desperate-for-a-wii christmas presents Virgin Media

As you are no doubt painfully aware, you've left it late if you're hoping to pop into your local Woolies and pick one off the shelf.

This Christmas the Wii is rarer than an England victory, but don't abandon all hope just yet...

There is a chance, albeit a slim one, that you may get lucky at a large store.

Dixons

No stock at time of writing but they do offer a stock alert service so it's worth registering for that.

Amazon

There are Wiis on Amazon all the time but just because they are on there doesn't mean it's Amazon selling them.

Amazon operates something it calls Marketplace, which allows third-parties to sell new and used goods using the Amazon interface. If you're buying from one of these sellers be sure to check out the seller feedback to ensure they are reputable, trustworthy and have the item in stock for delivery.

Amazon also offer an email alert service to let you know when goods come in to stock. To sign up for this, sign in and add the item to your wish list.

Currys

No stock at time of writing and no stock alert system, but they do seem to get a delivery more often than most. We've seen Wiis there a couple of times in the last few days so keep checking their site here.

Argos

Although the Argos site often claims to have Wiis available for in store pick-up they don't tell you which store. We've tried postcodes from Portsmouth to Preston; it's slow and, unless you're very lucky, fruitless.

However, there's a nifty feature on the Argos site... If you register, they'll send you a text message when the items you specify come into stock. It take a couple of minutes to set it up but it's got to be worth a go. Register here.

eBay

There are plenty of Wiis on eBay but there are a few things to be aware of:

• Prices: These are much higher than in the shops; it's a sellers market so you can expect to pay upwards of £250 for a console
  
  
• Delivery charges: A lot of sellers inflate delivery charges so be sure you know the full cost before you bid
  
  
• US/Japanese Wiis: Wiis are region encoded, meaning they will only play games intended for that market. In addition, you'll need a voltage adaptor and an NTSC compatible TV. And that's not all: you can't change the language to English on the Japanese version, so unless you understand Japanese and don't mind buying all your future games from Japan, don't buy one.
  
  On the other hand, if the console comes from Europe, Australia or New Zealand, and is PAL, you'll have no problem setting the language to English.

Being the good sports we are, we're giving you the chance to win a Wii for Christmas. Good luck!