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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Picked up a Head Coach 09, Orange Box, and Super Mario Galaxy guide today at BB. Was my first time taking penny guides so I'm pretty excited =)
 
I just came back from BB to pick up Bioshock for the PS3, and noticed half an aisle full of guides! Please!!!! Let the drop happen!!! xP
 
[quote name='trezzi']Picked up a Head Coach 09, Orange Box, and Super Mario Galaxy guide today at BB. Was my first time taking penny guides so I'm pretty excited =)[/QUOTE]

I know how you feel. I got my first last thursday and it was awesome.
 
Well I did my first rounds ever today and yesterday... None at GS. GC had a Godfather that rang up 10.59 after tax... Not sure how that happened seeing as they were supposed to be 20% off and I don't know how it came to that. Then hit BB and seen a bunch of Condemned 2 so I bought 2.

Also is it only the hardcovers of Galaxy that are clearances at BB cause they had about 20 soft ones.
 
Congrats to Barbbler and trezzi on your first penny guides. It is pretty fun, isn't it?

I moved a bunch of posts over to the Reduced Price Guides-Discussion Thread, because the conversation was more appropriate in there.

And I deleted a post that was asking for trades. CAG Vets, I know you dont want to have to see me every other day posting "THIS IS NOT THE TRADE THREAD!" again. Do me a favor, any trade solicitations/requests in here I would like reported, or if you feel more comfortable, send me a PM.

Tanks a bunch. Carry on.
 
No no, I insist. Tank you.

trust me on this.

you really dont want me driving the tank.



tank-1.jpg

told you. #-o
 
Quick question regarding pennies guides that I didn't think I read in the OP... Guide drops at GS happen on Thursday correct? Also how does one go about finding out what dropped (without having to grab randoms and have them price checked)?
 
Thursdays? I dont know if that's policy, but it may be. As for finding out what dropped, the best bet is to ask. Granted, depending on the people working, they may not feel inclined to tell anything, especially if they're busy or are simply grumpy.
 
Well if you go by the previous drops, a lot of them happened on Thursdays. As I've been saying since last week, I think there might be a Prima guide drop tomorrow, which is the pattern we saw in October. I could be wrong, but I'm hopeful.
 
when do we considered a vet? :) 1 year?

Anyway, I got lucky and found a fable LE 15 min ago. The 1st csr doesn't want to give it to me, but luckily a more senior car overheard and too him to give it to me.

While browsing their used games, I found a gta 4 disc still inside the case so I gave it to the guy. We're even now. :)

So yeah, it's still out there guys. Keep hunting.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Well if you go by the previous drops, a lot of them happened on Thursdays. As I've been saying since last week, I think there might be a Prima guide drop tomorrow, which is the pattern we saw in October. I could be wrong, but I'm hopeful.[/QUOTE]

Arent the guides taken off of the website before they are pennied though? Well either way i g2g to toysrus tomorrow and GS is on the way so I would be happy to scan a few guides to check
 
[quote name='BarbblerElf']Arent the guides taken off of the website before they are pennied though? Well either way i g2g to toysrus tomorrow and GS is on the way so I would be happy to scan a few guides to check[/quote]

I think the guides get pulled off the site the morning of a drop, if not earlier. I was in the middle of printing store locations for certain guides I thought might penny last week when the pennied guides got pulled from the site. That's how I knew what half of them were. Also, even some guides that had been available online (like DQIV and Castlevania) got pulled from the site, too.
 
When you've been here long enough to know what's helpful and what's detrimental to your community, and to act accordingly. Of course, some people have common sense so they figure this out pretty quickly, others lack in that department and may never reach that status, despite their tenure.

Good on you for giving them the heads up on that disc. I'm sure they appreciated that. Another way to repay them for penny guides is to drop a pre-order on them.
 
Yeah, they said it's the same guy that always forget to take out the disc, happen multiple times. They can tell from the yellow sticker apparently.

I don't think I will ever preorder a game. I'm not a guy who needs to play the night it's out. I'll wait a week or 2 until the used an coupon show up.
 
Struck out again today at the remaining stores in the area on Fable/Tales/GoW2 guides. Sucks these people are all about cleaning out their penny guides.
 
Gi, you don't neccessarily have keep the
Pre-order, you can always transfer or cancel it all together.

On another note thanks for the info about trying to figure out drops via items being taken off the site. I will try to put together a list of guides available online so we can check week to week.
 
[quote name='trezzi']Picked up a Head Coach 09, Orange Box, and Super Mario Galaxy guide today at BB. Was my first time taking penny guides so I'm pretty excited =)[/quote]

Yeah, the first time is the best. I had never heard of such of thing before, went to BB, and they had a whole shelf full of penny guides. Only took a handful to the front. My heart was racing, I felt like I was cheating, the guy said "Okay your total is $.08" at the top of his voice exactly when a manager walked by, who then did a cursory look and thankfully moved on. I took them out to the car, went back and grabbed another stack. There were still a few left a month later.

It's a shame we don't know which guides will penny in advance. I might accidentally misplace a few guides behind the shelf by accident. Oops, err, I didn't say that.
 
haha thanks guys! do you ever pick up multiple copies of a guide? It feels so awkward to me, like I'm a freeloader or something
 
while out on a loooong trip (to FYE only to come back emptyhanded) i stopped at a gamestop. i didnt find any of the guides i wanted but i happened to see a God Of War guide. it was from 2005. ..do 4 year old guides usually stay out?
 
[quote name='shelisheli']while out on a loooong trip (to FYE only to come back emptyhanded) i stopped at a gamestop. i didnt find any of the guides i wanted but i happened to see a God Of War guide. it was from 2005. ..do 4 year old guides usually stay out?[/QUOTE]

No, but that doesnt mean guide for an old game is pennied
 
[quote name='Antic']I won't be able to check GS today like I did last week. School started up and I have it until 5.[/QUOTE]

As one data point, the guides listed on the Gamestop.com website have NOT changed from Monday until the point of my posting this.
 
[quote name='hellmutt']As one data point, the guides listed on the Gamestop.com website have NOT changed from Monday until the point of my posting this.[/quote]

Last week it happened sometime around 11am EST, I'd watch for it then. Unfortunately I've got work, too, so I can't check until after.
 
[quote name='gordojones88']It's a shame we don't know which guides will penny in advance. I might accidentally misplace a few guides behind the shelf by accident. Oops, err, I didn't say that.[/quote]From an ethical perspective, that's working against the store you're shopping in. If shopper X goes in wanting to find Y guide and can't because you've moved it someplace no one will find it, you've cost that store a sale. We want the stores to make money, not lose it. Profit = jobs for you and I, and lower prices for all of us as well.
 
watch out for these bad boys

Pokemon diamond pearl official strategy
Command and conquer
Madden 09
Naruto broken bond
Brothers in arms hells highway
Star wars clone wars lighsaber duals and jedi alliance
Warioland shake it
Sims 2 apartment life
Sonic dark brotherhood
Codes and cheats 2008 fall edition (purple cover)
Naruto path of ninja 2
Spore official strategy guide limited bundle
Warhammer online atlas
Fracture

I was refreshing and there were 38 and then there were 23. those were the ones that were missing. but then they popped back again. They could be anxious to leave the site sometime soon ;]
 
[quote name='c.gibbits']watch out for these bad boys

Pokemon diamond pearl official strategy
Command and conquer
Madden 09
Naruto broken bond
Brothers in arms hells highway
Star wars clone wars lighsaber duals and jedi alliance
Warioland shake it
Sims 2 apartment life
Sonic dark brotherhood
Codes and cheats 2008 fall edition (purple cover)
Naruto path of ninja 2
Spore official strategy guide limited bundle
Warhammer online atlas
Fracture

I was refreshing and there were 38 and then there were 23. those were the ones that were missing. but then they popped back again. They could be anxious to leave the site sometime soon ;][/quote]

Best Buy?
 
Confirmed!

I stopped in quickly before work to check the Fallout 3 LE guide (still full price unfortunately). It was 10:01 and their guides had already been pulled, but he let me take a couple for myself. This is what I saw:

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Time/Darkness
Naruto broken bond
Brothers in arms hells highway - Maybe, I'm not 100% sure
Sims 2 apartment life
Sonic dark brotherhood
Codes and cheats 2008 fall edition (purple cover) - I don't remember the color of the cover, but there was a cheat one
Naruto path of ninja 2
Spore official strategy guide limited bundle - Got one for myself!!! :)
Warhammer online atlas
Fracture - Maybe, I'm not 100% sure
Phantom Hourglass Softcover
Super Mario Galaxy Softcover - Got one for my trade list :)
Too Human - Got one for myself
Devil May Cry 4 (did that drop there already?)

There may have been more, but I didn't get a good look at it. I wasn't allowed to look around the piles actually, so I just asked for the three guides I was interested in and left. There MAY have been the new Viva Pinata guide, but I can't recall.

EDIT - There were at least two different Sims guides, but I can't recall which ones. Sorry, I literally got 10-15 seconds to glance at two massive piles, so it's tough.
 
[quote name='c.gibbits']watch out for these bad boys

Pokemon diamond pearl official strategy
Command and conquer
Madden 09
Naruto broken bond
Brothers in arms hells highway
Star wars clone wars lighsaber duals and jedi alliance
Warioland shake it
Sims 2 apartment life
Sonic dark brotherhood
Codes and cheats 2008 fall edition (purple cover)
Naruto path of ninja 2
Spore official strategy guide limited bundle
Warhammer online atlas
Fracture

I was refreshing and there were 38 and then there were 23. those were the ones that were missing. but then they popped back again. They could be anxious to leave the site sometime soon ;][/QUOTE]

I'm curious what your search criteria are. Mine are 'strategy guide' and 'new status' and 'including backorder'. I have been watching a count of 94 for the past week...
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Confirmed!

I stopped in quickly before work to check the Fallout 3 LE guide (still full price unfortunately).[/QUOTE]

You have saved me a lot of angst today worrying about trying to get that guide. Thanks, I really do appreciate it.
 
[quote name='hellmutt']You have saved me a lot of angst today worrying about trying to get that guide. Thanks, I really do appreciate it.[/quote]

Yeah, that was one of the only guides I really really wanted to try to get for myelf, so I figured I'd show up to work 15 mins late and stop in and try. I used the "I forgot my coupon, I'll come back another time" excuse when it rang up as full price. I also would have like the Brawl or MGS4 guides, but I didn't notice any that got pulled. I could be mistaken, though, or that store may not have had them.
 
Damn, I really want to go but I don't want to get shot down again. Last time my gs was a day late with this so maybe it'll be the same again.
 
Gamestop headquarters told me if you walk up to the register with guides and they ring up as $0.01 that they can not deny to sell them. I was also told that it is up to the DM to decide to pull them and recycle them or to keep them on the shelves.
So get them before they pull them I guess. Call up corporate if you really want the guide I suppose. I'm going to run out and check em before they get pulled today I hope.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Confirmed![/quote]

Thanks for checking Rave!! :D I had a feeling we'd be seeing something like this. In any case, I'm definitely heading out now and will post what I find later.
 
Well I was going to stop at EB to pick up a couple more games on the way home from work before the current 20% off coupon runs out on so I'll see if I can score a couple of these. Since I got shutdown last week and/or had most of the drops pulled before I got there I'm not expecting to score, but what the hey, might as well try.

I'm thinking that for most of these I'll have to wait for the impending BB drop to happen.
 
Just got back from the same GS I went to last week that gave me Gears 2 LE guide...the guide rack was half empty!!! Unfortunately it was a different guy, and he said couldn't give me ANY of the guides which he pulled b/c his DM checks the list and the guides and they're not allowed to give them away or take them themselves b/c that's considered stealing and he could get fired.

I asked him what was pulled, he said a lot...Madden, all the Naruto, Assassin's Creed...good luck to everyone else!
 
Many guides have been removed from the website. Ones I notice are missing are:

Assassin's Creed
Battlefield Bad Company
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Disgaea Compilation!!! - I'm really hopeful!!!
Disgaea 3!!! - I'm really hopeful about this too!!!!
Far Cry 2
God of War
Lego Indiana Jones - I actually remember seeing this, if I didn't mention it earlier
Lost Odyssey
Madden 2009 LE
Mana Khemia
Mass Effect
Mercenaries 2
Naruto Broken Bond
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
Naruto Path of Ninja 2
NCAA 09
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Pokedex
Pokemon Emerald
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
The Sims 2: Apartment Life
Sonic Chronicles
Sonic Unleashed
Spore LE
Star Wars Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels
Too Human
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer Online Atlas
Warhammer Online OSG
Wario Land Shake It

Wait a minute. They all popped back up again by the time I finished typing the list.... How strange. I'd watch for all of them.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Many guides have been removed from the website. Ones I notice are missing are:

Assassin's Creed
Battlefield Bad Company
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Disgaea Compilation!!! - I'm really hopeful!!!
Disgaea 3!!! - I'm really hopeful about this too!!!!
Far Cry 2
God of War
Lego Indiana Jones - I actually remember seeing this, if I didn't mention it earlier
Lost Odyssey
Madden 2009 LE
Mana Khemia
Mass Effect
Mercenaries 2
Naruto Broken Bond
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
Naruto Path of Ninja 2
NCAA 09
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Pokedex
Pokemon Emerald
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
The Sims 2: Apartment Life
Sonic Chronicles
Sonic Unleashed
Spore LE
Star Wars Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels
Too Human
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer Online Atlas
Warhammer Online OSG
Wario Land Shake It

Wait a minute. They all popped back up again by the time I finished typing the list.... How strange. I'd watch for all of them.[/quote]

I wish I had waited on Far Cry 2 and Mercs 2. I got them both for $4 each from a CC that has since closed here in Chicago. Oh well. At least I got them, rather than taking a chance on being denied from GS.
 
[quote name='shelisheli']while out on a loooong trip (to FYE only to come back emptyhanded) i stopped at a gamestop. i didnt find any of the guides i wanted but i happened to see a God Of War guide. it was from 2005. ..do 4 year old guides usually stay out?[/quote]

God Of War is one of those rare guides that they DID penny, but that they restocked a different version of.

I have the original version(paid full price back in the day), which came with a DVD version of the guide included, while the current one on the shelves is a standalone guide without a DVD.

I'm shocked that Gamestop hasn't actually kept more guides for popular games out on their shelves, but I guess if they're not selling then there is zero reason for them to keep them out.

If anyone gets a compiled list together, I'll update the second post with the new info, but for now it seems like mostly speculation.
 
Looks like Lost Odyssey, Wario Land, and Mass Effect are also pennied as Rave Child posted earlier. I had the pages of a bunch of Prima guides up from last night, and the Wario Land/LO pages aren't there anymore, and the ME page only has it available for download, whereas yesterday it was both purchase and download.

And of course now that I want to go out and get them, my car won't start. Damn you East Coast + crappy old car!
 
I wish I could go before 5 today, I bet I don't get anything. You lucky guys make me jealous with your good gamestops and gamecrazies. I can only get them at best buy these days.
 
[quote name='Rave Child']Confirmed!

I stopped in quickly before work to check the Fallout 3 LE guide (still full price unfortunately). It was 10:01 and their guides had already been pulled, but he let me take a couple for myself. This is what I saw:

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Time/Darkness
Naruto broken bond
Brothers in arms hells highway - Maybe, I'm not 100% sure
Sims 2 apartment life
Sonic dark brotherhood
Codes and cheats 2008 fall edition (purple cover) - I don't remember the color of the cover, but there was a cheat one
Naruto path of ninja 2
Spore official strategy guide limited bundle - Got one for myself!!! :)
Warhammer online atlas
Fracture - Maybe, I'm not 100% sure
Phantom Hourglass Softcover
Super Mario Galaxy Softcover - Got one for my trade list :)
Too Human - Got one for myself
Devil May Cry 4 (did that drop there already?)

There may have been more, but I didn't get a good look at it. I wasn't allowed to look around the piles actually, so I just asked for the three guides I was interested in and left. There MAY have been the new Viva Pinata guide, but I can't recall.

EDIT - There were at least two different Sims guides, but I can't recall which ones. Sorry, I literally got 10-15 seconds to glance at two massive piles, so it's tough.[/quote]So, is this list for BB or GS? :whistle2:s

[quote name='Rave Child']Many guides have been removed from the website. Ones I notice are missing are:

Assassin's Creed
Battlefield Bad Company
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Disgaea Compilation!!! - I'm really hopeful!!!
Disgaea 3!!! - I'm really hopeful about this too!!!!
Far Cry 2
God of War
Lego Indiana Jones - I actually remember seeing this, if I didn't mention it earlier
Lost Odyssey
Madden 2009 LE
Mana Khemia
Mass Effect
Mercenaries 2
Naruto Broken Bond
Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm
Naruto Path of Ninja 2
NCAA 09
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Pokedex
Pokemon Emerald
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon
The Sims 2: Apartment Life
Sonic Chronicles
Sonic Unleashed
Spore LE
Star Wars Clone Wars Lightsaber Duels
Too Human
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer Online Atlas
Warhammer Online OSG
Wario Land Shake It

Wait a minute. They all popped back up again by the time I finished typing the list.... How strange. I'd watch for all of them.[/quote]Which site? GS or BB?

[quote name='Nirron']Looks like Lost Odyssey, Wario Land, and Mass Effect are also pennied. I had the pages of a bunch of Prima guides up from last night, and the Wario Land/LO pages aren't there anymore, and the ME page only has it available for download, whereas yesterday it was both purchase and download.[/quote]Since you're talking about eGuide downloads, is this the GS site?
 
Like I speculated yesterday, it sounds like stores may have been given the heads up early as to which guides were going to be pennied out today. I noticed a lot of those Prima guides stacked up on top of the guide rack and thought that something was in the works. If this is true then it sounds like GS may be giving stores a heads up to pull the guides before they are actually pennied rather than do stealth drops. This would explain why people have had a tougher time even finding guides on the shelf during the last drop. If they pull them the night before there would be none to find first thing in the morning.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']So, is this list for BB or GS? :whistle2:s

Which site? GS or BB?

Since you're talking about eGuide downloads, is this the GS site?[/quote]

Sorry yeah, it is indeed GameStop.

And just checked another of Rave Child's guides. Both the Disgaea Compilation and Disgaea 3 guides have been pulled from the website.
 
[quote name='Wolve11']I wish I could go before 5 today, I bet I don't get anything. You lucky guys make me jealous with your good gamestops and gamecrazies. I can only get them at best buy these days.[/quote]

I can only usually get them at Best Buy as well anymore, which is why when I was given the ones I was last week I was kind of shocked.

However, I may go and try for a copy of Mercenaries 2(if that dropped), since that's about the ONLY one I'd want right about now(since the second game is WAYYYY more frustrating in some spots than the first).
 
Just bacl from Best Buy.
Penny:
DMC4
Conan-Hyborian Adventures
Army of Two ltd. Edition
GOW:Chains
Put back, still full price:
Hard cover & Soft Soul Caliber IV
Hard Cover Gears of War 2
 
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