Categories
Movies News Video Games

Topps domain registrations hint at MechWarrior movie finally being made

MechWarrior movie

The Topps Company made some interesting domain name purchases this week that hint toward a MechWarrior movie.  On May 7, 2012, Topps registered movie-related names for several properties like BattleTechmovie.com, MechWarriormovie.com, Shadowrunmovie.com, and more.  In total, the company picked up nearly a dozen domains through the brand protection firm Corporation Service Company.

The last time there was talk of a MechWarrior movie was back in 2009, when a trusted source told Joystiq that a MechWarrior film was “in development”.

At one point in time, MechWarriormovie.com was home to a petition that pushed for Hollywood to greenlight a MechWarrior/BattleTech film.  You can see the web page here, courtesy of screenshots.com.

Here’s a full list of domain names acquired by Topps this week:

battletechmovie.com
battletechthemovie.com
garbagepailkidstv.com
garbagepailmovie.com
gpkmovie.com
mechwarriormovie.com
mechwarriorthemovie.com
shadrowrunmovie.com
shadrowrunthemovie.com
thegarbagepailmovie.com
thegargagepailkidsmovie.com

As of today, there has been no official announcement regarding an upcoming MechWarrior/BattleTech movie.

(Image of upcoming action game MechWarrior Online)

Categories
News

Lucasfilm Entertainment files “Star Wars 1313” video game trademark [UPDATED]

Star Wars 1313

UPDATE 1 May 31, 2012: Lucasarts has unveiled the Star Wars 1313 website (screenshot above).  Starwars1313.com now re-directs visitors to www.lucasarts.com/games/1313/.  The official Facebook page can be found on www.facebook.com/StarWars1313. While there is nothing more than an image on the home page, more will be revealed at E3.  But according to a video interview, the game is about bounty hunters as I first speculated when I reported about the domain name registrations and trademark filing.

***

ORIGINAL STORY: Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. has filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85613835) with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “Star Wars 1313”.

The filing covers a variety of goods and services including interactive entertainment software, books, toy action figures, online social networking services, and interactive video games.

After I spotted over a dozen registrations earlier this week for Star Wars 1313 domains like StarWars1313.com, I had speculated the project could be related to a potential Boba Fett movie.  It wasn’t a strong argument and was based on the fact that CT-1313 was once an alias used by Boba Fett and last summer director Joe Johnston said he was trying to get George Lucas to make a movie featuring the bounty hunter.

While “Star Wars 1313” now looks less likely related to a new film, apart from the trademark application filed on May 1, 2012, not much else is known including which platforms the game will be available on.

The goods and services listed are similar to previous video game trademark filings by Lucasfilm.

Below are details from the trademark application which appeared on the USPTO website today.

Interactive entertainment software and accompanying instruction manuals sold as a unit, namely, computer game software and manuals sold as a unit, video game software and manuals sold as a unit; video game software, computer game software, and pre-recorded compact discs and DVDs featuring games, films, animation, music, computer game software, and video game software; downloadable video game software and downloadable computer game software; computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones

Books containing puzzles and games; calendars; children’s books; children’s books combined with toys and sold as a unit; comic books; comic magazines; gift books in the field of video games; graphic novels; printed instructional manuals and strategy guides in the field of computer games; magazines in the field of entertainment; markers; non-electronic personal planners and organizers; notebooks; novels for juveniles; pencil cases; pencil sharpeners; pencils; pens; personal organizers; postcards; posters; puzzle books; series of fiction books; sticker albums; sticker books; stickers; temporary tattoos; trading cards; animation cels; lithographic prints; original works of art created from paper; photographic prints; printed art reproductions

Toy action figures; accessories for use with toy action figures; action type target games; balloons; bath toys; board games; card games; cases for action figures; cases for play accessories for action figure, model vehicles and model space craft; connecting links for toy building blocks; construction toys; costume masks; costume masks for dolls; dolls; rubber hi bounce balls; jigsaw puzzles; paper face masks; parlor games; play sets for toy model vehicles, toy model space craft; plush toys; protective pads and padding for skateboarding; role-playing games; toy model space crafts and related accessories sold as units; three-dimensional puzzles; toy action figures; toy building blocks; toy candy dispensers; toy candy holders, namely, plastic candy dispenser designed as a toy; toy coin banks; toy model hobby craft kits for making model spacecraft, model cars and model vehicles; toy model vehicles and related accessories sold as a units; toy modeling dough kits and accessories for use therewith sold as units; toy remote control vehicles, namely, airplanes, spacecraft, boats; toy scooters; toy snow globes; toy vehicles; toy weapons; toy model vehicles and accessories therefore sold as a unit; water squirting toys; wind-up toys; yo-yos; collectible card games; collectible miniature board games, and toy helmets

Entertainment services provided on-line by means of global and local area networks, namely, providing interactive computer games and interactive video games, all on-line by means of global and local area networks; providing news and information in the field of entertainment relating to interactive computer game software and interactive video game software over an electronic network; fan club services

Online social networking services

As of today, Lucasfilm has yet to announce anything official.

Talking about this story: G4TV, Kotaku, Game Informer, Gamespot, Joystiq, IncGamers, The Escapist, Gameranx, Neoseeker, Gamed, NeoGAFGamereactor Sverige, Tweakers.net, Ubergizmo, Game Rant, Ars Technica, Lazygamer and Buffed.de

(Image of Darth Maul from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace)

Categories
News Technology

Amazon acquires KindleVoice.com, Siri-like functionality closer to release?

Kindle Voice

Amazon buys domain names on a regular basis, so it’s no surprise to see the company acquiring the domain name kindlevoice.com.

The name recently expired and Amazon’s legal department scooped it up.  While it may be nothing more than a defensive move, it may also signal that Amazon could be closer to releasing its own version of Apple’s Siri.

Last November, Amazon purchased the Charlotte voice-to-text startup called Yap, which created a lot of buzz among tech sites that speculated Amazon would eventually release voice recognition technology for its Kindle devices.

Apple’s Siri still isn’t fully available on its iPad tablets.  The new iPad was the first tablet to officially have limited Siri technology, but only the voice dictation software.

(Image of Kindle Fire via Amazon.com)

Categories
News Video Games

Avengers: Battle for Earth video game headed to consoles [UPDATED]

Avengers: Battle for Earth

The Avengers video game looks to have a title — Avengers: Battle for Earth.

On May 3, 2012, a day before the film was released in the United States, the domain name avengersbattleforearth.com (Whois) was registered through the brand protection company MarkMonitor.

The name was registered by Marvel Characters, Inc. and is currently listed on Ubisoft’s nameservers: nic1.ubisoft.com and nic2.ubisoft.com.

While there has been speculation the game may have been delayed, cancelled, or simply couldn’t work, the newest domain registration hints that it may be officially announced soon.

[UPDATED May 10, 2012:. Ubisoft officially announced “Battle for Earth” in a deal with Marvel Entertainment, LLC. According to the press release, “This game will be released this fall for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft with Kinect™ for Xbox360 and Nintendo’s Wii™ U™ system.”]

Talking about this story: Joystiq, Forbes, Kotaku, /Film, Comic Book Movie, Game Rant, Just Push Start, Comic Book Resources, Game Informer, Complex.com (blog), Side Mission, io9, Shogun Gamer, Attack of the Fanboy, Digital Trends, MCV, Computerandvideogames.com, Kotaku Australia, OnlineWelten.com, Neoseeker, Neogaf, ZoKnowsGaming, Playstation Lifestyle, games.on.net, Gamespot, HardGamers, VideogameszoneGamesaktuell.de, gamona.degry-online.pl, gram.plJudão and All Games Beta

Categories
Movies News

Sony Pictures looks to have acquired rights to Turok film according to domains

Turok the movie

Back in March, Deadline reported Sony Pictures closed a deal to acquire Bloodshot, the Valiant Comics series.

Now it looks Sony Pictures has landed another deal for a comic book character that once appeared in Valiant Comics: Turok.

On May 3, 2012, Sony Pictures registered domain names hinting at the movie like Turokthemovie.com (Whois).

Here’s a look at the full list of domain names:

turok-movie.com
turok-movie.net
turok-themovie.com
turok-themovie.net
turokthemovie.com
turokthemovie.net

Turok has a long publishing history, going back to the 1950s when he first appeared in Four Color Comics #596.

At the time of this story, Sony Pictures hasn’t officially announced anything regarding a Turok film.