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='FOnewearl']IIRC the local Sears still had a PS1 game or two last time I was looking at the $20 and under bin a few months ago :D

That is pretty funny if the guide is a WWF guide and not a WWE guide since it was almost 6 1/2 years ago that they got the F Out![/quote]

That's also because you live out in the middle of nowhere. :razz: Mind you, if it were a copy of Silent Hill or Intelligent Qube, I'd pick it up. But if it was something like Madden 2001, it'd make a great frisbee but nothing else.
 
Went to GameCrazy to see what I could find, and they had several Lord of the Rings: BfME2, Dead or Alive 4, Kameo, and Perfect Dark Zero guides. I'm sure many others were there, but that's all I could find that was on my list for GameCrazy (of only about 15 games) and was of interest to me.

The guy that checked the price on them was really cool, and was suprised at how cheap they were. He was even nice enough to check in the back for Prey/Black, because he thought they might have them. He also told me that their manager donated some old guides to a children's daycare recently, so I might've missed out on guides like Pikmin 2 that I would have loved to grab.

He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.
 
[quote name='sj41'] He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/quote]

Dude... penny guides are a great "secret deal." There's no need to tell one of them about it. :whistle2:#
 
[quote name='sj41']
He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for nothing.
 
[quote name='sj41']Went to GameCrazy to see what I could find, and they had several Lord of the Rings: BfME2, Dead or Alive 4, Kameo, and Perfect Dark Zero guides. I'm sure many others were there, but that's all I could find that was on my list for GameCrazy (of only about 15 games) and was of interest to me.

The guy that checked the price on them was really cool, and was suprised at how cheap they were. He was even nice enough to check in the back for Prey/Black, because he thought they might have them. He also told me that their manager donated some old guides to a children's daycare recently, so I might've missed out on guides like Pikmin 2 that I would have loved to grab.

He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/quote]

Thanks for alerting at least one store clerk to this site. Let's hope they don't go junior detective and alert corporate that people are getting things that should otherwise be destroyed for free or a penny each.

The key to getting the deals from CAG is to keep things low key, this includes blurting out to random clerks at GS/GC/CC/BB/TRU about where you found the info for the deal.

I'd hate to see any of those who contribute to this thread or any of the other deal threads get in serious shit over a lapse in judgement like that.

If you need more proof as to how deep the shit can get once corporate finds out that we have 'insider info', search for Speedy1961 and Circuit City.

I swear, if they ever invent a type of screen that allows ya to reach out and smack internet dumbasses, I'll be the first to buy it at ANY cost.
 
[quote name='sj41']
He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/QUOTE]

You've been on here that long and you don't understand why you shouldn't mention this site????!!!???

That's pretty screwed up. Glad I don't live in your area....
 
[quote name='Ubiiquitous']You've been on here that long and you don't understand why you shouldn't mention this site????!!!???

That's pretty screwed up. Glad I don't live in your area....[/quote]This dude wasn't a manger that's going to get mad that we're getting guides for a penny, and he wasn't an asshole that's going to rat CAG out to corporate. He helped me get guides, and he probably has the ability to find out what guides are a penny at GameCrazy and tell CAG about it.

Just because someone is a clerk at a store doesn't make them an asshole that shouldn't be allowed to get deals like we do. He wanted to know if there were any guides that he might be able to get for a penny so I told him the ones that I didn't grab, and I said look it up on CAG.

And I'm not an internet dumbass at all, and it wasn't a lapse in judgment. I keep things like flipping games to BlockBuster a secret, because that could get a lot of people banned from trading at BB. Nobody can get in trouble for buying something for a penny.

I'll make you a deal, though, CheapestGamer. If anybody (you, I guess) gets a lawsuit against them over penny guides like speedy did with the Sunday ads, or this thing dissapears entirely over me telling one nice employee how to get some guides for a penny, I'll meet you somewhere and fight you over it.
 
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[quote name='sj41']This dude wasn't a manger that's going to get mad that we're getting guides for a penny, and he wasn't an asshole that's going to rat CAG out to corporate. He helped me get guides, and he probably has the ability to find out what guides are a penny at GameCrazy and tell CAG about it.

Just because someone is a clerk at a store doesn't make them an asshole that shouldn't be allowed to get deals like we do. He wanted to know if there were any guides that he might be able to get for a penny so I told him the ones that I didn't grab, and I said look it up on CAG.

And I'm not an internet dumbass at all, and it wasn't a lapse in judgment. I keep things like flipping games to BlockBuster a secret, because that could get a lot of people banned from trading at BB. Nobody can get in trouble for buying something for a penny.

I'll make you a deal, though, CheapestGamer. If anybody (you, I guess) gets a lawsuit against them over penny guides like speedy did with the Sunday ads, or this thing dissapears entirely over me telling one nice employee how to get some guides for a penny, I'll meet you somewhere and fight you over it.[/quote]

Ugh.. wow..
 
I don't see the big deal here. All he did was tell a fellow gamer about how to get better deals on guidebooks. Granted, I know what you guys are getting at. If corporate was to find out about CAG it could make it substantially harder to get guides, but the cashier he told seemed pretty cool about it. He even went to check in the back for more pennied guides, which isn't something that an asshat who'd blab it all to corporate would do. It's not a huge secret, either. I googled "Penny guides" and the first thing that came up was a thread on another forum mentioning getting info from CAG. I googled "Pennied out Guides" and the second thing to come up was, you guessed it, CAG. Hell, I don't know how corporate doesn't already know about it.
 
[quote name='sj41']
He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/quote]


Not smart. IF you want to "help" him just make a copy of the list for him. No frickin reason to let the info out...no reason at all.

Never use the term "pennied" IF you must say how you know, guides are essentially magazines with a shelf life that eventually expires...you merely want to save them from the landfill because they are older guides...
 
[quote name='sj41']He asked me where I got the list from, and I told him to check this thread out on CAG, so he might read this later today. Haha.[/quote][TylerDurden] The first rule about CAG is that you don't talk about CAG. [/TylerDurden]
 
Just say you heard they were on clearance because of their age. If they ask who, just say a friend. If they keep on tell them to scan the guides and shut the fuck up.
 
I swear, if they ever invent a type of screen that allows ya to reach out and smack internet dumbasses, I'll be the first to buy it at ANY cost.[/quote] i agree with you brother. :applause:
i always use a standard answer, "lucky guesses, or my lucky day"

arent there rules for cag
if not cheapy should have them when you sign up and if you break them you should be beaten with a wet noodle about the buttocks
 
[quote name='sj41']I'll make you a deal, though, CheapestGamer. If anybody (you, I guess) gets a lawsuit against them over penny guides like speedy did with the Sunday ads, or this thing dissapears entirely over me telling one nice employee how to get some guides for a penny, I'll meet you somewhere and fight you over it.[/quote]


That's a pretty crappy deal. In for one anyway.
 
[quote name='camelking6969']I swear, if they ever invent a type of screen that allows ya to reach out and smack internet dumbasses, I'll be the first to buy it at ANY cost.[/quote]
Or a device..
20080801.jpg
 
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Even if the guy is real cool about the whole thing, you don't alert him to this thread because there go your penny guides!! :whee:

The phrase "I guess it's my lucky day" works for when you're purchasing one singular guide. If you bring up a stack, then you have to elude the question all together. My personal favourite: "I know! Deal of the Century! ;)"
 
[quote name='genfuyung']Just say you heard they were on clearance because of their age. If they ask who, just say a friend. If they keep on tell them to scan the guides and shut the fuck up.[/quote]I suppose it was a mistake to be a nice human being, and I should just tell someone that is helping me to shut the fuck up.;)

I'm fine with that guy getting some penny guides for himself. All I told him was that old guides get clearanced to get rid of them, and I mentioned that he should check out CAG to find out which ones. If he goes to CAG, then he has just as much right to the guides as anybody else in this thread.

I understand why some guys got mad, since I'm risking their deals, but I really don't think it's anything to get worried over, and I really really don't think that anyone's in danger of getting in trouble.
 
[quote name='WingsDJY']Some misses and a hit last night:

Went to GameCrazy and spotted numerous penny guides (Perfect Dark Zero x3, Indigo Prophecy x4, DOA4 x4, DOAX2 x2, etc), but they wouldn't sell them to me. Apparently they're required by corporate to destroy the guides and send back the covers once the guide drops to a penny. Sucks since they have the biggest selection of old guides in town.

I then went to Best Buy and picked up 2 of the EA 25 Years hardcover books and the PGR4 guide. Cashier didn't even bother charging me the $0.03 and said to just take them for free!

Last stop was GameStop. Walked in only to discover they recently purged a ton of their guides while redoing the store layout. Looks like I won't be seeing a penny guide there for a while.[/QUOTE]

DOAX2 had a guide?
 
[quote name='sj41']I suppose it was a mistake to be a nice human being, and I should just tell someone that is helping me to shut the fuck up.;)

I'm fine with that guy getting some penny guides for himself. All I told him was that old guides get clearanced to get rid of them, and I mentioned that he should check out CAG to find out which ones. If he goes to CAG, then he has just as much right to the guides as anybody else in this thread.

I understand why some guys got mad, since I'm risking their deals, but I really don't think it's anything to get worried over, and I really really don't think that anyone's in danger of getting in trouble.[/quote]


Yeah, goodness knows you are one member that is always Contributing to this thread/site about new guides/deals :roll::roll::roll::roll:
 
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My sources (guin) tell me drops at GS/EB today include

God of War PSP
Final Fantasy : Ring of Fates
WoW : Dungeon Companion II
Bully
Dark Sector

My commission for this info will be someone procuring FF and GoW for me. Thanks =]
 
[quote name='Pookymeister']My sources (guin) tell me drops at GS/EB today include

God of War PSP
Final Fantasy : Ring of Fates
WoW : Dungeon Companion II
Bully
Dark Sector

My commission for this info will be someone procuring FF and GoW for me. Thanks =][/quote]

I'm assuming you mean the Wii/360 version of the Bully guide, correct? I ask because just like the Oblivion and Godfather guide, there have been 2-3 versions of that one as well.

EDIT: Drop info added to the second post.......are there any missing from the drop? Let me know and I'll add them.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I'm assuming you mean the Wii/360 version of the Bully guide, correct? I ask because just like the Oblivion and Godfather guide, there have been 2-3 versions of that one as well.[/quote]It should be, yes, as the PS2 guide has been pennied long ago, from both BB & GS/EB.
 
Thanks Pooky!! :3

I'll see what I can grab ya when I head out today. I'm pretty much blacklisted from one of the more leinient stores, so we'll see :whistle2:(
 
dont know if these are new or old but these are the first guides I have gotten from gamestop in years.

Age of Conan - Brady
Bioshock - Brady
Bully: Scholarship Edition - Brady
Dark Sector - Brady
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates - Brady
God Of War: chains of Olympus - Brady
God Of War II - Brady
Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl, Sticker collection - DK
Rachet and Clank: Tools of Destruction - Brady
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - Brady
The Worlds Ends With You - Brady

good luck all
 
Thanks for the info, floormat. I think most(if not all) of those are new ones, since the Age Of Conan is the MMO game, right? Plus, the God Of War II LE dropped the last time they had a drop I think.

EDIT: Second post is updated with the new info. Both the LE and regular edition God Of War II guides have now dropped.

Thanks again for the info, floormat....and for alphabetizing them.
 
I can confirm God of War 2, God of War: Olympus, Ratchet and Clank and Dark Sector.

Punk: Let me know if you can get me a TWEWY guide.

--Michael
 
I can confirm GoW: CoO, Dark Sector, TWEWY, Ratchet and Clank, Bioshock, FFCC:RoF, and Bully: Scholarship Edition. I just picked them up (and some extra).
 
[quote name='jaydepps']Do you have to get a price check or are they labeled as 1 cent? Sorry if this has already been asked.[/quote]


:roll::roll::roll::bomb::bomb::bomb:

READ THE FIRST POST!!! They should ring up at 1 cent automatically and unless the employees put the guides back on the shelf after tagging them(only to destroy them which makes no fuckin' sense), they will have their normal tags with the normal price on them.
 
Thanks Ops!
Found or spotted (Manager wanted the WOW one...lol) all on the longest posted list except The World Ends with You...dab nab it...grabbed a couple extras also...
 
[quote name='floormat']
Age of Conan - Brady
Bioshock - Brady
Bully: Scholarship Edition - Brady
Dark Sector - Brady
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, Ring of Fates - Brady
God Of War: chains of Olympus - Brady
God Of War II - Brady
Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl, Sticker collection - DK
Rachet and Clank: Tools of Destruction - Brady
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - Brady
The Worlds Ends With You - Brady
[/quote]

Almost all of these are confirmed. I put $0.01 stickers on them myself at my store. I don't think the Pokemon sticker collection was supposed to drop, but everything else in this list dropped to $0.01 today. Also, Volume 1 of the "cheats" book by Brady dropped today as well. It's a yellow, half-sized book like the Disgaea guides, and it has cheat codes for a bunch of games and systems. Most people probably aren't interested in it, but it's worth mentioning just in case.

I picked up TWEWY (totally sweet, had been waiting for it), Bully, and Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates: Subtext of Subcontent.
 
Wow, what an amazing drop, thanks so much Pooky and floormat! I managed to pick up most, except the GoW guides, and got an extra TWEWY. Too bad I only had time to hit up a couple stores, but I'm crossing my fingers to score the rest in another run tomorrow.
 
hahaha, i was out doing my rounds for bbv and gs stores and i happened to run into these pennied guides..

IAmTheCheapestGamer~
add:
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (i forgot the exact name for it but it was the PSP one)
 
You mean War of the Lions? That is different from FFTA2, which is for DS. Too bad, because I saw one of those PSP guides today and was wondering if it hadn't pennied yet.
 
D'oh!!

Anyways, it was a fairly successful trip as I managed to grab all the ones I wanted except for Uncharted. Meh.

...and the 2008 codebook (brady) is confirmed as I got one :)
 
Ulgh... tonight I got denied for FF: CC: Ring of Fates and World Ends With You guides at Gamestop :( They said they couldn't sell them anymore.
I think it's been a good year since I've gotten any pennied guides at my local GS.
 
Got shut down on Bully and GoW:COO. After scoring at a couple local stores a couple months back they have really picked up on clearing out guides ASAP. This was the first time I even found any penny guides and after ringing them up the woman showed it to the manager and said he couldn't sell them. :bomb:
 
I don't even know why I bother, but I'll going to try my luck and make some rounds at Gamestops. That's an amazing drop. I hope I grab anything on there except for Dark Sector.
 
[quote name='GuardianE']I don't even know why I bother, but I'll going to try my luck and make some rounds at Gamestops. That's an amazing drop. I hope I grab anything on there except for Dark Sector.[/quote]

You should check out Dark Sector, it's a great game and the guide helped me find a few pick-ups that I missed and with the two of the boss fights when I couldn't figure out why the they were taking so long.
 
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