Is it time for game industry investors to take a vacation?

　　With suggestions surfacing from at least two highly-regarded financial camps that the videogame industry is either saturated with hardware, as a recent U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray report suggested, or that declines in software sales are "discouraging," as a report out this week from J.P. Morgan stated, investors might be well-advised to reevaluate their investment strategies.

　　Yesterday, two industry players were hammered on the street. Take-Two and Activision each shed value after a J. P. Morgan analyst voiced opinion on the overall strength of the marketplace. The Wall Street Journal reported that J.P. Morgan analyst Dean Gianoukos stated in a report that "October industry software and hardware data [are] somewhat discouraging as the industry has witnessed five months in a row of sluggish software sales and six consecutive months of slowing hardware unit sales."

　　Yesterday, Take-Two traded at a price of $32.75, down $3.35, or 9.3 percent (on more than twice its normal volume). Electronic Arts, which recently effected a stock split, traded off 4.3 percent to close at $46.38; THQ dropped 3.8 percent and traded at $16.99; and Activision slipped 3.3 percent to $14.80.

　　Today at presstime, THQ had lost an additional 59 cents, or 3.3 percent, and Activision was off 75 cents, or 4.9 percent.

　　Atari, on the other hand, predicted a strong Q4 for itself. So much so, that it bumped the release of three titles to next year. In a statement today, Wim Stocks, executive vice president of sales and marketing, said, "This is shaping up to be a very solid holiday season for us. Retail orders for Atari’s products are strong, and for a number of titles have actually already been increased." He added, "Our highly favorable retail relationships, combined with solid consumer sales, position Atari for one of its most dynamic holiday seasons ever.”

　　Atari shares were up slightly today on that news.