Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. may lower the amount of PlayStation 3 game consoles to be available this year in half, according to a media report citing sources among manufacturers in Taiwan.

Due to the fact that mass production of Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console has not yet started, SCEI is likely to reduce the targeted number of PS3s to be shipped from 4 million to 2 million units in 2006. This will catalyze shortages of the game machine across the world and may allow Sony’s rivals, particularly Microsoft and Nintendo, to sell more consoles during the Holiday season later this year.

Sony promised to have 2 million PlayStation 3 consoles available during the launch window and ship 4 million PS3s worldwide by the end of 2006. By March 2007 the company plans to supply 6 million game consoles to the market.

But makers in China and Japan are still preparing for volume production of the PS3 and there is a short supply of blue laser diodes, a key component of Blu-ray disc (BD) pick-up heads, and Cell processors, according to a news-story at DigiTimes web-site, which cites its sources as saying that the circumstances may cut in two the total expected shipment amount for November and December.

In spite of the report, Sony itself said in early August that it PlayStation 3 production was “in full swing”. Still, they did not unveil any exact numbers of consoles it would be ready to ship by the time of the formal release.

“It’s all going well. We are in full swing, from a developer point of view, and over 10 000 development kits have been shipped. Developers now have final hardware in their hands, though there will be some upgrades to the operating system – there’s nothing unusual about that. The new controller is now in developers’ hands, so all the pieces of the puzzle are there,” said Phil Harrison, who is President, Worldwide Studios at SCEI, in an interview.

Earlier it was reported that Asustek Computer had started shipments of PlayStation 3 (PS3) game consoles in small volume in the beginning of July. According to a report, about 200 thousand component sets were shipped to Asus in June, which means that the company was in position to build 200 thousand game consoles. It was also said that in July the Taiwanese builder would receive higher amount of component sets for the PS3, while in September and October the company would get “more than one million [component] sets.

The two versions of the PlayStation 3 game consoles – for $499 and $599 – will be launched on 11th of November in Japan and on the 17th of November in Australia, Europe, U.S. and other regions.