Preceding a teleconference this morning directed mainly at the financial market Interactive Magic (or I-Magic) announced in a press release that it will acquire The Wargamer, one of the largest content-based sites on the Internet for computer strategy and war games.

　　The acquisition of The Wargamer is just the cornerstone of I-Magic's new Internet strategy, providing online games and game-based content for its gaming network, I-Magic Entertainment Network (IEN). I-Magic plans to acquire other big-name content sites in different game genres and add them to the IEN mix to provide all-around coverage.

　　"We are looking forward to becoming a part of the I-Magic Entertainment Network family,'' said Mario Kroll, The Wargamer's director of operations. "I-Magic has shown a strong dedication to being the best in online gaming, and we are thrilled with this new partnership. We believe The Wargamer will play a significant role in providing Interactive Magic with high quality and candid content, targeted at both hard-core and casual players of war, strategy, and military history games and military simulations."

　　The acquisition is expected to be complete sometime in late June or July. In the meanwhile, I-Magic is trying to convince investors and stockholders that it is building up a winning Internet strategy. The teleconference, also broadcast via RealAudio on the Internet, featured J. W. "Wild Bill" Stealey, I-Magic's CEO, and I-Magic CFO, Mike Oliver.

　　The company fully expects to have five premium (nonbeta) games online by September, including Warbirds, Drakkar, Dawn of Aces, ShockForce, and Competition Golf, and perhaps more than a dozen other more family-oriented games, like Bridge.

　　CEO Stealey also likened his burgeoning IEN's community to the online gaming venue Mpath, and community members numbers neared that of the recently purchased GeoCities (bought by Yahoo) - that is, if you look at the possibilities IEN has with its joint venture with AT&T Worldnet and other online services.

　　CFO Oliver also noted that with the sale of the CD-ROM division to Ubi Soft Entertainment, I-Magic now had the funds (rumored to be roughly US$5 million) to run for another 12 months with the estimated losses associated with the Internet business. Of course, this is not to say that the company will only last another 12 months, but at least on the surface I-Magic appears to want to stick it out for the long haul.

　　However, since the divestiture of the CD-ROM division a few months ago, Stealey has mentioned, almost in passing, that several buyers have approached the company in hopes of purchasing it. Stealey then stated that the company had plans of letting its stock rise somewhat (which currently hangs around at roughly two-and-a-half points) before approaching an "exit strategy" - meaning perhaps Stealey and others are looking for a way out.