News Corp (NYSE: NWS)'s MySpace is getting into the online game business in the hopes of attracting and keeping more users. The largest social networking website will announce a deal with online game company Oberon, which provides games to a number of large web properties including Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO).

According to The Wall Street Journal, "the companies plan to incorporate features into the MySpace games area that allow users to socialize by inviting friends to participate in multiplayer games and to chat while they are playing." This kind of online activity is much smaller than playing games on video consoles, but it is growing more quickly.

What appears to be happening here is that MySpace is beginning to turn itself into a portal not terribly different from Yahoo! or MSN. It already offers video and music services. It also has instant messaging and other communications features like a partnership with Skype.

The movement into the portal space is smart. The bear case on social networks is that it is hard to pin down the activities and demographics of their audiences, making marketing on the sites difficult. Offering services that provide magnets which draw MySpace users to one activity makes it easier for advertisers to push messages to those users based on their behavior.

Being a portal may not be the business that it used to be. But it still appears to be better than being a social network, at least from an advertiser's viewpoint.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor of 247wallst.com

The9 (NASDAQ: NCTY) implied volatility elevated into 8/29 EPS.

NCTY, an online game operator headquartered in Shanghai, is recently down $0.10 to $38.65. NCTY is expected to report EPS on 8/29/07. NCTY has a market cap of $996 million. NCTY September option implied volatility of 79 is above its 26-week average of 59 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Shanda Interactive (NASDAQ: SNDA) September implied volatility elevated into EPS.

SNDA, an interactive entertainment media company and operator of on line games in China, is recently up $1.56 to $30.68. SNDA has a market cap of $2.2 billion. SNDA is expected to report second quarter EPS on 8/28. SNDA September option implied volatility of 70 is above its 26-week average of 46 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

NetEase (NASDAQ: NTES) implied volatility of 43 above 26-week average of 36.

NTES, an interactive online community in China, is recently down .10 to $16.33. NTES over all option implied volatility of 43 is above its 26-week average of 36 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

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

Thousands of football fans and video game junkies will flock to stores tomorrow to buy the latest-and-greatest version of Madden, the indisputable leading brand in football video games. In the first week of sales, the game should sell at least 2 million copies.

From all of this Madden madness which should rise in coming weeks, there are two potential ways to make money: Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Circuit City Stores (NASDAQ: CC).

Electronic Arts is the creator and owner of the Madden brand. Understandably, the success of the newest Madden in coming weeks should be directly correlated to the news flow for the stock. The company's third and fourth quarters should be incredible, not only attributable to Madden but also from the company's other popular games. The issue then becomes: is all of this priced into the stock? The answer to that question could go either way. While the stock is up about 10% so far in August, bulls in the stock argue that analyst estimates for the upcoming quarters remain low.

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) is a creepy company in a lot of ways: extremely violent video games, scandals over hidden nudity, accounting and options investigations, and constant management turnover.

Now we can add another item to the list. Take-Two's All-Pro Football 2K8 features O.J. Simpson as one of 240 former NFL legends. A judge has ordered Simpson to hand over any money that he makes from the licensing deal to the Goldman family to satisfy the civil judgment they received in a wrongful death suit.

It's obvious that the judge did the right thing, although it seems unlikely that there was that much money involved. Simpson is hopefully not enough of a selling point to draw a huge amount of money for his likeness in a video game.

But why would Take-Two management want as putrid a person as O.J. in a game? Can a game featuring someone who was found liable for 2 deaths really be rated "E for Everyone"?

Take-Two has never had any problem with acting in poor taste, and that trend continues.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the efforts of some comic book publishers to reach out and attract female readers. Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) DC Comics and Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) are among the industry leaders looking to find growth by targeting the 50% of the population that's been overlooked by publishers for decades. They're finding great success with sales of manga, a Japanese genre of animation.

The strategy of targeting women is brilliant, and very similar to what Nintendo has done with Wii, allowing it to thrash Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 in the video game wars. While video games are wildly popular, it's still a relatively small percentage of the population that plays them fanatically. For years, game makers have been targeting that hardcore group and making little in the way of progress in attracting new gamers. With Wii, Nintendo essentially told Sony, "You can have those hardcore, graphics-obsessed video game geeks" and focused on developing a product that would have massive appeal, especially to those who probably wouldn't even consider buying a PlayStation.

Rather than battling Sony for market share with the the small fraction of game buyers, Wii went and expanded the market, bringing in new gamers. They kill Sony, essentially by not competing with them directly. It's a great strategy, and it will probably lead to great growth for the comic book industry as well.