Retailers already taking Xbox 360 pre-orders

Price, release date, whut? These are but small matters when we're talking game consoles, man. Major retailers are apparently already taking pre-orders for the Xbox 360 despite nary a shred of news on when it will be out or how much it will cost. Considering some outlets require some sort of downpayment or preorder cost, we may have to tentatively report that, you know, some gamers might be excited about all this (frankly, we
had
no
idea). How many folks are considering pre-ordering this early?