Fair or not, Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) has a reputation for a shallow pipeline of shareholder-enhancing software. It is known simply as the Grand Theft Auto publisher. There's more to Take-Two, of course. There are sports titles, for example. There's BioShock. How about the big hit for the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii, Carnival Games? What about Borderlands?

That's all well and good, but if you look at the company's latest earnings report, you'll have no choice but to conclude that the one-game reputation is firmly intact.

Take-Two's top line plummeted 68% during the fiscal third quarter. Net loss on an adjusted basis came to 66 cents per share. There was a huge profit of 93 cents per share in the year-ago period, driven by the fourth edition of Grand Theft Auto. Not a great comparison. At least the performance was a little better than expectations. According to Earnings.com, Wall Street was calling for a loss of around 68 cents per share.

Oh, I am so depressed! I was thinking of buying Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) for an earnings trade, but unfortunately never got around to it. Those who did are pretty happy. The publisher released second-quarter results on Wednesday after the bell, and investors bid the stock over 10% higher today.

Adjusted revenues came in at a little over $800 million. Management's previous guidance called for $775 million to be booked. Adjusted earnings were 8 cents per share, 2 cents ahead of company expectations. According to Reuters, this was a penny better than what the actual analysts were forecasting.

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), a video-game publisher that competes with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), issued Q1 stats after the bell on Tuesday. Things are looking up for the company famous for its Madden brand of football software. Adjusted revenues increased over 30%, and the loss on the bottom line narrowed to 2 cents per share from a loss of 42 cents per share in the year-ago period.

The profit performance beat Wall Street's expectations, as Alex Salkever reports over at DailyFinance. You can check out his article to get the highlights of the quarter and a perspective on the current state of the video-game industry, which includes console makers Sony (NYSE: SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY).

THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), a video-game software publisher that competes with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), and my personal favorite, Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), lost well over 6% of its market value during Tuesday's after-hours trading session. The culprit catalyst? First-quarter earnings.

I was a bit surprised by the sell-off at first. After all, sales increased over 77%, and earnings per share on an adjusted basis came in at 10 cents versus a loss of 38 cents one year ago. That sounds awesome on the surface, as does the fact that Reuters says the market was actually expecting a loss of 6 cents per share!

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

• American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, lifting shares.
• AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) posted a better-than-expected Q3 profit said it will continue to buy back shares.
• Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) reported lower Q2 earnings and also announced 1,100 layoffs.
• Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) higher Q1 earnings topped estimates even though same-store sales fell.
• BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: BMR) earnings prospects after the recent capital raise led to a downgrade.

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.

After the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the earnings spotlight turns to Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) are all scheduled to report their second-quarter results.

While banks north of the border of generally have held up better than their U.S. counterparts, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the four listed above to report that earnings declined between 20% and 30% since the same period of last year. All four have P/E ratios around 10, and they are paying dividends. Shares of all four have surged 50% to 83% in the past three months, but are still 26% to 38% lower than a year ago.

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.

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), a video-game company that competes with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), and THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), delivered some good news in its first-quarter report. The company reported a loss of $0.52 per share on an adjusted basis. I know, a loss is a loss and is never a good thing, but at least it was better than analyst expectations. According to this source, Wall Street was figuring on a loss of $0.73 per share.

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 earnings for the fourth quarter on Wednesday after the bell. The company did well during the holiday-selling season, in my opinion. According to this source, adjusted quarterly earnings of 31 cents per share beat estimates by two pennies. Non-GAAP sales of $2.3 billion also beat analyst expectations.

However, the market decided to sell the stock in the after-hours session after the earnings were released because of what was perceived to be a poor outlook for the next fiscal year (as I was writing this piece, the shares were off by about 4%). Analysts were hoping that 2009 would bring 67 cents per share on an adjusted basis, but Activision Blizzard's management team thinks 61 cents per share is more likely.

This post is part of a special annual report -- Top Stock Picks '09 -- in which TheStockAdvisors.com asked 75 leading newsletter advisors to select their favorite investment for the new year.

"The video game industry provides the best entertainment value per dollar and has generally been considered a recession resistant industry," says Asif Suria.

In his SINLetter, the advisor looks to the newly combined game maker Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) as his top investment idea for the coming year.

"October video game retail sales increased 18% year-over-year and software sales jumped a whopping 35% to $696.8 million. November proved to be another good month with both overall and software sales up 10% and 11% respectively.

"However looking at the stock of industry leader Electronics Arts, which has lost more than 70% since the start of this year, this hardly seems to be case. Competitor Take-Two Interactive fared a little better but still lost more than half its value over the same time period.

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), a video-game company that competes with Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), hit a 52-week low on Monday. When I saw that the stock hit this level, I immediately began thinking about buying it. But, I must admit, it seems a little scary to be buying in now.

The reason I'm hesitant is that the magic of Grand Theft Auto IV has essentially come and gone. You know how it's fun and inspiring to buy Marvel (NYSE: MVL) ahead of some big movie releases? Trades like that don't always work out, but at least you feel a little more confident about owning the stock.

Then there's the recent earnings report from Take-Two. The publisher disappointed investors, as Zac Bissonnette observed. The numbers weren't great, and you have to wonder how much interest the institutions on Wall Street will have in a company that not only might be susceptible to the slowdown in consumer spending, but which has already used up its major ace.

I'm still bullish on Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), which competes with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), among others. For now. I qualify my stance because, I have to admit, my confidence has been shaken. Although I recently wrote a positive piece about the publisher's prospects, there's some word that the company's two major franchises may not have sold as well as expected during the holidays.

Two analysts have cut their price targets on the company's stock, and the stock has hit technical trouble. Indeed, if you own shares of Activision Blizzard, you've noticed the recent deterioration in the stock's momentum. The problem is that sales of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty may have been affected by the bad economy. Although they undoubtedly sold very well, they may not have rocked enough to justify the company's multiple. Now, the business is certainly a great longer-term play (at least until the current video-game cycle starts to wane), and the World of Warcraft online asset should be an incredible growth driver going forward, but on the short term, I have to say that traders need to be cautious. I see a bit more downside to the stock before it possibly recovers, which, at this time, I think it will.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

Take-Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) Grand Theft Auto IV has made a lot of money. It's been the recent driving force for the software publisher's fortunes. And the Grand Theft Auto franchise is the reason why Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) made a bid for the company earlier in the year (that transaction was never ultimately consummated).

But there's something of a sad story behind the glitz and glamor of the game. According to The New York Times, an actor named Michael Hollick, who played a character named Niko Bellic in the fourth Grand Theft Auto, received a small pittance in compensation when compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that Take-Two took home for itself. Did Hollick earn only $2 million? $1 million? Did he only make $500,000?

Try $100,000. That's all Hollick grossed for himself and his major role in the incredibly successful game title! The Times article says that Hollick supplied his voice and motion-capture assets to the software, and he worked for about 15 months on the project. Can you believe that? No residuals, royalties, or anything else that begins with an r. Take-Two simply paid him a set fee and did not allow him to participate in any of the gross dollars captured by the mature-rated juggernaut.