BEIJING, Oct. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- GameStop Corp.,the biggest video game retailer in the United States, said on Thursday it will begin accepting limited preorder for the Nintendo Co. Ltd.'sWii video game console on Friday.

The company, which operates 3,600 GameStop and EB Games stores in the United States, said a 50-dollar reservation deposit is required.

"Due to extremely limited supply, we expect to reach our limit very quickly, most likely in minutes. We will not accept additional pre-orders at that time," the company said.

Severe shortages are expected for the Wii and PS3 this holiday season, as pent up demand outstrips the companies' early ability to turn out the new devices.

Nintendo expects to supply 4 million Wii units to stores by year end. Sony expects to ship 2 million PS3s in the same time period.

Nintendo has developed the Wii not to please hardcore gamers with lifelike graphics but to entice game novices with innovative but easy-to-play games -- the same concept that helped the Nintendo' DS handheld machinefar outsell Sony's PlayStation Portable.

But the novelty of Wii's one-hand controller may fade quickly if game makers are slow to come up with fresh titles,and software makers and distributors are holding such high hopes for the Wii, their latest stance is like, "Why don't we reallocate some of the resources from the PS3 to the Wii," analysts say, referring to Sony's forthcoming PS3. Enditem

(Agencies)