Decide what to buy | the Reevoo.com blog, featuring news on TVs, cameras, laptops, mp3 players & other gadgets, shopping tips and deals, reviews and more

Looking to treat the gamer in your life this Christmas but not sure what’s hot at the moment? Here’s a run down of the season’s hottest titles to help you out:

1. The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360)/Lego Rock Band(Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS)/Band Hero (Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, DS)

2 recently released variations on the popular Rock Band virtual music franchise, one a great gift for any Fab Four fanatics, the other a more family-friendly title that could make for lots of Christmas day fun as granny discovers a new talent for grinding the axe. Band Hero is the latest offering from Rock Band’s Guitar Hero rival, offering a redesigned drum kit and new multiplayer modes.

The Beatles: Rock Band including guitar, drums and microphone is available from £80.

Lego Rock Band (instrument controllers must be purchased seperately) is available from £28 (£19 for Nintendo DS version).

Band Hero game & instrument bundles are available from £125.

2. Wii Fit Plus (Wii)

The updated version of the 2nd best selling videogame in history, this contains all the original Wii Fit games and more, is available with or without the famous Balance Board accessory and is an ideal way to start burning off those extra Christmas pounds on Boxing day.

Cheapest Wii Fit Plus price is £16 for the game on it’s own, £69 with Balance Board (which you’ll need if you don’t have the original Wii Fit).

3. We Sing (Wii)/Singstar: Take That (PS3)/Lips: Number One Hits (Xbox 360)

Lots out for karaoke fans this Christmas, with titles available for all 3 major consoles. You may want to have earplugs on standby for any less enthusiastic family members on Christmas day.

Best karaoke game prices (with/without microphones): We Sing - £24/£18, Singstar: Take That - microphones sold separately, Lips: Number Ones Hits - £35/£30.

4. EyePet (PS3)

Good compromise for wannabe pet owners who may prove reluctant to clean up after a new friend; the EyePet uses the PlayStation Eye camera to create a virtual creature who can interact with people and objects in the real world. One to keep smaller children amused whilst the grown-ups take a post-Christmas dinner siesta.

Current best prices for EyePet are £30 including the camera or £15 on its own (if you’ve already purchased a PlayStation Eye).

5. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

Military fanatics will be in heaven with this, which will let them travel around the world shooting at things, driving snowmobiles & inflitrating terrorist groups. As with previous entries in the series, things get pretty violent, so one for grown-up gamers only (as per the BBFC’s 18 rating).

Current best deal on Modern Warfare 2 is £29.

6. Ghostbusters (Xbox 360, PS2, PS3, Wii, PC, DS)

Looking for the ideal gaming Christmas present for a child of the ’80s? This game offers the chance to join the original cast of the classic comedy-horror film on their spectre-fighting missions.

Prices from £14.

7. DJ Hero (Wii, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3)

Standing in front of the telly playing a plastic fake guitar not your thing? The makers of Guitar Hero are offering an alternative with their new plastic fake turnable, so wannabe DJs can have a go too. The game features over 80 different remixes by a wide selection of artists; and if you’ve already got a Guitar Hero guitar, someone can play alongside you whilst you scratch.

The game comes with the turntable and the current best price is £80.

8. Tony Hawk Ride (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3)

The ever popular Tony Hawk skating series gets physical, including a “skateboard” that players stand on to control their movements in their game.

Skateboard and game are available from £90.

9. Scribblenauts (DS)

Scribblenauts is fun new take on the platform game; instead of finding tools to help you through levels you write the name of the object you want with your stylus and it’ll pop up on the screen- a good incentive to improve your vocabulary and spelling.

Scribblenauts prices start from £18.

10. Dragon Age: Origins (Xbox 360, PC, PS3)

A great gift for a fantasy fan, an epic new RPG adventure game from the creators of classics like Baldur’s Gate & Fallout promising enough hours of sword & sorcery action to last until spring!

Best price is £25.

(All prices accurate as of time of publication.)

Across the country, freshers are packing up textbooks, gap year souvenirs and enough clothes so they won’t have to do any laundry til Christmas.  If you - or your son or daughter - is in this situation, be sure to leave enough room in the car for the electronic kit that’s indispensible to student life.  You’ll need a laptop and a kettle, of course, but it’s the other stuff that will really make your time at Uni.
Here is our list of the top 5 gadgets you can’t do without:

iPod/MP3 Player Speakers

There isn’t enough room in most halls of residence for a big hi-fi system, but a set of iPod speakers will fit in perfectly.  An added advantage is that any visitors can plug in their mp3 player, and most ipod speakers are small enough to move around - perfect for parties.

There are options to suit any budget, but the pick of the crop are the Sony SRSGU10P, from £55, rated at 9.6/10 by people who actually own it, and the top-of-the-range Bose SoundDock, rated 9.2/10 and costing £128 upwards.

Digital Camera

Whether it’s for recording your best memories or working out what you did last night, a digital camera is essential.  Ideal student cameras are small enough to fit in a pocket, with a flash and good battery life.  Remember that megapixel count isn’t everything - see our Digital Cameras Buyers’ Guide for an in-depth guide to getting the best camera for you.

Nintendo Wii

It’s very important not to overwork yourself during your first few weeks at Uni - or for the rest of the time.  The energetic games are almost as good as going to the gym (especially if you get the Wii Fit as well) and will come in handy breaking the ice with your neighbours in halls.

Memory Stick

As surprising as it seems, students are required to do some work.  Make this part of student life as painfree as possible with a large-capacity USB stick - 2GB should be enough for all your notes and essays.  Not only can you keep all your work to hand, but this also acts as a back-up if anything ever happens to your computer.  Keep your work doubly-safe by backing it up online with a free service like Google Docs or Dropbox.

Insurance

Once you’ve bought the gadgets you want to take to uni, be sure that you’ll still be able to bring them home by buying some insurance.  Student accommodation is frequently a target for opportunistic burglars - and most students don’t have enough available money to replace a broken laptop or a lost mp3 player.  The National Union of Students recommends Endsleigh Insurance, whose special students contents insurance covers laptops, phones and other gadgets as well as everything from your bike to your winter coat.  It even covers your possessions on the journey to Uni and when you leave them in your student accommodation over the holidays.

Sony has put its flagship console the Playstation 3 on a diet; they’ve announced a new Slim version that’s two-thirds of the size and weight of the original (and improved energy efficiency means it’ll even cut down on your electricity bill).

The new PS3 Slim will come with largely the same features as the older version, with 120 GB of storage and the ability to sync with Bravia TVs over HDMI. Linux enthusiasts may mourn the ability to install an alternative operating system and, as with the last PS3 refresh, Sony have omitted the flash memory card reader, half of the USB ports & backward compatibility with PS2 games.

It’ll sell at £249.50, a big drop from current prices: the 80GB model of its weightier older brother is available from £294 at present, although Sony have said remaining stock will see a price drop.

The PlayStation 3 Slim will go on sale from the 1st of September, as will an optional stand for those who prefer their consoles in a vertical position.

Nintendo has released its list of goodies planned for the Wii and Nintendo DS in 2009. They include new DS keep-fit title, Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine? Which will help you on your way to walking off all those chocolates and puddings. An Activity Meter comes with the software which will enable you to record a week’s worth of data and compete with friends and other Walk with me! walkers all over the planet.

On the Wii, you can look forward to classics like Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis. Check out the full list below:

Nintendo Wii Software 2009

Chrysler Classic Racing (ZOO) 9 Jan 2009

Jeep Thrills (formerly Let’s Off Road) (ZOO) 9 Jan 2009

Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune (ZOO) 16 Jan 2009

Skate City Heroes (ZOO) 16 Jan 2009

Story Hour Adventures (ZOO) 16 Jan 2009

Story Hour Fairy Tales (ZOO) 16 Jan 2009

NeoPets Puzzle Adventure (Capcom) 23 Jan 2009

Twin Strike: Operation Thunder (ZOO) Jan 2009

Riding Stables (dtp young entertainment) Jan 2009

Music Party (dtp young entertainment) Jan 2009

Ultimate Band (Capcom) 5 Feb 2009

NEW PLAY CONTROL! Pikmin (Nintendo) 6 Feb 2009

Hotel For Dogs (505 Games) 6 Feb 2009

NARUTO Clash of Ninja Revolution 2 European Version (TOMY / Nintendo) 13 Feb 2009

Deadly Creatures (THQ) 13 Feb 2009

CM 2 - World Kitchen (505 Games) 20 Feb 2009

The Destiny of Zorro (505 Games) 27 Feb 2009

House of the Dead: Overkill (SEGA) Feb 2009

Ben 10: Alien Force (D3Publisher) Feb 2009

Onechanbra-Bikini Zombi Slayers (D3Publisher) Feb 2009

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars (SouthPeak Games) Feb 2009

Pirates versus Ninja (SouthPeak Games) Feb 2009

CID The Dummy (Oxygen Games) Feb 2009

Tenchu Shadow Assassins (Ubisoft) 5 Mar 2009

Yamaha Supercross (ZOO) 6 Mar 2009

Big Foot Collision Course (ZOO) 6 Mar 2009

Diva Girls: Princess on Ice (505 Games) 6 Mar 2009

Smiley World Island Challenge (ZOO) 13 Mar 2009

Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans (ZOO) 13 Mar 2009

Sim Animals (EA) 23 Mar 2009

Little King´s Story (Rising Star Games) 28 Mar 2009

NEW PLAY CONTROL! Mario Power Tennis (Nintendo) Mar 2009

Sonic and the Black Knight (SEGA) Mar 2009

MADWORLD (SEGA) Mar 2009

Diabolik: The Original Sin (Black Bean /Lago Srl) Mar 2009

Bob the Builder: Festival of Fun (Mastertronic) Mar 2009

AMF Bowling World Lanes (Bethsoft europe) Q1 2009

Runaway The Dream of the Turtle (Focus Home Interactive) Q1 2009

Job Island (Hudson Soft) Q1 2009

Kororinpa 2 (working title) (Hudson Soft) Q1 2009

King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga (Ignition) Q1 2009

Samurai Shodown Anthology (Ignition) Q1 2009

Jillian Michaels´ Fitness Ultimatum 2009 (Koch Media / Deep Silver) Q1 2009

Castlevania Judgment (Konami) Q1 2009

PES 2009 (Konami) Q1 2009

Cake Mania - In the Mix! (Majesco/Codemasters) Q1 2009

Escape The Museum (Majesco/Codemasters) Q1 2009

Rock Revolution (Konami) Q1 2009

Hysteria Hospital: Emergeny Ward (Oxygen Games) Q1 2009

Roogoo (SouthPeak Games) Q1 2009

Brave: A Warrior’s Tale (SouthPeak Games) Q1 2009

Line Rider 2: Unbound (InXile) Q1 2009

PurrPals II (InXile) Q1 2009

Nintendo DS Software 2009

Chrysler Classic Racing (ZOO) 9 Jan 2009

My Chinese Coach (Ubisoft) 15 Jan 2009

Petz My Monkey Family (Ubisoft) 15 Jan 2009

Petz My Kitten Family (Ubisoft) 15 Jan 2009

Lord of the Rings:Conquest (EA) 16 Jan 2009

Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune (ZOO) 16 Jan 2009

Tecktonic (Koch Media / Deep Silver) 16 Jan 2009

Sim Animals (EA) 23 Jan 2009

NeoPets Puzzle Adventure (Capcom) 23 Jan 2009

Word Master (ZOO) 30 Jan 2009

The Woodleys - Sports (dtp young entertainment) Jan 2009

Best Friend - My Horse (dtp young entertainment) Jan 2009

Ultimate Band (Disney Interactive Studios) 4 Feb 2009

Scrabble 2009 (Ubisoft) 5 Feb 2009

Imagine: Ballet Dancer (Ubisoft) 5 Feb 2009

Johnny Bravo (Mastertronic) 6 Feb 2009

Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (Nintendo) 6 Feb 2009

Harvest Fishing (Rising Star) 6 Feb 2009

XG Blast! (Rising Star) 6 Feb 2009

Hotel for Dogs (505 Games) 6 Feb 2009

Imagine: Movie Star (Ubisoft) 12 Feb 2009

My Pet Zoo Vet (505 Games) 13 Feb 2009

Buffy (505 Games) 13 Feb 2009

Rune Factory (Rising Star) 13 Feb 2009

Walk with me! Do you know your walking routine? bundled with two Activity Meters (Nintendo) 20 Feb 2009

Lux Pain (Rising Star) 20 Feb 2009

Pop Town (505 Games) 27 Feb 2009

Mahjong Quest (Astragon) 27 Feb 2009

The Chase: Felix meets Felicity (Atari) Feb 2009

Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell (Disney Interactive Studios) Feb 2009

Mushroom Men: Rise of The Fungi (SouthPeak Games) Feb 2009

Insecticide (SouthPeak Games) Feb 2009

Ben 10: Alien Force (D3Publisher) Feb 2009

Crazy Machines (dtp young entertainment) Feb 2009

My pet beauty salon (dtp young entertainment) Feb 2009

The Chase: Felix meets Felicity (Atari) Feb 2009

Diva Girls: Diva Dancers (505 Games) 6 Mar 2009

Yamaha Supercross (ZOO) 6 Mar 2009

Big Foot Collision Course (ZOO) 6 Mar 2009

Club Penguin (Disney Interactive Studios) 13 Mar 2009

Populous (Rising Star) 13 Mar 2009

Smile World Island Challenge (ZOO) 13 Mar 2009

Jelly Belly Ballistic Beans (ZOO) 13 Mar 2009

Emergency Room (505 Games) 27 Mar 2009

My Beauty Salon (505 Games) 27 Mar 2009

NARUTO NINJA DESTINY 2 European Versión (TOMY / Nintendo) Mar 2009

Bleach: Dark Souls (SEGA) Mar 2009

History^TM Great Empires: Rome (Black Bean / Lago Srl) Mar 2009

Diabolik: The Original Sin (Black Bean / Lago Srl) Mar 2009

Puzzle Quest Galactrix (D3Publisher) Mar 2009

Challenge Me: Brain Puzzles (Oxygen Games) Mar 2009

Challenge Me: Maths Workout (Oxygen Games) Mar 2009

Ducati Moto (Bethsoft europe) Q1 2009

AMF Bowling Pinbusters! (Bethsoft europe) Q1 2009

Dungeon Raiders (Focus Home Entertainment) Q1 2009

Sherlock Holmes “Le mystere de la momie” (Focus Home Entertainment) Q1 2009

Blood Bowl (Focus Home Entertainment) Q1 2009

Let’s Play: Firemen (Koch/Deep Silver) Q1 2009

Bomberman 2 (working title) (Hudson Soft) Q1 2009

Enchanted Folk and the School of Wizardry (Konami) Q1 2009

Rock Revolution (Konami) Q1 2009

Cake Mania 2 (Majesco/Codemasters) Q1 2009

Maths Blaster (Majesco) Q1 2009

Powerbike (Majesco) Q1 2009

Left Brain Right Brain 2 (Majesco) Q1 2009

Wonderworld Amusement Park (Majesco) Q1 2009

Babysitting Mania (Majesco/Codemasters) Q1 2009

Our House (Majesco) Q1 2009

Big Bang Mini (SouthPeak Games) Q1 2009

Brave: Shaman’s Challenge (SouthPeak Games) Q1 2009

Roogoo (SouthPeak Games) Q1 2009

De Blob (THQ) Q1 2009

Gauntlet (Eidos) Spring 2009

Winx Club Secret Diary 2009 (Konami) early 2009

See Nintendo for more details.

[techradar]

Nintendo are set for world domination with the DS. Not only do they already teach people how to speak different languages and help them stop smoking, they can now be used to read entire books.

The Nintendo DS will now be able to be morphed into an eBook reader with its 100 Classic Book Collection package. Among the classics packed in will be gems from Lewis Carroll, Shakespeare, and Dickens. But if they’re not your cup of tea, you can use the Wi-Fi feature to download something more to your taste.

You can find the list of 100 titles below. If you’ve thought ahead and decided that this would be great Christmas present for someone you know, think again. For some strange reason, this package is set to launch on Boxing Day - clever, hey?

It’s £17.99 and available for pre-order from Amazon. It all works out slightly cheaper than buying one of the £200 Sony e-readers but the thought of sitting on a train whilst trying to read an entire book on that screen makes just popping to the library to pick up a paperback a much more preferable option. What do you think?

100 titles available in the 100 Classic Book Collection:

• Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
• Jane Austen - Emma
• Jane Austen - Mansfield Park
• Jane Austen - Persuasion
• Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
• Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility
• Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• R.D. Blackmore - Lorna Doone
• Anne Bronte - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
• Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
• Charlotte Bronte - The Professor
• Charlotte Bronte - Shirley
• Charlotte Bronte - Villette
• Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
• John Bunyan - The Pilgrim’s Progress
• Frances Burnett - Little Lord Fauntleroy
• Frances Burnett - The Secret Garden
• Lewis Carroll - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
• Lewis Carroll - Through the Looking-Glass
• Wilkie Collins - The Moonstone
• Wilkie Collins - The Woman in White
• Carlo Collodi - The Adventures of Pinocchio
• Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
• Arthur Conan Doyle - The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes
• Joseph Conrad - Lord Jim
• Susan Coolidge - What Katy Did
• James Fenimore Cooper - Last of the Mohicans
• Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
• Charles Dickens - Barnaby Rudge
• Charles Dickens - Bleak House
• Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
• Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• Charles Dickens - Dombey and Son
• Charles Dickens - Great Expectations
• Charles Dickens - Hard Times
• Charles Dickens - Martin Chuzzlewit
• Charles Dickens - Nicholas Nickleby
• Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop
• Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
• Charles Dickens - The Pickwick Papers
• Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
• Alexandre Dumas - The Count of Monte Cristo
• Alexandre Dumas - The Three Musketeers
• George Eliot - Adam Bede
• George Eliot - Middlemarch
• George Eliot - The Mill on the Floss
• Henry Rider Haggard - King Solomon’s Mines
• Thomas Hardy - Far From The Madding Crowd
• Thomas Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
• Thomas Hardy - Tess of The D’Urbervilles
• Thomas Hardy - Under the Greenwood Tree
• Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter
• Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Victor Hugo - Les Miserables
• Washington Irving - The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon
• Charles Kingsley - Westward Ho!
• D.H. Lawrence - Sons And Lovers
• Gaston Leroux - The Phantom of the Opera
• Jack London - The Call of the Wild
• Jack London - White Fang
• Herman Melville - Moby Dick
• Edgar Allen Poe - Tales of Mystery and Imagination
• Sir Walter Scott - Ivanhoe
• Sir Walter Scott - Rob Roy
• Sir Walter Scott - Waverley
• Anna Sewell - Black Beauty
• William Shakespeare - All’s Well That Ends Well
• William Shakespeare - Antony and Cleopatra
• William Shakespeare - As You Like It
• William Shakespeare - The Comedy of Errors
• William Shakespeare - Hamlet
• William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar
• William Shakespeare - King Henry the Fifth
• William Shakespeare - King Lear
• William Shakespeare - King Richard the Third
• William Shakespeare - Love’s Labour’s Lost
• William Shakespeare - Macbeth
• William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice
• William Shakespeare - A Midsummer-Night’s Dream
• William Shakespeare - Much Ado About Nothing
• William Shakespeare - Othello, the Moor of Venice
• William Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet
• William Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew
• William Shakespeare - The Tempest
• William Shakespeare - Timon of Athens
• William Shakespeare - Titus Andronicus
• William Shakespeare - Twelfth Night
• William Shakespeare - The Winter’s Tale
• Robert Louis Stevenson - Kidnapped
• Robert Louis Stevenson - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• Robert Louis Stevenson - Treasure Island
• Jonathan Swift - Gulliver’s Travels
• William Thackeray - Vanity Fair
• Anthony Trollope - Barchester Towers
• Mark Twain - Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Mark Twain - Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Jules Verne - Around the World in Eighty Days
• Jules Verne - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest
• Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray

It’s time for another installment in our What to buy series. We looked at What to buy Dads last week and this week it’s the turn of another tricky customer…the teenage boy.

If you need inspiration, just take a look at these:

For the music lover - Everyone loves music. Get them an MP3 player and they can take music with them wherever they go. The top rated MP3 player on Reevoo at the moment is the 8GB iPod Touch. It’s currently around £100. If you were looking to spend a little less than that, the second highest rated player is the £70 Sony NWZA816 4GB. And for a complete bargain buy, grab some CDs. Prices start from as little at £2.

For the gamer - Why not go for a games console like the PlayStation 3 (£289)? If they already have a console, they might like a gaming chair (£100). It’s comfortable for extended gaming sessions and you can feel the action through it. It can also be used to listen to music and watch films. There are also lots of console accessories, like this PS3 charging station for £15. For smaller gifts, you could go for a video game (prices start at £2).

For Mr Sociable - A mobile phone so that they can keep in contact with all their mates. For a phone packed full of features, how about the Nokia N95 or N96? Or for a more classy option, how about the Samsung Tocco or the new iPhone? (All phone prices vary according to contract)

For the sporty ones - Some tickets to a football or rugby match will make a great gift. For something more original, why not try this Garmin Forerunner 405 (£169) GPS-enabled sport watch, which tracks your training and sends the data to your computer or for trips to the coast this fishing starter kit (£32)?

For gadgety types - A Wind-Up Torch with Mobile Phone Charger (£7) or some travel speakers for your iPod (£9).

And for the boy that has everything? - Give them this Sonic Bomb Alarm Clock (£24) - guaranteed to wake the laziest of teenagers.

All done. Pretty painless, just as shopping should be.

If you’re purchasing online, follow our top tips for online shopping this Christmas.

Those shoppers over on Reevoo have been making us chuckle this week…

"
when freshly charged it is bursting with energy like a frisky mare" Picooz Insecta Night R/C Helicopter

 

"Spent the best part of a month staring at the screen blankly, being totally lost without the "Start Bar" before i finally cracked and spent 10 mins reading the built in help…And poke me sideways with a large mucky stick if its not all starting to make very pure and perfect sense. Apple I-MAC 24

"I have never been attracted to Yoga until I started Wii Fit…I like the personal trainers, (especially when a handsome young man tells me my "form is fantastic"!!!) Nintendo Wii Fit

"
Powerful Blow. Weak suck" Black & Decker GW370 Electric Blower Vac

"
dosn’t like to take ferries" Garmin Nuvi 250

Just a quickie on what we might be fighting in shops for this Christmas - The old, familiar Wii Christmas shortage is back. US games retailer GameStop predicts the shortage unless Nintendo has a massive increase in supply in the next couple of weeks. It’s unknown as to whether this will lead to shortages here in the UK but we can use wii-consoles.co.uk to stay up-to-date on the situation.

But if you don’t fancy a Wii, both the Xbox and PS3 seem to be in plentiful supply…Check out the games console reviews to find out what people think about them all.

It seems us Brits are baffled by modern technology that was sent to help us. According to a poll of 2000 people (by the folks over at Reevoo), mobile phones, SatNavs and even TV remotes send us into panic and rage when we can’t figure out how to use them. In fact, a whopping 32% of people admitted to throwing a complicated gadget across the room when they couldn’t work out what to do with it.

Digital cameras were voted the most complicated with SatNavs and mobile phones close behind. Interestingly though, people are obviously happy to live in confusion with their SatNavs, as only 6% actually read the manuals!

More alarming is that the same numbers of us are as baffled by our laptops as our ovens (the nation’s health crisis suddenly makes sense now…). And people are more inclined to read their TV manual over their oven’s. Hmmmm.

And even when a device goes wrong, more than a quarter will try to fix it themselves, or even buy a new one, instead of turning to the instructions.

Here’s the full list of things we find complicated:

1.    Digital Camera - 26%
2.    GPS navigation    - 21%
3.    Mobile phone - 19%
4.    Washing machine - 18%
5.    Camcorder - 17%
6.    DVD player - 15%
7.    Games console - 13%
8.    TV remote control - 13%
9.    MP3 player - 13%
10.    Microwave - 12%
11.    Computer - 12%
12.    Digital photo frame - 12%
13.    Scanner - 11%
14.    Laptop - 10%
15.    Television - 10%
16.    Modem - 10%
17.    Oven - 9%
18.    Printer - 9%
19.    Answer machine - 9%
20.    Freeview box - 8%
21.    Broadband - 8%
22.    Sky - 8%
23.    Dishwasher - 7%
24.    Digital TV - 7%
25.    Hi Fi system - 7%
26.    Tumble dryer - 6%
27.    Iron - 6%
28.    Telephone - 6%
29.    Clock Radio - 5%
30.    Smoke alarm - 5%
31.    Electric timer - 5%
32.    Smoothie maker - 5%
33.    Alarm clock - 4%
34.    Blender - 4%

…and how many people bother to read the manuals for these items:

1.    I don’t read manuals - 46%
2.    Mobile phone - 19%
3.    Washing machine - 17%
4.    Television - 16%
5.    Digital Camera - 14%
6.    Microwave - 11%
7.    Oven - 10%
8.    DVD player - 10%
9.    MP3 player - 9%
10.    Laptop - 9%
11.    Computer - 8%
12.    Printer - 8%
13.    TV remote control - 8%
14.    Broadband - 8%
15.    Telephone - 7%
16.    Tumble dryer - 6%
17.    Iron - 6%
18.    GPS navigation - 6%
19.    Camcorder - 6%
20.    Dishwasher - 6%
21.    Hi Fi system - 6%
22.    Scanner - 5%
23.    Freeview box - 5%
24.    Answer machine - 5%
25.    Alarm clock - 5%
26.    Modem - 5%
27.    Smoke alarm - 5%
28.    Clock Radio - 5%
29.    Games console - 5%
30.    Sky - 4%
31.    Digital TV - 4%
32.    Digital photo frame - 3%
33.    Electric timer - 2%

Well, first we found out that those helpful folks over at Nintendo were helping people to stop smoking. Now we hear that they’re helping Japanese students with their English too. A teacher at the Tokyo Academy for Girls has introduced the Nintendo DS into English lessons to help students concentrate.

The DS helps the students with their writing, listening and vocabulary but they are under strict instruction that all the machines must be handed in at the end of the lesson and no other games, apart from the English aid, are to be used.

Despite the lack of fun games, the students do seem to be enjoying the new method of teaching and they’ve even commented that they’re finding the lessons more interesting and engaging.

This is still a trial at the moment but what with all these new ways we’re discovering that consoles can help people (the Wii fit helping people to lose weight, the DS helping people to quit smoking etc.), who knows where the possibilities will end.

If you’re in two minds over whether to get a DS or not, try reading the Nintendo DS reviews first.