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Which toys and games will come out on top as Kelkoo enlists the help of Ollie the psychic Octopus, cousin of the late world famous Paul, to predict UK Christmas best-sellers this year? Will it be Barbie® Video Girl, with the real working video camera, or Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear that’s top of Santa’s toy list?

2010 has been a year of psychic animal predictions. Back in June, Paul the octopus, who sadly passed away two weeks ago, successfully predicted that Spain would win the FIFA World Cup, and in July a contender to Paul emerged in the shape of Mani the Parrot in Singapore.

As the year draws to a close, Kelkoo, the online shopping comparison website, today unveils Christmas predictions from Paul’s cousin and only surviving relative, Ollie the Octopus. Not only does Ollie predict this year’s best-selling gadgets, films, toys and games but he also tips Dannii Minogue to be crowned winner of the X Factor judges.  

Over the course of a few days in October, Ollie exercised his tentacles to choose his favourites from a range of competing items, all expected to be the strongest contenders in their respective categories this Christmas. For example, Ollie had to decide whether Barbie Video Girl, the doll with a video camera inside her necklace, would beat the Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear to the top of the toy list!

Following his X Factor prediction, our eight legged friend swiftly moved on to confirm that the iPad would win the battle of the tablets, and the Sony Playstation Move would outsell the Xbox Kinect in the ‘console wars’.

When it comes to children’s best-selling toys and games, he tipped Toy Story’s Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear to outshine the all new Barbie Video Girl, while for the big screen, Warner Brother’s latest Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows, was chosen as the box office favourite against DreamWorks’ Megamind.

The battle of the X Factor judges

The ongoing feud between the four judges is all part and parcel of the pantomime drama that is the X Factor, but Kelkoo thought it about time that their squabbles were settled once and for all.  Will it be one of Cheryl’s girls or one of Dannii’s boys that takes the X Factor crown? Or will outsiders Louis and Simon be mentoring a winner from the Over 28s or the Groups?

Trying to swim his way into a record deal, Ollie initially settled on Simon, before moving quickly on to flirt with single gal Cheryl.  However it seems our Octopus, with his own undeniable star quality, is a ‘sucker’ for Dannii, finally singling her out as this year’s triumphant judge. Poor Louis didn’t even get a look in.

Battle of the tablets: The Apple iPad vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab

Although Samsung’s smaller 7’’ Galaxy Tab has been dubbed ‘the iPad Killer’ by certain media, Ollie disagrees, declaring Apple’s iPad the best-selling tablet PC this Christmas.

UK consumers seem in agreement, and according to a recent Kelkoo survey, the iPad is set to remain the most popular choice in consumers’ eyes – with over two thirds (69%) opting for it over  Samsung’s Galaxy Tab (15%), and Blackberry’s Playbook (11%).

Game Console Wars: PS3 Move vs. Xbox Kinect

 Following the success of the Nintendo Wii, motion gaming is set to take the UK by storm this Christmas. This week marks the launch of the Kinect, the ‘controller-free’ gaming sensor for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft’s answer to Sony’s Playstation Move, which laid down the motion-gaming gauntlet back in September.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Ollie didn’t ‘connect’ with the Xbox, but was ‘moved’ by the PS3, tipping Sony’s motion controller wand to win the battle for gaming supremacy this Christmas.

Top of Santa’s toy list: Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear vs. Barbie Video Girl

In the build up to Christmas, toys and games retailers are predicting that Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear, star of the latest instalment in the internationally beloved Toy Story film franchise, and Barbie Video Girl, Mattel’s latest plastic fantastic, video camera creation, will be high on the list of top-selling toys and games this Christmas.

When pitting these two heavyweights of the toy glitterati against each other, Buzz with his cool rocket pack and afterburner jet lights, and Barbie Video Girl with her high-tech concealed video camera and LCD screen, Ollie chose the world’s favourite space ranger and wouldn’t let go.

Christmas blockbuster: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows vs. Megamind

Family films are a big part of Christmas, and cinema-goers certainly won’t be disappointed this year with industry giants Warner Brothers and DreamWorks releasing their latest sure-fire blockbusters, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Megamind, later this month. 

With the Harry Potter film franchise grossing $5,422,966,528 to date at the worldwide box office, and the DreamWorks studio looking to build on the $734,042,860 success of its latest hit, Shrek Forever After, Ollie faced a tough choice.

However, even the A-list pull of Brad Pitt and comedy genius of Will Ferrell couldn’t entice our mystic mollusc to pick Megamind, with Ollie predicting Harry Potter as favourite to have the ‘magic touch’ at the box office this Christmas.

Joe Cross, Marketing Manager at Kelkoo, comments, “Working with Ollie the octopus was a bundle of fun and given his psychic lineage, we couldn’t think of a better way to predict the UK Christmas best-sellers this year.

“From the X Factor, to Hollywood, to Silicon Valley, Ollie’s discerning tentacles know no bounds and his mystic insight into which products are set to sink or swim this Christmas are certainly set to add spice to the sales race over the festive period. 

“Increased demand for the hottest products in the run up to Christmas may result in shortages as pressure is put on the supply chain and retailers still remain conservative about the amount of stock they are prepared to hold.  Our advice is that consumers should shop fast and shop smart to ensure that they don’t miss out.”

Ollie, aged two, was born in Dorset at the Sea Life Centre in Weymouth, in the same tank as his cousin Paul, before Paul was relocated to the Sea Life Centre in Germany and Ollie to Blackpool.

While his late cousin preferred mussels and reportedly lost the bookies a packet during the World Cup, Ollie makes his predictions by choosing between boxes all containing his favourite food, mackerel.

All proceeds from Ollie’s work engagements are donated by his guardians at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre to www.earthseasky.org, a conservation organisation working to conserve the flora and fauna of the Greek Ionian.

Their main objective is to protect the nesting beaches of the Loggerhead turtle, through public awareness work, and to protect the natural habitats of all wildlife within the National Park of Zakynthos.

To watch Ollie’s full adventures, and see him predict this Christmas’s best-selling toys and games, please visit ollie.kelkoo.co.uk.