Aussie 360 shortages ''absolutely possible'': Xbox exec

McLean, who is in charge of Xbox for Australia and New Zealand, doesn't rule out 360 console shortages in Australia similar to those in happening in other parts of the world. In the US and Europe, consumers are still finding it hard to buy the 360 more than two months after its launch. Microsoft has blamed the global shortages on manufacturing issues, with McLean saying it may take several more months before there is adequate supply.

"It's absolutely possible that a shortage may happen - demand's just been huge," McLean said. "However, we believe that after we get through the launch hurdle, a few months after that we should be in a position to have adequate supply to support the market."

McLean says the best way for gamers to get a 360 is to place a pre-order with a  retailer, although he did forecast that Microsoft may eventually end up asking some retailers to stop taking orders if demand continues to ramp up.

"In our market here, I'm ensuring that we absolutely have allocation to support the pre-order volume that our retailers are getting. The demand we're seeing and the pre-orders coming from retailers and the volumes that retailers are now requesting of us to deliver is causing us to say, please, pre-order your Xbox so that we can have some surety that you're going to get your console at launch," he said. "But at the moment, that pre-order volume is becoming so high that I may be in a position to tell some retailers that they can't take any more pre-orders."