PlayStation 3 preorders come and go in minutes

Those hoping to get their hands on a PlayStation 3 at launch time had today circled on their calendars. More precisely, this morning. GameStop and EB Games started taking preorders for the very limited number of consoles they will have available at launch time.

Launch quotas appeared to vary by store, but were generally in the 5-16 PS3 range, and GameStop warned would-be PS3 buyers that their supplies would evaporate quickly. "Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to deplete this allocation very quickly, most likely in minutes," the company warned on its web site. They weren't kidding.