We're likely to hear a lot about 4K before the end of today – press conference day at CES – but the first couple of sets have already made their debuts.

LG has announced a trio of 4K sets, measuring 60, 72 and 84 – yes, 84 – inches). Each boasts a staggering resolution of 3480x2160 and they'll be available this July. Toshiba, meanwhile, showed off a 55-inch, glasses free 4K set last night.

There were no hard prices for either set, but they'll be incredibly expensive. And, while the picture quality is, indeed, beautiful on both, there's no need to camp out to be the first on your block to have one, as the library of 4K content is virtually nonexistent right now.

Nintendo, which shied away from offering multimedia devices until long after its competitors, is getting more serious about video streaming.

The company has announced that its 3DS handheld system and the Wii will add Hulu Plus to their options before the end of the year. (No exact date was announced.)

The Wii is already the single biggest source for Netflix video streams, so the addition of a new service makes sense – and could be a big boost for Hulu, which has struggled to attract customers to its $7.99 per month premium service (in part because users still must watch ads with their shows after paying the subscription fee).

The addition also gives the 3DS a leg up on the forthcoming PlayStation Vita, which has yet to announce any third –party streaming services.

Meanwhile, Nintendo also announced it would enable 3D video recording on the 3DS starting late next month. The device can already be used as a 3D camera, but with the system update, users will be able to record stereoscopic 3D videos of up to 10 minutes. They'll only be able to play them back on the 3DS, however – not any other 3D capable device.

Of all the video game publishers, none has been more bullish on 3D than Sony. Most of the company's original titles for the PlayStation 3 this year will be 3D enabled – and the company previously announced plans for a 3D starter set for players who were on the fence about the technology.

After a lot of dodging, Sony has finally unveiled the launch date for that set: Nov. 13. The 24-inch display will be bundled with one set of active 3D glasses, a six foot HDMI cable and (for those who preordered the device) a copy of the upcoming "Resistance 3" (others will get a copy of "MotorStorm Apocalypse"). It will retail for $499.

"Our commitment to 3D is unwavering, and we're adding more content all the time," said Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment America said at the E3 trade show in June.

To really capture gamer interest, the set will allow two people playing a co-op version of the same game to see full screen images, instead of the truncated, split screen view players have become accustomed to.

The set is aimed squarely at college students and people who want to dip their toes into the 3D waters – and combined with the lineup of games featuring the technology, Sony is pretty confident that demand is about to spike for these sorts of titles.

"3D gaming is on the verge of completely taking off," says Tretton. "I think it’s a very similar analogy to HD. … Content will drive adoption."

To date, there hasn't been a lot of evidence suggesting 3D is about to take off. Nintendo bet big on glasses-free 3D with the 3DS, but sales haven't been particularly robust, even with a $70 price cut for that system. But the industry is counting on the fact that when it comes to early adoption of the latest gadgets, there's no better test audience than gamers.

"Gamers are usually technology adopters," says Tretton. "They're the first to go out and buy new tech. They played a big role in the adoption of Blu-ray. They played a big role in the adoption of high definition. And they will play a big role in the adoption of in 3D."

Want to play what's likely to be this year's biggest PlayStation 3 game on a big screen? I mean a really big screen? Get thee to the local Cineplex!

AMC and Sony have teamed up to let gamers play "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" in 3D and in the theater in select cities nationwide.

San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC players will have the opportunity on Oct. 18, 19 and 20. $25 will get them a general admission ticket, but $60 buys a 'premium pass' that will allow them to get a copy of the game before it hits store shelves on Nov. 11.

Rather than sending people home with games, Sony will ship their copy via FedEx on Oct. 25. Members from the Naughty Dog development team will also be on hand to speak with fans.

"Uncharted" is one of the most natural fits in the gaming world for a big screen play session. Previous entries in the series have been lauded for their cinematic qualities and strong focus on story telling alongside the action.

A big screen adaptation of the series is currently underway. Director Neil Burger, best known for Bradley Cooper's "Limitless" and the Edward Norton-starring "The Illusionist," took over the directorial reins in July after David O. Russell walked away from the project due to "creative differences". So far no casting announcements have been made by Burger, though Mark Wahlberg was attached to Russell's version. 

Additionally, Spike TV and Sony are teaming up to create a reality show centering on the game. Dubbed Uncharted 3: Race to the Ring, the show will be filmed this October and air before the end of the year on Spike.

The Nintendo 3DS' biggest selling point may be its biggest weakness.

A study unveiled earlier this week at the Variety-sponsored 3D Gaming Summit earlier this week finds that 28 percent of the system's owners feel the use of 3D actually hurts gameplay.

In contrast, just 22 percent feel it helps games, while 13 percent of the owners opting to leave 3D effects turned off all the time. The main pitch point of the 3DS, of course, is the ability to play 3D games in stereoscopic 3D without the need for special glasses.

Users, the study found, simply aren't satisfied with the effects, though awareness about the device is on the rise, passing 60 percent. Most who showed an interest in 3D gaming said they preferred a 3D gaming console, rather than a portable device.

The study, from research firm Interpret LLC, isn't likely to be warmly received at Nintendo headquarters. The company, stung by weak early sales numbers for the system has already reduced its price by $70 and is counting on strong holiday sales to salvage its annual earnings.

Interpret conducted the study in mid-May, talking to over 1,600 adults.

The Full HD 3D Glasses Initiative – a joint effort by Samsung, Panasonic and Sony to adopt a new technology standard for active 3D glasses – continues to attract supporters.

Philips, Sharp, TCL and Toshiba have all announced their support for the program, which hopes to eliminate the specialized glasses currently required for each manufacturer's set.

The schedule for the production of the new standard currently calls for glasses to be on the market next year – and to be compatible with 2011 active 3D sets.

Glasses that are certified using the standard will carry the logo shown to the right. 

The 3DS is slowly fulfilling its destiny as a 3D multimedia device.

Nintendo has rolled out its 3D video service, giving owners of the handheld gaming system another option beyond games. The service will feature clips and videos selected by the game publisher – generally music, comedy, animation and trailers for Hollywood films.

It's pretty generic content now – and there's nothing that showcases the device's potential as a promotional vehicle for studios, but that will change. A music video from OK Go will be delivered July 27 – and a clip from Blue Man Group is on the way as well. And 3D trailers are in the queue as well, though the company didn't specifically name which films would be featured.

3DS owners will need to download a free application from the eShop to access the video. Once they've done this, the app will automatically update whenever there's new material, providing users are in a WiFi zone – even if the system is in sleep mode.

While there are a handful of 3D videos on YouTube already, they're anything but cutting edge.

The only 3D format the service supports is anaglyph - requiring the old-school red and blue glasses to see the effects. That's hardly ideal for studios looking to promote upcoming films or publishers looking to showcase 3D video games. But that's all about to change.

Starting today, YouTube and nVidia have struck an alliance that the online video site will be enabled for nVidia's 3D Vision computer graphics cards. The update will initially be available only to users of Firefox 4, though both organizations are planning to expand beyond that.

A good number of nVidia cards are 3D enabled, but users who want to see the effects need to buy the 3D Vision kit (for $149), which includes a pair of active shutter glasses and a receiver to communicate with those glasses.

YouTube puts active 3D in the big time in online video, but it's not the first site to offer it. nVidia's own 3DvisionLive.com currently offers 100 3D videos and over 5,000 3D pictures. With traffic of just 150,000 visits per month, though, it's a drop in the bucket compared to YouTube. 

The good news is Nintendo has a hit with the 3DS. The bad news is … well, pretty much everything else.

Despite a strong launch for the handheld device, retail software sales were off 16 percent in March, according to The NPD Group, which gathers sales data for the industry. That's a lot more than analysts were expecting to see. (The general consensus on Wall Street was a decline of between 8-10 percent.)

The 3DS sold 400,000 units - that's about 100,000 units short of the mark set by the DS in its first week, but (thanks to a price tag that was $100 higher) still managed to surpass that system in revenue. Additionally, the attach rate for software was higher for the 3DS.

"Pokemon White" and "Pokemon Black" led the sale charts, knocking "Call of Duty: Black Ops" from the top spot after its four month run. Combined, the games set a franchise record, breaking the numbers of 2000's Pokemon Silver and Gold. (The full list of top selling games can be found after the break.)

There was some good news for the industry, though, as NPD has finally completed its estimates of digital income from the industry in 2010 – and it appears it was enough to offset the initial estimate of a 6 percent decline compared to 2009.

"We recently completed our estimate of the total consumer spend on the games industry in the U.S. for 2010 including both physical and digital format sales," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. "We found that increases in some digital forms of content distribution offset the declines in new physical retail sales of software.  2010 saw a consumer spend on games content of $15.9 billion, which was essentially flat (down less than 1/2 of 1 percentage point) to 2009."

3D TV may finally have gotten a universal standard – kind of.

French company Volfoni will showcase ActivEyes, a hybrid active/passive 3D solution at the upcoming National Association of Broadcasters show. The company, which unveiled the product at this year's CES, says it can be used on any 3D screen.

To lessen the weight of the glasses, Volfoni has housed the electronic portions in a small pod that can be clipped to clothing or held in the wearer's hand. The glasses themselves weigh just 1.02 oz.

Rather than using liquid crystal shutter (LCS) tech, the company plans to use electronically controlled birefringence (ECB), which it says boosts visual quality. Volfoni has not yet announced any pricing, but they're expected to go on sale in May.

One other distinguishing factor about the lenses: They can double as sunglasses. On passive mode, their UV protection is ranked class 2, something that can be ratcheted up via the electronic clip.