The PS3 pre-order on Amazon.co.uk has not gone quite according to plan, with orders not being taken at a 9am start yesterday as promised.

The site said it would allocate its first shipment of PS3s to pre-order customers, and would start accepting orders in the morning.

However, according to The Register, buyers could not start placing orders until after 1:35 that afternoon.

Pre-order customers have a long wait, as the launch date isn't scheduled until 23 March.

Amazon.co.uk said in an email sent to those who signed up to notified of the PS3's arrival, "We will stop taking pre-orders once we've pre-sold all the consoles Sony have allocated us for release day".

This morning at 10:30am, Amazon.co.uk were still accepting pre-orders for the 60GB console for £425.

Sony has said there are no plans to release the cheaper 20GB version in the UK, but that may change.

Meanwhile Currys, PC World and Dixons has started to offer gamers their own pre-order offers.

Dixons is offering a range of bundles to entice gamers starting from £464 for the console and Ridge Racer 7 to £624.99 for the PlayStation 3, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tiger Woods PGA, Call of Duty 3, a Sony HDMI Cable and a controller.

Dixons is also offering 10% off your next purchase on the online store for all pre-orders.

Earlier this week Play.com announced bravely that it would fulfil all pre-orders received before the 24 March launch date.

>> Read - Amazon.co.uk PS3 pre-order offer pops up over four hours late