GameStop in trouble with PS3 Pre-Orders

It looks like if you camped out at GameStop or EB Games to give them $100 to secure your system, you still may not get a system.

Today GameStop has announced that they will not get as many PlayStation 3's as they were planning on. As it was, they limited the number of pre-orders per store to 15. This was a move to hopefully lessen the problems experienced with the Xbox360 launch. However Sony has cut launch numbers down to 400,000 for North America on launch and 100,000 for Japan's launch. Japan however saw a further cut of 10,000 units for their launch leaving them at 90,000; could the GameStop quantity issue be a sign of cuts in the North America launch numbers?

For those eagerly waiting for GameStop / EB Games to do online pre-orders, stop waiting. Today GameStop announced that they will not be doing online orders for the PlayStation 3 at all until all in-store pre-orders are filled. This is another change from last year's Xbox360 launch where it seemed like in-store pre-orders were given second priority to expensive $1000+ online bundle orders. Customers were calling GameStop out on that as to why online orders were getting filled before in-store orders that had been paid for months earlier.

So where can you get a Playstation 3? Are you thinking about waiting outside a big box store? Forget Circuit City, they are selling PlayStation 3's at only six of their stores, one in each major market and each store will have 100 units to sell. WalMart's seem to be getting a whopping two to four units each. So if you're not first in line, pack up and go home. Toys R Us did their pre-sale a few weekends ago and they were saying six to eight units back then, so don't line up at a Toys R Us. Frys Electronics usually is a good source for new consoles but it appears that they're doing forced bundling, for the Playstation 3 they are forcing you to buy 8 games plus the in-store warranty, so that'll run you over $1000. How about Target? Well if WalMart's are only getting two to four units, expect the same at Target. I have read that Target has special tickets printed up and will hand those out at 7am for an 8am opening but check with your local Target to confirm. It seems the best place to find a PlayStation 3 on launch day is going to be Best Buy. There are some crazy people in Burbank, California started lining up around the 6th but either Best Buy or Mall Security told them all to go home on the 10th after letting them sit there for four days.

If you've been waiting for the PlayStation 3 because you're a fan, be prepared for mass chaos. You should actually plan on getting to a big box store on Wednesday, not Thursday. Remember we're talking about less than 10 units per store so if you're not front of the line, you're out of luck.