Of course, THQ is not alone in its troubles. Even the great Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) is having a lot of problems. But THQ has to get serious about producing a killer slate. It needs to go beyond its licensed titles and create some excitement around novel ideas, especially for the Wii. Now, management does want to do this, but it has to try harder. As an example, a game called de Blob was supposed to be a big hit for the Wii, there were high hopes for it. The press release says that 700,000 units were shipped. I have no idea what internal expectations were for the game, and I'm sure THQ execs would say that they're more than satisfied with the performance of the title, but as far as I'm concerned, with all the Wii units out there, this one should have cracked the one-million-unit level in terms of shipments.

THQ is in one heck of a pickle. It can't spend any money, but to make incredible games, you've got to spend money. Lots of it. Development costs don't come cheap. What a conundrum! THQ's stock closed off almost 18% today on enormous volume. No, it isn't a buy. And I'll tell you this, I'm starting to get a little nervous about Activision Blizzard's (NASDAQ: ATVI) prospects for its own earnings report, which the publisher will deliver next week. That stock is up today so far, though, so maybe that indicates that things will be all right (I hope so, I own shares in the publisher!). We'll see what happens.

Disclosure: I own Activision Blizzard; positions can change without notice.