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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Hit two BBs today:

At the first, I picked up 17 guides including Spore LE and SC4 LE. There were 2 copies of SC4 left and about 10 Spore LE.

The other being the most hated BB of all had nothing, of course. The evil "media manager" had all of them pulled.
 
I can also confirm almost everything except for the Warhammer guide, it came up $24.99.

First BB i went to had an employee sitting there with a sticker gun putting $0.01 stickers on every guide that was pennied. The second BB the manager got all mad and demonstrated to the cashier how to "correct" the register and revert Spore LE to $34.99... He was shocked when I didn't want to pay that much.
 
All of the Best Buy stores in Raleigh, NC have had their guides pulled. Don't bother heading out if you live in this area as you aren't liable to find anything. I went to Triangle Town Center, Glenwood, Cary, and Garner. No guides at any store and this was at opening. I saw a previous poster mention that someone had found an LO guide. I'm curious as to where he found it.
 
Soory, meant to post this in the other thread. MOD please remove. Thanks.

I have several of the guides from the last few drops from Best Buy and Gamestop, specifically the Mass Effect Limited Edition, Assassin's Creed LE (from a previous drop), Spore C.E. and Soul Calibur IV LE. I am looking to trade for a Fable II LE and an Oblivion Game of the Year Edition. If anyone is interested, please give me a PM. I also have a few others. Feel free to Inquire.
 
Dragon Quest IV
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles:Rings of Fates
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
Final Fantasy XII
Fire Emblem
Mass Effect
Mass Effect Limited Edition
Sonic Chronicles: Dark Brotherhood
Soul Calibur IV LE
Spore LE bundle
Tales of Vesperia
Too Human
Viva Pinata:Trouble in Paradise
Wario Land Shake It!


confirming all of these
 
[quote name='Taboner']70 Guides

1 Cab

in NYC

ouch[/quote]

Just curious as to where you got your guides from? I'm starting to think, they were not pulled, but maybe you took them all...:roll:
 
Hey, just saw some people are from the Joliet area! Wassup gents. Anywho, I checked that store out this morning before my train, and they have most of the guides, but none of the Final Fantasy guides, Fable, Mass Effect... argh. Well, technically, they had FF Crystal Chronicles and A2, but I got the last ones. There was at least a decent pile of Soul Cal. LE's, Dragon Quest IV, Fire Emblem, Too Human, Mercenaries, Battlefield Bad Company, Spore LE, BiA Hell's Highway, Hellboy, Pokemon Pocket Pokedex, Ninja Gaiden 2, Sonic Chronicles, Spectropbes, and Wario Land. By decent pile, I mean between 3-15 depending on the guide (sooo many Too Humans, lol). There was also 1 more Viva Pinata when I left. I got one each of the above, so I'm pretty happy. Hoping a buddy can score me a Tales though, that was one of my biggest wants.
 
Jackpot at Wheaton! Managed to pick up around 21 guides (Spore LE, Madden LE, Zelda, Fire Emblem, several Final Fantasys, Lost Odyssey, etc.). Funny thing was, they also had several past drops. There were some TP hardcovers, though in lousy condition with no barcode. Not to mention a stack of Hellgate: London's.
 
[quote name='david12795']Boo. zelda twilight princess ranged up as $14.99.

Are BB employees not allowed to sell these "pulled" guides?[/quote]

Based on my experience today they're not prohibited from selling them but are certainly not required to.
 
No dice at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, NY and Hartsdale, NY. It seems the Hartsdale BB pulled their guides early since there were huge glaring empty spaces at their guides section. The BB in the Palisades Mall was barren as usual.

I did, however, get lucky at the Yonkers, NY BB. I purchased:

2x Fable 2 LE (at least 6 left)
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core (5-6 left)
Final Fantasy 12 (12+ left)
Too Human (1-2 left)
2x Tales of Vesperia (2-3 left)

They had many other penny guides but I only took the ones that interested me. This was also the first time I saw another person scoping out the penny guides, who probably was another CAG. Hopefully he didn't clear out the place :whistle2:#.
 
Struck out at the second location I hit up today. Everything pulled at the Pittsburgh Mills BB out here. They probably only had 10 different guides available there, which included 2 full shelves of GTAIV guides. Anyone in the Pittsburgh area find anything at any of the other locations? There is still one or two more locations that might not have pulled all their guides, but it's not looking good out here.

Looks like it is time to update the trade list...
 
[quote name='knightsdwn']No dice at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, NY and Hartsdale, NY. It seems the Hartsdale BB pulled their guides early since there were huge glaring empty spaces at their guides section. The BB in the Palisades Mall was barren as usual.

I did, however, get lucky at the Yonkers, NY BB. I purchased:

2x Fable 2 LE (at least 6 left)
Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core (5-6 left)
Final Fantasy 12 (12+ left)
Too Human (1-2 left)
2x Tales of Vesperia (2-3 left)

They had many other penny guides but I only took the ones that interested me. This was also the first time I saw another person scoping out the penny guides, who probably was another CAG. Hopefully he didn't clear out the place :whistle2:#.[/quote]
SOB was gonna go to hartsdale an yonkers today but I may be outta luck.
 
I should mention mine DID pull some and they even called the manager up when i went to ring up. They asked if they could sell the guides that were supposed to be pulled and manager said yes.

So it looks like they did pull SOME guides at mine, but didnt try really hard.
 
OK who cleared out all the guides in Chattanooga, TN? I had staked out BB yesterday and there were tons. My wife went this morning just after opening and they had already been completely cleaned out. Not one was left.

Not angry or anything, the last batch of drops had just sat so long when I found them that I thought I was the only one in my area. I went back five times before I bought the last one, leaving a few each time.

Who is this mysterious CAGer?
 
[quote name='loafing...']Who is this mysterious CAGer?[/quote]

The manager. :lol:

Many BestBuys have pulled guides for this enormous drop.
 
Tustin market place limits 1 copy person, and they have employees pulling from the store opening.
Tustin District cleared the whole shelf after 20 of opening.
 
[quote name='cblakerobinson']If anyone gets an extra Far Cry 2 or Mercenaries 2 guide, PM me...[/quote]

Was Far Cry 2 also pennied? I know Mercenaries 2 was
 
btw, don't bother with the Pasadena store.
A guy filled his basket with more than 30 guides while flipping through all the guides there.
 
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[quote name='GuardianE']The manager. :lol:

Many BestBuys have pulled guides for this enormous drop.[/quote]

I should have been a bit more specific. My wife was there, an employee was repricing the guides, she went to the target next door, came back and the employee told her someone had purchased every last one.

Guides from the last drop hung around for months so I think the staff is pretty apathetic.
 
Ugh, two huge stacks of guides at the BB in Fullerton that they wouldn't let me take.

So don't bother at that location either.

I was 0 for 3. Orange County BB's are apparently anal retentive about yanking guides.
 
I went to three different BBs and the first one was a gold mine and i as able to get 2 of every guide except they had no Oblivion GOTY or Fable 2 LE (will trade multiple of my extra ones for Fable 2 LE btw), then i went to a 2nd BB which was on the way but they ALWAYS pull guides but behold they had about 30 so i grabbed a 2nd copy of the ones i didn't get 2nd copies of, then i went to the last BB which i'd been to on Sat and had stashed a couple and the place was cleared out by two different people who got there before me according to the cashier but at least i had stashed a couple guides! Anyways PM if you want to trade a bunch of my guides for one fable 2 le!!!! Thanks OP, and btw the reason i keep posted those stupid messages the past couple days was because i was sick and tired of people posting what was at their local BB day(s) before a drop, i mean who cares and what a waste of my time to check this thread. I know everyone was excited about the drop but in the future can we please wait until the day of the drop before reporting what everyone found and got???
 
[quote name='david12795']Boo. zelda twilight princess ranged up as $14.99.

Are BB employees not allowed to sell these "pulled" guides?[/quote]


Same. Really sucks.

Still looking for Fable 2.
 
[quote name='loafing...']I should have been a bit more specific. My wife was there, an employee was repricing the guides, she went to the target next door, came back and the employee told her someone had purchased every last one.

Guides from the last drop hung around for months so I think the staff is pretty apathetic.[/quote]

You mean she was there, saw the guides that were supposed to be a penny, yet went next door and then when she came back was SHOCKED to find that someone else had cleaned the place out?

Seriously, when I see something that I know is supposed to be REALLY cheap, I get what I want and THEN go elsewhere.

Oh and SacredDoctor, no offense but PERIODS and proper punctuation are your friend.
 
Just got back from Santa Cruz BB at lunch - found a bunch still on the rack. Took only 1X of what I wanted and asked a rep to scan them for me. He did and all but Lego Indy came up pennied. He was amazed. He told his co-worker about it, who just shrugged. He said it's a good deal if they ring up that way at the front.

So I take my stack to the front and the guy is like WTF? and calls a manager. She asks where I heard about it and I said "oh, someone on the web said they might be clearanced"... She says it's wrong and I have to buy the game with each book for 50% off. I'm like "I already have some of the games", so she says I'll be right back.

Luckily, another manager (higher up?) walks over and the sales guys tells her they ring up at a penny each and she says "well, you have to sell them to him, but we should pull the rest until we find out what's going on"... The first manager came back and shrugged. WHEW!!!

Got:
Merc 2
Civ Rev
WOW Bestiary & Dungeon 2
SW Clone Wars
Fracture
Gears of War remote control tank (for $10) btw, this looks so cool...

I should have stocked up more, but I figure maybe someone else will get lucky. Hopefully, they only pull the ones I bought, but who knows. I may go back later tonight...
 
[quote name='radman99']She says it's wrong and I have to buy the game with each book for 50% off.[/quote]
I love it when they pull stuff straight out of their behinds.
 
Well for the FIRST TIME EVER both of my local best buys pulled every single fucking guide. I'm sad. If anyone picked up a spare lost odyssey, tales of vesperia, soul calibur 4 le, fable 2 le, or mass effect le, please let me know. Maybe we can work out a trade or something.
 
Pretty sure the non-white cover of Zelda is pennied and the white one is not. Anyways, the Saginaw, MI BB guides have been pulled. I was lucky enough to score at another location with:

Assassin's Creed - 2
Battle Field: Bad Company - 2
Brothers In Arms - 1
Civilization Revolution - 1
Condemned 2 - 2 (old drop)
Dragon Quest IV - 1
Fable II LE - 1
Fire Emblem - 1
Lost Odyssey - 2
Madden 09 LE - 1
Mass Effect LE - 3
Mass Effect - 1
Mercenaries 2 - 1
Ninja Gaiden II - 2
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - 2
Spore LE - 2
Too Human - 2
Wario Shake It - 2

I am going to go back a little later and get the FF's and another Fire Emblem, as well as ask if they can check for a Fable II LE in storage.
 
[quote name='anch']btw, don't bother with the Pasadena store.
A greedy & trashy looking guy filled his basket with more than 30 guides while flipping through all the guides there.[/QUOTE]

Wow, was that really necessary? That could be another CAG you are talking about.
 
Thanks everyone for all the guide goodness. Was able to get almost every guide I really wanted, except for Fable LE. I would be willing to trade for a fable if anyone interested?
 
Central Park BB in Fredericksburg, VA had a fairly good selection of guides. Picked up a few LE's of games I have or want to have soon...just couldn't find Fable 2. Plenty left if anybody else wants. I didn't check Cosner's Corner BB as I didn't feel like driving for just one guide. Cosner used to actually sticker the guides at $0.01, but lately have just pulled them instead. Thanks Vahn and Iamthecheapestgamer.
 
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I went to 4 stores and 2 had pulled their guides but I was able to get most of the guides I wanted with a few exceptions so if anyone needs a Fable 2 LE or some other random guide from this drop and has a Mass Effect LE, Soul Calibur 4 LE or the Gears of War 2 LE from the Gamestop drop send me a PM.

It seems like Best Buy is getting stricter with the penny guides and after this drop, their guide section is going to be much smaller.
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']Came out with 8 madden LE"s,[/quote]

:lol: I hope you get used to looking at those just sitting in a corner. ... or hopefully you have 8 friends that really like Madden!
 
I went to BestBuy an hour ago, picked up what I need and the csr doesn't want to sell them so I asked for a manager and luckily she let me buy it. She did ask the CSR to pick up the rest though.

My Haul:
Fable 2 LE
Madden 09 LE
DQ 4
Lost Oddysey
Mass Effect LE
Ninja Gaiden 2
Merc 2
SC 4 LE
FF Crsytal Chronicles

There are multiples of the LEs, but another CSR already start to take them down when they ring me up.
 
I was expecting my store to pull the guides since they were so many and it was known so early, but they actually tagged them all $.01. Came out with 47 guides. Thanks again, Vahn.
 
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