Just wondering is the demand really that huge.

In Finland: Sold out until 17.1.2014, it will cost 460-490€ (90€ extra) to pre-order one in most of shops..Sold out before 1 console made it to shelves in my city..

Retailers are allowed to price gouge in Finland?

Sold out until late jan/early feb in Ireland according to gamestop. There will be a second shipment before xmas apparently, but it's just going to cover more pre-orders.

in my country it is not sold out you can find it in any electronic store.

Yep. I am trying to help a friend of mine find one in my area. Still cannot find one. I told him he's better off waiting until after Christmas.

! Irish? ! The Gamestop in Tralee gives an estimate of around March if you put your name down for one now. so yeah, they're completely sold out.

In Austria it is
Most retailers took far to many PreOrders and didn't get anywhere near enough consoles.
Something like 300 PreOrders for 100 or less delivered consoles.
One Online retailer here (gameware.at) did have over 2000 PreOrders in early fall but the office of Sony Austria had to close down around that time and somehow Sony Germany who was then responsible for our contingent did forget or didn't care about our country and gave for example this retailer around 50-100 Units for release LOL
Thinking about it right now they probably had enough problems with deciding who is getting how many cause there was far to much demand.
So every next shipment is still reserved for those guys who PreOrdered months ago if they still want a console.
If Sony doesn't have secret stock for Christmas or so we don't expect to get one before February/March for walk in customers.

Yep in central Illinois it is crazy sold out! I am also trying to help several friends get one...

True story:

Went to Meyers and found 1 sitting behind a class case. Called my friend and he didn't pick up; so I left a message. Then I get a text 15 min later saying it was gone...

Australia:

Yes, sold out until March / April.

What country is that?