It's a tough trading and investing environment out there. But you've got to hang equally as tough and start processing as many stocks that are at or near 52-week lows as you can. Sure, you might be early, but then again, who can predict with any certainty where the market is heading? I know I can't.

Electronic Arts (ERTS) is not my favorite video-game company. That honor goes to Activision Blizzard (ATVI). Nevertheless, here's something of note: it closed Monday's session at $15.36. This after hitting a new 52-week low of $15.34 during intraday activities. Volume was about average.

You honestly have to wonder what Sumner Redstone, the chairman of both Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and CBS (NYSE: CBS), thinks about Midway Games (NYSE: MWY). The guy has a huge investment in the struggling software publisher. He owns something like 87% of the company's shares. He controls Midway. I mean, does he look at the performance of this business? Does it make him angry? Confused?

Anyway, Midway reported earnings for the second quarter earlier in the week, and as usual, they weren't the stuff of Wall Street dreams (see more earnings news), Revenues declined 26% to $23.4 million. The publisher lost $0.29 per diluted share on an adjusted basis. Last year at this time the loss was $0.12 per diluted share on an adjusted basis. That's horrible. For Q3, management expects an adjusted loss of $0.27 per diluted share. Midway is excited about its upcoming Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe title, to be released in time for the holidays. I'm not excited. Will the game be enough to propel the stock, which closed on Wednesday at a bargain price of $2.66, higher? I use the phrase "bargain price" sarcastically, of course.

I've often wondered about the Midway dilemma. What can this company possibly do to improve itself? Should Redstone order management to look for better synergies between it and the Viacom/CBS content library and/or platforms? Midway has worked with MTV before on promoting a few titles. It's too bad that Midway doesn't have access to some of the popular characters of the Nickelodeon channel. THQ (NASDAQ: THQI) currently has that license. I'd have to believe that good ole SpongeBob SquarePants would have helped things out.

Viacom (NYSE: VIA) is due to report Q2 earnings on Tuesday, July 29, after the market closes. What will be in store for the media company and fierce competitor of Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), Sony (NYSE: SNE), and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)? According to data at Zacks.com, the company may report something in the vicinity of $0.61 per share, which would be good for 12% growth on the bottom line. Viacom has a reasonable chance of beating the estimate, based on past history.

There will be a few key elements that investors will be looking at. One product that has been a driving factor for Viacom's success is, believe it or not, a video game. Rock Band, which competes against Activision Blizzard's (NASDAQ: ATVID) Guitar Hero titles, has been a boon for the company, and the MTV segment specifically. The game, which is distributed by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), will have a sequel coming out this fall, and I hope management enlightens Wall Street about how it feels it will do against Activision Blizzard's new iteration of its own musical-gaming system and how it plans to promote it. Will there be any special synergies between MTV and the sequel? Watch for data on the number of song downloads that Rock Band is fueling.

When I took a look at Viacom's last earnings report, I found that the media-networks division was doing great business. Its operating income had jumped 15%. The media segment, which includes the valuable MTV Networks, should do well again in Q2, and I would expect something close to this kind of growth rate. However, I would be watching for signs from management that the economy may be affecting advertising. Going forward, this will be the challenge for MTV, Nickelodeon, etc. And speaking of Nickelodeon, are there any initiatives on the board to counteract the incredible growth that the Disney Channel has seen thanks to properties such as Hannah Montana? Investors should listen to the conference call for information about marketing plans and new shows, as well as merchandising schemes for the upcoming holiday season.

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

• Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVID) sees strong Q1 results driven by Guitar Hero.
• Allegheny Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ATI) raised its Q2 earnings guidance ahead of its report.
• Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) strong Q4 and full-year results included a record quarterly revenue.
• Citigroup (NYSE: C) posted better-than-expected results despite a big loss on further write-downs.
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) reported better-than-expected results and offered a soft outlook (see transcript).
• Fastenal Co. (NASDAQ: FAST) posted strong Q2 earnings despite the housing slump but lower revenues.
• Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) posted strong Q2 results on expansion in Mexico and China.
• Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) beat Q2 expectations despite profit and revenue declines.
• International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) easily topped Wall Street earnings expectations.
• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) beat Q2 estimates and raised its full-year forecast (see transcript).
• Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) warned of lower Q2 earnings due to energy and distribution costs.
• Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER) reported worse-than-expected Q2 results on further write downs.
• Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) earnings surged but investors were put off by its full-year guidance.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reaffirmed its guidance following the Kimberly-Clark warnings.
• United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) beat Q2 estimates, lifting shares from a recent 52-week low.
• ValueClick Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) posted weak results and warned about the second half of the year.

For more highlights from this week, see: Google, Intel, JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Nokia and others

The earnings crunch continues next week. Among companies scheduled to report are Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Texas Intruments (NYSE: TXN), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Wachovia (NYSE: WB), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Hershey (NYSE: HSY), and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVID) reported preliminary Q1 earnings earlier in the week, and from a shareholder's perspective, they were great. These results are for Activision itself, and do not take into account the effect of the merger with Vivendi Games.

OK, consider the following. Management had previously thought that Q1 would see revenues of about $500 million. The game publisher should actually deliver around $650 million on the top line. And in terms of earnings per diluted share, Activision should do at least $0.16. Previously, the call was for $0.04 per diluted share. Activision obliterated its own projections, and one has to wonder when the momentum is going to stop.

I hope it never does, of course, since I own shares of the company. Competitors such as Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and THQ (NASDAQ: THQI) are doing everything they can to keep up. Their stocks certainly aren't near 52-week highs, and in the case of EA, a takeover of Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) seems to be the biggest priority in terms of counteracting the Activision Blizzard juggernaut. Now, in terms of drivers for the quarter, Activision benefited from Guitar Hero and, believe it or not, a game based on DreamWorks Animation's (NYSE: DWA) Kung Fu Panda. In fact, the Panda title was mentioned first in terms of drivers. This shows that, even though Activision has some awesome intellectual properties of its own, it still knows how to derive value from investments in licensed properties.

Sorry, Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), but your problems just got worse. According to a Wall Street Journal (subscription required) piece, sources say that Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) intends on executing a price reduction for its Xbox 360 unit that is packaged with a 20-gigabyte hard drive. It now costs $349. The new price will be $299 sometime soon.

This is not good at all for the PlayStation 3 system. It's expensive, it isn't as popular, and it would be very difficult for Sony to answer this move by Microsoft with a price reduction of its own. Gamers can get the PlayStation 3 for as low as $399, but that's a far cry from $299 in an economy that is tanking thanks to energy costs and financial-sector issues. The negative wealth effect is on, my friends, and it's only going to get worse. I recently wrote about Sony and how the company has lost a ton of money with PlayStation 3. Since the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 are considered equals in the minds of many not-so-hardcore gamers, the price reduction is going to have an effect. Of course, where does this leave Nintendo Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) and its popular Wii console? Well, the Wii should be fine for now. People who buy the Wii are usually more casual in terms of gaming, so the Xbox 360 price cut most likely will hurt Sony. However, when there is eventual parity between the price of a Wii and the price of a high-end system, then Nintendo probably will see some sort of effect.

Where does this leave investors? Well, for my money, I think it leaves a best-of-breed publisher like Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVID) in a great spot. A higher number of Xbox 360s in homes means more opportunities to sell Guitar Hero units. As for Sony and its stock, investors should avoid it, in my opinion.

Disclosure: I own Activision Blizzard; positions can change at any time.

Just as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) releases its new iPhone 3G to consumers today, the deal for Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVID) has been finalized and rumors emerged that the combined game maker could create a digital music store to service its series of Guitar Hero games and challenge iTunes. The Financial Times reported Thursday that the company has a new service in the works as part of a "natural evolution" of the series and looks at Guitar Hero to become a "credible alternative to iTunes" via a majority ownership by Vivendi, which also owns the Universal Music Group.

The development of an online music store from the makers of Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft would be a profitable development for music publishers and investors, since downloadable content rakes in more money than simply offering music on game discs, according to a follow-up by Billboard on Friday. Part of this is due to continued spin-off games, especially the Guitar Hero franchise which saw Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and Guitar Hero: On Tour released in June. The fourth game in the main series is also due this fall and a Metallica-based game for next year.

Unfortunately, while any new music based digital store might offer a viable and intriguing challenge to Apple's iTunes Store, to date it still remains the industry leader despite previous attempts to dethrone it. No matter how much the music industry and other retailers dislike iTunes and Apple's hold on music and other downloadable media, the company still manages to maintain positive consumer relationships. This was made obvious today by the commotion over the new iPhone, which saw another price drop and technological advance.

Activision closed on its transaction with Vivendi Games Thursday and officially became Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVID), according to an article at SmartMoney.com. And I am pretty excited at the prospects for the new business (I am a shareholder). It's going to be a tough competitor against Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO). (Of course, the latter two might merge at some point.)

Activision is riding high with its Guitar Hero franchise, and Vivendi Games brings an incredible asset to the table in the form of online gaming sensation World of Warcraft. I can't say I know much about World of Warcraft the game itself, but I know it has a huge following. What else do I need to know, right? For 2009, management at Activision Blizzard expects pro-forma operating income of over $1 billion and perhaps $1.20 or more in terms of earnings per share. That puts the stock, which rose over 5% on Thursday and closed with a price of $31.77 per share, with a P/E ratio a little over 26. That isn't too bad a valuation considering the growth potential. And when the holiday season comes around, I'm sure people will still be buying the publisher's software for gifts, recession or not. Whether it's the Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3, the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360, or the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii, gamers will be buying the company's products for these platforms in droves.

The stock has retreated from the highs it reached back in June when I wrote about it, but I am still bullish on the thesis here. Activision Blizzard should do really well, but with the markets in turmoil, you can probably wait for a pullback before buying.

Disclosure: I own Activision Blizzard; positions can change at any time.