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='freshzen']Fresh Game Crazy drop...

Black
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (probably the calender)
Godfather (360/PSP)
Hitman Blood Money
Indigo Prophecy
James Bond: From Russia With Love
Just Cause
Kameo
Lego Star Wars
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Ninety-Nine Nights
Nba Live 07
Need for Speed Carbon
Paid to Play (?)
Perfect Dark Zero
Pokemon 10th Anniversary Pokedex
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Prima
Pokemon Ranger Prima
Quake IV
Reservoir Dogs
Sims 2 Pets
Star Wars Episode III
Super Dragonball Z (?)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (2-dvd ?)
Star Wars Repulic Commando
Splinter Cell Doubt Agent
Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter
Xbox 360 Official Handbook[/quote]

Son of a Bitch...
I have all the luck and my Gamestop but not so much at Game Crazy.
 
[quote name='freshzen']Fresh Game Crazy drop...

Black
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (probably the calender)
Godfather (360/PSP)
Hitman Blood Money
Indigo Prophecy
James Bond: From Russia With Love
Just Cause
Kameo
Lego Star Wars
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Ninety-Nine Nights
Nba Live 07
Need for Speed Carbon
Paid to Play (?)
Perfect Dark Zero
Pokemon 10th Anniversary Pokedex
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Prima
Pokemon Ranger Prima
Quake IV
Reservoir Dogs
Sims 2 Pets
Star Wars Episode III
Super Dragonball Z (?)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (2-dvd ?)
Star Wars Repulic Commando
Splinter Cell Doubt Agent
Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter
Xbox 360 Official Handbook[/quote]

I'm assuming the mystery dungeon is first one, correct? And is the Lego Star Wars the first one, second one, or complete trilogy?
 
[quote name='WeaponX2099']damn it!! Just asked yesterday for all the lego Star wars guides!! Which one?[/QUOTE]

actually they are hard to find and they are worth getting at the regular price.
 
[quote name='Frosty The Batman']Son of a Bitch...
I have all the luck and my Gamestop but not so much at Game Crazy.[/quote]

Same here, been getting them at GS, but the one time I tried at GC, the woman litterally took the guide out of my hand after it rang up for a penny. Too bad since it seems like the GC around here seem to have the largest stashes of guides, the closest one around me has 3, 3-tier shelves behind the counter with guides overflowing.
 
bought a Mana K. for 10, and lucked out and found 2 Operation Darkness guides (along with a burried Hulk). The guy looked confused as hell, and said he thought he pulled all the penny stuff. haha. No dice on the zelda guides (already have ME), but I didn't really expect to find ANY penny guides.

IF anyone needs the extra OD guide, PM me. Ignore my TL (I haven't updated it in a long ass time unfortunately). I'm not looking for anything particular, but pretty much only want RPG guides (Or would LOVE a zelda PH, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, or Castlevania Portrait of Ruin).
 
[quote name='62t']actually they are hard to find and they are worth getting at the regular price.[/quote]


I know! That's why I asked about them every single time I step in that gamecrazy.
 
[quote name='freshzen']Fresh Game Crazy drop...

Black
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (probably the calender)
Godfather (360/PSP)
Hitman Blood Money
Indigo Prophecy
James Bond: From Russia With Love
Just Cause
Kameo
Lego Star Wars
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Ninety-Nine Nights
Nba Live 07
Need for Speed Carbon
Paid to Play (?)
Perfect Dark Zero
Pokemon 10th Anniversary Pokedex
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Prima
Pokemon Ranger Prima
Quake IV
Reservoir Dogs
Sims 2 Pets
Star Wars Episode III
Super Dragonball Z (?)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (2-dvd ?)
Star Wars Repulic Commando
Splinter Cell Doubt Agent
Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter
Xbox 360 Official Handbook[/quote]

Did this drop occur today, yesterday or Monday? Anybody know? If not, I'm just adding this list to the same day as the GS drop this week. Plus, many of those guides seem like stuff that should've dropped a WHILE ago already(Black, Just Cause, From Russia With Love to name just a few).

Either way, I'll add the drop info to the second post.

EDIT: I added it to the 9.30 drop, until we get clarification as to when they dropped.

Thanks again to all who provide drop info.
 
Huh. First time I've been denied penny guides at my local GC. Glad it wasn't anything I really wanted like the Phantom Hourglass hardcovers at GS that I was allowed to stare at wistfully, but not allowed to purchase. I couldn't even bribe them with a preorder. They (yes, they...multiple PH HCs...) had to be destroyed and there was nothing they could do. So that GS is on my 'do not give business' list. Sorry, there's nothing I can do.

And the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon guide that dropped was the Red/Blue, not the Time/Darkness one. Time/Darkness is still full price.

EDIT: Oh, I forgot...they did actually give me the option to buy the PH guides. For $29.99. Fail.
 
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Went to my local GC to pick up my preorder Wii Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility...got the chick plush too. Went looking for these guides, but didn't find even 1! They used to have a ton more guides on the shelf behind the counter, but they all disappeared.
 
I've lucked out at the 3 Gamestops I've visited over the past two days. I've picked up guides at all three with no hassle, namely PH, ME, and OD. I have an extra Mass Effect and Operation Darkness if anyone needs either. Plus I found a mint/complete copy of Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, which I've been looking for for months! How exciting!
 
Just called up my local Gamecrazy to find out that all the guides are gone in the dumpster. :cry:

I did however pick up a Mass Effect guide from Gamestop today. So all is NOT lost. Most of the Gamecrazy guides are guides that I have or not great and would take up more valuable space. Oh well.

--Michael
 
It kills me that Gamestop just throws them away like that so quickly. Even though most of the employees are gamers (at mine), they'd rather throw the guide out instead of keeping it when it comes to that point at the end of the day. Especially with these guides... >_
 
[quote name='Civickid96']Just called up my local Gamecrazy to find out that all the guides are gone in the dumpster. :cry:[/quote]
They're most likely actually at the employee who answered the phone's house, or the indie game store that takes guide trade ins now. NEVER CALL!

Gonna head to GC tomorrow. Nice drop.
 
The Lego star wars guide is the first one (just says "Lego Star Wars" on it; no II or "original trilogy")
The Pokemon Mystery dungeon is the Prima Red/Blue.
 
[quote name='Antic']It kills me that Gamestop just throws them away like that so quickly. Even though most of the employees are gamers (at mine), they'd rather throw the guide out instead of keeping it when it comes to that point at the end of the day. Especially with these guides... >_
 
[quote name='darkslime']They're most likely actually at the employee who answered the phone's house, or the indie game store that takes guide trade ins now. NEVER CALL!

Gonna head to GC tomorrow. Nice drop.[/quote]

I'm good friends with the people at this store and they are the ones that inform me when the guides drop. I haven't been at the store in a few days and I had to call them when I saw this information posted up. :cool:

Anyways, I can still drop by and get them but there's really nothing I want out of the drop. Again, I'll patiently wait for Best Buy to have their drops.

--Michael
 
[quote name='SirChadlyOC']It's not that they don't want to keep them, it's that they're not allowed to. In fact, it could be grounds for getting fired. The reason they are a penny is complicated, but basically it's a marker to show that the guide needs to be disposed of.[/quote]

I understand how it may be like under certain strict managers, but I know it's not like that at these locations...
 
[quote name='freshzen']Fresh Game Crazy drop...

Black
Dead or Alive 4
Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (probably the calender)
Godfather (360/PSP)
Hitman Blood Money
Indigo Prophecy
James Bond: From Russia With Love
Just Cause
Kameo
Lego Star Wars
Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth II
Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Ninety-Nine Nights
Nba Live 07
Need for Speed Carbon
Paid to Play (?)
Perfect Dark Zero
Pokemon 10th Anniversary Pokedex
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Prima
Pokemon Ranger Prima
Quake IV
Reservoir Dogs
Sims 2 Pets
Star Wars Episode III
Super Dragonball Z (?)
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic (2-dvd ?)
Star Wars Repulic Commando
Splinter Cell Doubt Agent
Ghost Recon 3: Advanced Warfighter
Xbox 360 Official Handbook[/quote]

Hmm... I know my GC has a handful of these guides, I tried picking them up assuming they were already on clearance. I already have Hitman Blood Money beat w/ 1000 geek points ,but I'd still love to get more out of that game. Hopefully I get the same manager I had last time and I won't get any fuss and walk out with a bunch of free guides again.
 
[quote name='freshzen']Fresh Game Crazy drop...[/quote]

My GameCrazy has none of these; they have a limited number of guides and all are for relatively current games.
 
[quote name='SirChadlyOC']It's not that they don't want to keep them, it's that they're not allowed to. In fact, it could be grounds for getting fired. The reason they are a penny is complicated, but basically it's a marker to show that the guide needs to be disposed of.[/quote]

strange. the employees at GS told my hubby today that they keep (or buy for a penny) the guides. or they sell or give them away before they need to dispose of them. oddly though, one GS actually had the Mass Effect with a penny price sticker. i guess down here theyre not all that strict.

which means that i will stop ignoring the GS drops.
 
Hey guys, what are the consequences if a gamestop and gamecrazy store clerk sells a penny guide to a customer? so far my success rate with cc and bb is 100%, gamestop, it's 50% and for gamecrazy, about 25%.
 
[quote name='shelisheli']strange. the employees at GS told my hubby today that they keep (or buy for a penny) the guides. or they sell or give them away before they need to dispose of them. oddly though, one GS actually had the Mass Effect with a penny price sticker. i guess down here theyre not all that strict.

which means that i will stop ignoring the GS drops.[/quote]

I've seen the guides with the penny sticker on them as well, at this one GS specifically where I picked up my P3 guide, I asked for it and the guy went into the back to get it for me, knew what the penny sticker meant, but he still gave it to me.
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']I'm assuming the mystery dungeon is first one, correct? And is the Lego Star Wars the first one, second one, or complete trilogy?[/QUOTE]

First & first. I had the Indigo Prophecy guide scanned on Monday at full price, so it was either 9/30 or 10/1.
 
[quote name='Pr0JectNymPh0!']Hey guys, what are the consequences if a gamestop and gamecrazy store clerk sells a penny guide to a customer? so far my success rate with cc and bb is 100%, gamestop, it's 50% and for gamecrazy, about 25%.[/quote]

None of these stores are really supposed to sell them, but many of them just do it as a nice gesture, since the penny price is just a marker to destroy the guides.

So, whenever I try for guides and get denied anymore, I don't take it personally since the employee is just trying to do their job. Mind you, if they had done it right, I'd never find a single one on the shelf that rings up .01. But they've even been getting better about pulling them around here and so finding one is getting harder and harder now too.
 
^^^ That seems quite likely because I've gotten several guides from a Gamestop that used to be quite strict about it. When it rings up for a penny, they always say "hold on" and then they tell the manager, who always responds "sell it to him." I don't think I've ever gotten a guide from this particular store if it wasn't approved by a manger like that.
 
I picked up pretty much one of everything on the recent GC drop list. The funny thing is, the guy working was really cool and had two HUGE stacks behind his counter. Probably about 13 copies of Splinter Cell and another 13 of Mortal Kombat Armageddon :rofl:
 
[quote name='slowdive21']^^^ It is my understanding that best buy managers HAVE to sell them to you if they are on the sales floor.[/quote]Depends on the BB manager. I had some sell them to me no problem while others took them out of my hands or overrode the price back to MSRP.
 
Well, I went to GS hoping for a Phanton Hourglass and an Operation Darkness. One GS I went to last week had a couple of ODs so I went there, looked around, and then asked. One of the guys silently mentioned to the guy I asked that he has just pennied them, so the guy I was talking to said they didn't have any. Dejectedly, I felt the store, and took the long painful walk to my car.... I get in.... when I see the whisper dude from the stores running after me with something in hand. What is it? It's an operation... of darkness! :D So I was pretty happy to get the OD guide. I don't even have the game, or a 360, but I've been very interested in it, and I really like Double Jump guides. In other news, I'm almost positive I saw a Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness mixed in with the Dis3 guides. But I didn't know it was pennied. :(
 
[quote name='Frosty The Batman']Not to be a horny dork or anything but was it the DOAXBV2 calendar?[/quote]

It may be too late for that :p
 
I went to 2 gs today and both stores have been swept clean. One of the managers informed me that when he saw the latest drops last tuesday, he pulled out the guides right away. wow!
 
I'm not sure if this has been posted, but from my 2 yrs at Gamestop as an asst manager, pennying out was supposed to signify the guides were to be pulled from the sales floor and destroyed/thrown away.

However, GSs are notoriously understaffed and pennying out is one of gamestops few practices that doesn't have strict guidelines on what is supposed to happen, or if there is it's rarely enforced/taught to employees.

Sadly for your average joe, what usually happens with pennied out guides is they're pulled from the sales floor and the employees take the ones they want home. In some cases we'd give the leftovers (after we'd picked the piles clean) free to a customer if they happened to purchase the game. In some stores I've seen these stacked on the cashwrap and just handed out to customers randomly.

In some rare instances when the price change labels are printed (which happen when the store opens, when the opening employee is at their tiredest/groggiest)
the employee will blindly affix them to the guides without really paying attention, leaving pennied-out guides in the rack with other guides. In this case I suppose it'd make sense that you'd see them for $0.01 there.

What seems more likely is the employee sees the guides are pennied out on the price change sheet/labels, and doesnt bother affixing the prices to something they're just going to throw/give out anyway, figuring they'll just pull the guides later. But gamestops are notoriously understaffed and the opening person has tons of stuff to do, so this step falls through the cracks and the guides remain on the rack with the original price label still on them. Managers are supposed to run weekly reports to ensure there isnt any pennied out merchandise in the store, but in comparison to the other many many responsibilities this doesn't always happen.

Technically speaking you're not supposed to actually pay the penny for the guide if you happen to get it, if you're looking to be REALLY cheap and get out of paying anything whatsoever I guess you could make that argument to the employee. But then again, you're technically not supposed to get the guides anyway, so it's a price worth paying when it comes up.

Sorry for the longwinded post, and I apologize if this has been posted before, I just wanted to clarify in case anyone was wondering.

btw guides aren't the only thing pennied out, from time to time certain failed PC games, promotional items like candy/patches/buttons, and obscure MMO time cards are pennied out as well, but nowhere near as frequently or as many as strat. guides.

edit: I'm nab, I think I posted this in the wrong thread after reading the OP, my apologies ;/
 
[quote name='atregglypuff']btw guides aren't the only thing pennied out, from time to time certain failed PC games, promotional items like candy/patches/buttons, and obscure MMO time cards are pennied out as well, but nowhere near as frequently or as many as strat. guides.
[/quote]

I know this from experience, since I had 3 copies of American McGee's Bad Day LA sitting here for a while. I still have two of them(one opened, one sealed).
 
[quote name='atregglypuff']
btw guides aren't the only thing pennied out, from time to time certain failed PC games, promotional items like candy/patches/buttons, and obscure MMO time cards are pennied out as well, but nowhere near as frequently or as many as strat. guides.

edit: I'm nab, I think I posted this in the wrong thread after reading the OP, my apologies ;/[/QUOTE]

Sometimes accessories, such as controllers are pennied out as well. I remember when the PS2 Onimusha samurai sword was pennied out - it sent me out on a mad rush to several Gamestops, in vain.
 
I remember one time a couple of years ago there was some sort of obscure trading card game that had it's booster packs pennied out. The woman in line in front of me wanted one and it came up as a penny, so they gave her the rest of the box they had. I had no idea what the game was, but I was so jealous!
 
[quote name='Brian9824']Man i'd kill for one of the Assasin Creed ones :whistle2:([/quote]

Best buy will be pennying out the limited edition ones soon enough..
 
[quote name='Ice2Dragon']Best buy will be pennying out the limited edition ones soon enough..[/quote]

All LE's have disappeared at mine. People actually caved and bought them.

I was able to find a Phantom Hourglass HC today though at a GS. They had junked the other HC, but skipped this one because it wasn't on their print out for some reason.
 
[quote name='detectiveconan16']Went to two Gamestops, dejected that they threw away perfectly good hardcovers.[/quote]
For a lot of storekeepers, "threw them away" is code for "we already took them."
 
Went to GStop to check out the guides but they didnt have any like always. Anyways I overheard the 2 employees talking since I was the only one there. One of them mentioned to the other one "Oh by the way the Hellboy guide got pennied out today so you can take them home if u want theyr in the back" So somebody might want to check that out if theyr interested. Im done with pennied out guides at GStop.
 
[quote name='Antic']I was able to find a Phantom Hourglass HC today though at a GS. They had junked the other HC, but skipped this one because it wasn't on their print out for some reason.[/QUOTE]

Probably because inventory was off (for example inventory says 0 but they actually have 1 on the sales floor) I'm thinking that when this happens for something pennied out it doesn't get printed up as part of the to pull list since the inventory thinks that this item is already OOS before being pennied out.

I found 1 Okami guide last weekend and probably lucked out getting it just like your Phantom Hourglass HC guide. The guy helping me went to the manager of the store that was right by him and he ok'd selling it for a penny. One of them said something about it as if they were keeping up with pulling of the guides and were surprised that one slipped through.
 
I found a gamestop that just gives me the pennied guides now, got 2 okamis and slightly beat up PH and TP hardcovers...great since the other gamestops AND the gamecrazy here pull them. finally some luck somewhere other than CC or BB! I think the guy working was a bit sour that I got the hardcovers before him, but at least he didn't try to take them from me for himself. :)
 
No drops at BB today.

I will be on vacation starting today and will miss any drops that may happen on Monday and next Friday. But I shall return after that.
 
Lucky!
I went to GS to sell back 2 copies of FEAR Files, and noticed they had the Assassin's Creed Limited Edition guide behind the counter! I asked the guy if I can get that, and he just handed it to me! I've been looking all over for this!
 
[quote name='yuy104']Lucky!
I went to GS to sell back 2 copies of FEAR Files, and noticed they had the Assassin's Creed Limited Edition guide behind the counter! I asked the guy if I can get that, and he just handed it to me! I've been looking all over for this![/quote]

Do they move them behind the counter when they're pennied (so they can give them away or otherwise dispose of them), or is it common practice at GS to keep certain guides (like limited editions) behind the counter at all times?

I visit GS very rarely except this week, but I haven't seen any guides behind the counter - they're all in racks or on shelves on the floor. OTOH, if they're just squirreling away one or two pennied guides behind the counter, I probably wouldn't see them without eagle vision.
 
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