Another report and the time is approaching... a mere 1 1/2 hours to go until GameCube goodness will be in Billy's hands.

For his second to last line update things were finally looking up, people were beginning to show up and the vibes were flowing a little more as well. Yutaka (from N64HQ and now with 64 Dream) showed up and Billy finally got a chance to talk to the only man ahead of him, a certain Nintendo maniac named Yoshi. Covering a few tidbits Yoshi's impressions were poor for the X-Box's chances abroad since he considered the games being made for it much too Westernized for most Japanese gamers. Looking over the less than stellar line of people waiting Yoshi reflected that aside from the weather he thought many of his fellow Japanese gamers were taking a wait and see stance with the GameCube, most of them particularly waiting for a new Mario or Zelda game to take the plunge. He seemed very enamored with Mario Sunshine, in fact calling it instead "Miyamoto Sunshine". When he gets a chance he is supposed to expand on that name.

Another factor in the hardcore not being out for GameCubes is actually that many gamers already have them. Apparently quite a few stores were willing to quietly, and under the table, break the launch date for an extra 5,000 yen. That helps clarify at least some of the lacking crowds.

Also, keep on the look out for MSNBC coverage of the launch. Steven Kent is in Japan and stopped by earlier to poke fun at Billy waiting in line... but apparently he got at least a quote from him so we're hoping for some PGC quote love on MSNBC sometime soon as well as the previously mentioned publications and news organizations.

Hey folks, he may be broke and tired and utterly insane... but he may well be the first American to officially get a GameCube. Value that as you will.

Billy promises one more likely update as the final push towards launch arrives and once he can get to Internet access he promises more cool pictures of the maniacs waiting to be first to get their new Nintendo lovin'.