Slashdot | Microsoft Plans Deliberate Xbox 360 Shortage

There's a couple of ways to look at this. One ... Microsoft already issued a statement expecting that demand would be lower than anticipated. So they're constricting supply, which is smart ... since it's more expensive to build the machines now than it will be six months from now.

Second, they're creating an artificial shortage to hopefully spike demand, so that they can release more machines closer to Christmas and cash in. This isn't entirely unheard of.

Reality? It's probably a little of both.