AOL announced on Wednesday that it would acquire leading independent video game publication Gamedaily for an undisclosed amount.

The New York-based division of Time Warner announced today that it would purchase Gamedaily, from Gigex LLC. Gamedaily is one of the top three most visited video gaming information destinations on the Web.

"Video game sites have become a valuable resource for advertisers wishing to reach the young male audience, and GameDaily is a brand that resonates with these highly sought after consumers, said Ralph Rivera, Vice President and General Manager, AOL Games. "We look forward to continuing to serve this audience, maximizing GameDaily content with AOL's community features, and further expanding the AOL Games community.'

GameDaily is AOL's fourth announced acquisition of 2006, following the acquisition of Userplane last week, Lightningcast, Inc. in May, and Truveo, Inc. in January. Other recent corporate acquisitions by AOL include Music Now, LLC, Weblogs, Inc., Xdrive, Inc. and Wildseed, Ltd., which were all acquired in 2005.

"Video games are now a vital piece of the entertainment landscape along with music, video and online communities,' said Mark Friedler, CEO, Gigex, Inc. We're thrilled to combine our experience delivering top-notch consumer content and leading business news with AOL's tremendous reach to provide a new level of innovative entertainment content to online consumers everywhere.

The acquisition would mean that the AOL Video Games editorial team would be integrated into the GameDaily editorial staff. Additionally, certain GameDaily content partnership agreements will be transitioned to AOL.

Time Warner