"We expected a high number of people to visit the site today but the response was phenomenal."

Yesterday, we reported that Amazon's UK website would soon start taking pre-orders for the Nintendo Wii the following morning. While we reported that this would probably act as a lifeline for many of you, we did not expect the following...

While we expected the console to be sold out, we didn't anticipate how quickly it would do so. Due to heavy traffic at the Amazon UK website, pre-orders weren't being taken until 9.30 a.m. Within seven minutes, the whole lot had gone!

Amazon.co.uk's console and videogames manager James Schall said: "We expected a high number of people to visit the site today but the response was phenomenal."

The Wii has also become the fastest selling item ever on Amazon UK, a record previously held by Coldplay's X&Y album, and Harry Potter. Not a shabby record to hold by any means, especially with the fact that orders were filled up within such a short amount of time.