UK Retailers have been speaking to GamesIndustry.biz about the imminent Wii launch and saying that folks in the UK without a Wii pre-order probably won’t get their hands on a console until into the new year. Large retail outlets such as Dixons and PC World are stating that, even with numerous deliveries of the Wii scheduled between now and Christmas, they still won’t meet all the incoming pre-orders.

“We’re expecting to fulfil all pre-orders on the day,” said Hamish Thompson of DSG. “We’re continuing to take pre-orders, but informing consumers that they probably won’t be able to be fulfilled until after Christmas.”

The retail gap left open by the delay in UK and Europe of the PlayStation 3 console is thought to have offered a massive window of opportunity for the Nintendo Wii to shine, given the launch falls right before the Christmas period.

The article also states that many high street retailers such as GAME are holding midnight openings to accommodate the launch—though this isn’t the case for the GAME store I pre-ordered with, who seem to think the Wii isn’t really worthy of the bother; they’re happy with a 10:00am opening on Friday morning thanks very much.