HMV Oxford Street completely devoid of Wii-hungry punters - find out why inside

What a surprise we had this afternoon when we travelled down to HMV Oxford Street - the location of the official UK Wii launch event - only to find that not a single soul is queuing outside for Nintendo's new console... because they've all been sent home.

According to a HMV spokesperson, overcrowding ment that staff had to take down the names of the queuing Nintendo fans and send them off home to return later for their new consoles.

Launch festivities kick off at the Oxford Street store from 11pm tonight, when all manor of 'celebrities' are penned to show their faces, including Ian Wright, Jodie Kidd, Pat Cash and Ricky Hatton who will be on hand for Wii Sports face-offs.

Apparently HMV has already sold out of its 200 limited edition Zelda 'tins', which are to be given to the first customers in the queue today, who are now all probably having a nice bath - or more likely playing Nintendo DS round the back of the HMV Jazz section.

For exciting shots of where the Wii queue could have been, look to the right. We'll have a full report on the Wii launch tomorrow morning.

News via CVG