It's 07.30 AM. Even though we don't have to go to college today, Tim and I both get up early. I don't think you have to ask why. It's GameCube launch day today!

Even though the stores don't open till 9.00 AM, we want to be in town (Rotterdam -Netherlands) at 8.30 AM. So we take a short shower, get dressed, run to the supermarket to buy some Redbull so we can wake up, and then take the subway heading to the centre of the town.

To be honest, we didn't expect that any gamers would be around. After all, most stores already sold their GameCube yesterday or the day before. And we're right, the square at which most stores are located, is almost empty. No huge waiting lines or anything.

But what's that? There are four guys sitting on a bench in front of a store. No one does that without a reason. We decide to talk to them. Yes, they're waiting for the GameCube to be sold, even though only one of them is going to buy it. He's gonna buy Rogue leader with it. When we asked him why he didn't buy it earlier this week, he's shocked. he didn't know that store had already been selling them.

And then more guys show up. One guy, Erwin, pre ordered his GameCube at E-Plaza. That store didn't have any Cubes yet this week, so therefore he didn't buy it earlier. He's gonna buy Rogue Leader, Bloody Roar and Luigi's Mansion, a memory card and an extra controller.

Another guy is waiting in front of MediaMarkt, and he wants to buy Rogue Leader, Super Monkey Ball and an extra controller. He buys SMB because his girlfriend really likes it.

It's almost 9.00 AM now, and E-Plaza is opening its doors. There's six guys waiting in front of the store. Only two of them pre ordered, and the store has more pre orders than GameCubes. So, the other four guys drop off sadly. The guys who work at E-Plaza tell us that due to a mistake they had only received the GameCubes plus games today.
They were still opening the boxes when the store opened.

Erwin got his Cube at this store, and as you can see, he's really happy with it.

When we got out of the store, we looked to the left where MediaMarkt is located, and we were in for a surprise. There was a big waiting line in front of it. So, we decided to stand in the line, and see what would happen inside. After ten minutes, all gamers went in so they'd get their GameCube first.

Unfortunately, the store had only six GameCubes, so about ten customers were left with empty arms. We talked to the manager of the games section, and he explained to us that they had decided to place three GameCubes in the store last Wednesday, to see what would happen. They had received fourty Cubes, and the rest of them should be sold today. However, some guys had decided to place them all in the store yesterday, and therefore he only had six left.

Fortunately for those who didn't get a GameCube, several other stores in Rotterdam had some GameCubes left, like Discovery Games and Bart Smit.

We'd like to thank all gamers who we talked to, and also E-Plaza for their co operation.

Good luck everyone playing your GameCube and your new games today!

For launch stories by other gamers, follow this link. You can also submit your own launch story!