There's usually no need to actually line up for games anymore unless:

• 1. Like the "Dude" from the Kinect launch, you're a professional linerupper and just have to be the first person in line regardless of the product.
• 2. There's a launch event that's limited to the first people in line.
• 3. There's a chance of a shortage -- a rarity with disk-based media these days, but it still happens every now and then.

I haven't seen "Dude" in any of the pics so far. However, two of the items apply to Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, leading to some major lines starting the night before release. Hachimaki assembled some of the pics that have popped up on the Twitter.

There have been some reports that if you don't have a pre-order, you may not be able to get a copy of the game and you definitely won't be able to get a copy of the limited edition PSP hardware bundle. This is presumably why people are lined up outside the Shinjuku Yodobashi Camera and the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera in these pics.

At 23:25, there were apparently 110 people in line at the Akihabara Yodobashi Camera, which is opening its doors early Wednesday morning for sales. Inside Games took a tour closer to midnight and reported a rough count of 200 people. The site also reported no lines at the nearby Sofmap, which is going pre-order only for the PSP bundle model. The game itself will be sold to non pre-orderers, limit one to customer.

The Akihabara Yodobashi was the location of the official launch event for Wii's Monster Hunter 3. For MHP 3rd, the launch event is being held at the massive Tsutaya in Shibuya. Some 50 people were lined up at the shop when Kotaku Japan took this picture around 22:00ish.

Source

Go to the link for some more pics

The game is gonna be HUGE! First year sales should be fun to watch

ok for some reason the pics aren't showing up here so go to the link to check em out ;)

will be funny if it beat B/W xD

nah from the looks of it they haven't shipped enough copies for that to happen :(