The Nintendo 3DS will be “available in three versions” for each of the main videogame markets, and “there is the possibility that … software sold in one region will not function properly when running on Nintendo 3DS hardware sold in another,” a Nintendo U.K. spokesman said Tuesday. More 3DS details, meanwhile, are expected to be provided at a Nintendo news briefing in New York on Wednesday, including a specific U.S. launch date and pricing.

Texas Democrat Gene Green intends to reintroduce his e-waste export control bill after some “fine tuning,” he told us. Rep. Green introduced HR-6252 in September but failed to get a hearing for it. “We are fine tuning it to try and get more additional co-sponsors before we introduce it in the new Congress,” he said. Reps. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and John Carter, R-Texas, were co-sponsors of HR-6252.

Lower than expected demand for higher-priced Blu-ray titles and 28-day-delay agreements for movie titles in its Redbox movie rental service were among factors Coinstar cited when it dramatically cut Q4 and full-year 2010 earnings estimates. Analysts, however, faulted the company’s overly aggressive forecasts and competition from streaming rental models and retail competitors.

Net neutrality may no longer be a significant issue five or 10 years down the road, as long as broadband offerings are transparent and customers know what they're paying for, CEA President Gary Shapiro said during an episode scheduled to air over the weekend on C-SPAN’s The Communicators. “My view is if we have competition, and if get the spectrum … if you have as a consumer five different sources of competition, then net neutrality fades away as an issue.”

Sony’s PS3 and PSP were again the weakest-selling videogame systems in the U.S., while Nintendo’s DS and Wii repeated as the best-selling systems in December despite seeing significant slowdowns from a year earlier, NPD’s data showed. The Xbox 360, meanwhile, had another strong month in the market, selling 1.86 million units, up from 1.31 million in December 2009 (CED Jan 19 p8) and 1.37 million in November 2010 (CED Dec 13 p3), as its U.S. installed base grew to more than 25 million. It was the only system with a sales increase from December 2009.

MSI Computer is poised to spin off its consumer PC business as it seeks to expand the brand at retail, Andy Tung, vice president of sales, told us.

Industry executives and disability rights advocates should continue to strive toward consensus, as they begin work on recommending implementation of legislation signed into law last fall that updates the Communications Act to make new technologies accessible, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday. “A spirit of consensus and partnership among the disabilities community and the industry” preceded passage of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, he said. “The law is not something that was done to industry, it was done as something with industry,” he told the first meeting of the Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee.

Worldwide Q4 PC shipments totaled 93.5 million units in Q4, 3.1 percent more than a year earlier, according to preliminary figures from Gartner Group, but below its forecast of 4.8 percent growth. Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa cited competition from tablets, including the iPad, along with game consoles and other CE devices.

LAS VEGAS -- 3D capability was offered in only a small number of digital imaging products from manufacturers last year, but it’s being extended to a wider selection of offerings in 2011. Companies taking the wraps off such products at CES last week included DXG, Panasonic, Sony and JVC.

Despite great fanfare, color e-readers armed with E-Ink Holdings’ electrophoretic displays will be a small part of the 30 million units expected to be sold this year, E-Ink Chief Marketing Officer Sriram Perumvemba told us.