But, I had been looking at various trading ideas and wanted to capture a shorter-term gain for a trading account. The market has been so tough this year. When the recent rally in the indexes started, I didn't want to become part of the group that was desperate to get in on the action, only to expose my portfolio to more risk than necessary. Believe me, when you're afraid of missing a rally, you just might end up with some bad timing.

I was looking around today for a stock to buy. I came up empty-handed. One of my ideas was Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). I was intrigued this week by reports that said the company wants to have the launch to end all launches for the next Call of Duty title. Quite frankly, I think there's a chance the company will succeed with this. So, naturally, my thoughts turned to shares of Activision Blizzard as a possible buy candidate. Although I already own the stock in a longer-term, taxed portfolio, I wanted a trade for my Roth IRA.

Well, I couldn't buy the company. It's up today (3% at the time of this writing), and I do not want to buy any stock when it's up. Not now, at any rate. The market has come too far too fast, in my opinion, and I want to trade carefully. But, while looking at Activision Blizzard, I came across this article from Ben Kuchera over at Ars Technica. He discusses comments made by the publisher's CEO, Bobby Kotick, on Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) and its PlayStation platforms.

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), a video-game publisher that competes with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), reported Q2 results on Tuesday after the bell.

Revenues dipped considerably to roughly $230 million. Last year at this time, Take-Two generated $540 million on the top line. Blame it on a very tough comparison. The publisher was basking in the glory of Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008, so that has to be taken into consideration by investors.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) hasn't been doing as well as its colleague Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI). Indeed, when it comes to the numbers, Activision, which is responsible for franchise hits Guitar Hero and Call of Duty, has its competitor beat.

But EA recently released an exercise system for the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii that was highlighted at CNBC.com. The piece mentions the enormous marketing presence that is supporting EA Sports Active. You get a couple accessories with the software: a leg strap that is used like a controller to interact with the screen, and a resistance band to increase the effectiveness of the workout. Oprah Winfrey's trainer apparently assisted EA with the design.

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is recently trading at $11.25 in pre-open trading, above its close of $11.25. BAC said it had completed a stock sale that raised $13.5 billion in capital. Since May 8, BAC has sold 1.25 billion shares at an average price of $10.77. BAC June option implied volatility is at 89, July is at 92; below its 26-week average of 103 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing movement.

Financial Select Sector (NYSE: XLF) overall volatility at 55; 26-week average is 67.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) has a lot of great franchises. Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft ... these brands are very valuable to shareholders. But there's one franchise in particular that could use a little help in the buzz department. And according to a recent press release from the publisher, that's exactly what it will be getting via a fresh reboot.

The Tony Hawk skateboarding games have been very popular. Unfortunately, you don't hear about the franchise that much anymore (well, I don't, at least). All we hear about is the Guitar Hero series of games. As a shareholder in Activision Blizzard, I'm hoping that this situation will soon change for the better. When Tony Hawk: RIDE is released this fall, it will use a special skateboard controller that will supposedly make the gaming experience completely new and unquestionably exciting.

4Kids Entertainment (NYSE: KDE), a producer of children's content that engages distribution and licensing opportunities, has not been a great stock idea. Although shares of the company have perked up as of late, the longer-term trend hasn't been so encouraging. Let's see if the first-quarter numbers might change your mind.

Well, I don't know about your mind, but my mind so far hasn't been changed. Revenues declined by 32%. There was a net loss of 15 cents per diluted share. Now, granted, that was far better than the net loss last year, which calculated out to 48 cents per diluted share. I give the company credit for narrowing the loss, but something tells me that I don't necessarily want to invest hard-earned money in a business that is based on the fickle nature of a very young target audience.

It's been a busy week for video-game investors. Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) reported earnings on Thursday. Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) also came out with numbers. In addition to those two, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and THQ (NASDAQ: THQI) both published their respective results as well. It's interesting to see how the market has reacted to the stats.

EA successfully scored a beat on the bottom line. On an adjusted basis, EA posted a loss of $0.37 per share. The analyst community thought that a $0.43 per-share loss was possible. Not bad. It was reported that EA has been aggressively cutting costs to improve its situation.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) Q1 results beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) shares surged after the it reported strong Q1 earnings.
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) just missed swinging to a loss due to to hefty investment losses.
• CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) surprised with a net loss in Q1 as revenue and cash flow declined.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) shares fell after it reported disappointing results for the quarter.

Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), a video-game publisher that competes with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), reported some cool first-quarter numbers on Thursday after the bell. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 8 cents per share. According to analysts, Activision Blizzard was only supposed to do around 5 cents per share.

Not only was the bottom line solid, but revenues on an adjusted basis also came in ahead of expectations. And you can thank the usual suspects for powering up the quarter. You've got Call of Duty. You've got Guitar Hero. You've got World of Warcraft. These best-of-breed franchises are selling a lot of copies on Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3, Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360, and Nintendo's (OTC: NTDOY) Wii.

Investors in video-game stocks might end up with a case of a sour stomach after digesting the latest domestic sales figures from research firm NPD. According to Reuters, overall video-game revenues in March dropped 17% on a year-over-year basis. Indeed, it's not something that shareholders of Sony (NYSE: SNE), Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY), or Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) want to see.

Shareholders of Nintendo, however, will be glad to know that their company once again dominated the charts. The Wii sold over 600,000 consoles. Xbox 360 sold over 300,000 units, and PlayStation 3 moved over 200,000 systems. As for the PlayStation 3, well, it's frustrating statistics like these that are causing video-game execs to publicly call on Sony to do something!

GameStop (NYSE: GME) is probably the best friend to gamers who fall somewhere in between the casual and hardcore demographic. That's because CEO Dan DeMatteo has been quoted in reports as being very desirous of a price cut for the Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3. If I read between the lines a bit, I get the feeling as if he almost wants to demand that Sony do something about its high-priced machine.

Thing is, though, he isn't in Sony's corporate shoes. Cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 is an event that I think is sure to come to pass in the next few months, but it's going to be very difficult on the company's bottom line.

GameStop (NYSE: GME) reported earnings for Q4 and the full fiscal year on Thursday. As expected, they were very good. Why shouldn't they be? The country is in love with video games, and systems by Sony (NYSE: SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) are keeping a lot of people from all age groups occupied. Including myself. I just recently completed Resident Evil 5 for the PlayStation 3.

The video-game industry had another good month.

Sales figures for February show that the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii sold the most consoles (like anyone was surprised by that?). Over 750,000 units were purchased, according to statistics from research firm NPD.

The Xbox 360, which is manufactured by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), sold over 390,000 consoles. And then we have poor Sony (NYSE: SNE), which makes the PlayStation 3. That system found a little over 275,000 willing buyers.