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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.

Categories
News Video Games

Square Enix files “Solo Remix” trademark

Solo Remix

According to a recent trademark filed by Square Enix, it looks like you may be able to remix your own music from Square Enix games like Final Fantasy XIII, soon.

The game publisher submitted trademark applications, which cover a wide variety of goods and services, both in Europe (Application number: 010823672 – .PDF) and the United States (Serial Number: 85611715) for “Solo Remix”.

The European trademark filing offers more details about the upcoming product.  And it appears Solo Remix may be more than just an app that involves music.

Computer game software; video game software; sound
recordings in the form of optical discs, magnetic discs, semiconductor ROMs featuring
music and/or fictional stories; audio visual recordings in the form of optical discs,
magnetic discs, semiconductor ROMs featuring music and/or animated fictional stories;
prerecorded compact discs featuring music; prerecorded video discs featuring music
and/or animated fictional stories; prerecorded video cassettes featuring music and/or
animated fictional stories; decorative magnets; mouse pads; straps for cellular phones;
sunglasses; blank memory cards; memory card cases; CD cases; computer keyboards;
joysticks; downloadable wallpapers for computers and/or mobile phones; downloadable
screensavers for computers and/or mobile phones; downloadable video recordings;
downloadable musical sound recordings; downloadable ring tones for mobile phones;
electronic publications in the field of computer games, video games, cartoons and/or
general entertainment.

Computer game strategy guidebooks; video game strategy
guidebooks; books featuring fictional and/or fantasy stories; graphic art books; song
books; musical score books; comic books; magazines featuring video games and/or
cartoons; posters; stickers; paper banners; calendars; postcards; stationery; collectors’
cards; trading cards; photographs.

Providing amusement facilities; amusement arcades;
providing on-line computer games; providing on-line video games; providing information
on computer game strategies and/or video game strategies via computer networks and/
or global communication networks; providing information on entertainment in the field
of computer games, video games, card games, animated cartoons, comics, novels
and/or magazines; providing on-line non-downloadable comics; providing on-line nondownloadable
magazines in the field of computer games, video games, cartoons and/or
general entertainment.

Square Enix has been diving into music lately.

In April, it unveiled a free streaming music service that offers music for such games and franchises as Xenogears, Drakengard, Final Fantasy XIII, Sengoku IXA, SaGA and El Shaddai.

This July, Square Enix releases its first rhythm game called Theatrhythm Final Fantasy.

Categories
Movies News

Domain registrations reveal Lucasfilm is working on “Star Wars 1313” project

Boba Fett movie

Star Wars 1313

UPDATE 2: May 6, 2012 @ 7:42 PM Est:. Star Wars 1313 now looks less likely related to a new film.  Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd. has filed a trademark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for “Star Wars 1313″.  The filing hints that a new video game will be released.

ORIGINAL STORY:. Last July, talk of a film featuring Boba Fett was making the rounds on the internet after Screen Rant interviewed director Joe Johnston who said he was trying to get George Lucas to make a movie based on the Star Wars bounty hunter.

Though nothing was ever confirmed, Lucasfilm is hinting at a new project called Star Wars: 1313, according to several domain names registered on May 2, 2012, through the brand protection agency Corporation Service Company.  The registrations I spotted include names like StarWars1313.com (Whois) and SW1313.com (Whois).

It’s unknown at this time, what Lucasfilm has in store for Star Wars: 1313.

The company hasn’t officially announced anything at this point, but has registered eight domains in total including: 1313starwars.com, 1313starwars.net, 1313sw.com, 1313sw.net, starwars1313.com, starwars1313.net, sw1313.com, and sw1313.net.

I’m only speculating that Star Wars: 1313 is the Boba Fett movie.

The only thing I have dug up so far on the significance of “1313” in the Star Wars universe, is that CT-1313 was once an alias used by Boba Fett on Aargau when he was confronted by a clone trooper.

UPDATE 1 at 3:37PM EST:.  In addition to the eight domain names I spotted earlier, Lucasfilm registered the same names in a number of different extensions.  The following names were also registered on the same day:

1313starwars.de
1313starwars.co.uk
1313starwars.fr
1313sw.de
1313sw.co.uk
1313sw.fr
starwars1313.de
starwars1313.co.uk
starwars1313.fr
sw1313.de
sw1313.co.uk
sw1313.fr

Talking about this story:  @geoffkeighley, MTV, Boomtron.com, Ars Technica, Entertainment Weekly, Tweakers.net, Moviehole, G4TV, Tiscali, Gamerfront, Shacknews and WhatCulture!

Categories
News Video Games

Guardians of Middle Earth game domain names registered [UPDATED]

Guardians of Middle Earth game

In March 2012, Middle-earth Enterprises (a division of The Saul Zaentz Company), registered domain names hinting at a “Legends of Middle Earth” game.  Those domain names were publicly registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Now, this week, a handful of domains have been privately registered through MarkMonitor that indicate a game by a different title may be in the works: Guardians of Middle Earth.

On May 1, guardiansofmiddleearth.com (Whois), guardiansofmiddleearthgame.com (Whois), guardiansofmiddle-earth.com (Whois), and guardiansofmiddle-earthgame.com (Whois), were all registered.  Given that Middle-earth Enterprises is a known-client of MarkMonitor, it’s safe to say that the company is behind the registrations.

At the time of this story, none of the domain names resolve to a web page nor has there been any official announcement about a “Guardians of Middle Earth” game.

The Hobbit, an upcoming film based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel, is set to be released in December 2012.

[UPDATED May 30, 2012:. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment revealed Guardians of Middle-earth, a multiplayer online battle arena game set to be released in the fall 2012.]

(Image of The Lord of the Rings Online)

Categories
News Technology

Apple registers iPhone4N.com domain?

iPhone 4N

Update 1 at 5:24AM EST:. After I posted this story, MacRumors pointed out that the iPhone4N.com Whois record raises questions as to whether Apple is really behind the registration.  First, the registrar used was Go Daddy, not MarkMonitor (Apple’s usual choice).  Guess we’ll have to wait and see if anything official is announced.

Original Story: Apple released the iPhone 4 in 2010 and the iPhone 4S in 2011.  Now, all the talk is about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 5.  But Apple did make an interesting domain name purchase this week: iPhone4N.com.

According to Whois records, Apple registered the domain on May 1, 2012.

It’s unknown why the company registered the domain name.

It may be nothing more than a defensive tactic to protect its intellectual property, except, a number of iPhone 4 variations like iPhone4Q.com and iPhone4W.com are still available for anyone to register at the time of this story.

Apple already owns the domains iPhone.com, iPhone4.com and iPhone4S.com.  Apple got its hands on iPhone4S.com after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization.  Back in July 2011, Apple acquired iPhone4.com for an unknown amount of money.  The company acquired the domain iPhone.com for an undisclosed amount in 2007.  It’s rumored Apple paid over $1 million to acquire the name.

Talking about this story: BillHartzer.com

(Image of iPhone 4S via Apple.com)