America's largest video game retailer said on Thursday that will begin accepting pre-orders for Nintendo's anticipated Wii video game console in October 13.

The company issued pre-order sales of Sony's rival console, the Playstation 3, on Tuesday, with some stores selling out within minutes. It expects equally high demand for the Wii as well.

To avoid an unnecessary trip we strongly recommend you call your local store to determine availability, the company said in a statement.

A $50 dollar deposit will be needed to reserve a unit. Reservations are limited to one per household.

Recent reports indicate that Nintendo production is ahead of schedule, building 2 million Wii consoles in the third quarter. UBS's semiconductor analyst Alex Guana believes that the company will reach 7 to 9 million units in the fourth-quarter of 2006, putting the firm well ahead of its 6 million unit production goal.

Sony expects to ship 2 million PS3s in the same time period.

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