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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I actually found a gamestop near the hotel I'm staying at that had a War of the Lions and an FF2 guide still on the racks, so I went to ring them up, see them come up as .01 on the little credit card screen....thing, then I proceed to hear from the clerk:
"they're $16"

I tell him they come up as a cent on the screen and he angrily replies:
"DUDE. They're $16"

I bough the wii sports i my hand and left without them, as since I passed he threw them in the back room. Friggin douche.
 
[quote name='Visc']I actually found a gamestop near the hotel I'm staying at that had a War of the Lions and an FF2 guide still on the racks, so I went to ring them up, see them come up as .01 on the little credit card screen....thing, then I proceed to hear from the clerk:
"they're $16"

I tell him they come up as a cent on the screen and he angrily replies:
"DUDE. They're $16"

I bough the wii sports i my hand and left without them, as since I passed he threw them in the back room. Friggin douche.[/quote]

What a douche!! I hate when they try to pull crap like that.
 
[quote name='punkmaggit']What a douche!! I hate when they try to pull crap like that.[/quote]

A while back at CC, the Rock Band guide (that has $9.99 in big type on the cover) was no longer showing up in the system. The manager tried to charge me $19.99 for it.

I got lucky at the BB by my house yesterday, found 6 of the guides, including SMG (and Rock Band), and didn't run into the evil manager. In fact, the cashier was super nice, she was a gamer, and when I tried to pay, she just opened the drawer, closed it again, and said don't worry about it. I know it is only 6 cents, but it was a welcome change of pace from the evil manager (the one who insisted that everything in the store is always stickered with the correct price, and if it rings up a different price, the computer is wrong. Thanks to her, they still have 2 copies of the 25 years of EA hardcover).
 
just came back from bestbuy & picked up the mario galaxy hard cover, seems like they had like 30 of em but no sign of the zelda ph hard cover thanks again
 
[quote name='guessed']A while back at CC, the Rock Band guide (that has $9.99 in big type on the cover) was no longer showing up in the system. The manager tried to charge me $19.99 for it.

I got lucky at the BB by my house yesterday, found 6 of the guides, including SMG (and Rock Band), and didn't run into the evil manager. In fact, the cashier was super nice, she was a gamer, and when I tried to pay, she just opened the drawer, closed it again, and said don't worry about it. I know it is only 6 cents, but it was a welcome change of pace from the evil manager (the one who insisted that everything in the store is always stickered with the correct price, and if it rings up a different price, the computer is wrong. Thanks to her, they still have 2 copies of the 25 years of EA hardcover).[/quote]

Find that good cashier again, and buy one of those EA books for me - I never ended up able to get one before.
 
[quote name='Nogib']Damn it, forgot to check Call of Duty 4 while I was there. Anyone know offhand if that one was been pennied out?[/quote]

Checked. Nope
 
Scored the following (my buddy spectreon is getting one of each with "x3" beside it):

Army of Two(Limited Edition x 3
Bourne Conspiracy x 2
Bully: Schloarship Edition x2
Codes & Cheats Summer 2008
Devil May Cry 4 x 2
GoW: Chains Of Olympus
Incredible Hulk
Iron Man
Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass x 2
Mario Galaxy(hardcover) x 3
Orange Box x 3
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl (Prima)
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers Time/Darkness (Prima)
Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Rock Band x 2

The doubles will be going up on my TL if anyone is interested.
 
One of the BB i went to today had a table with about 5 or 6 of the guides that pennied out yesterday and the blue shirt guy said that if i bought one of the games for that guide then i'd get the guide for FREE....what a bunch of jerks, i left the store and wont do business there because this is a straight up lie, the guide would still ring up a penny whether i buy the game or not....LAME!!!
 
Just got back and had my first experience of being close to denied of penny guides. Had to call the manager..blah blah becasue Bully was one that I had picked up and it "hadn't been out long enough to penny". After scanning and voiding FOUR times, they finally realized that the .01 price was not going to change.

Also, by mistake I found another pennied guide at BB:

Legend of Zelda: TP Hardcover (Tan Cover) - .01

I thought this was the one that had pennied, not the PH. So I skipped the PH and picked up this one instead. Again, this is not the blue hardcover PH guide, this is the Tan Hardcover TP guide.
 
Someone earlier said that the tan hardcover rang up at $7 or so. You're sure it automatically scanned at .01? If so, I need to go hunting. Oh, while I was typing that, looks like confirmation. :p Thanks, guys!
 
picked up a zelda tp hardcover guide and a bully se guide at the best buy on capital blvd in raleigh, nc today. they still had at least 3 more bully guides and i'm pretty sure they had other penny guides too. plan on heading back tomorrow with a list just to double check.
 
[quote name='Coyotezeye']Does anyone know what the current price is on the Halo 3 guides @ BB?
I know they got pennied at CC, but last I knew they were still full price @ BB.[/quote]
seconding this. My BB had green stickers on all the penny guides left (not much) but the halo 3 guides had that same sticker. I was rushed so I didn't get them checked. C/D on this please.
 
I got the hard covers of Mario Galaxy, and Phantom Hourglass. I could not find the LE of Assassin's creed-- that's okay, I'd choose to have those two anyway. I'll keep searching for the LE... anyone check the Mass Effect LE? I was rushed for time.
Also, I need to check Halo 3. I let my friend have the last Halo 3 at CC, and I'd love to have that.

Anyway, much headsup seven ups to the OP for keeping up the list. You turned a borning night exciting... though it got scary when I almost didn't find the Nintendo hard covers. Got the last one of each.
 
Someone found out about my location in ohio at a best buy.. every single guide was cleared out earlier today.. damn me for going to canada.. the guy in the game section said someone came in a few hours and cleaned em out.

Was sooooooooooooooooooooooo pissed
 
So I go to BB and see they have a SMG HC guide. I go over the the Magnolia section to try and get a 10 dollar off blu-ray coupon, they dont have any. Go back maybe 2 minutes later and the guide is gone! aaaaarrrrggghhhh!
 
[quote name='CloverField06']So I go to BB and see they have a SMG HC guide. I go over the the Magnolia section to try and get a 10 dollar off blu-ray coupon, they dont have any. Go back maybe 2 minutes later and the guide is gone! aaaaarrrrggghhhh![/quote]

This is why if you see any guides out that should come up as pennied(and you might want), you grab what you want and THEN walk around the rest of the store. I've had that happen to me too many times to even count already, as well as the usual asshole media managers trying to cover their own ass by saying the guide is full price when the cashier calls them like a numbskull to ask about the price.

Oh and I actually grabbed one of the softcover SMG guides from my local CC and I left one behind which I might go back and grab if it's still there this weekend.

As for the guides not being listed being a good thing or not, that sometimes just means they sold out from the online store. But, with the size of this drop from BB, I wouldn't doubt if the Halo 3 guide dropped too. I mean, the Spanish edition dropped a while back already and the other version has been languishing for months on there now.
 
[quote name='CloverField06']So I go to BB and see they have a SMG HC guide. I go over the the Magnolia section to try and get a 10 dollar off blu-ray coupon, they dont have any. Go back maybe 2 minutes later and the guide is gone! aaaaarrrrggghhhh![/quote]

I spotted one or two dropped guides and was looking over the rack to see what others they had, when a Blue Shirt came over and started pulling guides. I immediately pulled the ones I had already seen.

Be like Sean Connery in The Rock: "You must never hesitate."
 
[quote name='Friend of Sonic']I got the hard covers of Mario Galaxy, and Phantom Hourglass. I could not find the LE of Assassin's creed-- that's okay, I'd choose to have those two anyway. I'll keep searching for the LE... anyone check the Mass Effect LE? I was rushed for time.
Also, I need to check Halo 3. I let my friend have the last Halo 3 at CC, and I'd love to have that.[/quote]

Mass Effect LE rang up as $17.99.
 
the stores i hit didnt look like anybody had touched the section in weeks. got 2 copies of everyguide on list. left a whole bunch at three stores. gta guide is still 19.99
 
^^^GTA is 9.99 at my local store. I ran into the same prick (on Monday) who always hassles me...
He said "None of those are a penny...I thew them out last night". This is the second time he has said that to me when there are penny guides sitting there. I picked up a couple of each non hardcover guides, since the 2pack/HCs were already gone. I hit 4 BBs yesterday and was able to get the hardcovers/2packs. I left about 50 penny guides at those stores because I am running out of room!
 
I scored some guides last night at the local BB. Found the AC hardcover guide along with some others that I threw on my trade list.

Had the BB clerk scan the guides and look at me in disbelief at the price. He kept saying "It says $24.99 here, but it rings up as .01? What is going on?" and looking at me like I had to explain myself. I just stood there and played dumb. After an uncomfortable silence of almost a minute, I just said, "Guess the price dropped" and eventually he just took my $ and let me leave. The worst thing is they had shelf tags in the guide section listing some of the guides at .01 each.

The best part about getting these guides is the looks/reactions from the clerks. At BB it is usually something like what I wrote above. At GS, the clerk usually calls the manager over and he proceeds to tell me that "We can't sell you these guides" as steam shoots out of his ears. At CC, its a crapshoot, but always entertaining.
 
What's up with Burnout Paradise being $.39? I almost said I didn't want it after getting all the penny ones. I usually only bring in about 12 cents so I had to break a $20 cause of that damn guide.
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']I scored some guides last night at the local BB. Found the AC hardcover guide along with some others that I threw on my trade list.

Had the BB clerk scan the guides and look at me in disbelief at the price. He kept saying "It says $24.99 here, but it rings up as .01? What is going on?" and looking at me like I had to explain myself. I just stood there and played dumb. After an uncomfortable silence of almost a minute, I just said, "Guess the price dropped" and eventually he just took my $ and let me leave. The worst thing is they had shelf tags in the guide section listing some of the guides at .01 each.

The best part about getting these guides is the looks/reactions from the clerks. At BB it is usually something like what I wrote above. At GS, the clerk usually calls the manager over and he proceeds to tell me that "We can't sell you these guides" as steam shoots out of his ears. At CC, its a crapshoot, but always entertaining.[/quote]

I picked up 3 more guides from a different BB last night, but between the 2 stores I live/work near, I was unable to find AC :(. They had plenty of other guides, but lately I've been trying to only get guides for games that I have or might conceivably get/play. AC was the only one I really wanted that i was unable to get. Anyhow, when the first guide rang up as a penny, the cashier thought about it for a few seconds, and then started to do a price adjustment. I then told him that the guides were a penny each, and he accepted that, although he was in shock (especially since one of them was the PH HC). I told him a few of the ones they had that I didn't get, in case he was interested in getting a few for himself, although I got the only PH HC that they had.
 
[quote name='kell']What's up with Burnout Paradise being $.39? I almost said I didn't want it after getting all the penny ones. I usually only bring in about 12 cents so I had to break a $20 cause of that damn guide.[/quote]

They have done this on a small number of titles lately, I don't know if they are experimenting with diminishing costs or what. However, if it gets a guide in my hand vs. 100 in a hoarders then I am all for it.
 
Yeah, I always thought the penny guides should drop to 99 cents. This would give the stores a bit more compensation, and it would still be a bargain... but only to those who want the guides. I think we're all guilty of picking up a guide strictly on the basis that it was a penny. This would allow guides to be sold to interested parties at a cheap price.
 
I went to BB again today and bought

GOW Chains of Olympus x2
Bully Scholarship Edition
FFT War of the Lions they had several copies yesterday today I only found one. Had I not gone yesterday I would have missed out on the LOZ Phantom Hourglass and SMG hardcover guides.
 
how come the guide wiki hasn't been updated in awhile? anyways, a previous poster said that store availability thing isn't very accurate...that's pretty much true for me, cuz i was able to get the guides i wanted even though i checked the store availability and they said they didn't have the guide. anyways, got to play some rock band while at the store. the cashier said she wanted the mario galaxy guide, too, so i told her there was one still back on the shelf. i also bought a little something else (food), so that best buy won't get suspicious w/my small purchase. another cashier was like, "You gonna sell those on ebay?" i was like, no way, i'm keepin em. another funny thing was...i was like, keep the change, and the cashier said, "i'm not allowed to do that?" eewwrrr?!?!?! ;)
 
I finally found a place for the Mario Hardcover (and an extra). I'm stilling missing stuff though. >_<

I still can't believe there was a drop this week though.
 
I went to BB on Monday and scored some guides, highlights include
Phantom Hourglass Hardcover
SMG Hardcover
Assassin's creed LE
Army of Two w/ graphic novel
FFT: WotL
Orange Box
Sims 2
And some others...
The clerk I got was really nice. She didn't question the .01 price, and she even let me keep a big stack at her register while I went off to look for more.
 
[quote name='mentos888']how come the guide wiki hasn't been updated in awhile? anyways, a previous poster said that store availability thing isn't very accurate...that's pretty much true for me, cuz i was able to get the guides i wanted even though i checked the store availability and they said they didn't have the guide. anyways, got to play some rock band while at the store. the cashier said she wanted the mario galaxy guide, too, so i told her there was one still back on the shelf. i also bought a little something else (food), so that best buy won't get suspicious w/my small purchase. another cashier was like, "You gonna sell those on ebay?" i was like, no way, i'm keepin em. another funny thing was...i was like, keep the change, and the cashier said, "i'm not allowed to do that?" eewwrrr?!?!?! ;)[/QUOTE]


Cheapest gamer elects to update the first couple of posts of this thread instead. it can take hours to update either the wiki or this thread to get all the proper formating, alphabetical order, right section etc... then hours more to update the other. I used to handle this thread years ago but simply didn't have time to keep it up and give it what it deserves. Gwen took over for me then Cheapest gamer after her.

if you have time and liberty to handle the wiki i am sure cheapest gamer would appreciate it. thanks for any and all help you can offer.
 
i was able to get just about every guide this time. woooo hoooo

funny thing is about the only thing that was missing is all the hardcover editions.... weird... erehwon ¿?
 
[quote name='SDC']I went to BB on Monday and scored some guides, highlights include
Phantom Hourglass Hardcover
SMG Hardcover
Assassin's creed LE
Army of Two w/ graphic novel
FFT: WotL
Orange Box
Sims 2
And some others...
The clerk I got was really nice. She didn't question the .01 price, and she even let me keep a big stack at her register while I went off to look for more.[/quote]

Sims2? Is it the one that comes in a smaller box?
 
I know everyone's giddy about the latest BB drop, but has anyone looked into the CC drop before that, to see once and for all if Mario Galaxy was the only thing to penny?
 
[quote name='gi60']Sims2? Is it the one that comes in a smaller box?[/QUOTE]

It is of a smaller size than most guides, if that is what you mean. It covers only The Sims 2, and it appears to be the original guide from alllll the way back in 2004.
I don't play The Sims so I'm not really sure, but it is an absolutely fascinating guide. One of the most detailed and in-depth I've ever seen.
 
[quote name='SDC']It is of a smaller size than most guides, if that is what you mean. It covers only The Sims 2, and it appears to be the original guide from alllll the way back in 2004.
I don't play The Sims so I'm not really sure, but it is an absolutely fascinating guide. One of the most detailed and in-depth I've ever seen.[/quote]

Thanks..
 
[quote name='mentos888']anyways, a previous poster said that store availability thing isn't very accurate...that's pretty much true for me, cuz i was able to get the guides i wanted even though i checked the store availability and they said they didn't have the guide.[/QUOTE]

Did you read my post also about stores showing up has not having something if they only have 1-3 copies in stock ;) I tested this last night and and sure enough the Mario Galaxy Hardcover that they still had one left of showed up as not being in stock and the God of War: COO which they still had 4-5 of was still in stock according to the Best Buy website. Did you happen to notice if they had 1-3 copies of the games you got that the site said your store didn't have?
 
Worst guide hunt ever. I was shut out at 2 Best Buys which had rearranged their guide sections. At the third I found an armful of great penny guides and was blocked by a rather anal retentive manager at checkout. Had to give up Super Mario and some Zelda hardcover guides. Very painful. But I purchased my $9.99 copy of Sly Cooper 3 that I was using as penny guide padding, and walked out with my head held high.

I mean, I was crying of course, but my head was up. :lol:
 
[quote name='slowdive21']^^^GTA is 9.99 at my local store. I ran into the same prick (on Monday) who always hassles me...
He said "None of those are a penny...I thew them out last night". This is the second time he has said that to me when there are penny guides sitting there. I picked up a couple of each non hardcover guides, since the 2pack/HCs were already gone. I hit 4 BBs yesterday and was able to get the hardcovers/2packs. I left about 50 penny guides at those stores because I am running out of room!
[/quote]

That's why I ended up learning self control, since I used to clean out every store I stopped at(if the employees let me, that is).

After a while, I had guides in stacks in about 4-6 spots in the house and 3-4 storage bins filled, an old laundry basket filled to overflowing and so on.

Usually, I only grab the in demand guides or the RPG ones anymore. Otherwise, I'll leave handfuls at the stores I find them at. They're not worth shit on Ebay the day of a drop since hoarders flood the market and outside of the RPG/in demand guides, you can barely get rid of them even here.
 
I went back to the CC near my hotel and picked up a few more guides - Rock Band, Army of Two, and LOTR Online - all old news I'm sure, but it was nice to see them willing and enjoying the chance to be helpful with these penny guides - the ones that weren't "must be bought with game" in the computer at least.

/and post #2000 - EDIT: DAMMIT!
 
I don't understand why all of you leave messages regarding what guides you were able to acquire. Do you care to read what other people were able to acquire? Why should I have to read that? I just want info, or maybe a short story that is actually worth being told, but please stop posting just because you scored on some penny guides. Its a chore to read all of these worthless posts.

/end rant
 
Probably need a mod to come in and clean them all out and I imagine it would transition the proper thread. Notwithstanding :whistle2:\", came up empty handed at mine, was really wanting SMG, TP, PH, and Orange Box. Did pick up COD4 for $9.99.
 
there is one store i go too that has a copy of ghost recon for the orginal xbox and is still 4.99 i price check it everydrop. this has been over a year. funny thing the one store i went to did inventory a couple a weeks ago and there are still penny guides from the last drop on the shelf
 
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