MAJOR electrical stores have warned that thousands of children hoping to get the new PlayStation 2 for Christmas are set to be disappointed because of high demand for the games console.

But a North-East chain believes the demand has not been as great as hype surrounding the launch has suggested.

Although PlayStation 2 does not go on sale until November 24, pre-ordering officially began around the country yesterday.

Virgin Megastores warned buyers to get to the shops now, as it expected to run out of its allocated supply yesterday.

Pre-order sales of the Sony product have been limited to just 200,000 in the UK, with none available to buy off the shelf.

A spokesman said:"It's a far from ideal scenario for Sony and for us, but especially for customers who want to buy this product.

"The fact is there will still be a lot of disappointed children this Christmas."

A spokeswoman for Dixons group, which also owns Currys and PC World, said: "We've seen exceptionally strong sales in all stores and believe customers who want to pre-order a console should get in before the weekend or we will have run out of stock."

But, Nick Agar, who runs Middlesbrough firm Chips, with nine stores in the region, said he had sold almost three-quarters of the "hundreds" of pre-order allocation.

He said: "It's certainly good, but it's not phenomenal."

Mr Agar added it would be March before the console became freely available.

Sony spokesman David Wilson said: ''Of course we are delighted about all the excitement to do with the new machine, but we are not happy that demand is significantly going to outstrip supply.

''At the end of the day we want as many people as possible to have them as soon as possible.

''Despite a £2m boost to production, we've got record sales and are already seeing a shortfall.

''We knew the PlayStation 2 would be big, but this has outstripped even our expectations.'