Wii launches, sells out

Friday 8 December 2006
As has become console tradition in recent years, Wii was given a midnight launch in many shops across the UK last night. Although there was only enough supply to meet the demand of the earliest pre-orders, some customers still queued in the cold with their pre-order receipts so they could be first to own the machine. That's dedication.

GamesRadar was present at GameStation in Taunton, Somerset, where staff wore Jimmy Saville-style wigs to celebrate the 'retro' nature of the system's Virtual Console service. Tickets were allocated for those waiting in line outside the store, so there was no rush once the shop was opened - no sign of a stampede here. And, apart from a shortage of Wii Play (which was promised very soon) and extra Wii-motes, everyone appeared to leave with the games they had come for.

A spokesman for the store told GamesRadar that more stock is expected next week to meet later pre-orders but that all the initial allocation had indeed been snapped up within minutes.

If you are still without Wii this festive holiday, there's still the news that online retailer Amazon is expecting another very limited batch of consoles today between 3-4pm, so if you want to try your hand at speed-clicking the 'Buy' button, now's your chance. However, having seen the previous batch sell out in seconds, we'd wager that dial-up internet users need not apply.

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Justin was a GamesRadar+ staffer for 10 years but is now a freelance writer, musician and videographer. He's big on retro, Sega and racing games (especially retro Sega racing games) and currently also writes for Play Magazine, Traxion.gg, PC Gamer and TopTenReviews, as well as running his own YouTube channel. Having learned to love all platforms equally after Sega left the hardware industry (sniff), his favourite games include Christmas NiGHTS into Dreams, Zelda BotW, Sea of Thieves, Sega Rally Championship and Treasure Island Dizzy.