The 3DS will be available in the U.S. on March 27 for a competitively priced $249.99. The handheld game player’s big selling point is that it offers 3-D without the need for special glasses. The device will come in Cosmo Black or Aqua Blue. Prices will vary outside the U.S.

At an event today in New York, Nintendo revealed more of the device’s capabilities, and many of them sound like features found on the iPhone and many other smartphones.

Apple’s ability to turn its MP3 players and phones into portable gaming devices has been a competitive threat to Nintendo, which with the 3DS release looks like it is willing to recognize.

For example, the new 3DS has an online store, called the eShop, where users will be able to download games. It also has three cameras and a built-in gyro, so the device can be tilted and turned to affect game play. It will also have location-based features, where users can elect to receive new content from Nintendo or other 3DS users as they travel around. The feature can connect to Wi-Fi hotspots when in sleep mode to collect this content or to function as a pedometer, which counts a user’s steps.

Additionally, users can take pictures with the camera, or listen to music and surf the Web on an Internet browser, which will come soon in a system upgrade. Users will also be able to play with one another by exchanging a simple code. About 30 games are expected to be available by June for the device.

It’s some of these more nuanced features that could make the device more competitive, but it’s the 3-D interactivity that Nintendo is really pushing, and so far consumers have not gravitated to 3-D as a reason to upgrade a TV, so it’s unclear whether it will be a draw for the 3DS.

Nintendo’s enthusiasm for 3-D also suffered a blow when it issued a warning that it is not healthy for kids under the age of 6 to view 3-D images. Nintendo says the impact from that should be minimal because the 3-D effect can be ratcheted up or down, and even turned off completely.

Here’s a really fun video of Ustream’s top 10 live moments of 2010.

The most-watched stream was, no surprise, the rescue of the Chilean miners, but Justin Bieber and Kayne West also scored.

The winners on the live video platform include, in descending order:

10. Disneyland’s “World of Color” Live
9. Golden Globe Awards Red Carpet Live
8. Ochocinco’s Live Date
7. Taylor Swift’s Exclusive Album Announcement
6. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” Premiere Live
5. Kanye West’s First Ustream
4. Justin Bieber on AMAs Backstage Live
3. Snoop Dogg’s Live Mafia Wars Stunt
2. Paul McCartney’s Live Chat With Fans
1. Live Chilean Miner Rescue

Enjoy:

Asked specifically about a prior commitment to launch Spotify in the U.S. before the end of the year, Ek blamed the complexities of working with U.S. recording labels. “It’s a business problem and a product problem at the same time.”

He said he remains hopeful about launching in the U.S. “We are definitely going to do the U.S., you’ll see. I’m here today….I can’t commit to a specific date.”

Ek said Spotify has about 750,000 customers in Europe who pay an average of 10 euros per month.

Asked if Spotify is raising money in order to perhaps put more on the table in negotiations with music labels, Ek said the company is not raising money right now. “But we won’t rule it out.”

If the ship date was to be April 3, why didn’t Jobs say so at the January event?

Obviously, it’s impossible to say. Though it’s certainly interesting that Jobs couldn’t offer a hard ship date for a major product that was just two months out.

Does this mean Apple (AAPL) may have run into a bit of an iPad manufacturing hiccup after all? I suppose it’s possible. Cannaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek, who first reported alleged production issues with the iPad, certainly thinks so.

“In our previous note we discussed that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production,” Misek wrote in a research note to clients this morning. “We also suggested that there is a possibility that the launch will be delayed by a month due to a limited number of units available.”

Updating his assessment, the analyst notes, “According to today’s announcement, iPad is delayed by a week in the U.S. and by a month for some international markets. We believe the delay was caused by an unspecified production problem at the iPad’s manufacturer as we indicated earlier this week.”

Or perhaps this is simply about Apple’s level of visibility into its supply chain. After all, you’d think if there really had been production issues with the device, we would have been looking at delays of far longer than just a few days.

Either way, it’s really not of consequence to the company in any material sense. At $218.50, Apple shares are up nearly four percent on news of the April ship date. Obviously, Wall Street doesn’t care whether the iPad is late or not. And in the end, does it really even matter?

UPDATE: John Gruber has some interesting thoughts on all this over at Daring Fireball.

And if the OS should fail to meet that quality bar and its release date slips? Well, hey, Vista taught us that lunar new year is the new Christmas, right? As Brad Goldberg, general manager with Microsoft’s Windows Client Product Management team, said in 2006, when the company revealed that Windows Vista wouldn’t hit the consumer market in 2006, but in January 2007: “January has emerged as almost a second Christmas, with gift cards, sales, etc. It’s a new trend.”

And if the OS should fail to meet that quality bar and its release date slips? Well, hey, Vista taught us that lunar new year is the new Christmas, right? As Brad Goldberg, general manager with Microsoft’s Windows Client Product Management team, said in 2006, when the company revealed that Windows Vista wouldn’t hit the consumer market in 2006, but in January 2007: “January has emerged as almost a second Christmas, with gift cards, sales, etc. It’s a new trend.”