Viacom, media empire and owner of MTV has apparently purchased gamers favourite chat program, Xfire for $102 million, interesting indeed. It will be interesting to see whether more aggressive advertising scares people away from using Xfire, it wouldn't surprise me totally to be honest.

NEW YORK and MENLO PARK, CA, April 24, 2006 – Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Xfire, Inc., the fastest-growing online gaming community in the world, for $102 million in cash.

The acquisition brings Viacom and its MTV Networks unit the premier community that connects online gamers. Xfire and its users fit squarely into the Company's multiplatform strategy to build an engaging universe of music, gaming, entertainment, news, networking and interactivity for focused audiences. As part of MTV Networks, Xfire will be better able to maximize its advertising revenues through more aggressive marketing, greater global penetration and comprehensive integration with the Company's other digital and cable properties that address the gaming demographic.

Launched in 2004, Xfire has four million registered members who use its software. Its one million active users average 91 hours per month, with an average session length of over three hours. The robust, ad-supported Xfire application supports hundreds of the latest PC games and provides social networking, instant messaging and information for online gamers. In addition, the Xfire application provides traffic to its popular website, featuring forums and gaming downloads