Have you pre-ordered?

The Wii U has now launched in North America - as if you needed telling - and will emerge in the European market this coming Friday, 30th November. It's fair to say Nintendo fans in the UK, jealous of their North American counterparts, are chomping at the bit to get hold of their new console, but if you haven't got a unit pre-ordered you might have a bit of trouble getting one, as retailers have said the new console is completely sold out.

Several games retailers have confirmed with MCV that their allocation of Wii U units has already been taken up by those early adopters who slapped down a pre-order, meaning that come launch day there might not be many - in some stores any - on the shelves at all. Some have even said that they have taken many orders against future Wii U shipments.

Nintendo had similar stock shortage issues when it launched Wii and hopes to rectify the problem this time around by supplying much more frequent shipments to retailers after launch, with Scott Moffitt saying this is relation to US supply, at least: "our replenishments will be more frequent this holiday time than during the Wii launch."

Hopefully Nintendo manages to get more shipments to retailers in the UK after launch, or there could be many unhappy shoppers this Christmas. It's not clear at this current time if this includes both the Wii U Basic Pack and Premium Pack, but either way it appears stock will not be in abundance.

Are you worried about Wii U stock shortages? Let us know in the comments below.

[source mcvuk.com]