Well, i'm not surprised in the slightest to be honest. When Sony first announced a global launch by the end of 2006 we all knew it wouldn't be easy (just from all the trouble Microsoft had with the Xbox) and what with them using the relativly new 'blue-ray' drives, a rather stupid move i might add as hardly anyone uses it at the moment, we all knew straight off that it would end in disaster. Personally, i think them shipping 500,000 units between Japan and North America is a dumb idea, the shortages will be even worse than the Xbox 360 meaning people will be willing to pay ridiculous prices for them. Personally, I think Sony should put all launching on a hold till 2007 to allow for more units to be produced and distributed world wide. Yes, this would put them at a dis-advantage in the next-gen console war (several months after Wii's predicted November launch) but more units will be able to be allocated to every country.