As I previewed a few days ago, consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) released quarterly results yesterday to very decent fanfare. BBY shares are up over 1% today but they dropped 2.5% yesterday in response to the earnings. This is despite the quarterly results showing the retailer to be in very good shape, all things considered, posting an 18% jump in fourth-quarter profit. The Street, meanwhile, yawned. Apparently, a good impression takes more -- much more -- than that.

Best Buy earned $763 million ($1.55 EPS) for the fourth quarter, up from $644 million ($1.29 EPS) for the year-ago period, while beating consensus estimates by 3 cents per share. Revenue topped out for the quarter at $12.9 billion while same-store sales crept up steadily to 5.9%.

Best Buy seems to be making all the right moves recently as it entrenches itself as the largest and most profitable consumer electronics chain in the U.S. (and outside of it), by entering the services market in a much larger way than it has in the past with the Speakeasy purchase. Meanwhile, competitors Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) and CompUSA are floundering pretty badly. It's not too easy to see who the winner is here, yes?

In an attempt to capture the nation's gaming madness with all these game console releases this season, online retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will launch the Nintendo Wii game console this Sunday. Brick-n-mortar retailers launch the highly anticipated console on Sunday as well. This brings up a hearty question: will Amazon.com lose sales since it won't be able to give "immediate gratification" to consumers looking for the new game console?

For some, Circuit City Stores (NYSE:CC), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) -- among others -- will be a mecca come this Sunday. Hordes of gaming fans will try to be first in line to snag one of the new gaming consoles. With the Sony Playstation 3's pricing being quite a bit more than the Nintendo Wii, there are ardent fans of both who will have purchase rationalizations that are miles long in each camp.

But for those who want a Wii for gift giving during the holiday season, Amazon.com will most likely be the store of choice when the game console is launched this weekend. Who would rather get out and wade through all the muck of retail on the weekend before Black Friday when a few clicks can get you the same product -- with free shipping and no sales tax in most cases -- from Amazon.com? The online e-tailer is betting many will choose it over the madness, store traffic and holiday shopping congestion.