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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GS/EB have Disgaea 3 guide and Disgaea Compilation guide each for 9.99.

Picked up a copy of each along with a Persona 4 guide (19.99). Long long time since I've bought a guide at reg price but DoubleJump Atlus guides are usually worth it imo.
 
ye blue dragon guide's been pennied for a loonnggggg time. I picked up two from the back room of the GS i used to work at

also was successfully able to grab FFVII:CC x2 from GS..tho the woman was very reluctant to giving them to me saying "sorry, we have to burn these" but after a tiny amount of persuasion, she allowed me to take them :whistle2:D
 
[quote name='animemaniac14']ye blue dragon guide's been pennied for a loonnggggg time. I picked up two from the back room of the GS i used to work at

also was successfully able to grab FFVII:CC x2 from GS..tho the woman was very reluctant to giving them to me saying "sorry, we have to burn these" but after a tiny amount of persuasion, she allowed me to take them :whistle2:D[/quote]

Ah...okay...thanks for the info...I thought maybe the Blue Dragon guide pennied recently...many thanks
 
I hate to ask a "is this pennied" question, but I've looked through this post as well as older posts and can't find any info. Does anyone know if the God of War II guide has been pennied out at Circuit City? I saw three on a shelf at a local CC today and didn't think to price check. I don't want to drive back out there if they are still full price. Seems odd that they would be, though, as the game is more than two years old now.
 
[quote name='Doomstink']I hate to ask a "is this pennied" question, but I've looked through this post as well as older posts and can't find any info. Does anyone know if the God of War II guide has been pennied out at Circuit City? I saw three on a shelf at a local CC today and didn't think to price check. I don't want to drive back out there if they are still full price. Seems odd that they would be, though, as the game is more than two years old now.[/QUOTE]

Full price, iirc. I checked in November, don't think CC has had a drop since.
 
[quote name='jimijumper']awaiting Antic's report....[/quote]

Sorry but I'm not gonna be making it to the mall today to check. I probably should have posted it last night. I didn't just see this until now too (just got online). I really only expect drops to occur either the first or last monday of the month for BB, which is when I have been checking and posting on this thread on those days. I could easily be wrong (which can be seen with BB being more aware lately about their penny drops), but I can't afford to drive 30 mins (one way) each week to check for guides. Plus, I don't want to jeopardize my location at the same time.

I think we should develop a system where we have people alternate checking at BB though. It should preferably be East Coasters who check upon opening.
 
[quote name='Antic']

I think we should develop a system where we have people alternate checking at BB though. It should preferably be East Coasters who check upon opening.[/quote]

I agree. They (media employees) hate me at my local BB and take out their 'drop sheets' when I walk in the door.

[quote name='jericho69']I'm waiting on the verdict from somebody to get out cause like Derrick, my Best Buy is just loaded with good stuff.[/quote]

Then go check it out. Bring up a few guides (the ones you would want the most), smile at the cashier and ask her/him if you can see if these are on sale. (BB does reduce the price of guides before they penny in some cases). Ask the cashier if you can scan some more and offer to put the first batch back for her/him if they are not pennied.
 
[quote name='jericho69']I'm waiting on the verdict from somebody to get out cause like Derrick, my Best Buy is just loaded with good stuff.[/quote]


wow...loaded...., go check and let us know!
 
[quote name='Antic']
I think we should develop a system where we have people alternate checking at BB though. It should preferably be East Coasters who check upon opening.[/quote]

I would do this, but I just don't feel like it. :razz: I was hoping that once we got Fuss or someone else who is on the inside at BB, that we would no longer even have to rely on others to go out and check stuff.

Unfortunately, my closest BB is staffed by people who like to deny me on getting these anymore, so it makes me less inclined to want to go check.

I REALLY wish they would get up with the times and pull a Wal*Mart, Kmart or Target and put up price scanners. But just like Kmart, I suppose they want their employees to be trying to serve customers and would be removing the scanners in short order.
 
[quote name='Josef']I noticed something unusual on the Best Buy website today. All guides are supposed to be 25% off yet some of the guides listed on the website did not reflect the 25% off. Looking at these guides, I noticed a lot of them were previously pennied out guides that they never removed from the website (Lair, Heavenly Sword, Metroid Prime 3, Orange Box, The Sims 2 Castaway). But I also noticed a handful that were not known to be pennied out yet. This immediately prompted me to go to the store and check and (unfortunately) confirm they were not just pennied yet.

I am wondering, however, if this may be a "tip off" to what the next round of penny guide drops at Best Buy will be. Pure speculation at this point, but I'm trying to make sense why these guides are not reflecting the 25% off on the website.

These are the guides I'm referring to:

Call of Duty 4
Pokemon Pocket Pokedex Vol. 2
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
The Sims 2: Apartment Life
Mercenaries 2
Metal Gear Solid 4 (softcover)
Super Mario Galaxy (softcover)
Assassin's Creed
WOW: Dungeon Companion Vol. 2
WOW: Master Guide 2nd Edition

I also noticed these guides were completely missing from the site:

MGS4 LE
Fable 2 LE
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Lost Odyssey
Too Human
Tales of Vesperia
FFCC: Rings of Fate
FFXII[/quote]

I'm guessing that these are the big titles to check. The earliest I'll be able to go and check is 5pm EST, and I won't be able to report back here until well after 6.
 
BB Employee here.
I was able to check a few things, like the ScIV LE and the Mass Effect guide.
Nothing I checked had dropped
I can confirm that the MGS4 Softcover guide hasn't dropped.
Unfortunately, I don't work again until Thursday. Otherwise I'd try to check all the guides that were listed.
 
[quote name='Antic']Sorry but I'm not gonna be making it to the mall today to check. I probably should have posted it last night. I didn't just see this until now too (just got online). I really only expect drops to occur either the first or last monday of the month for BB, which is when I have been checking and posting on this thread on those days. I could easily be wrong (which can be seen with BB being more aware lately about their penny drops), but I can't afford to drive 30 mins (one way) each week to check for guides. Plus, I don't want to jeopardize my location at the same time.

I think we should develop a system where we have people alternate checking at BB though. It should preferably be East Coasters who check upon opening.[/quote]


I agree, I really wish I could hit up the local BB every Monday when they open but with a 9 to 5 job it makes it impossible......my BB has scanners which makes it so much simpler too...I will always try to hit up the BB on Mondays after work but by then the report is usually in...

thanks for your efforts Antic I think it's safe to say that we all appreciate it

and kudos to our inside man fuss....
 
[quote name='SDC']BB Employee here.
I was able to check a few things, like the ScIV LE and the Mass Effect guide.
Nothing I checked had dropped
I can confirm that the MGS4 Softcover guide hasn't dropped.
Unfortunately, I don't work again until Thursday. Otherwise I'd try to check all the guides that were listed.[/quote]


thanks for your effort SDC and keep us posted :applause:
 
I work at Hollywood, which I'm pretty sure has all the same pricing as Gamecrazy. I think we already have a couple of GC employees supplying this thread with info, though.
 
[quote name='SDC']BB Employee here.
I was able to check a few things, like the ScIV LE and the Mass Effect guide.
Nothing I checked had dropped
I can confirm that the MGS4 Softcover guide hasn't dropped.
Unfortunately, I don't work again until Thursday. Otherwise I'd try to check all the guides that were listed.[/quote]
Why not just ask the opening Media person to see the PPC list? It would save you time ya know ;)

Anyway - no drops today at BBY.
 
[quote name='fuss']Why not just ask the opening Media person to see the PPC list? It would save you time ya know ;)

Anyway - no drops today at BBY.[/quote]

thanks fuss the info really helps us outsiders!
 
well decided to start picking up pennied out guides today and I got Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (there were quite a few left), Army of Two and Rainbow Six Vegas. I only got one of each, cause I don't really like hoarding.

Price checked the following games today as well at BB: aka no drops:
Tales of Vesperia
Mercenaries 2
Assassin's Creed (without artbook)
Soul Calibur IV limited edition

I can't remember what else I checked so that list will have to do.
Since I'm new at these guide trading, is there a master list of what guides have pennied out? If not we should definitely consider creating one, standing in BB earlier today scrolling through the 100s of posts in this thread on my phone was ridiculous.
 
Thanks everyone for checking for drops at Best Buy. Looks like it will be at least one more week. I seem to remember holidays in January/February getting penny guide drops and next week is MLK day :pray:
 
[quote name='Wolve11']
Since I'm new at these guide trading, is there a master list of what guides have pennied out? If not we should definitely consider creating one, standing in BB earlier today scrolling through the 100s of posts in this thread on my phone was ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

use the wiki
 
[quote name='guinaevere']Speaking of the wiki, it hasn't been updated since april of last year...[/quote]

yea.... first of all, i couldn't find it through the site anymore...second with a list being that old it wouldn't help...

Its just annoying to have to scroll through 100s of pages for information on the latest guides that have pennied.
 
[quote name='Wolve11']yea.... first of all, i couldn't find it through the site anymore...second with a list being that old it wouldn't help...

Its just annoying to have to scroll through 100s of pages for information on the latest guides that have pennied.[/QUOTE]

The second post in this thread has a comprehensive list of what guides have been pennied where and when. One stop shop!
 
[quote name='Wolve11']well decided to start picking up pennied out guides today and I got Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (there were quite a few left), Army of Two and Rainbow Six Vegas. I only got one of each, cause I don't really like hoarding.


I can't remember what else I checked so that list will have to do.
Since I'm new at these guide trading, is there a master list of what guides have pennied out? If not we should definitely consider creating one, standing in BB earlier today scrolling through the 100s of posts in this thread on my phone was ridiculous.[/quote]

Hoarding is FUN though, especially once you run out of room to walk from having so many friggin' guides laying around the house.

Oh and THE SECOND POST in the thread on PAGE ONE has recent drops going back at LEAST a year.

Just thought I'd let you know.....
 
^^ I guess the whole hoarding thing is the point of your choice in usernames..

I don't mean to start an ethical argument here but i will state my opinion for the record...at LEAST leave one behind..cuz after all this is NOT SlickDeals or FatWallet...

Anyway I was able to hit up a GS and find multiples of FFIV (DS), FFVII:CC (PSP), FFT:A2GR (PSP?), and The World Ends With You (Amazingly Enough)

Very nice haul! Will be adding all these to my personal collection of Final Fantasy Guides!
 
[quote name='animemaniac14']^^ I guess the whole hoarding thing is the point of your choice in usernames..

I don't mean to start an ethical argument here but i will state my opinion for the record...at LEAST leave one behind..cuz after all this is NOT SlickDeals or FatWallet...

Anyway I was able to hit up a GS and find multiples of FFIV (DS), FFVII:CC (PSP), FFT:A2GR (PSP?), and The World Ends With You (Amazingly Enough)

Very nice haul! Will be adding all these to my personal collection of Final Fantasy Guides![/quote]

When I first started grabbing guides, I grabbed everything and anything. Of course, after a while I learned why other CAG's were selective in their pickups, since those things take up ALOT of room.

Mind you, since I've been suffering through such a dry spell around here lately(everywhere BUT CC/BB), I began to hoard like there's no tomorrow again.

I know it's wrong, but the store(s) that I hit to amass such quantities of these guides(16x Phantom Hourglass hardcover)were untouched since the drops happened when those guides dropped, so others had ample time to grab what they wanted.

That's why I felt no remorse in cleaning out the one further away store recently(back in mid December actually).

As of now though, since I'm in a gaming slump, I'm not grabbing anymore guides and only looking for certain ones(Mercenaries 2, for one), since I don't need them cluttering up the house even further.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass(hardcover)x16
[/quote]

Nice. I don't have a problem hoarding if the drops have been out for a little while. During that last huge BB drop, I made it out to several stores within the first day or two. I left 12+ SMG hardcovers, and probably half a dozen of the Phantom Hourglass and Assassin's Creed LE guides. I got like 3 each and was happy. A week later, there were still a lot to be found, so I did a little cleaning for them.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Nice. I don't have a problem hoarding if the drops have been out for a little while. During that last huge BB drop, I made it out to several stores within the first day or two. I left 12+ SMG hardcovers, and probably half a dozen of the Phantom Hourglass and Assassin's Creed LE guides. I got like 3 each and was happy. A week later, there were still a lot to be found, so I did a little cleaning for them.[/quote]

About the time that drop happened, I went looking for the AC LE at every BB around by me(two locally) and both had either pulled/destroyed them or someone bought them. So when I was off on a day trip with my gf in December, we stopped at another Best Buy and I nabbed two of them there.

Around that same time I was making a trade deal with someone for the AC LE guide bundle, since I wanted to completely Assassin's Creed but was having a bit of trouble finding my way in the one map.

Just recently, I was out of state with my one cousin who has a car lot and they let me take a trek to a Best Buy that was a bit off the beaten path. They still had 4-6 of the SMG hardcover guides in stock, as well as numerous PH hardcovers, but I just picked up 1-3 guides I didn't nab from that drop and left those.

I AM regaining my sense of control versus grabbing everything again, since I know where it led last time(massive list of mostly shit that no one wanted, which I purged to the local shop for between .25 and $1.00 a book).

Funny thing about the last time I purged all of the guides I had, was that I kept the better ones(RPG ones and other harder to find ones) and I dumped off 90-95% of the garbage no one would've wanted that I had assloads of. Yet AFTER purging all of those guides, it was only THEN that people started actually PMing me for them. It figures, doesn't it?:roll:
 
[quote name='animemaniac14']^^ I guess the whole hoarding thing is the point of your choice in usernames..

I don't mean to start an ethical argument here but i will state my opinion for the record...at LEAST leave one behind..cuz after all this is NOT SlickDeals or FatWallet...

Im not trying to start anything either but the irony of this statement is in neon flashing lights but I guess it just depends on the angle your looking at it....
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Actually, my dad's one friend was REALLY bad, as it looked like a flea market inside their house from all of the junk piled up in boxes.

I'm not THAT bad....yet.[/quote]

There was an episode of "Raising the bar" on TNT about some shopaholic. Chick died. Was funny.
 
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