Up and Down With Video Game Stocks

So the Dow Jones pancaked yesterday, dropping a record 778 points, or just shy of 7 percent, while the NASDAQ composite index took an over 9 percent spill, down nearly 200 points, after the House scuttled a $700 billion bailout plan. Stocks are "surging" in early trading today after Monday's practically vertical sell-off, but even the games industry couldn't sidestep the sting of yesterday's tumble.

- Electronic Arts Inc. fell $2.76 -- 7 percent -- to $36.87, after recovering from a 52-week low of $36.60 earlier.

- Activision Blizzard Inc. fell $1.88 -- 11 percent -- to $14.50

- Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. fell $1.07 -- 6.6 percent -- to $15.09.

- THQ fell 90 cents -- 7.3 percent -- to $11.45.

- Gamestop Corp. fell $2.13 -- 5.9 percent -- to $34.03.

Those stocks are all up in midday trading so far today: Activision Blizzard's at $14.57, Take-Two's at $16.10, THQ's at $11.72, and Gamestop's at $34.66. Like just about any business that isn't a bank at the moment, the games industry is basically healthy and solvent, and I'm not hearing anything particularly doom-and-gloomsy coming from any of the key prognosticators.

Even if we finally slip into a full-blown recession, I think we're still looking at a bumper year for gaming, though it's almost certainly going to be a lower final figure than it might have been had this been put off into 2009 or sidestepped altogether. "Consumer confidence" is almost preposterously resilient, but only so bulletproof.

Makes you a trifle nervous about 2009, though, doesn't it.

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