3DS sets Amazon.co.uk pre-order record

The Nintendo 3DS is Amazon.co.uk's most pre-ordered console of all time.

It overtook Sony's PlayStation 3, which launched in March 2007 in the UK.

The 3DS has 20 per cent more pre-orders than the PS3 managed by launch date and 56 per cent more than the Nintendo Wii secured by its 2006 launch.

It has also beat Amazon.co.uk's pre-orders for any other DS console. It has 255 per cent more pre-orders than the DSi managed in 2009.

"It's unusual for a handheld console to attract this amount of excitement in the run up to launch, such high levels of interest are normally reserved for the play-at-home hardware like the ground-breaking Nintendo Wii and last year's Microsoft Kinect," Amazon's director of video games Chris Poad said.

"Nintendo 3DS is launching at a time when interest in all things 3D is incredibly high and with the promise of real 3D graphics without glasses, it's a real breakthrough in handheld video game entertainment."

Here's Amazon.co.uk's top five most pre-ordered consoles/gaming hardware of all-time list:

• Nintendo 3DS – launching 25th March 2011
• PlayStation 3 – launched March 2007
• Nintendo Wii – launched December 2006
• Microsoft Kinect – launched November 2010
• PlayStation Move – launched September 2010

Retailers have told Eurogamer the UK should have enough 3DS launch stock to go around - but GAME warned that if excitement builds then sell-outs are a real possibility.

Around 185,000 3DS handhelds are being allocated to the UK, which seems to be the most generous slice in Europe.

Amazon.co.uk has now dropped the Nintendo 3DS price to £187 - matching supermarket Morrisons.