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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Struck out at the first store I tried today. The employee had already pulled the guides, and told me that they were on a "send back".
 
Twilight princess rang up full price, as did lego everything. Managed to get tons of guides though... the clerk asked me to go get her copies of spore and a few others... so i did. She also gave me her gamer tag... yeah... im a dork.

No fable 2, lost odyssey, ToV or WoW guides. All of their fallout 3 hardbacks were gone... and somebody got the mas effect with artbook.. Im okay with that though... since i found their hidden assassins creed LE last drop.

also, RC TANK confirmed for 9.99

btw this phone typing is a PITA. Lots of guides left in mckinney tx. Id stick around longer but this drop already delayedmy return drive to tulsa by a day and ill be late for my review if i stick around.
 
Went to Green Acres Mall BB in NY... they had a few left, as far as i could tell they didn't pull the guides but they didnt have much of the ones listed. There was another person there getting some guides. I managed to get the following:

Madden 09-Limited Edition
Battlefield: Bad Company
Lost odyssey

I then went to the Westbury BB, by Roosevelt field in NY.. i was hoping to score the guides I really wanted which were Brothers in Arms and Mass effect. I went there on Saturday and they had a lot of these left and a few more. I was shocked to see that none of them where there. I guess they pulled them.

Quick question.. This is my first time buying guides for a penny, but why do they pull them when they become a penny?

Also I don't really have Madden and just bought it for the heck of it, but if anyone got either Mass effect or brothers in arm guides and wants to trade I would be wiling to do it. I prefer Mass effect more as this would be the first time i will be playing an RPG and It would be helpful if I had a guide.
 
Both stores i went to at opening and close to opening had pulled their guides. The one missed the pc section and a few others, but wasn't able to score the ones i really wanted like Fable, Soul C, Vesperia, Lost Odd.... boo hiss.
 
Man, I'm nervous to go out now. It doesn't look like too many people are having luck gettting their guides. I'm heading out around 10:00 PST and I'll be able to post back at around 11:00 PST. I'll let everyone know how it went.
 
I should note at the store I have to go back to, I did find 2 WoW bestiaries, 1 Sims 2 Freetime, and 1 Spectrobes - they were in the PC section.

I checked a new BB in my town too on the way back, and ran into a drop-dead gorgeous redhead working there. She was willing to help me, but they had been pulled and destroyed at 7 that morning I was told.
 
Worst luck ever!

2 BB that ALWAYS have multiple of everything had pulled everything. Now I have to figure out if it is worth driving 50+ miles to check another one.
 
I really hope I can get better luck with the manager switch today - this store literally had 13 Crisis Core guides sitting there last week.
 
[quote name='GLOCKGLOCK']Just to elaborate on my earlier post which was sent from my blackberry on my way out of the local BB. This is the BB that I usually score all my guides from. They are usually very slow to pull guides and often I see pennied guides there many weeks after they drop. I was there yesterday and while I didn't have a list I know for a fact that I saw many of the guides that were on the list including Fable, SCIV, and Too Human. I got there right as the store opened today and went down the list. Every guide had been pulled. :cry:[/quote]


Same here. I hit 3 stores. My guide mecca (where they let me buy as many as I want without hassle) I was at before they opened the doors. All pulled. BB is on their game for this drop...of course they still had guides from last drop sitting there.
 
The Best Buy in my area hadn't pulled any guides so I scored 17 guides in 2 trips.

Mass Effect LE x 4
Wario Land Shake It
Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core
Assassin's Creed
Too Human
Ninja Gaiden 2 x 2
Spiderman Web of Shadows
Spore LE
Soul Calibur LE x 2
Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion GOTY
Fracture
Madden 09 LE

They had a ton of Madden 09 LE guides. This is my first good score. If anyone has an extra copy of Gears of War 2 LE I will trade any of these guides. Thanks for the list.
 
You guys think there's a chance they'll put them on the floor later in a bin marked one cent? Or am I just hoping for something that's not gonna happen?
 
I was able to pick up mass effect LE, SC4 LE, fire emblem and spore LE at the first store I went to and FF12 and Lost odyssey, both of which were marked at $0.01, at the second.
 
I can confirm the following as being pennied(with the greyed out guides being ones that my local stores didn't have ANY of in stock):

Assassin's Creed
Battlefield: Bad Company
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Civilization Revolution
Codes & Cheats Fall 2008
Codes & Cheats Winter 2009
Crash: Mind over mutant
Dragon Quest IV
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY-both versions(Black cover, NOT TAN)
Fable 2 Limited Edition
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:Rings of Fates
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy XII
Fire Emblem
Fracture
Hellboy: Science Of Evil
Lost Odyssey
Madden NFL 09 Limited Edition
Mass Effect
Mass Effect Limited Edition
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
NCAA Football 09
Ninja Gaiden 2
Pokemon Pocket Pokedex vol. 2
Sims 2 Apartment Life
Sims 2 Free Time
Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
Soul Calibur IV LE
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Spiderman: Web Of Shadows
Spore LE bundle
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duel
Tales of Vesperia
Too Human
Twilight Princess Zelda wii(NOT A PENNY)
Viva Pinata:Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning(BUNDLE)
Wario Land Shake It!
World Of Warcraft Bestiary
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft Dungeon Companion II
World of Warcraft Strategy Collection 2008
XBOX 360 Achievement Guide

How is it that I can confirm that the rest of that list, besides the greyed out ones, are pennied? That's because after getting a total of SEVEN fuckin' guides from the second BB by me, some bitch manager came over to me to tell me that 'it was a pricing error and the guides are $4.99 each'.

I got into a bit of an argument with her about the fact that they ring up .01 though, so that's the price I'd only be willing to pay.

Unfortunately, this all started because of a clerk who yelled over to the security guy(guy at the little podium who checks receipts by the doors) about the price they were ringing up. So, as I headed out with my 'test' pile, the security fucknut called the bitch and I was warmly greeted by her in the guide section and told the shpeel about $4.99.

Anywayyyyyyy, I actually stood there to be a prick and rattled off every guide they had in stock that was pennied while she just kinda grimaced because I had cost her store a bit of $$$ with my whole seven guides I got. I'm kind of shocked I didn't get escorted out by LP for being a total prick and showing them that they weren't doing their job and of course for the argument with her.

I'm not saying what I got, but suffice to say I cherry picked the guides for the most part(NO Madden garbage in other words, since those are only useful as toilet paper) and at least 2-3 of the LE/bundles and one RPG guide walked out with me for .07.
 
[quote name='Wolve11']You guys think there's a chance they'll put them on the floor later in a bin marked one cent? Or am I just hoping for something that's not gonna happen?[/quote]

Your hopes will be crushed sorry man
 
Hickory Hollow (Nashville, TN) BB was a bust. They pulled everything from the new list (they still have plenty of penny guides from older drops -- Iron Man, Army of 2, Devil May Cry 4, Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures, 25 years of EA, possibly others), except for maybe half a dozen Madden 09 LE bundles. I wasn't originally planning to grab Madden, but I didn't want to leave empty handed, so I grabbed one. FYI, I have been denied the 25 years of EA at that store before, but I have one from a different store, so no big deal.
 
Got everything I wanted except for Tales of Vesperia and Fire Emblem. I'm going to hit up another Bestbuy later in the day.

I didn't see anything pulled. In fact, there were a few guides that I left sideways on a shelf yesterday and it looked like someone righted them up and put them in order.

There were only two cashiers working in the morning and one of them came over while I was getting rung up and flipped through my penny guides to see if there were any that he wanted to pick up. :)
 
Just scored a bunch at my local BB. They had one Gears LE, but it rang at list. Not sure if it is the same LE, but this was a red hardcover. Twilight Pricess rang list as well.
 
Raleigh-Durham area is cleared out. Found a guy who was scouring the place also who gave me a Lost Odyssey that he found at another store though, so I didn't leave totally empty-handed.
 
(posing from my phone) They just let me into BB, and either pulled the two guides I wanted or they were sold long ago. I don't see any of the other guides. probably pulled.

Not gonna bother checking the other BB, save the gas.
 
[quote name='dickybeans']They had one Gears LE, but it rang at list. Not sure if it is the same LE, but this was a red hardcover. Twilight Pricess rang list as well.[/QUOTE]

There's a list in the second post of the guides that dropped, so you don't have to waste time checking others.
 
Second post has been edited to reflect that it's the Warhammer Online BUNDLE that pennied and NOT the standalone guide.

Also, we have confirmation that Twilight Princess for Wii white cover guide is NOT pennied?
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']I can confirm the following as being pennied(with the greyed out guides being ones that my local stores didn't have ANY of in stock):

Assassin's Creed
Battlefield: Bad Company
Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway
Civilization Revolution
Codes & Cheats Fall 2008
Codes & Cheats Winter 2009
Crash: Mind over mutant
Dragon Quest IV
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY-both versions(Black cover, NOT TAN)
Fable 2 Limited Edition
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:Rings of Fates
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy XII
Fire Emblem
Fracture
Hellboy: Science Of Evil
Lost Odyssey
Madden NFL 09 Limited Edition
Mass Effect
Mass Effect Limited Edition
Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
NCAA Football 09
Ninja Gaiden 2
Pokemon Pocket Pokedex vol. 2
Sims 2 Apartment Life
Sims 2 Free Time
Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
Soul Calibur IV LE
Spectrobes: Beyond the Portals
Spiderman: Web Of Shadows
Spore LE bundle
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duel
Tales of Vesperia
Too Human
Twilight Princess Zelda wii(NOT A PENNY)
Viva Pinata:Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning(BUNDLE)
Wario Land Shake It!
World Of Warcraft Bestiary
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
World of Warcraft Dungeon Companion II
World of Warcraft Strategy Collection 2008
XBOX 360 Achievement Guide

How is it that I can confirm that the rest of that list, besides the greyed out ones, are pennied? That's because after getting a total of SEVEN fuckin' guides from the second BB by me, some bitch manager came over to me to tell me that 'it was a pricing error and the guides are $4.99 each'.

I got into a bit of an argument with her about the fact that they ring up .01 though, so that's the price I'd only be willing to pay.

Unfortunately, this all started because of a clerk who yelled over to the security guy(guy at the little podium who checks receipts by the doors) about the price they were ringing up. So, as I headed out with my 'test' pile, the security fucknut called the bitch and I was warmly greeted by her in the guide section and told the shpeel about $4.99.

Anywayyyyyyy, I actually stood there to be a prick and rattled off every guide they had in stock that was pennied while she just kinda grimaced because I had cost her store a bit of $$$ with my whole seven guides I got. I'm kind of shocked I didn't get escorted out by LP for being a total prick and showing them that they weren't doing their job and of course for the argument with her.

I'm not saying what I got, but suffice to say I cherry picked the guides for the most part(NO Madden garbage in other words, since those are only useful as toilet paper) and at least 2-3 of the LE/bundles and one RPG guide walked out with me for .07.[/QUOTE]

I can confirm all of your greyed out guides except Sims 2: Apartment Life. Didn't see any of those at the Best Buys I went to this morning.

Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii is probably the old Wii Premiere version of the guide, not the new one that was restocked a few months ago.

I brought up WOW: Dungeon Companion thinking it was the one that was pennied. It wasn't. Odd that they would penny the Dungeon Companion 2 but leave the first one at $24.99.
 
[quote name='GuardianE']There were only two cashiers working in the morning and one of them came over while I was getting rung up and flipped through my penny guides to see if there were any that he wanted to pick up. :)[/quote]

I would have smacked his hand, and told him to get his own damn guides.:D Just kidding.
 
[quote name='Josef']I can confirm all of your greyed out guides except Sims 2: Apartment Life. Didn't see any of those at the Best Buys I went to this morning.

Zelda: Twilight Princess Wii is probably the old Wii Premiere version of the guide, not the new one that was restocked a few months ago.

I brought up WOW: Dungeon Companion thinking it was the one that was pennied. It wasn't. Odd that they would penny the Dungeon Companion 2 but leave the first one at $24.99.[/quote]

I kind of figured that was the one that was pennied(the Twilight Princess Wii guide), though I think my local stores sold out of that one a WHILE ago.

Thanks for verifying though.
 
I'm heading back out in about 5 minutes - by the time I get there there should have been or be in the process of lunch breaks and shift changes, with a new manager on duty. Wish me luck, and hope someone who recognizes me is working.
 
Damn, sorry to hear all that so many BBs have pulled them...

I was fortunate enough to get one of each of the ones I really wanted, and I guess someone upstairs figured I owed Best Buy for being so lucky, since I lost my $5 rewards coupon somewhere along the way. :p

Plenty of guides left in Paramus NJ if anyone is from these parts.
 
My friend and I were able to hit up our Best Buy for some guides. We were able to get 3x Fable II LE, 4x Tales of Vesperia, 3x Soul Calibur LE, 2x Madden LE, and 6x Spore LE in addition to whatever else was there. Funny thing was, there was a cart with about 10 more Spore LE's, but we had enough guides. The best part about this morning though was an employee pointing us in the direction of more strat guides. That guy is a winner.
 
Everything was pulled at my store...:lol:However, I was there on Saturday evening, and stashed everything I wanted.
Had two different spots, so had to make two separate trips. Will list anything that's up for trade in the other thread later.

Oh, and thanks Vahn.
 
My Best Buy only had two of the titles in this list yesterday, and as of today, both were still there. I picked up two of each (Spore LE and Lightsaber Duels). Considering a long drive to a different location... Hmm...
 
Batted almost .000 at the one store by me that never normally pulls. There was however one Crisis Core guide they missed. Then went to another store that I know for a fact is always on top of their pulls, but I hid the guides I wanted yesterday and managed to get all those along with two Spore LE's they missed on an endcap. Overall though, yeah it looks like the amount of leadtime BB themselves had on this ensure that no media manager was lax.
 
Confirmed in my area.
The store that usually has 10 or more of each penny guide, has pulled them this time.

My guess is that the managers were thoroughly tongue lashed for letting Penny's out in the past. And with everybody worried for their jobs, they are not likely to take any chances this time.
 
Thanks again for the list. My lazy BB had nothing pulled, so it was pretty much a free-for-all; it would take you 15-20 minutes to dig through all of the guides they had. There was literally no one in the store, so I decided to lay kind of low.

I found one lonely copy of Saint's Row 2 (the game), which is on sale for $30 this week (it wasn't there yesterday; probably an employee hiding it for his/her self). I figured it would be a little less suspicious If I actually bought something (plus I had $25 in RZ GC's, so $5 for Saint's Row 2, no brainer!).

I managed to grab: Spore LE (TONS of these), Madden 09 LE (lots of these), Mass Effect LE w/ Artbook (a few of these), and BF: Bad Co. I think i'm gonna go back this afternoon; see if there's a shift change, and grab some more. I think I'm already half-way to being labeled as one of BB's "devil customers" at my local, even though I spent around $3k there in the last year and a half.

Of course they didn't have what I was really looking for, Fable II LE! I'm just gonna stock up on some more LE's and RPG guides and hope for a good trade!
 
Just came back from my BB, the cashier at first was laughing that they were 1 penny, even told the neighboring cashier "hey they're rining up a penny! haha" The girl replied, "yeah I know! I saw!" A few minutes later he talked to another lady...like "hey, come look, they're a penny!" The lady (who I thought was a manager) didn't care, just stood there expressionless looking at the guy ringing me up. Thank god she didn't say anything!

I was able to come out with:
Pokemon Poket Pokedex Vol 2
Soul Calibur IV LE x4
Dragon Quest IV x4
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn x3
Ninja Gaiden 2
Sonic Chronicles The Dark Brotherhood
Battlefield: Bad Company
Mercenaries 2 World in Flames x2
Civilization Revolution x2
Fracture x3
Assasin's Creed
Lost Odyssey
Final Fantasy IV x2
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Rings of Fate
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 x2
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
Spectrobes Beyond the Portals
Mass Effect LE w ArtBook
Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway x2
Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion GOTY Black cover
Wario Land Shake It!
Fable II LE x5

The guides I took multiple copies of I've left about half for fellow CAGs in the area (so don't yell at me please!), the others were the last copy of the guides that I really wanted.

Good luck!
Thanks again VAHN!!!! xD~

EDIT: The white twilight princess wii guide rang up full price
 
I picked up

Final Fantasy IV
Mass Effect LE
Ninja Gaiden 2
Soul Calibur IV LE
Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duel
 
Girlfriend picked up a Cheat Codes guide and the Wario guide. The employee was there yanking the guides off the shelf when she got there at opening. Lame!

She talked to someone else there that was there for guides as well. Perhaps a fellow CAGer!

Tustin Marketplace in California. If you're planning on checking that store out: Don't bother.
 
[quote name='yuy104']Just came back from my BB, the cashier at first was laughing that they were 1 penny, even told the neighboring cashier "hey they're rining up a penny! haha" The girl replied, "yeah I know! I saw!" A few minutes later he talked to another lady...like "hey, come look, they're a penny!" The lady (who I thought was a manager) didn't care, just stood there expressionless looking at the guy ringing me up. Thank god she didn't say anything!

I was able to come out with:
Pokemon Poket Pokedex Vol 2
Soul Calibur IV LE x4
Dragon Quest IV x4
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn x3
Ninja Gaiden 2
Sonic Chronicles The Dark Brotherhood
Battlefield: Bad Company
Mercenaries 2 World in Flames x2
Civilization Revolution x2
Fracture x3
Assasin's Creed
Lost Odyssey
Final Fantasy IV x2
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Rings of Fate
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy Tactics A2 x2
Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core
Spectrobes Beyond the Portals
Mass Effect LE w ArtBook
Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway x2
Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion GOTY Black cover
Wario Land Shake It!
Fable II LE x5

The guides I took multiple copies of I've left about half for fellow CAGs in the area (so don't yell at me please!), the others were the last copy of the guides that I really wanted.

Good luck!
Thanks again VAHN!!!! xD~

EDIT: The white twilight princess wii guide rang up full price[/quote]

Thanks for leaving something for the rest of us.
 
I was able to get the following from a Best Buy that just opened up within the past 6 months. Funny thing is it's always empty, you would have thought guides would have been pulled by the employees who just stand around all day. Anyway I am not complaining:

Star Wars Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels
Fable II LE
Mercs 2
Civ: Revolutions
Final Fantasy IV
Fracture
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Ninja Gaiden II
Too Human

My only faux paux was The Legend Of Zelda: TP was $14.99...I bought it because I didnt want to return it and chance them not selling me the others...I will return it tomorrow. It's shrink wrapped.
 
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