No specific date was mentioned, but the tip said in will be in "the coming days."

The tipster didn't mention where this news came from and when I asked never responded.... soooo, I wouldn't really put much faith in this. Since I am still desperately looking for a PS3 to buy for our Playstation 3 winner from last month, I know I'll be keeping an eye on Amazon in the coming days. Brian Crecente

Amazon Unleashing Onslaught of Wiis and PS3s Soon [Crunch Gear]

As of 11:30 p.m. Best Buy Canada has both 20GB and 60GB versions of the Playstation 3 for sale online at their store. The catch is that they won't ship the damn things out of the country. So if you live in or near Canada go get your PS3 like now. Brian Crecente

PS60GB [Best Buy]

At least in Stockton, California they have been.

A reader writes that he was in his store last night when he saw a woman, and her posse, walk out of the store with three of them under her arms.

The reader, a Wiiophyte, didn't have any interest in landing one himself, but knew his friend was going nuts looking for one, so he called him up and bought it with the promise he'd be paid back.

I called my local Best Buy and was greeted with a message saying that if I was calling about the Playstation 3 that they couldn't hold them for a customer and that they don't expect anymore shipments in before Christmas. I guess they want the discovery of a PS3 in the story to be more of a surprise to existing customers rather than something someone comes specifically to the store to buy. Brian Crecente

I finally tracked down that rumor, it turns out it came from Electronic Arts own Larry Probst, who told Reuters today that a supply shortage meant that Sony was only able to ship 200,000 Playstation 3 for the launch.

Probst added that he expects Sony to ship just 500,000 to 800,000 PS3s by the end of the year. Which is, of course, significantly less than Sony initially forecasted.

Keep in mind this is Electronic Arts talking about Sony PS3 sales figures, but I suspect Probst has some insight into sales that the typical man on the street doesn't.

Probst said that EA had set a lower bar for initial shipments, but "where they ended up was a bit of a surprise." ... "We think they'll get into that range," said Probst, who noted that console sales and corresponding game sales were typically slow to begin with because of supply constraints, and a clear winner will not be known for as long as five years.

Probst was full of other interesting tidbits not relating to his company as well, like the fact, he says, that 20,000 of the 200,000 PS3s were flipped on eBay.

Hit the jump for Reuter reporter's Lisa Baertlein's excellent story. Brian Crecente

By Lisa Baertlein

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Electronic Arts Inc. CEO Larry Probst said on Wednesday that initial shipments of Sony Corp.'s <6758.T> new PlayStation 3 have been below his expectations due to shortages, though overall holiday sales thus far of video games and players were at or slightly ahead of targets.

His comments at the Reuters Media Summit in New York pushed down shares of EA, the world's biggest video game publisher, by nearly 2 percent.

Probst said demand for Sony's much-anticipated PlayStation 3 (PS3), which made its U.S. debut on Nov. 17 for the critical holiday season, was strong but a shortage of supply meant that only about 200,000 units of the game console were sold at retail outlets.

Sony had originally aimed to ship 400,000 PS3 units for its U.S. launch, and has not given actual figures.

Probst said that EA had set a lower bar for initial shipments, but "where they ended up was a bit of a surprise."

By the end of 2006, he expects Sony to ship 500,000 to 800,000 units.

"We think they'll get into that range," said Probst, who noted that console sales and corresponding game sales were typically slow to begin with because of supply constraints, and a clear winner will not be known for as long as five years.

This holiday season is crucial for the $30 billion global video game industry. Video game makers reap more than half of their annual sales in the end-year shopping season.

EA, whose games include titles like football game "Madden" and "The Sims," recently raised its 2006 outlook to call for flat to 5 percent growth in overall U.S. game sales. Previously, it expected overall sales to be flat to down 5 percent in 2006.

"That's a much more optimistic outlook for the year than people were previously expecting," Probst said.

"Bottom line, I would say that the first holiday weekend met or slightly exceeded expectations," he added, citing solid sales of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console, Nintendo's <7974.OS> Wii and Sony's PlayStation 2, as well as Sony's PSP and Nintendos DS handheld devices.

SUPERMAN DISAPPOINTS

Separately, EA Chief Financial Officer Warren Jenson said at an investor conference in Arizona that the game "Superman," an important holiday title that was released later than the film, was a disappointment and that sales would fall short of company targets.

Analysts said Jenson's comments also weighed on the stock.

Large crowds had camped out for days ahead of the PS3's U.S. debut. Supplies were scarce, and Probst said some 20,000 owners were able to flip their new machines on Web auction site eBay Inc. for, on average, more than double the $600 price.

EA's shares fell 1.8 percent to $56.19 after Probst's comments, before recuperating some losses to close at $56.77, still down 0.8 percent on the Nasdaq.

Shares in Activision Inc. , the second-biggest U.S. game maker which has a smaller exposure to the PS3, fell 0.6 percent before rebounding to close up almost 2 percent at $16.58.

EA CEO Says Holiday Sales Met Forecast [Reuters]

While shipments seem to be trickling in, I don't believe any store has either console just piled up.

I went to my local Best Buy Sunday night to buy an incredibly over-priced HDMI switcher for my PS3 and cable box and stopped in on the gaming section to check things out.

There obviously weren't any PS3s or Wiis around, and I sorta dreaded going up to the blue shirt to ask if any were in the back. I knew there weren't, but had to check, and expected a melting look of disdain when I asked.

Fortunately, the blue shirt had pity on me, just spewing out the next-gen console facts. Both flavors of 360s were readily available. The last Wii shipment the store received came in that very day, but sold out quickly. The last Playstation 3 shipment the store got was a "surprise shipment" that arrived a few days after the launch day and sold out immediatly.

While Best Buy was expecting more Wii in before Christmas, they weren't expecting any more PS3s, but the employee said they could always get more "surprise shipments" of Sony's console.

I suspect what this really means is that they don't plan on advertising PS3 stock because it's a trickle, but that they will be advertising Wii stock because enough are showing up to warrant the inevitable lines that form.

I asked how I was supposed to figure out when a PS3 was in the store for sale and she said, "if you see people running to the back of the store and shouting on their cell phones, we probably have Playstation 3s in stock."

Yeah, that or someone's robbing the place. Brian Crecente

It looks like both the Wii and PS3 have made it back to store shelves today, though I'm sure by the time you read this they'll both be gone again. At least for awhile.

Trevor from Canada writes to say that his local Best Buy had 51 Wiis, 12 PS3 60GBs and 14 PS3 20GBs. They were all spoken for before the store opened, thanks to a line. Though, according to Trevor, no one really wanted the 20GB version of the PS3.

Has anyone else seen the two consoles in the wild? Brian Crecente

Several Best Buy employees and friends of employees have emailed to tell us that the second Wii shipment has arrived, but you'll have to wait till Black Friday or this weekend for you chance at them.

What this particular tipster didn't get into was the store's policy on Playstation 3s which, again according to several tipsters, are in such short supply they will not be advertised. Instead the store is just going to plop them on the shelves as they arrive. So I'd get that dialing finger ready if you're interested in a PS3. If it's the Wii you're after, prepare for more line standing.

I'm not sure which method I prefer. Brian Crecente

Sony Computer Entertainment of America's Dave Karraker confirms that a new shipment of Playstation 3s has landed and will be available at stores by Black Friday.

No word on how many of the Playstation 3s, airlifted to the U.S., was in the shipment, but Karraker says that the company is shipping them on a weekly basis and that they are shooting for 1 million consoles in stores in the U.S. by the end of the year. Brian Crecente

Prior to today, 3,533 PS3s have sold on eBay for an average price of $1,788.88. There are currently about 1,580 listings on the site. The average price for the PS3 for the past week was $1,959.73. While yesterday, 334 of the consoles sold for $2,185.85.

What does that all mean? It means that the price seems have started drifting up a bit since the console has become available in stores. The real measure of what's going to happen to the console's price is what happens with stock come Monday. Brian Crecente

A reader writes in that Sam's Club will start selling Playstation 3s online through their online story starting Friday.

The story says they will only be selling what they have and that quantities are very limited. It will be, of course, on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you have a membership to the club, I recommend hitting up the site starting at midnight sense they weren't specific about a time. . Brian Crecente

A poster on Black Friday Ads reports that CostCo is going to start selling their stock of PS3 ads online starting at 8 a.m. PST on Friday Nov. 17

For anyone who is looking to purchase a PlayStation 3, but doesn't want to wait in line for the chance to purchase one, Costco.com will be selling them online beginning 8:00am PST on Friday, November 17th.

This item will be available for purchase on costco.com on Friday, November 17, 2006 at approximately 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time. The item will be prominently displayed on the homepage of costco.com until it is sold out.

Due to an extremely limited supply, we can accept orders from current Costco members only on a first come, first served basis, with a limit of one unit per household. The Costco warehouses do not have units available at this time.

Supply is limited, so I would expect Costco.com to be very slow beginning around 7:59:30 when everyone starts refreshing their pages like madmen.

Here's your chance to land some PS3 without a shred of line-sitting. Of course you need to be a member of CostCo, but it might be worth it. Brian Crecente