Last October Gamestop, the largest videogame retailer in the country, took a limited number of preorders for the PlayStation 3 system. In most cases it was a total of 8 per store. They have now received their launch allocation numbers and it just isn't enough to cover them all.

Starting tomorrow people that preordered the system will be notified by telephone about the situation. Employees that reserved systems for themselves are being asked to wait until the second shipment to purchase. Gamestop does expect to have all preorders filled before Christmas.

The preorders will be filled in the order that they were taken and those that can get their system on the 17th will be notified. For those that have a bit longer wait due to the shortage gamestop will give them a free used game or DVD movie valued at about $20 or less when they do finally get their system.

There's been no mention if this will affect preorders taken by EB Games in Canada.