Nintendo had recently stated that it is working towards streamlining is digital products. The gaming company is also trying to simplify online purchase feature. For accessing free Wi-Fi, you need to download the console’s browser. After that, you are required to update your system and you are all set to access free Wi-Fi. Your console would be ready to connect even if it is in sleep mode.

You will be able to surf net, play multiplayer online games and download game updates. Nintendo will also offer SpotPass system, which will let you download allied content such as 3D videos onto your handheld console.

Nintendo is also planning to bring plethora of new changes. The company is reportedly testing a new card swiping system for new Wii console. This feature will let the users download online content and pay for them by simply swiping their cared card through game controller.

Nintendo to Provide Free Wi-Fi to 3DS Users in Europe is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The gaming company said that it is looking to release Wii U in Japan, Australia, Europe and the US before the end of this year. Wii U will come with various new features, while ditching a few older ones. The company will now let the gamers create personal user accounts. This new feature will first arrive on 3DS. Nintendo will also conduct “competitions and communication among users, as well as the sales of digital content.”

However, the bigger scoop is that the new controller may come with NFC features. This new feature will help Wii U to “read and write data via non-contact NFC and to expand the new play format in the video game world.” Nintendo also teased that NFC will enable Wii U to be used for the purpose of making micropayments. It will also help in promoting games with additional content.

Nintendo Wii U to Come with Near Field Communication Feature is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

According to the data compiled by NPD, videogame software and hardware market turned over $17.02 billion in 2011. This figure represents 8 percent decline over 2010 figures. However, digital downloads reported 7 percent year over year increase to touch the figure of $7.24 billion in volume.

Apart from top performer Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation also witnessed a good year with 5 percent increase in its sales volume. Nintendo Wii, performed rather poorly with decline in its revenue.

The report also highlighted poor performance of the sector for the month of December, which dragged down the annual figures.  December accounted for only 23 Percent of annual figure, down from last 10 years average of 28 percent share. NDP Group said, “Because of the great slate of content that came to market during the fourth quarter, I had expected December sales to represent a larger portion of total year sales than what occurred.”

Microsoft Xbox 360 Reigns Supreme in Gaming Segment is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

According to 4Gamer, Sony sold only 72,479 units for the week ending on December 25^th.  In comparison, it had sold 324,859 units during the first week of the launch. If the trend continues, then Sony will need to take some drastic steps to salvage its value. The console is yet to be launched in Europe and the US. The likely launch date for these regions is February 22^nd. Though, the console’s retail price has been set at $250, but it looks like Sony will need to sweeten the deal to drive up the volume.

Almost 75 percent drop in sales volume of PlayStation Vita also points out to a bigger problem. After the dismal performance of Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita’s failure shows that era of standalone handheld gaming consoles may be over. The category is facing stiff competition from other handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

PlayStation Vita Goes Nintendo 3DS Way: Sales Plummet is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

2011 has been a bumper year for technology; Apple continued their domination of the tablet and smartphone markets; Sony pushed 3D technology with their Playstation 3; Microsoft continued their controller-free gaming revolution with Kinect; Nintendo showed us a glimpse of the future with glasses-free 3D and Android became the world’s most popular smartphone platform. But, what can we expect in 2012? Well it’s already shaping up to be another bumper year. Here’s what we can’t to get wait to get our hands on in 2012.

1. Amazon Kindle Fire

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is already out in the US, but we’re unlikely to see it in the UK until the first quarter 2012. For the price you’ll get a tablet that’s incredibly easy to use and won’t cost a fortune. With a price tag of only $199 and with the inclusion of Amazon’s Prime subscription the online retailer really has come up with a compelling alternative that can compete with Apple’s iPad and any other Android tablets available.

If you took away Amazon’s Prime program the Fire would be a run-of-the-mill tablet that wouldn’t be worth your time or attention. But what Amazon has done is similar to what Apple has done: made content king. The way Prime makes you feel you’re getting a lot more for you money is a stroke of genius. The on-demand, all-you-can-eat, model works like a dream and will be the unique selling point when comparing tablets purchases. Content-wise its the best Android tablet around and if they can replicate the same content deals in the Europe – then Amazon’s Fire could easily overshadow the Kindle and even give Apple a run for its money. It’s affordable, intuitive and simple to use; everything a tablet should be. If you’re looking for a tablet that offers million of possibilities with hundred of thousands of apps then this is not that tablet for you, but if you looking for tablet where traditional digital media content is king then this is the tablet for you.

2. Wii U

The Nintendo Wii was one of the biggest success stories of the last 3 year’s for Nintendo, it revolutionise gaming leading Sony and Microsoft to follow suit with their own movement controls, well, the Wii has suffered from a baron release schedule in 2011 and at E3, Nintendo, announced the successor the Wii U.

The Wii’s successor looks to right a lot of wrongs of its predecessor so we can expect HD capability, 1080p output, 3D support and a completely new type of controller. The Wii U’s main party-piece is a small tablet controller with the usual set of gaming controls as well as fully-fledged touch screen.

Nintendo-quality games, awesome HD graphics, support from lots of third-party games developers, and a handy way to play in any room in your house? Count us in.

3. Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

The new quad-core tablet, a successor to the Asus Eee Pad Transformer released in early summer, will be the fastest tablet available, coming with 1200×800 display, Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, 1 GB Ram, an 8 megapixel rear facing camera, capable of 1080p video capture, a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera and a microSD slot.

The Transformer Prime will come with the current 3.2 version of Android Honeycomb, but Google is promising that the upgrade to 4.0 Ice Cream will be coming to the Prime first.

The device is more expensive than its predecessor, starting at $499 for a 32Gb and $599 for a 64Gb version. The main party piece of the Transformer range is the attachable keyboard, which will cost $149 and comes in two colours: amethyst grey and champagne gold.

Part of the reason why the original Eee Pad was so successful was the price, it remains to be seen whether the quad-core sequel will be as successful considering the $100 price hike over the original.

Although it’s strong on hardware, the $100 increase in price will make it a more difficult to sell given that the entry-level (16GB) iPad is also priced at $499.

Details on UK price and release date hasn’t been confirmed at the time of writing, but it’s expected to land in North America on December 16 and Europe soon after.

4. Windows 8 tablets

There are still a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to Windows 8 tablets, but the information is starting to come out, and there’s no doubt Microsoft is prepared to make a real go of this tablet malarkey.

Windows 8 will use a Metro interface that’s much like Windows Phone 7 for when it’s used on touch devices, with separate Metro apps. It will support ARM processors, such as Tegra 3, as well, which means manufacturers have options for the hardware they include.

Whether the addition of a new touch interface on top of the traditional Windows look will entice developers and customers is hard to say, but it seems to have the manufacturers on board, and we’ll be able to see more when the public beta arrives early next year. If Microsoft pulls it off, it may suddenly become a big mobile player again.

5. Apple’s 2012 tablet

According to reports from Business Insider Apple will release its third generation iPad tablet in February next year. Richard Gardner, an analyst from Citi, believes that the Cupertino tech company will release the iPad 3 with a Retina display and twice the processing power earlier that expected to head off the competition.

Gardner said: “There do not appear to be any significant technical hurdles remaining that would prevent the iPad 3′s launch.” He also predicted that the company’s final iPad sales for the current quarter would be 12 to 13 million units.

Many Macolytes were hoping that Apple would include a Retina display in the iPad 2, but it failed to materilise, leading many to postulate that the iPad 3 would be the true sequel to the iPad 1 and would include a Retina display.

The third generation iPad is expected to have a screen resolution of 2048×1546, compared to the iPad 2’s 1024×768 and to accommodate the new screen tech it’s expected to be thicker than the current ultra-thin iPad 2.

It’s thought that Apple will look to get a early march on its main rival Samsung, who are expected to follow-up to the Galaxy 10.1, with a Galazxy 11.6, which is said to have a 2560×1600 screen resolution and the new quad-core Tegra processor and would be announced in the spring at Mobile World Congress.

Apple is top-dog in the tablet market, with Asus, Motorola, Samsung amongst others all playing catchup with their Android offerings. And now that Amazon has recently enter the race the tablet market is one of the most competitive around.

Apple’s plan could be trying to head off the competition from similarly priced Android tablets, if it did release the iPad 3 sooner than expected it would have the effect of reducing prices for older versions of the iPad, which would encourage consumers attracted to the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet to instead climb aboard the iOS platform at a discount.

Gaj-it’s Top Tech Predictions For 2012 Part 1 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Wedbush Securities reported that the industry is struggling with various problems including dipping retail prices and softer consumer demand. The report stated, “We currently estimate full year software sales will end down 4%, suggesting 2% growth for November and December sales with flat console unit sales and lower console dollar sales due to price cuts.”

Industry giants are likely to take even bigger hits. The report singled out Nintendo for its lack of hit titles in the recent past. Nintendo is also facing heat from its competitors. However, the company sold over 500,000 Wii consoles over the Black Friday weekend. Wedbush Securities expects Nintendo’s 3DS to perform well in e01e.

Among the gaming titles, the report made special mention of Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty for their outstanding sales performance. EA’s Battlefield has reported selling 8 million units since its release in late October. Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty franchise is also going strong. The report also analyzed game merchants, saying, “We think that GameStop will fare well during the holidays, and we expect the company to generate sales and earnings within its guidance.”

Gaming Software Industry to End 2011 on a Soft Note is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Competitor Wii is also doing well as Nintendo reported that it sold 500,000 units during Black Friday sales. The company has sold about 90 million units since its launch some five years back. Reggie Fils-Aime, America President for Nintendo, said, “We know that Black Friday and that entire week is a key selling week and it is important for products like ours to have a jump in momentum and we were fortunate to see that.”

Both Wii and Xbox are gearing for update now. The Japanese company has already released teasers about Wii U, while Microsoft is said to be working on Xbox 730. Nintendo says, “For us, it really was driven by unique and powerful software and what gives us confidence is that we still have more software to launch in the balance of this holiday period.”

Microsoft is also working on a new dashboard for the console which will bring Metro UI to it, with all the square tiles for apps, videos and games ala Windows Phone 7.

Gaming Consoles Thrive: Xbox and Wii Post Impressive Sales Numbers is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

More rumours are surfacing about the follow-up to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, with industry publication Develop predicting that the new console will be unveiled next year and will gone on sale Christmas 2013, and they’ve even gone as far as suggesting its code name is Xbox Next.

Microsoft Xbox 360 is 5-years-old, and turns 6 in November, and there’s no doubt its an impressive beast, but it’s starting to show its age. Several games being released over the winter, including EA & DICE’s BF3, which requires the game to be installed to be played in full-hd. This throws up the question: Are we now reaching the end of the line for the 360?

Looking back at the 360’s reign, the console has come along way in the 5 years, with numerous additions to the service including Last FM, Sky Player, Kinect, Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Indie and plently of other tweaks heading for this falls dashboard update. Microsoft has done a commendable job in making it last this long, but can we really be expected to believe the current party line from Microsoft that it will last 10 years?

According to people in the know…..

According to industry publication Develop, who have spoken to numerous industry folk, they reckon that the new Xbox will be unveiled at the Electronic Expo next year, with a Christmas 2013 release date.

Develop also reckons that UK games studio, Lionhead, is already working on a launch title dubbed Fable Next, and that EA has already got its mits on early prototypes of the hardware. Of course both EA and Microsoft have failed to comment. But if we dig a little deeper – a new console could be with us sooner than many think.

If you look at some descriptions for several Microsoft employees, the next-gen Xbox development is well underway at the Xbox skunk-works.

According to Microsoft employee Jeff Faulkner’s profile, he has been tasked to work as ”Xbox Next Gen Creative Director” since January 2011, where he “guides the vision for Xbox’s User Experience Design across Social Media, User Experience, Entertainment, Gesture and Voice Input, Information Design and Brand and Visual design.” While this description isn’t the smoking gun we’ve been looking for it does show that Microsoft are well on the way to developing the follow-up the Xbox 360.

Similarly, Senior Creative Director for Xbox, Jonathan Harris, job description says he’s been “designing the next generation of entertainment” for the past 14 months.

Microsoft even has their interns hard at work on the new console.  Joe Lagevin, the Xbox Hardware Intern at Microsoft, has “designed and simulated high speed data buses to prevent electromagnetic interference in next-gen devices.”

Finally, the icing on the cake goes to Patrick Corrigan, who worked at Microsoft from February 2011 to June 2011 “Providing groundwork and integration for branding elements for next-gen Xbox on all forms of media. Ranging from print to UI across future releases of the Xbox platform.”

What the 3rd party developers reckon…..

There are rumours also coming from a variety of different 3^rd party developers too.  Matthew Karch, CEO of Sabar Interactive, who are currently working on Halo: Combat Evolved anniversary, recently told CVG that he would be shocked if Microsoft didn’t get its console out before Sony.

While remaining tight-lipped about the new hardware, he reckons that the new hardware will be capable of “phenomenal things”. Citing features such as AI, physics, crowd technology, and the way games characters are simulated will be greatly improved.

Xbox 720 outed by Hollywood blockbuster…..

Another interesting rumour, which surfaced last week, was from an unlikely source. A eagled-eyed movie go-er spotted the Xbox 720 logo in Hugh Jackman’s upcoming sc-fi film Real Steel.

Spotted during a futuristic scene set in a sports arena, the Xbox 720 logo appears on digital banner ads alongside popular brands such as Cadillac, Budweiser and Coca Cola.

But what can expect from the new console specs-wise? Well, this actually isn’t that hard to pin down. If you luck at the current crop of top PC games this is what you can expect from the next Xbox console.

What DICE reckons on the specs……

Peter Bach, from DICE has gone on record and said the next-generation is a case of more horsepower – in particular multiple processors and graphics cards in a single unit.

He reckons that the  PC version of first-person shooter Battlefield 3 is what gamers should expect from the next-generation of consoles.

“If anyone would build a new console today, that would be the result,” Battlefield 3 executive producer Patrick Bach told Eurogamer in reference to the PC version of the game.

“At least. Probably more, because it’s classic PC technology. We know everything about multi-threading now. We know everything about multi-graphics card solutions now. If someone built a console where the specs are that or more, we have the technology to do something. We could port the game to that console tomorrow.”

DICE built Battlefield 3 using its new Frostbite 2 engine, designed to future proof the studio and work with the next Xbox and PlayStation.

“There’s nothing we know about now that the new consoles would do differently, rather do more,” Bach explained. “More processors. Bigger memory pools. Everything we have and more.

“The big step is to go from single processor to multi-processor. Single graphics card to multi-graphics card. To multi-memory. Do you do multiple memory pools or one memory pool? Since we can handle both consoles now, we control that as well. We have all the streaming systems. We have whatever we might need for the future.

“I would be surprised if there were something we couldn’t do with the next-generation of consoles.”

The only remaining questions for the next generation of the console remains whether both Microsoft and Sony are willing to ditch physical media for digital downloads.

There’s no doubt that this model could work, the success of Valve’s Steam is evidence enough, but with the games demanding larger and larger file sizes, it’s a tall order to expect a consumer to download a 50gb games over the UK’s creaking broadband networks. We’re getting close to being able to download those sorts of file sizes, but we’d expected digital and physical formats being offered to consumers.

What do you want to see in the next generation? Hit the comments and let us know.

And check footage from the PC version of BF3, which releases this week, to get an idea of what next-gen home consoles should be able to achieve. Impressive?

Xbox 720 Given Code Name Xbox Next? Christmas 2013 Release? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The company’s Japan chief for Xbox admitted that Kinect revenue numbers “haven’t met our initial expectations in Japan.” However, he also expressed hope that the numbers will pick up soon as “We have received good reviews from the people who have used it”. Microsoft recently announced Xbox support on Windows 8. Some reports had suggested that the accessory had problems identifying movements in smaller Japanese homes, as the technology was built keeping in mind relatively bigger US houses.

However, it does not mean that Microsoft is not doing well in gaming segment. In fact, the company has almost surpassed gaming giants like Nintendo and PlayStation. Xbox has been steadily gaining the fan following over the years. Microsoft claims that its console surpassed Wii and PlayStation sales in 14 out of the previous 15 months. Though, Xbox is likely to feel the heat of competition as Sony recently slashed the sticker price of its PlayStation e. So far, Microsoft has bucked the trend followed by other companies. Microsoft has not gone down the handheld route and this shows the conviction Microsoft has about Xbox.

Microsoft Fails to meet Kinect Sales Target in Japan: Still Goes Strong in Gaming Segment is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

However, it is not only Nintendo that had to resort to price cut, but Sony also had to do the same thing with its PS3 in order to boost the sagging revenue. Sony dropped the price of its console by $50 in Europe and the US. Nintendo also said that the release of new gaming titles such as Flame Red Color and Star Fox 64 3D, the console is likely to see even higher demand. The company also said that it will be launching Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land later this year.

September is likely to be an exciting month for gamers. In addition to the above Nintendo titles, other games which would hit the market this month would be Gears of War 3 and Resistance 3. Reportedly, Nintendo is currently working on Wii U, which would be the next iteration of Wii. The gaming console was demoed at E3 this year. Though, you can expect to land your paws on this new generation console in 2012. Wii U is expected to come with HD support, though the company did not confirm this feature.

Price Cut Move Works Well for Nintendo 3DS is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com