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GameCube has LAUNCHED!

by Billy Berghammer - November 18, 2001, 12:32 am EST

The GameCube has launched in North America! WOOHOO! So what was it like to be at a Midnight sale? What?! Shortage? Hey, we did warn you...

Even though I have already been blessed with the love that is GameCube, I wanted to pick up a controller or two (indigo/clear and spice mind you) and check out the Midnight launch scene. The 24 hour Wal-Mart in Eagan, Minnesota was my best bet. At least this is where our forums (quick plug) pointed me. I grabbed my digital camera and was off.

I arrived at the Wal-Mart at about 10:15pm and headed straight for the electronics department. When I arrived, there were about 70 people waiting in line. According to the employees, they only had 49 systems to sell, and they didn’t know how many or what games yet. Disorganization seemed to be an ongoing theme at this Wal-Mart which seemed to keep most of the end of the line nervous through out most of the evening.

I met the people in the front of the line, the first two of which are Planet GameCube readers. First in line was Brett Klooster, 18, of Eden Praire, Minnesota. This was actually the same person I saw open up the Darth Vader secret level in Rogue Leader at the Cube Club. Second in line was Nate Christianson, 21, of St. Paul, Minnesota, another person I met at a Cube Club who is also a Planet Trivia Flunkie. Brett had arrived at the Walmart at 4pm, where Nate slacked off and didn’t arrive until 6, when they both started the line at around 6:15pm.

About 10:45pm they handed out numbered slips of paper to all the people waiting in line. There were only two purchase rules. 1 GameCube system per family, and you could only buy 3 additional controllers. That was it. More and more people arrived and they constantly were turning away people.

At 11:30 they rolled out 2 carts containing the systems, games, and accessories. The systems did seem to be a 50/50 split in color. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case with controllers. There were a lot less black and spice controllers. This Wal-Mart only had 2 spice controllers out of the 40 (at most) controllers they had. Wait! Only 40 first party controllers total? Yep. 40 some extra controllers, to 49 GameCubes. You do the math.

According to the representative the game they had the most of was Rogue Squadron: Rogue Leader 2. It looked as if they had almost 30-40 copies of it. People in the back of the line grew nervous and began asking a lot of questions, and counting all the people in front of them.

I guess let this serve as a warning to you. If you don’t have a pre-order, make sure you are at a store early this morning. GameCube systems, games, and controllers are going to sell out everywhere…and fast. It made me sigh in relief for purchasing a couple games, and a memory card a few days ago.

At exactly 12:01 Brett handed over his #1 ticket to the sales person, smiled, and called out his order. One by one, happy Nintendophiles followed. 49 people walked out of this Walmart with their GameCubes this morning. Some happy because they got everything they wanted, and others planning where to be tomorrow morning to get everything else they desired.

Ladies and Gentelmen, The Nintendo GameCube Launch has arrived! Let the gaming begin!

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