Leading games retailer GameStop (with EB Games as well) is taking pre-orders on the PlayStation 3 from today. The news was announced to online customers in an email saying that October 10 will have the PS3 ready for pre-order. There is no information on exactly how many PS3s GameStop will have, but the emails stresses that it’s an “extremely limited” amount of consoles. From the letter (bolds are original)

“GameStop and EB Games will begin accepting limited pre-orders for the PlayStation 3 console on Tuesday, October 10, on a first come, first served basis. Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to deplete this allocation very quickly, most likely in minutes.

The letter also mentions that potential buyers will have to pay $100 in deposit. Considering there will be shortages at launch, the pre-order will most likely sell-out instantly, as GameStop suggests.

PS3 GamesStop page

[Update] The pre-order PS3 consoles were, as anticipated, sold out in a matter of minutes, as gamers waited in line (some even spent the night in front of the store) to get a pre-order on the console. IGN has some details and photos here, so does Joystiq and ArsTechnica.