The EPA has indicated it will continue allowing Energy Star self-certification and self-reporting for CE and IT products, according to CEA and the Information Technology Industry Council. Under an agreement with the Department of Energy, EPA proposed that qualification testing for Energy Star be done by third-party labs or in-house accredited labs. It also wants “verification” testing, to ensure compliance with Energy Star specifications, to be done by third-party companies. The agency decided to accelerate the changes after the GAO found that Energy Star was prone to fraud and abuse because investigators got certification

LOS ANGELES -- Stereoscopic 3D “may well be one of the next and one of the most important drivers for growth” in the game industry, but not this year, Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello told an investor briefing at E3 Wednesday. One hurdle is that “the installed base of 3D televisions is still yet to be seen,” EA Sports President Peter Moore said.

Putting video online has numerous costs for old and new companies alike, NBC Universal told the FCC in response to the agency’s wide-ranging discovery request for information on the company’s deal with Comcast. NBC Universal, which Comcast plans to buy control of, discussed some of its strategy to gradually put its cable programming online and discussed some of the events leading up to the start of the Hulu site for its broadcast network and others to put shows on the Web.

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).

Majesco Entertainment will support the new Kinect for Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS handheld system and PlayStation Move for the PS3 with games, Majesco CEO Jesse Sutton said in a Monday earnings call. Meanwhile, it said revenue for Q2 ended April 30 tumbled 47 percent from Q2 2009 to $10.9 million. Its loss narrowed only slightly, to $1.6 million, 4 cents per share, from $1.7 million, 6 cents.

There will be 20 stereoscopic 3D games available for PS3 by next March, Kaz Hirai, CEO of the company’s Networked Products and Services group, said Tuesday at the company’s E3 news conference. They will include Sony’s Killzone 3, shipping in February, that also makes use of Sony’s new PlayStation Move motion control system.

FTC officials took issue Tuesday with media descriptions of how the agency works. It had come under fire from some bloggers and industry executives for including in a discussion draft for a Tuesday workshop proposals to change copyright law and to tax some CE devices to help subsidize the ailing newspaper industry (CED June 10 p6). “The authors of those articles and blogs don’t know the agency, and they've misdescribed what the agency has done and what the workshop is about,” Commissioner Thomas Rosch said at a workshop about journalism’s future.

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.

Best Buy’s Q1 earnings fell well short of analyst forecasts partly due to a low single-digit decline in TV sales and a 15 percent rise in inventory. Best Buy posted Q1 earnings of 37 cents, short of analyst projections for 50 cents as same-store sales rose 2.8 percent against a forecast for a 4.5 percent gain.

The CEA differed with some consumer electronics makers and cable operators on whether the FCC should exempt more subscription-video providers from CableCARD rules so they can use cheap HD set-top boxes that combine navigation and security features. Filings Monday on fixes to CableCARDs before the commission moves to a gateway device standard showed NCTA and members including Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable support use of digital terminal adapters (DTA), as the regulator proposed in a rulemaking (CED April 22 p3). The CEA and Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC) said DTAs undermine CableCARDs.