That was officially announced by Sony a week or so ago, there will be a lot less shipping to North America, so chances are even if you pre-order you probably won't get one. Camping out well ahead is probably the best option.
From what I just read, it looks like gamestop won't be taking pre orders for wii or ps3. And since EBGames owns gamestop, it looks like the vast majority of retailers won't be dishing out pre-orders for the PS3.