I preordered from EBWorld.com. It arrived just after 10am on Friday Nov 16th! It was one of those forced bundles (grr) with Luigi, Waverave and Starwars, an extra mashy and a mem card. See photo:

On Saturday afternoon I went on a quest to get SUPER MONKEY BALL. I checked CompUSA's system and it said it was in stock at every local facility, so off I went.

The first CompUSA refused to sell it to me! They claimed they were not allowed to sell ANY Gamecube stuff until Sunday, that they would be fined by Nintendo, that it was in the system as "$1118.00" until Sunday, etc.

On the way to the second CompUSA I remembered a few key facts:

1. The actual release of SUPER MONKEY BALL was, for some reason, earlier than everything else.

2. SMB is a Sega product, not Nintendo

Armed with this information I was able to successfully convince CompUSA to sell me a monkeyball :)

I hope everyone enjoys their Cube and that there are enough to go around.

Yeah i got my Cube last night at Wal-Mart, i got there around 8:30 and saw a line of like 50 people, it turns out that, WM was going to sell 50 GC's, and i got the last seat (I was #50), it was so much fun, people were passing down candy and food the whole night, it was well worth the wait, I also got 4 games to go with it Luigi's Mansion, Waverace, Rogue Squadron, and all star baseball 2002! also i got a spice controller!!!

Sat. Nov 17... I had just come out of a convention in a small town near Tampa, FL and there was a Wal-mart near by. Since I live Jacksonville, FL, I wanted to pick it up there before I headed home (about a few hours drive). It was about 9:00 at night and my friends and I went to ask if they'd sell the cube early. We brought a printed out "Sam Goody receipt." from PGC and showed it to the manager. He was almost convinced and he took it to the back and I guess made some phone calls or whatever. After about an hour, he came told us they wouldn't sell us one until twelve midnight. We were kinda pissed because we had to leave for home empty handed. So my friends and I went and ate something then we separated and headed home. I stopped in Ocala (about half way home) around midnight and found a walmart there. So I went in and low and behold there was a line of people buying Cubes. I had to sign in and wait for them to call my name. After about 15 people aquired their treasures and left, they finally called my name. I pissed my pants as I walked up to the counter. The lady asked if I wanted indigo or... "Jet Black!!!!" I yelled, finishing her sentance. I payed her the cold hard 210 cash (including tax) that I earned from selling various items. I didn't have to buy any games because I had already bought RL and SMB a week before and TH3 on Thursday. Without a moment's notice, I grabbed my new baby and ran out the store screaming and laughing like a mad man.

I ended up getting home around 4:15 A.M. Suday morning. And I hooked it up to my TV and played until 6:00 A.M. then I passed out.

~Liquid_Oxygen_V_P_Jann~

Yea, so i'm a slacker, but what are ya gonna do? So anyway, yesterday i figured i'd go scavenging for places that were going to be selling GameCube. Well first off, i was surprised to see games, controlers (3rd party), and memory cards (believe it or not, first party) on sale early. Unfortunately, I couldn't buy a system. Well anyway, I made my way to Dragons Den (i don't know if you've heard of it, but it's basically anything any kind of junky could wish for.) After arriving, I soon found a "pay now pick up later" policy. So i asked if i could pay for the oh so schway cube and was shocked and overwhelmed when i was told "yes." Well, to put it short, my celebration was put to a hault when one little word was mentioned. "Bundle." That's right. Every fans worst nightmare come system launch time. Well in any case, i asked the clerk to go on and he told me what was like music to my ears. For $319.99, which was paid on the spot, I could come back and pick up the

system, a memory card, and two games(prepare yourself) OF MY CHOICE!!!! Never before has any bundle that great ever existed! So in any case, I happily took home my games (Rogue Leader and Tony Hawk 3) and memory card and I am now waiting to go to the store when it opens at 11 am EST. Anyway, just thought I'd share the good news of the great bundle. G'd luck and keep up the good work ^_^;;

I pre-ordered my GameCube the moment it was available last November at my local Software etc. I wanted to make sure I would not live through another PS2 fiasco. I camped out at Best Buy for twelve hours last year and I was not going to do that again. I arrived at the mall approximately at 8:30 a. m and the store opened at 9:00 a.m. Over the past year I have been devoted enough to pay for everything over the course of the year, so all I had to do was just show up, smile and leave. I pre-ordered a Nintendo spice controller, memory card, a black Nintendo controller, a system, Luigi's Mansion and Rogue Squadron. I was the first person in line to my delight, and I had a feeling I would be. Video Game fans in Los Angeles are not loyal at all. Most of my friends blew $400.00 bucks on some new thirty pound black box with an X on it and a controller only the biggest Los Angeles resident Shaquille O' Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers could use. I myself have no use for a new dvd player or any game system from Microsoft. I only want them to maintain and keep my Windows working.

When the clock struck at nine I simply walked to the register gave them my receipts and went on my merry way. A longer lined formed while I was leaving, but at most there were about 20 people, mostly parents waiting there. I heard all kind of stories of people camping out and waking up at the wee hours of the morning, I even saw people camping out at the Local Toys R' Us. I learned my lesson and whatever I want I will but it in advance. My butt is still sore from freezing at Best Buy a year ago for the PS2 and I regret doing that. It pays to be smart and pre-order. I was at home playing Luigi's Mansion at 9:30 a.m. My little trip only took me an hour.

Luigi's Mansion is a great game, I am a die hard fan of any Nintendo product and it's any indication of things to come then I will be hooked for life.

Hello!

Before I get into my launch story, I just wanted to let you guys know

how much I enjoy the site. It seems like a community of like-minded gamers

pushing info for people with an interest in all things Nintendo. It rocks.

Thanks for all of the work.

Joplin is a small town in southwestern Missouri - we JUST got a Best

Buy. I decided it was the place to get my cube, so I arrived on Sunday at

9:00 am (one hour before they opened). Much to my surprise, there was a

line of 10 or so people, led by this 12-year-old who was so excited that he

was running in place. The line was about 20 people long by the time the

store opened. One of the guys behind me told me he was there because

Wal-Mart had sold out the night before. Is there excitement about the

Gamecube here in the stix? Oh yes.

The store had an allocation of 56 cubes, 23 of each color. The purple

cubes seem to be just a bit more popular in this area. Memory cards were

plentiful, as were Nintendo brand controllers. There were 2 items that

seemed to be in short supply: Super Monkey Ball (only 3 copies) and Spice

controllers (I only saw 4). The store manager came outside about 15 minutes

prior to the doors opening and handed everyone a list of the accessories and

games (10 titles!) available. This was a nice touch - it let people (read:

12-year-olds on a sugar rush) determine what they wanted BEFORE they got

into the store.

Shopping at Best Buy has always been a love/hate thing for me. They

have the stuff I want, but dealing with the 'blueshirts' can be trying at

times. Launch morning was no exception. The good: everyone who got a

system and 2 games got $10 off their purchase! The bad: the salespeople

were a little overzealous. They were actually asking people what they

intended to do with the system once they bought it. One lady ahead of me in

line joked about selling it on eBay and was almost refused a Gamecube as a

result. It got a little heated, but she finally left with one. Limiting

sales to one system per customer should be a sufficient precaution, in my

opinion.

Except for that one little scene, the launch went very smoothly. The

kid at the front of the line hugged his cube to his chest, gave the rest of

us a big smile and yelled, "LUIGI!" at the top of his lungs. Everyone got

what they were after, and the whole line was off to play their new games

within 30 minutes.

On a personal note: I have played so much Super Monkey Ball that I can

see the Dole logo when I close my eyes. Nintendo has a VERY cool little

system in the Gamecube. The opinion among the core gamers in line was that

the dedicated gaming design and the incredible software lineup are its

biggest assets. I have to agree - I am continually impressed with the

visuals, miniscule load times, a controller that is a masterwork of

ergonomic design, and I am REALLY looking forward to Pikmin!

Regards,

Brad Schneider