As the Holiday shopping season kicks into high gear, buying gaming stocks like Take-Two Interactive (TTWO: NASDAQ) just makes sense. Its new Bully game (released to the masses last week) is already flying off the shelves as one of the season’s biggest blockbusters.

But quietly flying under radar is an $87 million company that could see plenty of buying interest on a much-anticipated November 7, 2006 game release.

Here’s why you should be excited…

Movie box office receipts have dropped about $500 million in a year. CD sales are in a downtrend across the country. And television networks are struggling to attract viewers with so-so lineups. But thanks to a little “divine intervention,” one segment of the entertainment industry is booming — Christian entertainment.

Quite honestly, I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it. But Christian entertainment is on fire. Coast to coast, movies, books, music and television programming is catering to 225 million Christians starving for family-friendly, religious-themed products.

Unbelievably, within this segment of the market, there sits a market virtually untouched by Christian consumers. It’s a multi-billion gaming market that could take off in the next few weeks, and could quickly launch an $87 million company called Left Behind Games (LFBG.OB: OTC BB).

What’s all the excitement about? Ask the 70 million consumers that bought into a series of Tim LaHaye’s and Jerry B. Jenkins’ Left Behind, a book series centering on Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus, now being turned into a much-anticipated computer game.

It may not sound as exciting as the rough streets of the Grand Theft Auto series, but it’s sure to attract heavy buying interest amongst 70 million fans. In Eternal Forces, based on the first few books of the series, Hell has broken loose and billions of people have disappeared from Earth.

That’s where you come in and command the Tribulation Forces and battle the Antichrist, who now heads the United Nations (so real), across 500 New York City blocks. Your mission: Recruit members of New York’s population for the side of God, and win over agnostics and non-believers of New York City…or kill them as the game commands, before or after they’re pulled to the dark side of evil.

Controversy be Thy Name

When the word “controversy” is raised among gaming circles, you’d expect for Take-Two Interactive’s subsidiary, RockStar Games, to take center stage, not Left Behind.

But sure enough…

Just like other controversial games, there are the critics, who in this case argue that it will promote religious intolerance because the game is about killing those who have a lack of faith. And there’s fear that radical Muslims will view the game as a crusade against other faiths.

Everyone’s entitled to his opinion. We’re not here to take sides, though. We’re here to make you money… and lots of it.

But what is appealing for fans, however, is the fact that the Left Behind game has no sexual content, blood, decapitation, severed limbs, or vulgar language.

Let’s remember Left Behind has already sold more than 70 million copies of its book series. And of the millions of consumers that bought the book series, 72% of them play video games. Let’s assume that the 72% represented 10 million consumers. Ten million consumers multiplied by $50 a game is $500 million in revenue for an $87 million company.

Better yet, the company won’t just release one video game. With expected blockbuster sales of this one, expect to see numerous follow-ups. And be sure that demo copies are being spread throughout churches, camps and youth groups from coast to coast. The buying momentum will be huge.

And Corporate America would be foolish not to want a piece of the Christian consumer market.

The Christian book market is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion. The Christian music market has become an industry powerhouse, selling 43 million albums in the United States in 2004. As a whole, the video game industry is only expected to grow…and fast. In fact, estimates are that the video games market could be worth more than $55 billion by 2008 from the $22 billion reported in 2003.

Wal-Mart, for one, is smart enough to know from selling about 550 Christian music titles and more than 1,200 Christian-themed books.

Like the wild success of the Christian music market, there’s now hope for a similar boom in Christian gaming. Games, like N’Lightning’s Catechumen has sold more than 80,000 copies since 2001. Ominous Horizons sold more than 50,000.

The market is so hot that companies like Crave Entertainment, in 2005, went from selling World Championship Poker to The Bible Game, where players answer questions on biblical scenes from David and Goliath to Noah’s Ark.

The current video game industry is worth about $12 billion… Christian video game sales tap only 1% of that market right now… And Christian video game sales are expected to explode over the next two years.

Better yet, this stock ran despite negative criticism. Chuck Jaffe, for one, called Left Behind the Stupid Investment of the Week on September 8, 2006. It’s just too bad for him (and his readers that missed an opportune buy) that the stock, then trading at a low of $3.65, now trades above $5.

I expect further upside from the Christian entertainment-buying consumers before and during the Holiday shopping rush.

Good Investing,
Ian
October 24, 2006

P.S.: Retire With Millions… If Granny had given you this for your birthday instead of that $100 savings bond, you’d have been able to put yourself through college without borrowing a penny… Owned your house free and clear by age 30… And retired a decade early with millions to spare…

Penny Sleuth Contributor

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