Sony preps follow-up shipment of PSPs for Japan

TOKYO--Parents contemplating the dire situation of finding empty shelves of PSPs shortly after Sunday's launch got some good news from Sony today.

Sony announced that it will ship a second batch of PSPs on December 22. Additionally, the company will begin taking preorders for the handheld on its official online shopping site this coming Monday. This will be only the second time that Sony has accepted preorders for the handheld. When Sony previously took preorders, its online shopping site became inaccessible for nearly half a day due to high traffic.

With Sony's extensive advertising campaign, which has made use of both billboards and TV, the anticipation for the PSP among consumers has been growing. However, the company plans to ship only 200,000 units at launch--less than half of the 500,000 units Nintendo shipped at the launch of the DS.

According to Mainichi Interactive, Sony will try to ship as many units as possible at launch, but the company can't increase its PSP production rate, because it can't secure enough components. Sony had previously announced that it hoped to ship 100,000 PSPs each week following the launch, and to release 500,000 units by the end of the year, but those numbers can no longer be confirmed.

Many major retailers have decided against taking preorders, due to concerns about inventory (although preorders for games could still easily be made when GameSpot last checked on Wednesday).

Retailers are bracing for the massive lines they expect to form shortly before the launch on Sunday. Most stores will open around 7am, three hours earlier than usual.