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News Video Games

Microsoft registers HaloExchange.com, UNSCExchange.com domain names

Halo Exchange

If domain names are any indication of Microsoft’s plans for its biggest Xbox franchise, the company may be opening some type of new store with the launch of Halo 4.

On October 17, Microsoft registered the names HaloExchange.com (Whois), HaloExchange.net (Whois), HaloWaypointStore.com (Whois), HaloWaypointstore.net (Whois), UNSCExchange.com (Whois), and UNSCExchange.net (Whois) through the brand protection company MarkMonitor.

While it could be nothing more than Microsoft protecting its Halo brand, the registration of both the dotcom and dotnet may signal bigger plans.

In the U.S. military, the term “Base Exchange” is a common name for a type of retail store, originally akin to trading posts.

At the time of this story being published, the domain names redirect visitors to Bing.

Categories
News Video Games

Sequel to be called Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare according to domains

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

It looks like the folks at PopCap Games have settled on a title to Plants vs. Zombies 2, due out in the Spring of 2013.

The company has registered a slew of domain names like GardenWarfare.net, PlantsvsZombiesGardenWarfare.com, and PvZGardenWarfare.com.

In August, PopCap Games officially announced Plants vs. Zombies 2 in a press release, but revealed no details about the game’s name.

While the title seems more than fitting, oddly enough, a Twitter user suggested the name to @PopCap back in June.  However, it’s unknown whether the company took the advice or already had plans for the title.

Here’s a look at the full list of registrations:

http://whois.domaintools.com/gardenwarfare.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/gardenwarfare.org
http://whois.domaintools.com/plantsvszombiesgardenwarfare.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/plantsvszombiesgardenwarfare.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/plantsvszombiesgardenwarfare.org
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgardenwarfare.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgardenwarfare.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgardenwarfare.org
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgw.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgw.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/pvzgw.org

All of the domains were registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor on October 16.

At the time of this story, nothing official has been put out by PopCap, or its owner Electronic Arts.

Currently, none of the domains resolve to a web page.

Talking about this story: IGN, NowGamer and Shack News

Categories
News Technology

KindleMother.com? Amazon secretly registers family member domain names

KindleMother.com

KindleChild.com, KindleFather.com, KindleMother.com, KindlePreteen.com – those are just a handful of the names that Amazon privately registered this week through the registrar Go Daddy.

All of the names were registered to Domains By Proxy, Go Daddy’s private registration service, but with a little sleuthing it was quite easy to reveal the company owner behind the domains as Amazon.

Dozens of domain names centered on “family” were registered, but the company is remaining hush-hush on its plans for them.

The names could point to new content for the Kindle devices, as they were all registered a day after Amazon’s General Counsel took control of KindlePublications.com (Whois).

Revealing Amazon as the owner was simple.  By typing the domain and e-mail address “[email protected]” into Go Daddy’s online account retrieval system, you can quickly confirm Amazon as the owner, since Go Daddy shows a message stating, “An email with the requested information has been sent”, when you fill in all the fields correctly.

Go Daddy Account Assistance

It’s the same technique I used to see that Amazon bought KindleFireHD.com.

In many cases, Amazon registered the Spanish and English versions of the same name, such as KindleMadre.com and KindleMother.com.

Below is a bigger list of the names privately registered by Amazon.  It includes many, but not all of the names, which appear to have been registered on October 12, 2012, according to Whois records.

http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlebambini.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlebambino.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlechild.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindledad.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindledads.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleenfant.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefamilies.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefather.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlefathers.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleinfant.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleinfants.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemadre.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemadres.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemommies.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemommy.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemother.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemothers.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemum.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlemums.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlenino.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleninos.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepadre.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepadres.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepapa.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepreteen.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindlepreteens.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/kindleteen.com

At the time of this story, all of the names direct users to a Go Daddy parked page.

(Image of Kindle Fire via Amazon.com)

Categories
News Video Games

Blizzard Entertainment registers WarcraftBattles.com domain name

WarcraftBattles.com domain name

While it may be nothing more than a defensive registration to protect its Warcraft brand, Blizzard Entertainment this week registered the domain WarcraftBattles.com.

The name had at one time been registered to a Massachusetts man back in 2007, but it expired in 2009 and became available again, according to Whois historical records.

Blizzard registered WarcraftBattles.com (Whois) on October 10, 2012, two weeks after the company’s release of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria on September 25, 2012 and only days after hackers hit World of Warcraft resulting in a massive amount of virtual deaths.

It is not known whether the company has plans for Warcraft: Battles yet.

At the time of this story, the domain does not resolve to a web page.

Talking about this story: Kotaku Australia

Categories
Disputes Video Games WIPO

Florida man wanted $200,000 for ‘League of Legends Porn’ dot-com domain name

League of Legends

In late September, a decision was handed down by the World Intellectual Property Organization in a domain complaint brought by Riot Games against the owner of LeagueofLegendsPorn.com.

As reported earlier in the week, the ruling went in favor of Riot Games (the complainant), and as a result, Florida man Michael Brown (the respondent) was ordered by a single-member panel to transfer the name.

Now details of the WIPO decision have been published online, including an exchange between both parties in which Brown asked for a “transfer” fee of USD 200,000.00.

When Brown first responded to the complaint, he stated he had no intentions of doing anything with www.leagueoflegendsporn.com and that he had “forgot” that he had registered the name.  He even said he would gladly hand it over, but when it came time to transfer the name, he wanted a huge cash payout.

Here’s a look at the details of the “back and forth” that Riot Games contends took place, as provided by WIPO:

In February 2012, Respondent registered the disputed domain name.

On or about February 21, 2012, Complainant became aware that Respondent had registered the disputed domain name, which fully incorporates Complainant’s LEAGUE OF LEGENDS mark.

The website associated with the disputed domain name does not host or display any content or provide any services to the public. Instead, it consists of a graphic with the words “Future home of something quite cool” and an invitation for visitors to “please check back soon.”

Upon learning of Respondent’s registration, on March 14,2012, Complainant sent a letter to Respondent. The letter demanded that Respondent immediately discontinue use of the disputed domain name and Complainant’s LEAGUE OF LEGENDS mark, or any variation thereof, and requested that Respondent transfer the disputed domain name to Complainant.

On March 19, 2012, Respondent responded to Complainant, stating that he has “no intentions of doing anything with www.leagueoflegendsporn.com” and that he had “forgot” that he had registered the disputed domain name. Respondent assured Complainant that “the domain name will not be used nor will I use the League of Legends name in any way.” Respondent added that if Complainant needed the disputed domain name, he “will gladly hand it over” and asked for instructions on how to transfer it.

Complainant responded on the same date requiring the transfer of the disputed domain name, and providing instructions on how to do so.

On March 20, 2012, Respondent sent an email Complainant inquiring about “financial compensation” that he would be offered for complying with Complainant’s request.

Complainant responded on April 30, 2012, offering to reimburse Respondent for the cost of registering the disputed domain name.

On May 14, 2012, Respondent rejected the offer stating that it is “simply not enough… the traffic that can be drawn to this website with the millions of league fans is worth too much” and asked for a “significant offer” for the disputed domain name.

On May 16, 2012, Complainant offered to pay USD 250.00 for the disputed domain name in the interests of avoiding legal expenses and time. The next day, Respondent rejected the offer, stating that the website “is predicted to bring in an unrivaled amount of traffic and will be highly competitive in search engines” and asked for a “transfer” fee of USD 200,000.00 based on his “traffic estimates.”

Full details of the leagueoflegendsporn.com decision can be found online at WIPO.

As of today, the name is still registered to Brown according to Whois records.

(Image of Season One Championship via LeagueofLegends.com)