Amazon UK: Wii-less in 10 minutes

European gamers had to be quick this morning, when the online retailer sold out of preorders of Nintendo's new console almost as soon as it offered them.

Online retailer Amazon UK opened preorders for the Wii this morning, November 21--and sold out in just 10 minutes. When GameSpot checked at 9:25 a.m., preorders were not open. At 9:30 a.m., the site was offering the Wii, with the Wii Sports games compilation, and the Wiimote and Nunchuk controllers for £179.99 (around $342), the recommended retail price.

By 9:40 a.m., Amazon UK proclaimed, "We are currently unable to offer this item." A short while later, the Web site confirmed, "We've sold out of our initial allocation of Nintendo Wii consoles." The company also posted a FAQ for those who were unlucky in preordering a console the first time round.

It advised those desperate for a Wii that it would be receiving more stock from Nintendo before the official European launch day of December 8, and once it had received the next batch, it would start taking preorders again. Gamers could sign up for e-mail notifications so they would be alerted when the new consoles come in.

Amazon had stated it would only be offering preorders for the same number of consoles it had been allocated for launch day--meaning if you snagged a preorder, you should be guaranteed a Wii. Only one console was allowed per customer.

On Sunday, the Wii launched in the US, where prior preorders for the console also quickly sold out. Nintendo has promised it will provide a "steady stream" of the next-gen console and that 4 million Wiis will be available worldwide before the end of the year, 2 million of which would be headed to North America.

96 Comments

  • ADollins

    Posted Nov 26, 2006 10:51 pm PT

    Quote from 72476
    "So wait North America gets 2 million to itself. But the UK, Japan, all of Europe and Austrailia have 2 million to share!?!? em wtf nintendo "

    Becareful don't upset the americans they might invade. Ol Prez is a little trigger happy. Yeah invade some countries and you could have a larger slice of the WII pie. No really it isn't fair but as I'm an american I'm okay about haveing a large slice of WII pie. We actually got my mother to play some WII, and she actually liked it. I havent seen my Mom play a video game and like it ever. She also beat us in bowling, first time she picked it up. WII ROCKS!!

  • soul_motor

    Posted Nov 26, 2006 3:43 pm PT

    I'm sure some fool will sue because he wasn't fast enough like the $100 360 dude...

  • _Sam_

    Posted Nov 26, 2006 2:29 pm PT

    Wow! I bet reggie will give amazon more shipments as soon as possible

  • smbius

    Posted Nov 25, 2006 7:00 pm PT

    I've been looking for a Wii forever. Every time I reach a store that has had shipments, they sell out. =(

  • brandontek

    Posted Nov 24, 2006 7:35 pm PT

    Holy Crap! Went Wii-Less in 10 Minutes! Thats like not even what happened here. Took a little longer for North America to be sold out on the Wii Launch.

  • nestea_king

    Posted Nov 23, 2006 1:29 pm PT

    I'm anxious to see Nintendos next move. How will they cope with all the demand?

  • gamedude_0121

    Posted Nov 23, 2006 10:44 am PT

    Hi janine_trumel, Glad could help!!! Jus wanted many people to know that there is still help out there and WiI's still avaiable for the 8th.

    What games are you going for Janine?
    I'm buying Monkey ball, Zelda and Trauma Center

    I even popped into HMV, Oxford Street, Selfridges and they are still taking pre-orders!!!

    Places like Argos and Woolworths are the best places to got tho if you've still not Pre-ordered - gunstarherouk

  • gunstarherouk

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 10:36 pm PT

    i pre-ordered mine from play.com in september and was gutted to get this msg the other week
    Dear Customer,

    Due to a European shortage of the Nintendo Wii Consoles, we regret to inform you that Play.com will be unable to supply your pre-ordered Nintendo Wii at launch. As an Official distributor of Nintendo products we are guaranteed more stock before Christmas, but Nintendo have informed us, along with all other official Nintendo retailers, that the console will not be freely available until next year. All pre-orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis and we will fulfil your order as soon as we can.

    If you no longer wish to keep your pre-order with Play.com please login to your account and remove the item from your Outstanding Orders.

    Kind Regards

    PLAY.COM

  • Haruhi_love

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:49 pm PT

    woooooo 4 million !!!! wooops PS3 although i still prefer PS3 hehe plays amazing !! although i will get wii and see what i make of it :>

  • Brain_Fart

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:32 pm PT

    Damn, that must've been an interesting event. Hope my friend over in the UK snagged one, or at least one in the future batches.

  • SuCuBuS_04

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 11:37 am PT

    well there goess the amazon plan. but im sure u can still pre order from big W, argus and mayb game if ur lucki

  • i_like_evil

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 11:13 am PT

    bum the ps3? Woah.. no wonder why they break so fast...

  • SuperGogeta24

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 11:05 am PT

    and every1 says ooo ps3 is soooo much better and every1 wants 1
    PAH! the wii sold faster than glastonbury tickets! that'll teach those rich chavs who bum the ps3

  • janine_trumel

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 10:51 am PT

    gamedude_0121 THANKS HONEY!!! I was up at 9am waiting for Amazon, refreshing the page every 10 secs, saw them go up at 9.35, tried to order, put it in my basket, checkout "Sorry, this item is out of stock!!!" ARGH!!!

    But thanks to your advice I just ordered my Wii from Argos, called them up to confirm...they have LOADS of stock!!! Guaranteed delivery for Dec 8th!!!! Why wait in queues when you can have it delivered!! Thanks again baby!!! xxxx
    Jx

  • NickUK2001

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 10:16 am PT

    I ordered from Amazon.co.uk in those 10 minutes too and had the same delivery date problem. When I selected the Express delivery to guarantee next day delivery it said they wouldn't despatch the Wii until Monday 11th, to arrive Tuesday 12th. Changing it to the CHEAPER option of First Class made it say it would be dispatched on the 7th to arrive the 8th :-)

    Looking forward to it! Hope I get it on time this time. With the XBox 360 it was dispatched December 1st with 24 hour delivery (Parcelforce) and it didn't arrive until Monday 5th, more than 72 hours after Game.Net dispatched it!

  • 72476

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 9:53 am PT

    So wait North America gets 2 million to itself. But the UK, Japan, all of Europe and Austrailia have 2 million to share!?!? em wtf nintendo

  • MattQiu

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 9:38 am PT

    i got my delivery time right by change the delivery option in my order summary. just go to the delivery option and choose first class. that's it.

  • diablobasher

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 7:56 am PT

    amurphy:

    There's no comback to make, they never went anywhere.

  • shadystxxx

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 7:52 am PT

    Yeah i got my pre-order at amazon.co.uk.
    I am super excited for the wii and zelda roll on dec 8th.

    My order says delivery 14-15th dec but someone said that this was a glitch has anybody's changed to the 8th or will i have change to the top delivery service if i do amazon lied they said it would be there for launch using first class, i knew i should have just got the 8.99 service.

  • Chronic_420

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 7:30 am PT

    Stupid BS december launch!! I'm gettin fed up here in the UK, if it weren't for the more than freely available pot i'd of bin gone long ago!

  • nirvanasource

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:42 am PT

    I got mine in time from Amazon.co.uk! Whoot

  • Cloud737

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:36 am PT

    I guess that`s what happens to famous online stores. Where do people go when they preorder something? Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is always a widely known online store (Gamestop, Amazon,etc.). That`s why it is better to know a not-so-known store if you want to preorder something. Chances are very few people visited it.

  • chokedoke

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:31 am PT

    you say there are no good games but super monkey ball is a great party game and one im going to get on relase

  • amurphy245

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:26 am PT

    wow gamecueb never had this kind of demand,looks like nintendo realy are making a comeback.

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:21 am PT

    That was expected.

  • webdoom

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 6:19 am PT

    why order one now, when there arnt any good games for it yet??
    only Zelda is the good one atm, but i can wait... March is when im getting the Wii with Zelda, Metroid, and SSBB

  • Wakasenshi

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 5:59 am PT

    I have order my Wii from Amazon.co.uk. i was on the Wii page from 8:55am. I wonder how many they had.

  • dsrarrow

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 5:07 am PT

    it was actually 3 mins from 9.37am to 9.40am. But who was counting....

  • gamedude_0121

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 4:06 am PT

    Woolworths, Argos and Comet are still taking pre-orders for the Dec 8th launch.

    I pre-ordered mine a couple of days ago!!!

  • DanMW

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 4:05 am PT

    Let's not forget that Zelda TP was originally a GC release and it should have been released many months ago, but Nintendo realised that they needed a killer title for the new system and made TP a Wii game, I'm not happy that Nintendo has done this but I can understand why they've done it, it is also not very nice that the GC version of the game is released even later than the Wii. Anyways I managed to pre-order one too

  • hellrazor06

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 4:01 am PT

    i paid off for my wii few weeks ago so not gotta worry

  • Lub1

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:50 am PT

    I got my pre order 20 september in game mania in belgium good on time

  • acu02151

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:42 am PT

    I was one of the lucky few, still curious about how many wiis they had though.

  • kreo20

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:24 am PT

    i've got my pre-order 4 Dec 8th from Argos.co .uk (guaranteed). Argos has a special contract with Nintendo and are getting 150,000 units 4 thier stores nationwide.

  • AnubisCraig

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:19 am PT

    I'm pretty sure PC World are still taking Pre-Orders too.

  • AtomicEdge

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:19 am PT

    The Lady I spoke to at Amazon, told me it sold out in 8 minutes.

    However she also told me I would get my Wii by tomorrow, so yeah...

  • chokedoke

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 3:08 am PT

    i managed to get one yay, but i think it was just short of 10 minutes i only had to time to select it, select the options and buy it. And i was using quick order options before it sold out

  • Chack1598

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:44 am PT

    Nah gaming geek it was about 10 minutes, it started at like 9:34 and finished at 9:44, i was refreshing the page from 9 till then, still though, bloody fast

  • gaminggeek

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:32 am PT

    Actually it was 7 minutes as reported on GIBiz.

  • KingKoop

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:29 am PT

    Phew, glad I went to Gameplay then.

  • smidsy85

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:16 am PT

    Yeah and I got one of them

  • Goku-stream

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 2:05 am PT

    And who said the UK didn't love Nintendo!!!!

  • diablobasher

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 1:56 am PT

    Dr_Van_Faulk:

    I entirely agree. Every chav this side of manchester is raving about 'tha pee es fwee' and unfortnatly, they all seem to have the money to buy one when it comes out. I am going with the same stance as last time around though, i only want to play the games i like, and had no reason to buy an Xbox until Jade Empire and Street Fighter: Anniversary collection (Which did not debut on PS2 in the EU, so i HAD to get an Xbox for SFIII) I was dissapointed with Jade Empire, but the 70 or so £ i paid for it with 10 games was well worth being able to play SFIII.

    This time around i have reason to buy the Wii, it looks awesome and there are many games i would like to play. I have reason to buy the 360 as it would cost roughly the same to fix my gaming PC, and this way i get access to the games i was vaguely interested in (Dead Rising, Lost planet, Too human, alan wake) but also the ones i had my PC for in the first place (Gears of War, Bioshock)

    The PS3 however, does not catch my interest in the slightest, but i may end up getting one in the future.

    But all the chavs will just buy it regardless 'cuz its sony yo!' and will continue to buy the PsP, that said, the DS isnt doing badly here by any means, it's still selling fantasticly. And i hope the Wii will too.

  • hellrazor06

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 1:54 am PT

    thats why im glad i didnt get my wii from amazon UK in the end, people bum rushed it too much

  • anamnawshad

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 1:52 am PT

    just

  • donaldo1989

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 1:44 am PT

    Thats not fair
    Thankfully I know somewhere else I can preorder a wii but I better be quick considering what happened to amazon

  • Dr_Van_Faulk

    Posted Nov 22, 2006 1:22 am PT

    I live in Ireland, and I can guarantee that the PS3 will have one of, if not *the* most successful console launch in the U.K. and Ireland. It's my belief that people here don't buy good game consoles, only fads. The PSP had an astoundingly successful launch here, and look at how poorly it's performing around the world now, in terms of continued sales and lack of a decent stream of software.

    However, perhaps the high price and lack of seasonal purchase (any holidays in March?) may prevent a lot of people from picking one up. And, too, the Wii is having such a successful campaign that it may steal away some potential PS3 buyers.

    Personally I'll be getting a Wii360, and a PS3 when tEh pRiCe dRopS roFlz!

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 5:32 pm PT

    im nto really supprised

  • crithon

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 5:31 pm PT

    *jawdrop* ....... wow, I mean wow, that's amazing how fast this system is selling out..... I mean I bet soon Sony is going to announce they sold out of PS3s but, wow, Nintendo will eventually have everyone owning one in the end. Wow

  • TryMe01

    Posted Nov 21, 2006 5:10 pm PT

    with plentiful supplies and still selling out, very inmpressive on Nintendo's part. People want to get their hands on Wii!

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