This source says that Nintendo's quarterly operating income plunged more than 40%. The forecast for the year was likewise troubling. Nintendo believes its profit may drop 12%. This guidance was worse than expected. We've talked here before about Nintendo perhaps seeing a slowdown in the Wii fad. We've also discussed the issue of currency pressures. According to this article, the problems caused by the yen might be abating somewhat.

You seriously have to be kidding me. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is interested in Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS)? I can't believe what I just read.

Well, to be accurate here, I'm not sure if this is a strong rumor or not. Then again, there has been a lot of speculation over the fate of EA since it has been doing so poorly and since its stock has seen a fall in value the last few years (it should be noted, though, that the stock has been strong the last several months).

But Barron's reports that Apple may want to buy the gaming publisher since it has a lot of cash to utilize for investing. Apparently, Guy Adami of the CNBC show Fast Money said there was some buzz equity surrounding this possibility (it was also mentioned that maybe Apple could purchase Twitter . . . but that's another story!).

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to report third-quarter earnings today after the close of trading. Analysts expect the software giant, whose competitors include IBM (NYSE: IBM), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), to earn 39 cents per share. Let's hope for a beat since Microsoft generated several pennies more per share in the previous year's similar quarter.

I don't feel a lot of confidence about this quarter. I'm sure everyone remembers Q2 back in January of this year. Microsoft released its earnings earlier than expected, but it wasn't to report great news. Instead, the company missed on the bottom line. Plus, management announced some workforce reductions. It wasn't a pleasant sight. The stock sold off, and shareholders felt miserable.

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!

I guess Sony (NYSE: SNE) likes to concentrate on things that have worked. The company recently announced a price cut for its PlayStation 2 system. The old price: $129.99. The new price: $99.99. Yes, the wonderful $99.99 level. It's a number that draws the attention of consumers and practically dares them not to be interested.

You can bet that a lot of casual gamers will be looking to buy the console now. I know what you're thinking: Who the heck doesn't already own a PlayStation 2 by this point? Well, I'm sure there are quite a few people out there who don't have one installed in their living room.

Plus, you have to remember that there will be many parents out there who might want to pick up one of the consoles for their younger kids. Little ones who may just be starting their video-gaming lives. Why waste several hundred dollars on next-generation technology when old-generation technology will suffice for such a demographic?

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.

Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) is one of those stocks that you just want to own but are not sure that you should own. How many times have you heard that the Wii is selling like hotcakes and that the company is beating the heck out of Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360?

You've heard it a lot. Plus, you may even know how fun the Wii is from personal experience. Maybe you own one and are right now trying to finish the last level of Wario Land: Shake It!. And even if you don't own one, chances are one of your friends does.

Boy, I'll tell you, owning Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) has been tough lately. I love the company's prospects. It's got great franchises: Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, World of Warcraft. It's doing better than rivals Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) and THQ (NASDAQ: THQI). But the stock has been hitting a lot of technical resistance. Not only that, but CEO Bobby Kotick recently sold a bunch of shares (over a million, actually).

Well, in terms of that insider sale, we can all relax. Basically, Kotick was exercising options that were set to expire relatively soon, says Barron's. That accounted for one million shares. Now, he did also sell over 240,000 shares that were stored in a trust. The mitigating factor here is that Kotick operates under restrictions as to when he can and cannot sell stock. So, in an overall sense, we can give him a pass on this one. Silicon Alley Insider supports this sentiment, and talks about another insider's sale in similar terms.

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.

Okay, video-game sales stats are out for the month of January. Please tell me there are some exciting changes in the ranking in terms of which gaming console dominated the charts in the U.S. Please tell me that it wasn't the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii -- that would be too boring. Please . . .

Ah, forget about it! There's no suspense to this. We all know that the Wii is number-one yet again. In January, the console moved just under 680,000 units through retail shelves. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) sold over 300,000 Xbox 360 systems, and Sony (NYSE: SNE), once again, came in third place, convincing a little more than 200,000 gamers to take a chance on its more expensive hardware. Believe it or not, it isn't just price that is sending people to the Wii. If it were just price, then the Xbox 360 without the hard drive would be in first place. No, the Wii is turning into one huge entertainment icon.

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.

To say that earnings for THQ (NASDAQ: THQI) were bad is like saying that the United States has a little problem with its banking system. Did you see the publisher's latest report? Net sales on a non-GAAP basis for the third quarter fell substantially to about $357 million. Net loss on an adjusted basis was $0.14 per share. According to this source, the call was for a profit of $0.07 per share. Wow, were the analysts surprised on this one! Of course, can you blame them? I mean, this was the holiday quarter, after all. THQ should have done a little better.

I guess all those Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3s and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360s and Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii consoles sold during the holiday didn't mean a thing for THQ. This publisher is starting to look a lot like the Titanic. I'm not saying it's going to disappear anytime soon, but when you decide to eliminate well over 20% of your workforce and cannot offer any kind of outlook, then you're in trouble.

Nintendo Co., Ltd. (OTC: NTDOY) is having a bad day. The price of its ADRs are down over 11% at the time of this writing. The catalyst? Well, the video-game giant, which has seen a new renaissance the last couple years with the incredible success of the Wii and DS platforms, has lowered its guidance because of currency issues and a belief that sales of the Wii could slow a bit (this article provides the details).

A strong yen is making things a little more difficult. Nintendo now believes it will earn $5.9 billion in terms of operating profit for its full fiscal year. Analysts thought that the company was set to earn a lot more than that. Furthermore, management has become conservative on Wii sales, believing that it will sell 26.5 million consoles instead of 27.5 million consoles (the flip side, though, is that it should sell more DS devices). So, even though Nintendo increased its operating profit by over 20% in the holiday quarter, Wall Street wasn't happy at all with the business.

Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) is simply on fire. Well, the stock might not be exactly, but according to a self-congratulatory press release, the Wii sold 10 million units in the United States in 2008. That, says Nintendo, has never been done before in a single year. The DS handheld system moved 9.95 million units in '08. Sony (NYSE: SNE) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) might as well forget about it. Well, that might be exaggeration, but certainly the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 have found it difficult to attract as many buyers. Here's a great source that lists all the hardware-sales states for '08 and the stats for each console's total sales since release.

It really is amazing to see that Sony has sold only 6.9 million PlayStation 3 consoles over its lifetime in the U.S. while Nintendo has sold more than 17 million Wii players! The question now is, how long can the Nintendo Wii party continue? Oh, I know it'll be strong in '09, and the safe bet is that it'll be number-one again. But from an investor viewpoint, is Nintendo a buy on this news? Has the Wii peaked, in other words? We've got some pretty strong negative-macro headwinds out there. Jobs continue to be lost, consumer confidence is in the abyss, etc. The bad news flow is astounding. Will it affect Nintendo's new year? Well, one interesting product on the way is the Nintendo DSi, which will have two cameras and larger screens. That should propel interest in the Nintendo brand (the release date has not been set, however).