Amazing! I understand that logistics can be a real mountain of reality at times, but this is getting ridiculous! Apparently there are going to be expected shortages as the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP get ready to enter the marketplace.

Why should this be the consumer’s problem? As far as I am concerned, they should have thought of this way ahead of time. In all fairness though, they are letting us know ahead of time about the likely shortages.

Both Nintendo and Sony are anticipating short supply of hardware when their new handheld consoles launch, it has emerged, with the PSP likely to suffer most as only 200,000 units will be available on day one.

Nintendo has seen demand for the DS rise to around double the expected level, with pre-orders for the console currently standing at two million units, leading to a third factory being brought online to manufacture the console.

However, the new production facilities won’t help the situation at launch, and only a million units will be available to the channel to begin with - although a further million will be made available by early in the New Year.