The Xbox 360 outsold the Wii in June for the first time since February, and Microsoft’s console again topped the PS3, but the Nintendo DS remained the best-selling videogame system, according to U.S. sales data released by NPD late Thursday. Overall U.S. videogame industry sales were down yet again, this time 6 percent from June 2009 to $1.1 billion. But there were again some promising signs.

Despite some lingering challenges, 3D is “here to stay” this time, Mick Hocking, senior director of Sony Computer Entertainment’s North West Studio Group, told Consumer Electronics Daily Thursday. “We don’t think it’s going to be a fad,” he said. He offered a bullish forecast for consumer interest in the technology, but said how quickly it’s adopted in homes will depend on how quickly 3D TVs are embraced by consumers.

The European Broadcasting Union’s DVB Project in Geneva, Switzerland, released without fanfare this week a new “BlueBook” listing recommended “commercial requirements” for 3D TV broadcasts. The document’s key aim is to outline a 3D TV broadcasting service that uses the “existing HDTV infrastructure,” the project said. It said it published the BlueBook because several DVB members need technical standards before introducing 3D TV broadcast services in 2010 or 2011.

If Sony Electronics in the U.S. is to fulfill its goal of becoming the market leader in 3D TVs, it won’t come under the watchful eye of its long-term president, Stan Glasgow. Phil Molyneux, a 23-year veteran of Sony’s CE operations in Europe, on Sept. 1 will replace Glasgow, who'll shift to a new post at Sony America as senior adviser of entrepreneurship and innovation, Sony announced Thursday.

The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved amended Internet accessibility legislation by Sens. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., and John Kerry, D-Mass., in a voice vote Thursday morning. The bill (S-3304) aims to increase the number of hearing aid-compatible phones, improve access to 911 emergency services, and expand and update closed captioning and video description requirements. Democrats and Republicans supported the bill, despite lingering concerns by CE companies (CED July 15 p6).

Portable devices that receive mobile DTV broadcasts were exempted from FCC rules that they contain tuners capable of getting regular analog and digital broadcasts, in a Media Bureau decision Thursday afternoon. Cellphones, PDAs, laptops, dongles and devices used in autos can exclude analog and/or ATSC A/53 digital TV signal reception if they can get mobile broadcasts using A/153. The products must be designed to be used “in motion” and give notice to consumers on the package and in certain cases at point of sale about which types of signals can’t be received.

Pioneer is bringing a line of sub-$100 consumer headphones to the U.S. market as part of a larger plan to broaden its product portfolio in the wake of exiting the flat-panel TV business last year, Russ Johnston, executive vice president of Pioneer’s home entertainment department told Consumer Electronics Daily. “Our goal has been to spend more time filling out the rest of our product portfolio,” Johnston said. “When we had panels, it was a large project that took a lot of time to manage, sell and market, and we didn’t spend enough time on the rest of our portfolio.”

A wide range of pay-TV companies panned FCC standards for what the agency calls gateway devices to let all subscribers connect consumer electronics devices bought at retail to multichannel video program distributors (MVPD). Cable, satellite and telco filings posted by the FCC Wednesday in docket 97-80 sought flexibility in their services connecting to what are also called AllVid user interfaces. Google, Intel and major CE companies including Sony backed the commission proposal for an AllVid device, which also could get online content.

The tablet computer market is still “in the early stages,” with few products other than Apple’s iPad “shipping in volume,” but Intel is “very optimistic” about participating in the category, CEO Paul Otellini said on an earnings call Tuesday. It’s “an additive category to the market, much like” netbooks, which “had a higher potential to cannibalize” PC sales but “didn’t,” Otellini said.

Amid CEDIA’s most challenging times since its inception some 20 years ago, the organization has added a future technology pavilion to the list of exhibits at the CEDIA Expo in Atlanta Sept. 22-26. The pavilion will showcase emerging trends that could offer business opportunities for custom electronics specialists in unfamiliar areas including sustainability and digital home health care.