At least one leading USA-based retailer is canceling a number of pre-orders for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) game consoles, as it had found out that it would not be able to get the necessary number of consoles from Sony Computer Entertainment America.

“We are beginning to notify our customers that our initial shipment of PS3 systems will not be what we expected. As this is not an ideal situation, we are asking employees to wait to purchase systems until the second shipment. We are anticipating having systems to cover reservations before Christmas,” said a representative for GameStop retail chain in an interview with GameSpot web-site.

GameStop began to take pre-orders on the PlayStation 3 game consoles from Sony in October, asking customers to put down $100 in advance for the system. At that time the retailer expected no less than 8 and no more than 13 game consoles to be available in each of its 3600 stores in the U.S., which means that the retail chain planned to obtain between 28 800 and 46 800 PlayStation 3 game consoles for the launch day. Unfortunately, after receiving the launch allocation numbers from Sony, the company said it would not be able to fill its existing PS3 pre-orders.

GameStop will contact those, who had pre-ordered the game machines by phone and “updated on the status” of their reservations. Those not going to receive the desired system on time will be given a DVD valued up to $19.99 at no cost, or a free used game, when they finally come to purchase the PlayStation 3.

Sony Computer Entertainment America will start sales of the next-generation PlayStation 3 game console on November 17. Back in September SCEA said that only 400 thousand of units will be available at launch in the USA and 100 thousand would be shipped to Japan. According to reports, since then the company has further cut allocation for its domestic market to 88 400 units and it is unclear whether 400 thousand PlayStation 3 game consoles are going to be available in the United States on the 17th, or the number will be reduced.