Japanese pre-order Vita stock drying up

Two of Japan’s major online retailers have seen their pre-order allocation of Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Vita snapped up just hours after going on sale.

RPGsite reports that both Amazon Japan and Yodobashi are both listing the handheld as being out of stock and any new customers who attempt to pre-order are being told that the item is no longer available”.

A host of other smaller retails have also sold out of their day one allocations, too.

The shortages are likely to lead to huge import prices online for any European gamers who hope to get their hands on the region-free console ahead of its still undated launch in the UK in 2012.

PlayStation Vita will be released in Japan on December 17th.