The 8th Annual Cheapy Awards - Awards Ceremony

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CheapyD

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[IMG-L=4876]4504[/IMG-L]Delayed by earthquakes and my own incompetence, welcome to The 8th Annual Cheapy Awards! It's the only awards that recognize the best (and worst) in video game retail, nominated and voted on by the Cheap Ass Gamers, the most knowledgeable video game shoppers in the world. The CAGs cast over 56,000 votes across 13 different retail related categories and 5 CAG community categories.

Congratulations to the_noid and beeeatsme both of whom have 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: Black Friday Weekend



Best Game Trade-In Program: Amazon.com



Best Used Game Retailer: Amazon (Warehouse)



Amazon takes home a whopping five awards this year. It's the 5th year in a row they've won Best Online Retailer and Best Online Customer Service, 4th year in a row for Best Online Deal, and 2nd consecutive Best Game Trade-in Program win. They also picked up the Best Used Game Retailer award for the first time. As Amazon continues to ramp up their digital offerings, it will be exciting to see what 2011 brings. Amazon's victories include whopping 84%/85% landslides in the Best Online Retailer and Best Online Customer Service categories along with a very close 3.5% win over GameFly for Best Used Game Retailer.

In response to their impressive victories, the Amazon Video Game Team has provided the following statement:

"The Amazon.com Video Games team wants to thank the CAG community for their continued support by awarding Amazon.com the Cheapy Awards for Best Online Game Retailer, Best Online Customer Service, Best Online Deal, Best Game Trade-in Program, and Best Used Game Retailer viaWarehouse Deals. We hope that the Cheapy Awards indicates that our focus on creating a high-quality customer experience on Amazon.com is being recognized, whether you are trading, selling or buying games, new or used. In the last year we launched $0.99 Release Date Delivery, delivered customer value on used games through the Trade-In program and Warehouse Deals, and expanded our digital offers while continuing the Amazon tradition of passing great savings to our customers. Expect more great deals and value from Amazon in 2011, and we will remain focused on delivering a great customer experience for all gamers!"


Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Kmart



Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Kmart: Call of Duty Black Ops Launch Promotion


Biggest CAG Shopping News: Kmart Rep Joins CAG, Deals Follow



 CAG Community Award: SHC-Gamer

Speedy1961 Deal Buster Award: SHC-Gamer

I would have thought you mad if you told me last year that Kmart would be taking home five 2010 Cheapy Awards, but that is exactly what has happened, preventing Best Buy from winning it's 5th straight Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer award.

Kmart's Cheapy Awards success can be attributed to Josh Deane (aka SHC-Gamer), Video Games Buyer for Kmart, joining the CAG community in March 2010. He asked for my permission to set up a Kmart thread in our Video Game Deals forum so he may share the latest sales and promotions with CAGs and get feedback on Kmart's video game department. I had always envisioned that retailers would use CAG as a means of communicating with video game shoppers and Josh was the first to really put in the tremendous effort required for success.

Not only did Josh do a great job processing feedback and interacting with the community, but his involvement with CAG seemed to burst open the floodgates of video game deals from Kmart as they often have the best Sunday ad video game deals each week. I know how difficult it can be to deal with such a large (and opinionated) community like CAG, but Josh obviously has what it takes, as evidenced by their huge wins this year.

Here's Josh's acceptance speech:

"Thank you very much to every single CAGer -- especially site founder CheapyD -- for allowing Kmart the opportunity to interact with the greatest video game deal site in the world! We have made so many friends over the last year and continue to be blown away by the amazing community feedback we've received. Along the way, we've learned that CAG, In many ways, represents the very heart of the gaming industry: the gamer."

His speech continues here: http://www.mykmart.com/mykmart_blog/Long-Live-CAG




Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com

This is the 5th year that Play-Asia has taken home a Cheapy award, proving they are the go-to site for imports and other specialty gaming items. Living in Japan, Play-Asia has been a life saver to me personally, allowing me to "import" English games cheaply and quickly.

A Play-Asia.com spokesperson reacted to the good news as follows:

"Thanks to all the CAGs, CheapyD, and the CAGcast crew for your continued support. Of course we will continue to offer outstanding deals, selection and service in 2011 and hope to increase our Cheapy award collection even further. Thanks again, everyone!"



Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer


Normally, I do not allow CAG to be nominated in this category, but as I forgot to mention that when putting up the nomination post, I decided to let it slide. Sure, it's a hollow victory, but I'll take it! Thanks to everyone for your support and hope you make use of our new CAG Marketplace, which is constantly being improved. Big shoutout to Goozex, who has won the Game Trading Website award 3 years in a row and would have certainly repeated if CAG wasn't a nominee.



Best Game Value: Mass Effect 2

This was the closest Cheapy Award race by far, with only 50 votes separating Mass Effect 2 from 2nd place Red Dead Redemption. When a single-player only game wins this award, you can be sure it must be best in-class. I've put over 40 hours into Mass Effect 2, so I certainly support my fellow CAG's decision.

Christina Norman from Bioware responds:

"We try our best at BioWare to create games that provide value for consumers. Our games are both high-quality, and highly-replayable, with longer than average play times. Beyond that we ensure that your choices like Paragon or Renegade, or Soldier or Adept, or Male or Female all contribute to a unique play experience for your Shepard. I am honored to accept the award for “Best Game Value 2010” from Cheap Ass Gamer, the leading value-oriented website for gamers."



Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com


Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
Unfortunately for GameStop, this is the 5th year in a row that they've won the Worst Online Game Retailer and Worst B&M Game Retailer "awards". Once again, GameStop scores a 2nd place finish in Best Game Trade-In Program, but is unable to take 2nd in Best Used Game Retailer and drops to 3rd. Better luck next year?



Most Memorable CAG Villain: Fire_Thief

I can't really say I know much about Fire_Thief, nor do I care to learn more since he robbed me of my first Cheapy Award. fuck him.



Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): My slumlord sued me: A cautionary tale
speedracer's "My slumlord sued me: A cautionary tale" is an epic story about a tenant's quest to escape the clutches of an evil landlord. Its got high drama and plot twists, so you should check it out if you have some time to kill.

I contacted speedracer to tell him of his win, and he response is below:

"Dear CAG,

I would have enjoyed the whole thing more if it had happened to someone else. For the love of god, READ YOUR RENTAL CONTRACT. Googling your prospective landlord is a good idea too. Thanks for the votes. I hope it was as fun to read as it was to write."



Best CAG Blog: Krymner

Congratulations to Krymner, whose blog, entitled "Chronicles of a Maintenance Man", provides and inside look into the private lives of everyday Americans through the eyes of your friendly neighborhood maintenance man.




Thanks to all the CAGs who participated in this years voting and nominations for The 8th Annual Cheapy Awards. A special thumbs-up to the award winning retailers who provided us with great deals and service in 2010. See you next year!

Quick rundown of winners:

Best Online Game Retailer: Amazon.com
Best Online Customer Service: Amazon.com
Best Online Deal: Amazon.com: Black Friday Sales
Best Game Trade-in Program: Amazon.com
Best Used Game Retailer: Amazon.com (Warehouse)
Best Brick & Mortar Game Retailer: Kmart
Brick & Mortar Deal/Sale of the Year: Kmart: Call of Duty Black Ops Launch Promotion
Best Independent/Specialty Online Game Retailer: Play-Asia.com
Biggest CAG Shopping News: Kmart Rep Joins CAG, Deals Follow
Best Game Trading Website: Cheap Ass Gamer
Best Game Value: Mass Effect 2
Worst Online Game Retailer: GameStop.com
Worst B&M Game Retailer: GameStop
CAG Community Award: SHC-Gamer
CAG Deal Buster: SHC-Gamer
Most Memorable CAG Villain: Fire_Thief
Best CAG Forum Thread (non-deal): My slumlord sued me: A cautionary tale
Best CAG Blog: Krymner


Previous winners:
7th Annual Cheapy Awards
6th Annual Cheapy Awards
5th Annual Cheapy Awards
4th Annual Cheapy Awards
3rd Annual Cheapy Awards
2nd Annual Cheapy Awards
1st Annual Cheapy Awards
 
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Can we add a "Most improved retailer" category?

I gotta give EA store props for how much better they've gotten recently. I think their Flash Deals probably only fall in the scope of 2011, but they've had several good deals in 2010 (50% off + free shipping, etc).
 
[quote name='FadeToOne']Can we add a "Most improved retailer" category?

I gotta give EA store props for how much better they've gotten recently. I think their Flash Deals probably only fall in the scope of 2011, but they've had several good deals in 2010 (50% off + free shipping, etc).[/QUOTE]

If we do that, which is a good category, I would have to tip my hat off to Newegg.

Can't tell you how many games I've actually bought from them last year compared to years prior.
 
I agree with the EA Store, that 50% off no shipping sale was awesome! I finally got Dragon Age Ultimate for $26 bucks! Also Amazon is usually a go-to for me. Especially when they had free shipping no minimum purchase with price matching other retailers over the holidays.
 
I gotta go with Kmart.


They came out of no where last year and took $130 from me due to of Josh's amazing deals.

Starting the coupon train with the B1G1 Half off PSN Cards I got $60 worth for $40 then used the next $10 coupon to get Epic Kirby for $40, which came with a $20 coupon that brought DCKR to $30, and that too had X2 $10 coupons that I stacked with the Epic Mickey $15 coupon that I purchased for $5, dropping Epic Mickey to $15 and that came with a $20 coupon.

With the rate at which new releases drop in the matter of months these days, Kmart stepped up on offers that couldn't make me wait for other retailers to slash the prices via sales.
 
[quote name='Cerebral_One']Worst Online Customer Service - Gamestop[/QUOTE]

I'm surprised there's not a "Worst Customer Service" category for online or off.

Best Buy would get my vote for both - I don't even want to remember how many times and for how long I was on the phone or in line to get issues corrected. They not only screwed up royally nearly a dozen times, they offered absolutely no restitution for their screw-ups - they should give out gift certificates just to cover for their incompetence. Terrible, terrible, terrible.
 
Just gave my 2 cents.

Probably too late but a good idea for a category would be Best Collector's Edition since there are alot of collectors on this site.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']

The awards are currently in the nomination phase, which will last approximately 10 days.[/QUOTE]

Are these Jupiter days?
 
[quote name='confoosious']Are these Jupiter days?[/QUOTE]
Actually Jupiter Days are shorter than Earth days by a significant amount. I believe they are only 10 hours or so. Now a Mercury day, that's long.
 
[quote name='AngellicLulu']Actually Jupiter Days are shorter than Earth days by a significant amount. I believe they are only 10 hours or so. Now a Mercury day, that's long.[/QUOTE]

You're right. I assumed that the bigger the circumference, the longer it'd take for one point to rotate completely around. But I guess the rotation speed is much slower on Jupiter?
 
voting have opened for me. :bouncy:

Edit: It keeps on saying "You have already voted on this poll" when it was my first time voting on the thread.
 
How long until we just get a best digital download platform so that Steam stops showing up as an online retailer when it's not? Xbox Live, PSN, iOS, Good Old Games, etc. is plenty of competition, especially compared to some of the choices this year.
 
I had to go back and check some of the nominees for CAG Community Award, but it was worth it. It made me appreciate how everyone is essential when it comes to contributing to the main goal of this site, which is giving us consumers a choice when it comes to buying a certain product. So yeah, thanks to everyone for making cheapassgamer.com one of my favorite sites.

Yeah, that includes chuplayer and his blog.
 
I assume we don't have to vote in every category to be entered in the raffle. I'm abstaining from a few because I don't use some services such as buying used from online retailers.
 
Am I eligible for this contest? I'm from Mexico, but I buy a lot of things (specially games) through Amazon. :D
 
[quote name='CheapyD'][IMG-L=4876]4504[/IMG-L]Voting is now open for The 8th Annual Cheapy Awards, the only awards that recognize the best (and worst) in video game retail, nominated and voted by the Cheap Ass Gamers, the most knowledgeable video game shoppers in the world!

Anyone found creating multiple accounts will be permanently IP banned from CAG.

[/QUOTE]

fyi - IP banning for folks using public wi-fi (libraries, cafes, etc.) or anyone behind an ISP that is using LSN (large-scale NATs) will ban more than one person
 
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