SAN FRANCISCO -- THQ and Ubisoft executives attending the MI6 Game Marketing Conference told Consumer Electronics Daily they were encouraged by the initial sales performance of the 3DS despite the handheld remaining widely available at major U.S. retailers. THQ continued to ready its first 3DS games, said Danny Bilson, executive vice president of its Core Games group. Ubisoft already backed the 3DS launch with four games and will field more than 15 titles for the system by this holiday season, Tony Key, Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing and MI6 co-chairman, told us.

Sony is adopting a hybrid sales system this year as it shrinks the number of retailers getting direct distribution, said merchants and industry officials. The company will continue to have sales staff working with retailers and move logistics, including ordering and shipping, to distributor Tech Data, retailers said. The change, which took effect April 1, will narrow Sony’s direct sales accounts to 45 dealers, industry officials said.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Close collaboration between marketing and development staffs is a key ingredient for game product success, said Microsoft and THQ executives speaking at the MI6 Game Marketing Conference Thursday. “We're going to get better games to play at the end of the day” if that happens, Kudo Tsunoda, general manager and creative director of Microsoft Game Studios, said in a keynote. It was a key reason for the success of the Kinect motion sensor for the Xbox 360 and why customer satisfaction with the product was “through the roof,” he said.

Energy Star specifications will be updated at least every two years for “rapidly evolving” products and every three years or when market share reaches 35 percent for other products, the EPA and the Department of Energy said in 2011 work plan. The EPA expects to complete 21 of the 25 specification updates under way this year, driven by growing market share, new federal standards, fresh “efficiency opportunities,” and new openings to “expand coverage,” the agencies said. Several types of electronics and computing gear are marked for new specifications or standards updates in 2011.

Dish Network will keep a “significant number” of Blockbuster store leases in the wake of its successful $320 million bid to buy the bankrupt chain, said Martin Flics, attorney for Dish. U.S. District Bankruptcy Court Judge Burton Lifland, New York, approved the sale Thursday, capping a two-day auction that ended early Wednesday morning. The deal is expected to close by April 21.

Internet music is changing the landscape of the multi-room audio business, said retailers and manufacturers surveyed by Consumer Electronics Daily. Some custom multi-room audio companies are being squeezed out of the cloud-based services world as content services look for high-volume distribution models, and installers are turning to affordable wireless solutions from Sonos and Logitech to satisfy consumers’ interest in Pandora, Rhapsody and other content services.

Samsung announced a price cut and a promotion on 3D glasses that will outfit a family of four with the gear for $200. The moves announced Wednesday deal with a major point of consumer resistance to 3D TV. The company said it’s slashing the price of its $129 SSG-3100GB active-shutter 3D glasses below $50 May 1 and it will include two pairs at no charge with each Samsung plasma and LED-based LCD 3D TV bought starting April 24. No end date was announced for the promotion. The promotion applies to TVs that aren’t bundled with a starter kit including two pairs of glasses, a Shrek 3D Blu-ray collection and a voucher for Megamind 3D, the company said.

Dish Network’s proposed $320 million buy of bankrupt Blockbuster could mean more store closings as the satellite service focuses on the chain’s Internet business, analysts said. But Dish seems prepared to try to salvage some of Blockbuster’s 1,717 stores as a channel for sales of its service. A hearing on the proposed sale is scheduled for Thursday in Bankruptcy Court in New York City. Dish expects to close the deal in Q2.

With EPA revealing little about the actual structure of, or its motivation for, the proposed user fee for the Energy Star program, it’s uncertain what its impact would be on manufacturer participation in the program or on environmental performance registry EPEAT, said representatives of EPEAT and advocacy groups. “I am not sure how developed that idea is,” said Sarah O'Brien, outreach director of the Green Electronics Council which manages EPEAT. Despite the lack of clarity surrounding the user fee proposal, advocacy groups like the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) said they would back other funding sources if the federal government doesn’t fully pay for Energy Star.

Semiconductor shortages related to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami will push 2011 world semiconductor revenue higher than originally forecast, IHS iSuppli said. In a report released Tuesday, the firm raised its projection to 7 percent from the 5.8 percent it offered in February. Revenue will reach $325.2 billion, rather than $320.1 billion, as shortages lead to higher prices for key DRAM devices, IHS said. The prices had been expected to drop 10.6 percent for the year. DRAM revenue is now predicted to decline 4 percent, IHS said.