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In an era where so much hype often turns out to be much ado about nothing, Rockstar Games’ “Grand Theft Auto IV” didn’t disappoint the legions of die-hard fans eagerly awaiting its release. Nor did the fans disappoint Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, when it came to rushing the cash registers with game in hand.

“‘Grand Theft Auto IV’ has surpassed all-time entertainment records for day one and week one sales by dollar value,” Take-Two said in a news release Wednesday. The company said its critically acclaimed video game sold about 6 million units globally with an estimated retail haul of more than $500 million during the first week. Roughly 3.6 million units were sold on opening day alone, bringing in about $310 million in retail value worldwide. “GTA IV’s first week performance represents the largest launch in the history of interactive entertainment, and we believe these retail sales levels surpass any movie or music launch to date,” Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick said.

The game’s opening-day sales even surpassed the much-anticipated debut of Paramount Picture’s “Iron Man”, which brought in a jaw-dropping $104.3 million during its opening weekend at the box office, putting a fairly strong clamp on the debate of whether or not GTA IV would steal ticket sales from Robert Downey Jr. and cast. Though “Iron Man” was able to propel itself to the top of the box office charts, analysts are still questioning whether other video game developers such as THQ Inc. can thrive in the chaos and debauchery left in the wake of “Grand Theft Auto IV”.

“[T]he company (THQ) is banking on “Saints Row 2″, “Red Faction” and “WWE” to carry the growth and profit leverage this year,” Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel said in a note to clients, reiterating a hold rating on the stock. “Even with this lineup, THQ needs to prove its product quality mettle once again despite a few titles industrywide ahead (including “Grand Theft Auto IV” likely still selling during the fall/holiday seasons).”

Lehman Brothers analyst Eric Handler said that he expects a wider install base and multi-platform distribution to drive more than 1 million units sold of THQ’s “Saints Row 2″, although he acknowledged that the game is competing with GTA IV and its average metacritic score of 99 (making it the highest rated video game of all-time). “[T]here remains a loyal fan base for ‘Saints Row’ and the game offers differentiated gameplay and customization options not available in GTA IV,” Handler said. He expects “Saints Row 2″ will be well-received by critics and gamers but not receive perfect scores, as GTA IV did.

It was the poet George Santayana who observed, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” These are wise words to remember Wednesday, as talks between the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) ended without an agreement in principle. Though this doesn’t guarantee that there will be an actor’s strike like the recent Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, an agreement between SAG and AMPTP would’ve eliminated that threat.

BMO Capital Markets, in a research note titled “Ugh!” said that the issues preventing an agreement were related to DVD sales and digital (online) distribution - the same issues that were debated (and decided on) with the WGA and Director’s Guild.

In other words, SAG members are pushing for more money from DVD sales and online distribution than were allotted to the other guilds, and the AMPTP obviously isn’t eager to forfeit any more of its profits than it already agreed to. BMO said that “increased DVD participations are unacceptable” to the studios and that SAG leadership “appears entrenched on non-negotiables.”

What would happen if actors went on strike, other than 100% employment in L.A.’s menial job sector? Well, as in the WGA strike, television programs might have to be suspended until the strike ended (film production wouldn’t be affected for a few months more).

This isn’t necessarily bad for the studios. During the WGA strike, studios coped by showing reruns and relying on “reality” TV shows, which dropped development costs. BMO said that the costs fell faster than shortfalls in advertising or film revenue, “helping improve both short-term and long-term financials.”

Though nothing that this isn’t “an infinite scenario,” the firm said it was powerful enough for the studios to not change the economics of the business by an unreasonable amount.

With this in mind, the studios might be the only one gunning for a repeat of the WGA strike, which lasted from November to February and is estimated to have cost Los Angeles’s economy up to $2.1 billion. Maybe SAG should brush up on its history before condemning everyone to repeat a past where the only beneficiaries will be the opposition.

Wall Street is looking at a slightly lower open Wednesday after a Federal Reserve official said the central bank might need to raise interest rates to curb inflation, but Cisco Systems Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are likely to buck the downtrend following solid quarterly results.

According to spread bettors IG Index, the Dow Jones industrial average is expected to open down about 10 points at 13,011. Separately, S&P 500 futures were off 3 at 1,417.70, while Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 6.50 to 1,992.50.

Wall Street reversed early losses to close higher Tuesday, as investors monitored the movements of record high oil prices but still laid bets that the economy and companies are in recovery mode. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 51.29, or 0.4%, to close at 13,020.83, the Nasdaq composite index climbed 19.19, or 0.78%, to 2,483.31, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 10.77, or 0.77%, to 1,418.26. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.92% from 3.87% late Monday, and oil settled up $1.87 a barrel at $121.84 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

ECONOMIC DATA:

• First-quarter preliminary productivity report, 8:30 a.m. ET, 1.7% estimate
• First-quarter preliminary unit labor costs, 8:30 a.m. ET, 2.6% estimate
• Pending home sales index for March, 10 a.m. ET, 83.8 estimate
• Consumer credit for March, 3 p.m. ET, $6 billion estimate

EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS:

Company                 Symbol    Period     Estimate 

Allergan                 AGN        1Q       $   .52
Cognizant Technology     CTSH       1Q           .33
Devon Energy             DVN        1Q          2.33
Expeditors Intl          EXPD       1Q           .31
Frontier Oil             FTO        1Q           .12
Hospira Inc.             HSP        1Q           .54
Marsh & McLennan         MMC        1Q           .45
Transocean Inc.          RIG        1Q          3.34

AFTER-HOURS ACTION:

After Tuesday’s close of trading, Cisco Systems said profit fell 5% in its fiscal third quarter but beat Wall Street’s expectations. Walt Disney Co. said fiscal second-quarter net profit rose 22%, as theme park revenue rose 11%. Tesoro Corp. posted a bigger-than-expected loss for the first quarter, and Sprint Nextel Corp. and Clearwire Corp. are close to announcing a $12 billion joint venture that plans to roll out fast wireless Internet access, according to a media report.