Uh-Oh. It seems that Sony may have fallen quite a bit short again, and by "a bit short", we actually mean "by 20,000 units". As reported by the Japanese business journal Nihon Keizai Shimbun, instead of the promised 100,000 to 150,000 units at launch, Sony will only be able to provide 80,000 units, much to the disappointment of Japanese dealers as well as consumers.

At the moment, pre-orders and reservations are no longer being entertained either at game shops (again, much to the annoyance of dealers who feel that they are missing out on what could have been good business) or even at Sony's own Japanese website. For now, the only way to get yourself a shiny new PS3 would be to camp out on the day of the launch.

Of course, not being able to order it online is probably reasonable on Sony's part, considering the server issues that the company had to deal with back the with the PS2 launch. However, failing to provide adequate number of units to their retailers may not exactly be the best way to make a good impression among businesses. Will Sony be able to pull off a last-minute act and suddenly produce the missing units within the next few weeks? We'll have to wait and see.