Marvel's X-citing Games

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Marvel Entertainment (NYSE: MVL) is heading into the holiday season with a couple of cool video games courtesy of its fellow Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS).

Activision is releasing X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, while Electronic Arts is giving us Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. The Activision title features the famous mutants teaming up with the Brotherhood to fend off an ultimate evil. (Come to think of it, when is evil ever not ultimate in these games?) Electronic Arts' offering has Marvel stalwarts like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and the Thing squaring off against a squad of villains newly created for the game. Both games are available for the three major console systems and will eventually find their way to Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PSP device. The Imperfects title will also see a version on Nintendo's DS later on.

These games should produce some nice green for all the companies involved, but I am interested in the Activision X-Men Legends sequel in particular. That's because next summer, Marvel and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) plan to release X-Men 3; the superhero sequel is currently scheduled to debut near the end of May. For all intents and purposes, the promotion of that film gets an early start when all the console gamers plug this disc into their systems. By the time they've defeated their last digital enemy, players may be ready to see the film, and May will be here faster than we realize.

It certainly can't come soon enough for those who are suffering through the ups and downs of Marvel's stock. It's worth noting again that patience is a virtue when holding this investment. In fact, you can easily use the volatility to your advantage; just make sure you always have some cash on the side, ready to buy on the dips. With a stock like Marvel, that might be a Foolish decision. Averaging in ahead of the company's multi-year slate of films -- which will include Nicolas Cage as Ghost Rider next year and the next Spider-Man in 2007 -- will probably make stockholders happy in the long run.

Activision and Electronic Arts know that the keys to their success as publishers lie in procuring valuable licenses. They have one in Marvel, and hopefully they will do well with these two titles. Meanwhile, Marvel Entertainment will prosper over the long term as it mines its major character groups. Either way, I'm sure there will be plenty more video games to come.

My Marvel Take-sense is tingling:

• Will Licensing Doom Marvel?
• Microsoft, Marvel Got Game
• Marvel's New Identity

Give rise to your thoughts at the Marvel Entertainment's discussion board.

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Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns shares of Marvel Entertainment. The Fool has a disclosure policy