Reduced Price Game Guides: Thread Nine

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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(KEEP ALL TRADE REQUESTS HERE OR IN PM'S)
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(KEEP ALL DISCUSSION NOT RELATED TO GUIDE DROPS HERE!!!)
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169252

Guide Lists(master drop lists and recent drops):

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

Recent Guide Drops(by date,also check the second post in this thread):
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
Guide Eight:
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167157

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
Barnes&Noble
BestBuy
BookPool
CircuitCity
Gamestop
Overstock
StrategyGuides.net
ToysRUs

Thanks to floormat, Guinavere and anyone else who has created and maintained the guide thread before, as well as to all of those who find out either advance information on drops or provide a list of which ones dropped when we do have a drop.

The post below this one contains a list going back at LEAST six months of the more current guide drops, which stores they occured at and which ones dropped. Note that sometimes(Oblivion guide, Quake Wars: Enemy Territory)there are multiple versions of a guide, be it that there are Prima versions, Brady versions and the occasional Nintendo and Doublejump guides.

Please specify WHICH version has dropped when mentioning possible guide drops. Thank you.


 
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Gatsby here...I'm posting on my girlfriend's computer from her account; she picked up:

Orange Box
Rock Band
Folklore
Eternal Sonata
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
The Sims: Free Time
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga
Frontlines: Fuel of War

All $0.01 at GameStop
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']There's actually 2 versions of the Twilight Princess hardcover guide Actually, I believe there were 3-4 if you count the Wii and Gamecube versions as wholly seperate.

Best Buy has a brown(tan) and gold covered one with a sheet of paper shrinkwrapped to the back of the guide saying that it covers NEW things, so you likely found the REVISED version they released.
[/quote]

Just to clarify, no Zelda guides have been pennied at BB except for twilight princess gamecube (brown softcover), right?
 
I wouldn't mind getting Orange Box and Eternal Sonata. My chances may have increased a little since most Gamestops near me put their full guide sections back out on the sales floor. I take it that Bradygames and Prima didn't like that their product was not out for sale for the general public to see.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Just to clarify, no Zelda guides have been pennied at BB except for twilight princess gamecube (brown softcover), right?[/quote]

I could swear that the hardcover brown one did once before, but that was before they added stuff to it. I'm not sure for which system it was though.

I know that the one Zelda guide(hardcover) also pennied @ TRU. Those SHOULD be listed in the Wiki or the prior thread SOMEPLACE.

EDIT:
Added the more complete Gamestop list from June 20th, including Folklore, Eternal Sonata and Frontline, which we had listed as dropping on 6.18.

We still need info on WHAT else may have dropped @ Gamecrazy and if they pennied or ZEROED.
 
Added the more complete Gamestop list from June 20th, including Folklore, Eternal Sonata and Frontline, which we had listed as dropping on 6.18.

We still need info on WHAT else may have dropped @ Gamecrazy and if they pennied or ZEROED.
 
[quote name='atomsk']If they throw out a guide you want, just go dumpster diving. what's the problem?[/quote]

Illegal, dirty (literally), trashy, need more? :)
 
i talked to a clerk at my BB yesterday and he said that they had a bunch of pennied out guides in the back and at some point they were just going to release them to the public and let them have at them...although he wouldn't tell me specifically what day they were planning on releasing them...sad...but i did manage to get 2 Halo 2 (PC) pennied out guides, a Hellgate London, and The Sims 2: Bon Voyage for a total of 4 pennies :whistle2:D
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Illegal, dirty (literally), trashy, need more? :)[/quote]

Not always, since if it's just a place like Best Buy or Circuit City, the only time you'd have to worry about it being dirty is when/if employees throw the remnants of their lunches in there. As for illegal, it may be in SOME areas, but not every place. Thing is, I believe ALL Best Buy stores have COMPACTORS, so you're SOL there either way.

I've thought about doing it myself a couple of times, but the only Gamestop with a dumpster out where I could get into it is in the same shopping center as a Subway and a couple of other food places. So yeah, I'd definitely forgo doing that there. I have, however, 'curb crawled' before. That means that if I saw what looked like a game system in someones curbside trash, I stopped to investigate and if I found something, I took it.
 
just got back from gamestop and picked up 2 copies of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Strategy Guide for $9.99 each. one sealed and one opened. not .01 but considering that they sell for $20.00 each is still OK.
 
I wish I knew lego star wars was pennied out at GS, I would have probably gotton at least one when I was there Thurs. Here's hoping they have them Monday still.
 
Picked up Halo 3 guide today, in plastic, for $3 at BB. I rarely (OK, never) get these guides but for $3 in mint condition, I figured, why not. Maybe I'll learn something.

They had a few of them on a table next to the checkout line. I think it scanned at $20, they had to manually enter the marked-down price of $3.

Probably very YMMV. Or maybe these are already 1 cent at Gamestop, but I thought some might find this info useful.
 
[quote name='gantt']Picked up Halo 3 guide today, in plastic, for $3 at BB. I rarely (OK, never) get these guides but for $3 in mint condition, I figured, why not. Maybe I'll learn something.

They had a few of them on a table next to the checkout line. I think it scanned at $20, they had to manually enter the marked-down price of $3.

Probably very YMMV. Or maybe these are already 1 cent at Gamestop, but I thought some might find this info useful.[/quote]

Does your BB stay open 24 hours a day? How the hell did you buy one at 4AM?:D

Haven't been able to find Persona 3: FES or Eternal Sonata in Chicago.:cry:
 
[quote name='shieryda']Does your BB stay open 24 hours a day? How the hell did you buy one at 4AM?:D[/quote]

LOL. No, they don't - good thing, too. I meant yesterday...
 
Was able to score a Eternal Sonata and Folklore today at GS. I have both games and was hoping to find copies of the guides. Also picked up PES 2008 guide too. I think there were some more guides that were around from the past drops, but I didn't have a full list. I'm thinking they will be pulled before I can go back because the clerk pointed out the prices to the manager when I was checking out and the Manager looked like he was going to kill someone. I'm thinking I might be persona non Grata there from now on. The manager kept saying, "someone is going to get in trouble for not pulling those". I'm actually surprised he sold them to me. He did make the clerk cross out the prices on the stickers though.
 
It really irks me that I can't get penny guides at GS. I'm pretty good friends with the Manager (I actually worked there with him when he was ASM and I was SGA). But the one time I found a guide there (reservoir dogs lol), he said I couldn't have it, and asked where I got infor for this stuff. I just said the internets. But it just sucks that he won't just give me the guides.

At least the BB near me (45 mins away) is consistently awesome. I get nearly every guide on every drop, even after a week or so has passed.
 
Picked up Rock Band, PES 2008, & Orange Box at my local GS. :D

There seems to be one store that is a little lax when it comes to clearing out the shelf, but the rest of them are really on their game. I did find out that one of the employees there grabbed Eternal Sonata when it was pennied out :mad: Oh well, to the victor go the spoils!
 
I lucked out and was able to grab The Orange Box and Eternal Sonata yesterday afternoon. I was hoping to find Lego SW: The Complete Saga but no dice. The guy scanned them and said, "They're yours." Even printed out a receipt with 0.00...:lol:. I swear, if this GS keeps this up, I'm going to have to change my op/ed about them. :D
 
[quote name='Vader582']I lucked out and was able to grab The Orange Box and Eternal Sonata yesterday afternoon. I was hoping to find Lego SW: The Complete Saga but no dice. The guy scanned them and said, "They're yours." Even printed out a receipt with 0.00...:lol:. I swear, if this GS keeps this up, I'm going to have to change my op/ed about them. :D[/quote]


The one I go to does the exact same thing, even with a new store manager now. When I went on to thank him (the new guy) he flat out told me:

"I don't care about them once they get pennied out, I'm more than happy to give them to someone instead of destroy them"

I'm paraphrasing, but its a great opinion to have. So now I can't be mad that he had the only lego star wars guide in the store for himself.
 
Stopped by two Best Buy's today and got the following:

3 EA Hardcover 25 year anniversary
1 Bioshock
6 Frontline: Fuels of War
2 Turok

:D Almost didn't get the 3 EA's as the second BB I went to. The tween that rang me up brought the items to her supervisor, who then brought the items to her manager. Once he verified that they, indeed, scanned in for $0.01, he let me have 'em. *whew!*
 
Hell if i know. It celebrates their success and gives in-detail information about their rise in the gaming market. On the back it shows just how many copies of Madden '04 they sold in 2003. WHOOP-DE-fuckING-DO. ;) It's a neat book and comes with a DVD. I'm keeping one for myself, because I like this sort of stuff.


One thing occurred to me, are some of these pennied out guides still full price at other retailers? *cough* Wal-mart (doesn't need a receipt)? Theoretically, couldn't I flip 'em there? If so, I could make out like a bandit!! Has anyone tried this?
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']Stopped by two Best Buy's today and got the following:

3 EA Hardcover 25 year anniversary
1 Bioshock
6 Frontline: Fuels of War
2 Turok

:D Almost didn't get the 3 EA's as the second BB I went to. The tween that rang me up brought the items to her supervisor, who then brought the items to her manager. Once he verified that they, indeed, scanned in for $0.01, he let me have 'em. *whew!*[/quote]



Dag dude, you bought 6 copies of the Frontline Guide, why must you be so greedy? I mean I understand a couple, but six...
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']Hell if i know. It celebrates their success and gives in-detail information about their rise in the gaming market. On the back it shows just how many copies of Madden '04 they sold in 2003. WHOOP-DE-fuckING-DO. ;) It's a neat book and comes with a DVD. I'm keeping one for myself, because I like this sort of stuff.


One thing occurred to me, are some of these pennied out guides still full price at other retailers? *cough* Wal-mart (doesn't need a receipt)? Theoretically, couldn't I flip 'em there? If so, I could make out like a bandit!! Has anyone tried this?[/QUOTE]

That's not even remotely close to flipping. That's dishonest and illegal. Flipping involves when you TRADE something, not when you try to scam a retailer.
 
[quote name='Jiggadabaptist']Dag dude, you bought 6 copies of the Frontline Guide, why must you be so greedy? I mean I understand a couple, but six...[/quote]

Because it was six cents.

If BB is going to toss 'em anyway then maybe a couple people here want them, but can't find 'em. => SEE THE GUIDE TRADING THREAD.

As far as I know there's only like 2 or 3 of us here in Las Vegas, and the others don't get out as much.
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']

One thing occurred to me, are some of these pennied out guides still full price at other retailers? *cough* Wal-mart (doesn't need a receipt)? Theoretically, couldn't I flip 'em there? If so, I could make out like a bandit!! Has anyone tried this?[/quote]

Keep this kind of crap out of these threads and off this board.
 
Picked Folklore and Eternal Sonata guides at GS. After the receipt printed out, the clerk noticed the .01 price. He told me that I was lucky to be getting them for that price since they usually returned them or gave them away. I told him(jokingly) that he should refund my .02. :lol:

Also, picked up the Persona 3 guide for $9.99.
 
OK

Do I have to put a disclaimer about talking about return fraud on this thread? I mean, I know I pulled the 'Wal*Mart trick' back in the day before I realized how illegal it is, but many still view it as acceptable. However, for those who think returning something to a store you didn't buy it from is acceptable conversation around here, it's not.

It's called RETURN FRAUD, a crime which can get you in some serious trouble and talking about doing it around here is one of the serious no-no's of CAG. So, please refrain from it from this point on before someone gets the mod squad involved.
 
[quote name='Jiggadabaptist']Dag dude, you bought 6 copies of the Frontline Guide, why must you be so greedy? I mean I understand a couple, but six...[/QUOTE]

99% of the time, I would totally agree. There's way too many people on here that on the first Monday of a drop, go into Best Buy and take 9 copies of a penny guide, which is greedy.

In this guy's defense, that Frontlines guide dropped on 6/2, so everybody had 3 full weeks to make it out to that Best Buy.

Having said that, I'm not sure what you would do with 6 Frontlines guides, so I guess it is a tad greedy, but at least he waited 3 weeks to do it, so it's not a huge deal.
 
I try to grab the promos once the game is out, but they give me some crap about how it has the BB logo and they can't give them out once the game is out.
 
Im curious and this is totally legit seeing it's like flipping games but I was at a half Priced books looking at the guides there and they had tons of the guides that were pennied at Bestbuy.. I wonder what that store pays for these guides unless they were donated by said store.
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']9Having said that, I'm not sure what you would do with 6 Frontlines guides[/quote]

Come to think of it, neither am I. :whistle2:k Kinda caught up in the moment of finding penny guides I guess.
 
[quote name='slowdive21']Rock band is 2.99 at BB for the guide. (Also available on the website @2.99)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...guide&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1193451899359

I am not sure if these have been pennied, but they have been pulled at my stores:

METAL GEAR SOLID 4 PREORDER DVD. If anyone gets some, I wouldn't mind having a couple mailed to me![/quote]

The only time I tried for pre-order items at Best Buy or Gamestop, I was told and I quote 'those are given to people when they buy the game', even though it says 'pre-order bonus'.

So ever since then I haven't even tried since it seems like a waste.

Oh and Derrick, I believe someone else in the prior thread mentioned Half-Price Books buying guides from them for .25 to $1 each. So even on the low end, you're making 24 times what you paid, which isn't too bad considering the other option is being stuck with tons of guides like I was for a LOOOOONG time.
 
[quote name='donut']add Tomb Raider Anniversary to the GS drop[/quote]

I think the only one left was JUST for Wii right, or was it a combo guide(PS2/Wii)?
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I think the only one left was JUST for Wii right, or was it a combo guide(PS2/Wii)?[/quote]

Prima wii Lara Croft Tomb Raider Anniversary
Brady Frontlines: Fuel of War
Prima The Sims 2 Freetime
Prima The Orange Box
Konami PES 2008 Pro Evolution Soccer

All from GS (manager called me and saved them)...I feel so special!
 
Hardly anything. I have brought boxes of guides to them and the most they give is like $5-6 for a huge box. HPB sucks.

[quote name='Derrick1979']Im curious and this is totally legit seeing it's like flipping games but I was at a half Priced books looking at the guides there and they had tons of the guides that were pennied at Bestbuy.. I wonder what that store pays for these guides unless they were donated by said store.[/quote]
 
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