Unheard of! Are we in the midst of an Xbox 360 shortage?

"We're literally out of stock in many stores. We think this will have an impact on our sales. It may cause the overall industry number to be down a little bit. Retailers have been really upset-- they are on allocation. It is a lag I think we're seeing in January and that may continue into February, then as spring ramps up, we'll be able to meet that demand."

This issue has even affected one of our own. Destructoid tipster Joe Burling can't find a replacement for his red-ringed 360 within a two-hour radius of his house. This sort of makes me wonder about that sudden surge in demand. It would be intriguing to see how many of those people interested in buying an Xbox 360 are staring at a cabinet full of games, now with nothing to play it on, and how many are getting the console for the first time.

With a ton of money invested in my own Xbox collection, it would without a doubt, influence me to buy another one if my current console crapped out again -- and with the track record it has -- that's just sad.

[Via Reuters -- Thanks Adam!]