No doubt you’ve read stories about the Wii’s soaraway sales success across the Pond. Latest estimates indicate that the console has shifted over 700,000 units in the scant few days it’s been on sale in the US. It’s a sell-out by any measure, and while that’s great news for Nintendo and their shareholders all this mega-popularity doesn’t bode quite as well for our own chances of securing one come launch day on December 8th.

Nintendo has yet to confirm the shipment figures for Europe – that news may come later this week, apparently – but UK retail seems to know a little more. Many outlets have already closed their pre-order books and some never even bothered to open them at all, so uncertain where they of managing their limited stocks in the face of unprecedented demand.

Meanwhile a certain online retailing giant decided to hold fire and refuse any pre-orders until it was sure of its Wii allocation. The same outlet also promised to email customers when they were ready to start selling, which was 9.00 this morning. In the event the email alerts were not sent out, the 9.00am deadline was missed and the pre-order books were only opened for three minutes before promptly slamming shut until such (unspecified) time that new stock was available. All of which left many frustrated gamers pressing the ‘refresh’ button every couple of seconds in vain – ach!

In short, then, if you’re after a Wii this Xmas look before you leap and make sure your retailer has the stock to fulfil your order before handing over the cash. Our chap behind Nintendo’s plush velvet curtain reckoned that the major high street game and music stores have shifted a lot of inventory for Nintendo in the past and, on that basis, should be a relatively safe bet this time around. Well, any port in a storm. Happy hunting folks!