Yeah, it's pretty hard to justify spending the money on a guide when you know you'll be able to the information for free somewhere on the Internet.

I always buy guides. I can get frustrated easily. So I have to choose between buying a $10 guide or smashing a $45 controller against the wall. And I just prefer the books over internet guides.

I buy them once they hit the penny price, have hundreds.

But if I need a hint before then, online.

Sometimes. If it's a big release game, I will buy the guide to make it a "complete" package...see any RPG, Zelda, GTA etc. I just like to collect them. Sometimes the guides can be pretty cool. Special editions come with artwork, posters, hardcover cases, etc. I don't have all the time in the world to play games, so I like to get in and out while still seeing everything the game has to offer without spending hours searching. It does not take the fun out of the game at all for me.

I never buy the guides for FPS though. Waste of money.

From my 2 years working at EB Games, I collected about 300 guides once they hit a penny. I had them all in boxes in my closet since last week, when I sorted out the rare ones to put on eBay and threw out the rest. They just took up too much space to save.