months prior to the current month.

On a rare occasion I have found guides that were 4-6 months old, but that is the exception and not the rule.

If you do find guides from the list, be prepared for a fight at Toys R Us, since they don't routinely let the guides go without saying that they're 'not allowed to sell them when they hit .01' and many times they will completely deny a sale of them.

Just a heads up for you....[/quote]
Thats a shame. I was going to best buy tomorrow to try and find some. So the only ones anyone really has a shot at are the most recent drops?
 
[quote name='genfuyung']Thats a shame. I was going to best buy tomorrow to try and find some. So the only ones anyone really has a shot at are the most recent drops?[/quote]


well you can always talk to some of us about getting some moderately older ones. Theres an entire threa just for guide trading if I recall.
 
[quote name='genfuyung']Thats a shame. I was going to best buy tomorrow to try and find some. So the only ones anyone really has a shot at are the most recent drops?[/quote]

Well, I DID have a buttload of older guides for the longest time on my tradelist, but they all went away last week to a local shop for $170-180 over 2-3 days, leaving behind only stuff that I'm ONLY doing trades for now.

I didn't have many uncommon guides, but I had quite a few multiples of certain guides(like my big stack of MGS 3: Snake Eater guides).

I have to update the first post with the new Guide Trade Thread, if I haven't already. There's many people there looking for older guides too and many with the old guides for trade/sale.

I believe the new guide trade thread should be stickied on the CAG TRADING FORUM page. So, check it out....
 
I don't collect penny guides anymore, and recently sold all of mine off from lack of space / lack of desire.

I will just say that my penny purchases, over the many years I've been on this thread, resulted in very large sums of cash. It paid off to obessively go for RPG guides and niche guides over the years.

One guide that surprised me in particular? I got $45 for my Harvest Moon: Magical Melody guide! I think I averaged about $25 an RPG guide, for the really good games... hell, someone paid me $15 for the Enchanted Arms guide, which is probably worth more than the game itself ;)

I wanted to thank everyone who posted guide drops, everyone who was awesome and traded with me over the years, sadly I'm out of the penny guide hunting business but hey, I was able to put a nice sum in my savings account ;)

So to those people still collecting, one day, when / if you ever run out of space... all of your hard work will have definitely paid off :D To be honest, the money I got probably covered the gas / time / headaches of getting all these guides over 4 or 5 years anyways, haha. Everyone who knows me on here knows I had a ton of fun collecting the guides, and initially wanted to not sell any of it, but sometimes it just can't be helped when the cash could be used for bigger and better things. I was shocked most of these guides were actually in demand!

But I had a lot of fun collecting, and I wish everyone the best of luck in the future with it! Thanks again to everyone who has put in a ton of hard work on this, from 2003 to now! I appreciated all your efforts as do many others.
 
One question, one statement:

Question:
Some of you have referred to selling guides at a store. Which stores take these guides?

Statement:
I use my blackberry to web browse. I have bookmarked the first page of this thread, and load it up as I'm walking into Best Buy. Saves a lot of trouble, and I get up-to-the-minute data.
 
[quote name='genfuyung']Thats a shame. I was going to best buy tomorrow to try and find some. So the only ones anyone really has a shot at are the most recent drops?[/quote]

Actually I've found the opposite to be true. Granted, this week was the first week I actively went after the penny guides, but I only got two from the current drop (WWE and Advanced Wars), but I got multiples of God of War II, Unreal Tournament 3, and Gears of War. It will vary by location I'm sure, but I wouldn't count out older drops yet.
 
[quote name='hellmutt']One question, one statement:

Question:
Some of you have referred to selling guides at a store. Which stores take these guides?

Statement:
I use my blackberry to web browse. I have bookmarked the first page of this thread, and load it up as I'm walking into Best Buy. Saves a lot of trouble, and I get up-to-the-minute data.[/quote]

Well, in my case, I sold mine to a local shop for a quarter to a dollar each, but I did save all of the RPG guides from going in that bulk lot. If you have a local shop, you could possibly make a $1 each from the guides by selling them to those shops, though not every shop will be interested in them.

I had sold about a dozen or two guides to the same shop prior, so we already had a history and they had just opened a new second store right by my house, so I didn't even waste much gas trekking back and forth with the guides.

However, EB/Gamestop do not take used guides(EB used to for $.50-$1 or so each) and neither does Gamecrazy or Gamerush(I believe), so if you buy them in bulk, you may be stuck with them.

Oh and Roufuss, sorry to hear you're out of the penny guide hunt, what prompted that move? And aren't you up my way now(Pennsylvania)?
 
I was at BB today to grab a switch for my dorm and also snagged The Office S2 & S3 and Heroes for $19.99 each, and while there I spied another Gears of War and Quake Wars that I had left behind a few times, as well as three Sim City Societies (of which I snagged two and left one) that I hadn't seen before. I would have checked for new drops, but I really had to take a dump, and also get to class.
 
[quote name='Slim Gatsby'] I would have checked for new drops, but I really had to take a dump, and also get to class.[/quote]

Next time, poop in your pants! We need guide drop updates, STAT!!!:)
 
[quote name='shieryda']Next time, poop in your pants! We need guide drop updates, STAT!!!:)[/quote]

I know; with my luck, Orange Box, Mass Effect, Assassin's Creed, Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Phantom Hourglass, and Fire Emblem all dropped today. :D
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Well, in my case, I sold mine to a local shop for a quarter to a dollar each, but I did save all of the RPG guides from going in that bulk lot. If you have a local shop, you could possibly make a $1 each from the guides by selling them to those shops, though not every shop will be interested in them.

I had sold about a dozen or two guides to the same shop prior, so we already had a history and they had just opened a new second store right by my house, so I didn't even waste much gas trekking back and forth with the guides.

However, EB/Gamestop do not take used guides(EB used to for $.50-$1 or so each) and neither does Gamecrazy or Gamerush(I believe), so if you buy them in bulk, you may be stuck with them.

Oh and Roufuss, sorry to hear you're out of the penny guide hunt, what prompted that move? And aren't you up my way now(Pennsylvania)?[/QUOTE]

To mimic this, there are no local stores here, so I simply put all my guides on Ebay. However, it's only the RPG / niche / sandbox game guides that really sold, a lot of the stuff I grabbed over the years, like Medal of Honor and Madden and Ultimate Spider-Man, are worthless and just take up space in my closet.

I moved to NY, and moved back, and when I move a second time to somewhere in FL, I don't want to bring all these guides with me - I don't even own most of the games, and I just got used to using the net up in NY if I was stuck anyways. Plus, it's way too time consuming anymore to be hunting all these stores for guides in this area - years ago, it used to be as easy as just going to the store ;)

Now you have to distract the employee with someone else so you can sneak around to the cart, take what you want, and get it rung up before the employee notices!
 
Hmm... I wonder if bookstores like Strand will buy the useless guides. It might be possible, considering I once saw a Pokemon GS guide there a few years back...
 
went today and all they had from my mini list that i took was umbrella chronicles. CS wouldnt price match 5th element for me so i got pissed and left. Just saw that the guide sells for like 10 bucks on ebay...im an idiot.
 
[quote name='Roufuss']To mimic this, there are no local stores here, so I simply put all my guides on Ebay. However, it's only the RPG / niche / sandbox game guides that really sold, a lot of the stuff I grabbed over the years, like Medal of Honor and Madden and Ultimate Spider-Man, are worthless and just take up space in my closet.

I moved to NY, and moved back, and when I move a second time to somewhere in FL, I don't want to bring all these guides with me - I don't even own most of the games, and I just got used to using the net up in NY if I was stuck anyways. Plus, it's way too time consuming anymore to be hunting all these stores for guides in this area - years ago, it used to be as easy as just going to the store ;)

Now you have to distract the employee with someone else so you can sneak around to the cart, take what you want, and get it rung up before the employee notices![/quote]

See, I knew you moved up this area someplace, but I didn't know you moved back or anything. As for me, I'm mostly done with the guides now too. It was fun trying to find them, after all the stores I used to score at big dried up, but now it's just too much of a hassle.

So, you only had/have a closet full of these? I had like 2-3 of those 18 or more gallon plastic totes loaded, some flat cardboard half box loaded with stacks of them, part of my tv room downstairs in my house and an old laundry basket overflowing with them.

So yeah, I had more than a few hiding spots around the house here, none of which are loaded to the brim anymore. They're just empty spots anymore. :cry:

I kind of miss having them all in some small way, but not all that much really.
 
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