Rebecca Day

LOS ANGELES -- As expected, Nintendo introduced the 3DS handheld gaming system Tuesday at its pre-show E3 press conference. The turquoise and black portable player will play back Hollywood 3D movies and packs built-in cameras that take 3D digital photos that users can view on the player. No pricing or availability was given for the much-anticipated device, which Nintendo said last spring would ship before the end of the fiscal year next March (CED March 24 p1).

A stereoscopic 3D videogame certification and advocacy group launched Monday a user-driven PC videogame database designed to inform consumers about solutions available to let them play their favorite videogame titles in 3D. The Toronto-based advocacy group, Meant to be Seen (MTBS), launched the 3D Game Analyzer with 100 games tested in 3D and will submit the scoring and mechanism used to the S-3D Gaming Alliance. “Customers want marketing-free game testing,” and turning to the alliance “was the first logical step,” said Neil Schneider, president of MTBS and the alliance’s executive director. The group wants the videogame industry to use the information from the game analyzer and define quality expectations and ratify them for official use, it said. Gamers submit a title to the Web-based analyzer and share details about the hardware and software they use. They also answer a series of multiple-choice questions about a game and how it behaves in stereoscopic 3D. The analyzer compiles the information and creates a numeric score and a certification grade that becomes part of the database. The result, according to MTBS, will be a growing database of games tested on software drivers including DDD, iZ3D and Nvidia’s GeForce 3D Vision. The database will include recommended game settings, consistent rules and visual expectations and a customer-driven stamp of approval, the group said. The goal of the analyzer is to bring clarity to questions of compatibility between 3D games and driver solutions, the group said, adding that vendors have trumpeted compatibility statements as high as 400 games, but the claims are difficult to confirm and are not publicly defined. As a result, the group said, there’s little or no consistency between games and driver solutions.

LOS ANGELES -- Breaking into the online game tournament business in signature style (CED June 15 p5), Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, told reporters at a pre-E3 briefing that Virgin Gaming will set aside $1 million for cash giveaways to be doled out for online gaming tournaments over the next 12 months.

XpanD will ship its universal active-shutter 3D glasses in 60 days, Ami Dror, the company’s chief strategy officer, told us Thursday. The suggested retail price of the model X103 glasses -- which have worked with “almost all the different displays,” including those from Panasonic, Sony, LG, Samsung and Philips -- is $129, about $20 lower than accessory models offered by TV manufacturers that work with only one brand of 3D TV set. “The universal glasses are critical to the industry, as there is no way that consumers will agree to buy a product that is limited to one other product,” Dror said. He said the glasses will be critical on the sales floor, too, because they allow demos to move from display to display without the need to change glasses. And universal 3D glasses are crucial to making 3D a social experience because they mean that 3D TV owners won’t have to buy additional sets of glasses when entertaining around an event, Dror said. “Take the World Cup as an example,” he said. “Let’s assume I've invited 10 friends to watch a game with me. Unless they can bring their own glasses from home, I will have to buy 10 pairs of glasses that I don’t need.” Dror called universal glasses “probably the most important element in the 3D world, second only to 3D content.” XpanD has begun shipping its second-generation 3D glasses for use with DLP projectors, the company said. XpanD teamed with Texas Instruments to develop the active-shutter glasses, which sync with DLP projectors and TVs without the need for emitters. Suggested retail price of the X102 DLP-Link 3D glasses is $129, $20 lower than active-shutter models supplied with TVs from Panasonic, Samsung and Sony. The combination of the glasses and affordable DLP TVs delivers the most economical solution to families looking for in-home 3D entertainment, said Dror. Operating range of the glasses is 140 feet, which XpanD said is twice the industry average. The company is also targeting the educational market with the 3D glasses.

CULVER CITY, Calif. -- Trailing Panasonic and Samsung to introduction in the nascent 3D TV category, Sony is taking a holistic marketing approach touting its content, production, distribution and hardware expertise as an advantage over its rivals, senior executives said Wednesday at the company’s official 3D TV launch event at Sony Pictures Studios (CED June 10 p6). The company plans to lead the industry in bringing the best 3D experience to consumers through its focus on quality from the camera to the display with the promotional tagline, “Getting 3D Right,” Sony Electronics President Stan Glasgow told reporters. “Other manufacturers may share that goal, but only Sony can achieve it by marrying content expertise with our hardware innovations,” Glasgow said.

Challenges in demonstrating 3D TV at retail emerged this week at a 3D event that Panasonic held in Manhattan. The company offered demos to show off the benefits of its latest-generation plasma technology in the VT series of 3D TVs. It features a new fast-switching phosphor that’s said to reduce crosstalk, a new filter system that blocks out ambient light, and a no-pre-discharge control system said to produce faster illumination of the pixels for improved brightness and contrast ratio.

Hhgregg continues on a faster-than-expected track to become a national CE retailer, as it pounces on opportunities created by attractive real estate terms and other advantageous competitive conditions, CEO Dennis May said Thursday on its Q4 earnings call. The company opened 26 stores this quarter, including in the previously uncharted Baltimore and Philadelphia markets this month alone, and remains on course to open 40-45 stores this fiscal year, May said.

Philips is taking LED lighting to an interactive level with a seven-bulb portable lighting fixture designed to let users change the color of their decor on a whim using ambient light. Called LivingColors, the circular, acrylic-encased device plugs into a wall outlet and is programmable through a remote control with a built-in color wheel that enables users to project light onto walls or ceilings for dramatic effect. The device can create up to 16 million colors, which users select via the color wheel. Bulbs are not replaceable, a spokeswoman said, but are projected to last for thousands of hours of use. Suggested retail price is $209 and the product is slated for delivery in August. Philips launched the device in the U.S. this week at the Holiday Gift Guide Show in New York. The company also showed a wearable activity monitor/MP3 player announced at CES that’s due for release June 1. The player is sold loaded with songs geared to workouts, and users can add their own music. A built-in accelerometer tracks users’ daily activity, and when the device is plugged into a PC via USB, the information is loaded into the Philips Direct Life personal fitness program. The program offers fitness tips, a personal coach to help people set fitness goals, and advice about lifestyle changes. Best Buy, Target and other retailers will sell the device with four weeks of Web access and coaching at $129 list. Users can continue the fitness program for $13 a month.

After first vowing that its first-generation VT series of 3D plasma TVs won’t sport 2D-to-3D conversion chips, Panasonic now says it will play wait-and-see before deciding whether to build those chips into future models. Panasonic wants to keep an open mind on the issue because it doesn’t want to be caught at a “competitive disadvantage” with other CE makers that opt to include the chips in their 3D TVs, Henry Hauser, Panasonic vice president of merchandising for display products, told Consumer Electronics Daily.

Westinghouse Digital is taking aim at the LCD TV market’s high end by bowing a line of low-cost, eco-focused LED-backlit sets that arrive in the company’s distribution centers this week. First announced at CES, the 26- and 32-inch edge-lit LED-backlit LCD TVs will be sold through high-volume retailers like Amazon, BJ’s, Costco and Target.