The 5th Annual Cheapy Awards - Awards Ceremony

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Welcome to The 5th Annual Cheapy Awards, the only awards that recognize the best (and worst) in video game retail, nominate and voted on by the Cheap Ass Gamers, the most knowledgeable video game shoppers in the world! The CAGs nominated and voted in 11 different retail related categories and 4 CAG community categories.

Congratulations to Wet Ninja who has won a $500 Amazon Gift Certificate for participating in the Cheapy Awards voting.
Read on for the results!


Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com


Best Online Deal: Amazon.com: Deal of the Day
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Amazon.com: Deal of the Day

After three years of EBgames.com domination, it seems Amazon is on its way to starting the next Cheapy Awards dynasty. This year, Amazon.com simply dominated the competition, winning every relevant Cheapy Award. Amazon's combination of great deals and superb customer service resulted in CAGs forking over their cash (and their hearts) to the new king of online video game retail. Congratulations to Amazon on their impressive victories!

Amazon has posted a response on their Game Room Blog.


Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Best Buy
It's back-to-back victories for Best Buy as they pick up their second Best Brick & Mortar Retailer award.
Price matching, lots of coupons, and their Reward Zone program all helped put Best Buy in the winner's circle. It's also possible that CAGs just disliked other retailers more.


Best Independent Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
Increased competition from GoGamer and Lion Games didn't stop Play-Asia from winning Best Independent Online Retailer two years in a row.
Consistent weekly deals, seasonal sales/contests, great service, and coupons with every order secured the victory for the Hong Kong based specialty retailer.

A Play-Asia.com spokesperson responded to news of their Cheapy Award with this statement:
"We want to thank everyone who voted for us in this year's Cheapy Awards. We thank our customers, the Cheap Ass Gamer members, and the great CheapyD who runs these awards year after year. Winning the Best Independent Retailer Award two times in a row certainly means a lot to us. It makes us proud of the things we have done well, but most importantly, gets us excited about things we can still improve in the coming year(s). The whole Play-Asia.com crew will be working harder than ever! Happy Gaming and World Peace!"


Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Toy R Us: Super Mario Galaxy w/Free $25 Gift Card

Toys R Us came in first and second in this year's Brick & Mortar Deal of the Year Award. A free $25 gift card with Super Mario Galaxy during its first week of release was a fantastic deal, eclipsing TRU's own Buy 2, Get 1 Free Sale, a perennial CAG favorite.


Best Game Trading Website: Goozex.com
Goozex's original take on video game trading won them the admiration of many CAG traders and one of the biggest landslide victories in this year's Cheapy Awards.
Instead of swapping directly with other users, Goozex traders trade their games for Goozex Points, and then use those points to get other games from other Goozex users. Although the system may seem unorthodox, it clearly words well for the CAG community.

Goozex's crew recorded this acceptance speech:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFEZDlmh6A[/media]

Best Game Value: The Orange Box
bestvalue.gif

When one typically thinks of EA published games, the term "value" is usually does not immediately come to mind. However, with the release of The Orange Box, EA showed they can definitely put out a package well worth your $60. The Orange Box is full of quality content, containing the award-winning Half-Life 2 and its two expansion packs, along with the excellent first-person puzzler, Portal, and the team-based multi-player shooter, Team Fortress 2.


Worst Online Game Retailer: EB Games.com / GameStop.com

Worst B&M Game Retailer: EB Games / GameStop

Now the circle is complete. After winning Best Online Game Retailer three years in a row, EBgames.com (and GameStop.com) has gone from first to worst, picking up both Worst Retailer awards in the 4th and 5th Annual Cheapy Awards. After GameStop acquired EB Games, EB's website became a mirror image of GameStop.com, losing all the great deals they once provided. GameStop/EB recently announced some upcoming changes to their websites, which will hopefully help them break this cycle of shame. Unfortunately, it looks like used game listings still will not state if case and manuals are included. Only time will tell if GameStop/EB can pull themselves out of the gutter.


CAG Community Award: speedy1961


CAG Deal Buster: speedy1961
This year, we decided to break up the CAG Hero into two separate awards, the CAG Community Award and the CAG Deal Buster. It didn't seem like it really mattered though as last year's CAG Hero winner, speedy1961, picked up both awards anyway. For those of you living under a rock, speedy1961 provides the CAG community with the heads up on each week's Sunday ads. Speedy had a pretty rough year as Circuit City subpoenaed both CAG and DVD Talk in a (failed) effort to learn his secret identity.

Congratulations (and thanks) to speedy1961, who had this to say in response to his double victory:
"These 2 awards mean the world to me this year especially in light of the fact that the villainous (or perhaps just misguided) CC tried to plant me in a hole in the ground and attempted to silence my voice forever. It really meant alot to me that CheapyD and all of CAG stood by my side during that painful & worrisome time. Thank you one and all for making me believe that my weekly scribblings have value and for showing me that what I do means a lot to my bretheren here at CheapAssGamer.com. Thanks!"


Most Memorable CAG Villain: JimmieMac

The 4th time is a charm for JimmieMac. In the past, he had previously lost out to trade scammers, but I guess every Icon has his day.

He had this to say:
"Victory is always sweetest when it is unexpected by others. When I first came to this site, I spoke no English and here I am today, crowned Most Memorial CAG Villain 2007.
It's been a boring and uneventful ride, but this is all I ever really wanted. So to all of you that voted for me, fuck you."


Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): "CAG Fund for Child's Play"
It's the feel good story of the year! The CAG community raised over $27,000 for Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity. The community banded together to organize a raffle complete with a long list of great prizes. Congratulations to all of us!

Thanks to all the CAGs who participated in this years voting and nominatios for The 5th Annual Cheapy Awards. A special thanks to the award winning retailers who provided us with great deals and service in 2007. See you next year!

Previous winners:
1st Annual Cheapy Awards
2nd Annual Cheapy Awards
3rd Annual Cheapy Awards
4th Annual Cheapy Awards
​
 
[quote name='scuba t']Have the gift cards already been given out?[/quote]

Yup, looks like Wet Ninja won it.

Edit: I love how the thread exploded as I was reading it. CheapyD had already addressed this by the time I finally got to the bottom, hit submit, and saw the thread refreshed with all these responses!
 
Holy crap, I was nominated for posting deals?

Freakin' sweet! And I won second place! .. by a thousand votes or so, but still! Second place! \o/
 
when you mention how EA made a hell of a deal with the orange box,
do understand this was Valve's doing, not EA
hell, if EA had their way, they'd probably charge you for extra classes in TF2
(they are charging for additional guns in BF: Bad Company xP)
 
[quote name='Scorch']Holy crap, I was nominated for posting deals?

Freakin' sweet! And I won second place! .. by a thousand votes or so, but still! Second place! \o/[/quote]

Lol go scorch! Grats to all the winner. I need one of those bald caps for next years cheapyDday.
 
[quote name='xGunCrazyx']when you mention how EA made a hell of a deal with the orange box,
do understand this was Valve's doing, not EA
hell, if EA had their way, they'd probably charge you for extra classes in TF2
(they are charging for additional guns in BF: Bad Company xP)[/quote]

Valve was the developer of The Orange Box, EA was the publisher.
 
Sweet! Wet Ninja is a great person and I'm glad he won the gift card if it wasn't me.

BTW why did this take so long to post? Every year CheapyD sure does lay on the snooze button hard when it comes to the Cheapy Awards.
 
If Thorbahn3 won, I would've demanded a Florida style, hand recount. I look forward to next year and the entry of 'Developer with the least sense of the word "value"'. As it stands now, Ubisoft is way out in front.
 
[quote name='KingBroly']If Thorbahn3 won, I would've demanded a Florida style, hand recount. I look forward to next year and the entry of 'Developer with the least sense of the word "value"'. As it stands now, Ubisoft is way out in front.[/QUOTE]

One for Marten, two for Marten.
 
The fact that Best Buy has won best retailer two years in a row in truly depressing.

I guess having no deals and bad service works for people.
 
[quote name='Ugamer_X']The fact that Best Buy has won best retailer two years in a row in truly depressing.

I guess having no deals and bad service works for people.[/QUOTE]I think Cheapy had it right in his commentary, its the retailer we collectively hate least.

Thanks for posting the results Cheapy, and congrats to the winners!
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']BTW why did this take so long to post?[/quote]

Tai.

And even if it isn't Tai, I wouldn't argue with this reason.
 
[quote name='gunm']Tai.

And even if it isn't Tai, I wouldn't argue with this reason.[/QUOTE]

Where the fuck is your spoiler Japanese lady?!!!!
 
Amazon deserves all the praise it's getting. They truly have become a staple for online video game shopping. The dynasty begins!
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']One for Marten, two for Marten.[/quote]

It's "Martin". I find your lack of Simpsons knowledge disturbing.
 
[quote name='Ugamer_X']The fact that Best Buy has won best retailer two years in a row in truly depressing.

I guess having no deals and bad service works for people.[/quote]


Kinda like Cheapy mentioned, I think it's more the voting options than people really thinking that highly of Best Buy. It was the lesser of all of the evils amongst the nominees for that category.
 
Wow, that was quite a surprise checking CAG this morning and seeing a PM from Cheapy saying I'd won the Amazon gift card. Thanks for having this contest, Cheapy, and thanks for the great community!
 
i wish i knew who jimmiemac is. good thing i don't judging from the votes, lol...
 
[quote name='LiK']i wish i knew who jimmiemac is. good thing i don't judging from the votes, lol...[/quote]

jimmiemac is just a sassy talking little country girl who deep down just needs love.
 
[quote name='stonefry']If you don't know who Jimmymac is, you don't listen to enough Cagcasts.[/quote]

was he only mentioned in the early shows? i probably zoned out when he's mentioned. i've been listening to CAGcast for a year now
 
I still don't understand how everyone hates EB Gamestop. The GS by me is the best place to shop. The staff are all hardcore gamers and they treat everyone who comes into the store with respect, plus the website was the only way I got a Wii last year and It was shipped out within 6 days when it was expected to ship much later than that. Everyone seems to hate preorders, but after betting burned numerous times on games that sell out lightning fast, it's the only way for me. Plus, I use it as a layaway. Every payday I plop down $20 on a future game and on release, its fully paid off. They will also give me the freebies for games I didn't purchase after the game comes out. I still stand by my choice of KMart as the worst game retailer.

A shout out to Sheridan, Dave, TC and Brad at GS in Erie!
 
[quote name='stonefry']If you don't know who Jimmymac is, you don't listen to enough Cagcasts.[/quote]


all cheapy ever says about him is that he played a game with him once in awhile. is he supposed to be famous or something? why would I know who he is?

anyway, my original question remains, can someone tell me who he is and why people here know him?
 
I'm suprised about Gamestop/EB getting worst retailer in general. I thought that award had a special place for the diaper/babyshit smelling hellhole called Toys-R-Us.
Otherwise, GO ORANGE BOX!
 
[quote name='JadedJedi']I still don't understand how everyone hates EB Gamestop. [/quote]

Not everyone, apparently. They were voted worst B&M store, but also were runner-up for best B&M store.
 
[quote name='sandrokstar']I'm suprised about Gamestop/EB getting worst retailer in general. I thought that award had a special place for the diaper/babyshit smelling hellhole called Toys-R-Us.
Otherwise, GO ORANGE BOX![/quote]

Toys R Us has good clearances, which us CAGs like.

Gamestop has shitty, overpriced used games that often dont work, which many of us CAGs hate.

(I have to admit though, Toys R Us is awful for new releases).
 
Congrats, JimmieMac! "The Icon", indeed! I was afraid people were going to make you the "Susan Lucci" of CAG just for the sake of continuity (because we all know how nerds are about that!). And my condolences to those diligent souls who put in so much time and effort to campaign for me, when I was far too lazy to do it myself. Maybe next year your heartfelt endeavors will pay dividends at last!
 
[quote name='thorbahn3']Sweet! Wet Ninja is a great person and I'm glad he won the gift card if it wasn't me.[/quote]
I agree, I hope you have fun spending that GC Wet Ninja, just don't stop playing with the group!
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Valve was the developer of The Orange Box, EA was the publisher.[/QUOTE]

I kinda get what GunCrazy is saying. I do not attribute any of the value of the Orange Box to EA, rather, it is my understanding that the folks at Valve are the ones who put it all together, took it to EA and said "here, put this on the shelves". Sure, EA could have said no, but they'd be remiss in doing so, considering the package was available on Steam for that awesome price. I'm curious as to the numbers of console to Steam sales. If they are in favour of Steam, that would easily explain the reluctance of players like myself to give EA any credit for such a value.

In any case. Orange Box rules, I heart Valve and Steam.

Oh, and kudos to Goozex. I was pullin for them.
 
[quote name='m3zcl4n']I kinda get what GunCrazy is saying. I do not attribute any of the value of the Orange Box to EA, rather, it is my understanding that the folks at Valve are the ones who put it all together, took it to EA and said "here, put this on the shelves". Sure, EA could have said no, but they'd be remiss in doing so, considering the package was available on Steam for that awesome price. I'm curious as to the numbers of console to Steam sales. If they are in favour of Steam, that would easily explain the reluctance of players like myself to give EA any credit for such a value.
[/quote]

that's what i was getting at exactly
valve were the ones who came up with the brilliant idea
sure EA said ok, but it was only because they'd miss out on some good money xP
 
[quote name='xGunCrazyx']that's what i was getting at exactly
valve were the ones who came up with the brilliant idea
sure EA said ok, but it was only because they'd miss out on some good money xP[/QUOTE]

Keep in mind, EA only did the Xbox 360 and the PS3 version. Even the PC retail versions were put out by Valve, and I find it hard to believe that the Orange Box mania was borne from anything less than legions of people who played it on PC (I could be wrong about that tho, again, without having Steam sales figures).
 
Ahhh, remember the days of looking for that elusive used game on EB in the early hours, but now, for me, I go to Amazon because of the shipping and good deals.
 
[quote name='Scorch']Holy crap, I was nominated for posting deals?

Freakin' sweet! And I won second place! .. by a thousand votes or so, but still! Second place! \o/[/quote]

Woo! My man Scorch!

[quote name='chakan']I think Cheapy had it right in his commentary, its the retailer we collectively hate least.

Thanks for posting the results Cheapy, and congrats to the winners![/quote]

Pretty much, in regards to BB. Even my Fry's seems to be turning crappier by the day. No longer getting the "obscure" PS2 fare, customer service dropping, etc. And to think it was once so beloved by me:cry:
 
[quote name='Wet Ninja']Wow, that was quite a surprise checking CAG this morning and seeing a PM from Cheapy saying I'd won the Amazon gift card. Thanks for having this contest, Cheapy, and thanks for the great community![/quote]


Congratulations! :applause:
 
Sorry - Amazon as best retailer with best service?

Serious fucking B.S.

Amazon are the single worst retailer I have ever dealt with in my entire life.

I'd rather deal with Circuit City while rolling around in peanut butter followed by letting myself be covered in ants than deal with Amazon.
 
[quote name='Nephlabobo']Sorry - Amazon as best retailer with best service?

Serious fucking B.S.

Amazon are the single worst retailer I have ever dealt with in my entire life.

I'd rather deal with Circuit City while rolling around in peanut butter followed by letting myself be covered in ants than deal with Amazon.[/quote]

What issues did you have with them?
 
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