In the lead-up to the launch of the new Nintendo Wii, it's become one of the drawcards of choice for many websites. Give them your custom, your email address, your friends, and you could win a Nintendo Wii.

Nintendo are running their own sweepstake at http://www.nintendo.com. Open to U.S. citizens, all you need to do is subscribe to their newsletter, then enter the sweepstake draw. They're giving away five prize packages of a Nintendo Wii, a Nintendo DS lite, a DS game, five CDs from bands featured in the Nintendo Fusion Tour, and Fusion Tour merchandise. The draw closes on the first of December. There are also consolation prizes of Hawthorne Heights fan club membership.

The competition being offered through the Pringles official website (http://www.pringles.com) will be one of the more reliable, but it's not drawn until April 2007, which is about when the second run of consoles is due to appear. The competition is open only to U.S. citizens and requires no purchase. The only limit is that their site will only take one entry per email address per day, so with persistence you could enter dozens of times before the competition closes. If your sanity can stand the animated potato chips. There are a hundred consoles to give away in total, and all you have to give them is your postal and email addresses. They do promise not to sell your email address for non-Pringles spam…

BT Connect (http://home.btconnect.com) enters every new subscriber to their monthly Wii newsletter into the draw to win a new Wii. Again, you'll have to give them your email address, but if you're really interested in the Wii, the newsletter might even come in handy.

The forum site http://www.hyrule.net is using a Wii giveaway to build its traffic. If you register for the forums and then set the site as your homepage with Google, you're in the draw to win a free Nintendo Wii. http://www.wiiloaded.com is running a pretty much identical competition: post in the designated forum and you're in the draw. Get a friend to sign up, and you can enter again.

Some sites make you jump through a few more hoops. http://console4everyone.com has a deal where you have to sign up, complete several 'offers', and then get a certain number of friends to do so as well. Then, they say, they'll GIVE you a Wii, provided you're a U.S. citizen and over 18. There are a pile of terms and conditions that should definitely be read before signing up.

http://www.giftclubrewards.com offer a very similar deal where they will give you a Wii provided you complete their user survey, sponsor promotions, and program requirements.

Most online Wii giveaways are limited to U.S. citizens, but there are a couple with a wider scope. http://www.win4now.co.uk are running a competition where registering with their site will enter you in the draw to win a Nintendo Wii and five games. The prize is not guaranteed to be delivered before Christmas, but it sounds like this is because they have some doubts about the release date. It should be noted that registering for this competition also signs you up to receive other 'relevant offers' from the site.

http://www.vouch4me.com breaks the mold in actually having a skill question that you need to answer to enter their free Wii competition, though you do also have to register with the site. This draw closes on the 30th of November.

So it is possible to win a Nintendo Wii online if you have a look around. It's even possible you could earn one if you're prepared to put the work in. Just be careful who you trust.