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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[quote name='Pookymeister']went to CC and grabbed Tomb Raider : Anniversary, DMC4, and tried to get Army of Two.

DMC and AoT didnt come up in system, and then when they put them back in inventory aoT rang up $20, but did get DMC.[/quote]

Army Of Two had to be entered manually at the CC stores I grabbed them from. They have to enter it in as PRI followed by I believe the ISBN #.
 
Picked up 3 DMC4s today (sorry, 1 for me, 2 for friends) and an extra Pokedex (again, for a friend, sorry).

DMC4 was shrinkwrapped and is ISBN 0-7615-5897-7 if that helps anyone.

EDIT: One of my buddies got one on his own, so 1 is for trade if anyone has a spare Phantom Hourglass or especially Pokemon Diamond/Pearl?
 
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[quote name='neocisco']As did I. I STILL have unopened games from the legendary 7/04 sale.:D[/quote]
Ahh...I wish they had more sales like that!!!
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Army Of Two had to be entered manually at the CC stores I grabbed them from. They have to enter it in as PRI followed by I believe the ISBN #.[/quote]


I've noticed it is the number under the first barcode. It usually starts with 9 and has 13 digits. The ISBN is a 10 digit number.
 
I scored 4 DMC4's today @ CC

Sorry - I use these as giveaways & what not at LAN parties otherwise I wouldnt buy so many.

Anyone think that either Mass Effect or Halo 3 will be going to a penny @ CC anytime soon?
 
^Mass Effects are obviously pennied somewhere, because I've seen stacks of unopened ones at the Bookman's trade counter. I didn't try it at CC though, and will test it this weekend.

If someone who has Rogue Galaxys would be willing to send me one since I found out about CC penny guides and the DMC4 drop, that would be really awesome. ^_^
 
I tried to get Army of Two today, but they said it was $14.95. Same with the Pokedex Diamond and Pearl. At least DMC4 rang up for a penny. I noticed that they pulled the remainder of the penny guides I got last time (Rogue Galaxy and Yoshi), so I wouldn't be surprised if they went back and pulled the rest of the DMC4s.
 
went back tonight to try more guides from the list, and struck out on a couple (they said it rang up $20). Most of the ones that didn't work were the Pokemon's and the Yoshi as well.
 
I saw a DMC guide but the line was extremly long and I was in a rush, so I had to leave it behind :( Well, hopefully it'll be there next time I go, I kinda left it in an obvious place though, right on top XP
 
The PRI + 13 ISBN number trick worked for the AoT and DMC 4 guides at the CC I ran by. I wonder if that would work for any guide, Prima, Brady or Nintendo. :whistle2:s
 
[quote name='shrike4242']The PRI + 13 ISBN number trick worked for the AoT and DMC 4 guides at the CC I ran by. I wonder if that would work for any guide, Prima, Brady or Nintendo. :whistle2:s[/quote] I'm pretty sure it only works for prima. Maybe NIN or BRA would work for NP or Brady guides.
 
[quote name='Segasonic01']OK, so I made an attempt to get another Rogue Galaxy guide from CC today. Of course, it rings up 0.01 but it's "part of a bundle". [/QUOTE]

Same thing happened to me - scanned the RG guide and the cash register said the same thing. Big line for the manager so I got Metroid Prime which worked and walked out.
 
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I had a big stack of guides but two of them came up as need bundle. Needless to say she called the manager and the manager said they were all 9.99. I laughed and left.
 
[quote name='darkslime']I'm pretty sure it only works for prima. Maybe NIN or BRA would work for NP or Brady guides.[/quote]

Doh! I wasn't thinking, PRI is the brand abberviation for Prima so it will be different for Nintendo (most likely NIN) and Brady (CC carries very few Brady guides).
 
[quote name='neocisco']Doh! I wasn't thinking, PRI is the brand abberviation for Prima so it will be different for Nintendo (most likely NIN) and Brady (CC carries very few Brady guides).[/quote]

I think Nintendo is NINN. I don't have any receipts to back that up though.
 
[quote name='sunnysky']So how exectly are you people managing to convince the clerks to put in PRI before they scan the item??[/quote]Yesterday, I did it after the clerk tried to scan the UPC and it wouldn't come up. Explained to her that I heard it from someone that tried to buy the same guide and they were told that putting in PRI + 13-digit ISBN would work. ;)
 
[quote name='neocisco']The brand abbreviation is only 3 letters so it's NIN.[/quote]

I remember seeing NINN on one of my receipts. I've thrown all my penny receipts away though. If I'm recalling it wrong then that's fine.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']Yesterday, I did it after the clerk tried to scan the UPC and it wouldn't come up. Explained to her that I heard it from someone that tried to buy the same guide and they were told that putting in PRI + 13-digit ISBN would work. ;)[/quote]

Yeah, I first heard about it from a genius employee who looked at how the other guides were ringing up and figured out how to input it manually. I usually just say the guy at another CC did it this way.
 
Thanks.
Now I just need to find some gamestops with Penny guides still on the shelves.
Did I hear right, that the MGS4 Hard Cover is one of them?
I know I saw one at BB, but I doubt it's a penny guide there.
 
I can also confirm Devil May Cry 4 guide is 0.0.1 at CC. The second post hasn't yet been updated with this information.

Regarding the separate speculation that Mass Effect guide is 0.01 'somewhere', I checked that at CC also. No luck, it's still full price there.
 
[quote name='sunnysky']Now I just need to find some gamestops with Penny guides still on the shelves.[/quote]

Bwa ha ha! Good luck. For what it's worth, I found an "Orange Box" long after it'd been pennied out so the search isn't completely worthless. "The thrill of the hunt" so they say...
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']Bwa ha ha! Good luck. For what it's worth, I found an "Orange Box" long after it'd been pennied out so the search isn't completely worthless. "The thrill of the hunt" so they say...[/quote]

Sometimes I just ask them at GS if they have them and they are like "yeah, take em"
 
[quote name='yukafls']Sometimes I just ask them at GS if they have them and they are like "yeah, take em"[/quote]

I wish to hell my GS stores were like this, but around here it's 'I gotta call my manager', then the manager says 'we can't sell them'.

Only the ONE GS store around here allows me to just walk out with penny guides I've found on the shelf and I had a problem with them recently which still isn't resolved, so I doubt I'll be going back there until I hear from their management.

Oh well....at least I still get them from BB and lately a bunch from CC and rarely from TRU.

EDIT: Added Devil May Cry 4 and Halo 3 to the CC list. As always, YMMV.
 
0_o Halo 3. fucking finally.
I'll be hitting up CC tomorrow.

There had to be at least 15 there. Next I just need the PMD to penny.
 
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shit fuck. My CC had Halo 3 and Rock Band, didn't even think to check em. Don't really NEED either (hehe, rockband guide is not only useless, it's small sized, about between a DJ book and a reg. guide), but I still hope they are there sometime in the next couple weeks when I'm in the area again.
 
That's the 10 million dollar question, though since we don't know the schedule under which CC pennies stuff we can't guess whether or not it's there or not.

But, if I go with a friend to the one drive-in down the line from me tomorrow, I'll check the CC near there.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']That's the 10 million dollar question, though since we don't know the schedule under which CC pennies stuff we can't guess whether or not it's there or not.

But, if I go with a friend to the one drive-in down the line from me tomorrow, I'll check the CC near there.[/quote] They probably won't even let me buy it. I'm on the ban list, and the other CC is 30 minutes away. >_
 
[quote name='Coyotezeye']can anyone else confirm Halo 3 & Rock Band for a penny? We heard Halo 3 was pennied last time but wasnt.[/quote]I'm sure multiple people will give it a try tomorrow.
 
There were no BB drops lately, correct?
Because I'll be at the mall tomorrow with friends where there's BB and CC.
I'm also gonna try BBV and hope that they've changed policies like CC.
 
There was actually 2 drops today (Friday) at Best Buy -

- Crysis
- Pirates Of The Burning Sea

No idea why they dropped today, but they did. Maybe more on Monday??
 
[quote name='fuss']There was actually 2 drops today (Friday) at Best Buy -

- Crysis
- Pirates Of The Burning Sea

No idea why they dropped today, but they did. Maybe more on Monday??[/quote]

Crysis dropped to a penny at BB?
 
From 8/22 BB drop??:

Picked up the following today for 0.01 at BB:

Crysis
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Burnout Paradise (new)
Condemned 2 (new)

Looks like another non-Monday non-beginning of the month drop at BB? genfuyung posted that some of these rang up non-pennied on 8/18.
 
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[quote name='jgamezcua']From 8/22 BB drop??:

Picked up the following today for 0.01 at BB:

Crysis
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Burnout Paradise (new)
Condemned 2 (new)

Looks like another non-Monday non-beginning of the month drop at BB? genfuyung posted that some of these rang up non-pennied on 8/18.[/QUOTE]

Thanks a lot for that update! Did you happen to check CoD4? If not, I can check it out later when I go in to get Burnout and Condemned 2.
 
[quote name='jgamezcua']

Picked up the following today for 0.01 at BB:

Crysis
Pirates of the Burning Sea
Burnout Paradise
Condemned 2
[/QUOTE]

Thanks, I got these too.
In addition I checked a few others:
Rock Band: $2.99
Orange Box: $4.99
Enemy Territories: Quake Wars (PS3/Xbox): $19.99

Orange box is strange because i don't see it on the website anymore.
 
I just got DMC4 (x2), Viva Pinata and Tomb Raider Anniversary from CC. The TRA was a little beaten up but for 1 penny I cant complain
 
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