Category: News

Categories
Disputes Featured News Video Games WIPO

Take-Two quickly takes control of GTAV.com domain name following complaint

Grand Theft Auto V

Well that was quick.  Just over a week ago, Take-Two filed a domain dispute against the owner of GTAV.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Though decisions can take up to several months to be reached, it appears the previous registrant handed over the name to Take-Two ahead of a ruling.

According to WHOIS records, Rockstar Games has become the new owner of the domain name within the last 24 hours.  And the timing couldn’t have been better for gaming company Rockstar Games, as Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) is due out for release very soon. Here’s a look at the GTAV.com WHOIS record:

WHOIS record for GTAV.com

It’s entirely possible Take-Two shelled out some cash to get the name, but chances are we’ll never know the back story since the complaint will likely end up being officially withdrawn in the next few days.

At the time of this story, the case still shows active on WIPO’s website.

On August 15 August 2013, the first official gameplay video for the multiplayer feature of the game was released.

You can watch the video below to see what all the buzz is about.

(Image of Grand Theft Auto V via RockstarGames.com)

Categories
Featured News Video Games

Ubisoft’s new next-gen IP may be called “Fighter Within”, domains registered [UPDATED]

Fighter Within

Ubisoft: Fighter Within

Video game company Ubisoft appears to be up to something.

Judging by changes to some domain names, the company looks to have registered Fighter-Within.com earlier this week and also secretly registered the name FighterWithinGame.com back in June.  Both names were registered using Go Daddy’s proxy service.

While the proxy service makes the true registrant of the names unknown, both names redirect users to a “Coming Soon” page on ubi.com: http://fighter-within.ubi.com/fighter-within/en-US/

No official announcement has been made by Ubisoft regarding “Fighter Within”, however, Ubisoft recently said it would “share details on a new next-gen IP currently in development” at the upcoming Gamescom which takes place August 21-25.

With less than a week until Gamescom, we should know soon what plans are in store for “Fighter Within”.

UPDATE 1 August 18, 2013: More information has been revealed about “Fighter Within”.  A snapshot of the official website (before it was taken down by Ubisoft) was stored on Google Cache.

Talking about this story: VG247, GameZone, GameSpot, Computerandvideogames.com, Examiner.com, NeoGAF, Playstation LifeStyle, Polygon, Videogamer.com, Eurogamer.it, Game Informer, Jeuxvideo.com, Gameblog, Gamereactor Italia, Multiplayer.it, Gamed and IGN

Categories
Disputes Featured News Video Games WIPO

Take-Two goes after GTAV.com domain name, files dispute with WIPO [UPDATED]

Grand Theft Auto V screen

With the release of the highly-anticipated Grand Theft Auto V fast approaching, Take-Two has been aggressively going after fake beta websites like gta5betacode.com by filing complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Since the beginning of the year, the video game company has filed more than two dozen disputes, and so far, every decision that has been issued by a panel has gone in the company’s favor.

Riding a wave of success, the company has now set its sights on the four-letter domain GTAV.com, which is currently registered to a resident of Spain according to WHOIS records.

Case Number D2013-1382 popped up on WIPO’s website earlier today.

At the time of this posting, GTAV.com redirects users to the official Grand Theft Auto V website located at: http://www.rockstargames.com/V/.

As late as February of this year, however, GTAV.com was a blog centered on the upcoming video game.  According to screenshots.com, the site had been online since March 2012.

Below is a screenshot of the blog from February 2013.

GTAV blog

This dispute may or may not be a win for Take-Two.

The current registrant has had the name since at least 2008 according to WHOIS history.

And as the recent case of WiiU.com shows, it’s no slam dunk.

UPDATE 1 August 16, 2013: Take-Two has taken control of the GTAV.com domain name.

Talking about this story: IGN, Joystiq, VG247, Examiner.com, Computerandvideogames.com, NowGamer, Game Politics, Vandal, PlayNation.de, Latinos Post, GameZone, XGN Entertainment, GamerZona, VR-Zone, JVN.com, Eurogamer, MeriStation, PlayGround.ru, 3DNews, PC Games Hardware, PC Games and Gameblog

(Image of GTA V via RockstarGames.com)

Categories
Featured News Video Games

Take-Two Interactive registers HungoverX.com domain name [UPDATED]

HungoverX

Take-Two appears to have made an interesting domain registration in late July.  On July 25, the video game company registered HungoverX.com, according to WHOIS records.

Though the name was privately registered through Network Solutions, the WHOIS record clearly shows Take-Two.  The information that is marked private is contact information like the email address.

HungoverX.com also switched domain servers to TAKE2GAMES.com in the past 24 hours.

It’s unknown what, if anything, the video game company has planned for Hungover X.

Maybe it’s related to the upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto V.?  It’s just speculation, but in both Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and GTA IV, drinking was an activity.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for HungoverX.com.

HungoverX.com WHOIS

No announcement has been made by Take Two and the domain currently does not resolve to a website.

Take-Two doesn’t seem all that interested in related domains, as the .com was the only name registered at the time of this story being published.

The company will be attending GAMESCOM 2013 later this month.

UPDATE 1 August 6, 2013: HungoverX is a Bureau: XCOM Declassified mini-game, reports Joystiq. The website is now live, having gone online in the past 24 hours.

Talking about this story: Game Informer, Joystiq, Examiner.com, GameSpot, NowGamer, VG247, VGChartz, Blogocio, Eurogamer and PSX Extreme

Categories
Featured Movies News

Disney’s LucasFilm registers ‘Star Wars Attack Squadrons’ domain names [UPDATED]

Star Wars Attack Squadron

Star Wars Attack Squadrons

Disney has gone out and registered domain names for a yet to be announced project called Star Wars Attack Squadrons.

The registrations include names like StarWarsAttackSquadrons.com, SWAttackSquadrons.com, AttackSquadrons.com, and AttackSquadron.us, to name just a few.

Most of the names were registered under LucasFilm through the brand protection agency Corporation Service Company (CSC).

Though it’s unknown whether “Star Wars Attack Squadrons” will be a movie, a theme park ride, or some other product, it’s possible a video game is in the works with the same title.

Earlier this year, Electronic Arts and Disney signed a multi-year agreement for EA to develop Star Wars games.  And it may be nothing more than a coincidence, but EA is the registrant of AttackSquadron.com (WHOIS) and AttackSquadron.net (WHOIS), which do not resolve to a web page.  EA has owned the names for years according to WHOIS historical records.

For now, it will have to remain speculation, though considering the number of domains that were registered, Disney seems very interested in protecting this intellectual property.

Here are just some of the domain registrations made under LucasFilm:

attacksquadron.org (WHOIS)
attacksquadron.us (WHOIS)
attacksquadrons.org (WHOIS)
attacksquadrons.net (WHOIS)
attacksquadrons.us (WHOIS)
attacksquads.org (WHOIS)
attacksquads.net (WHOIS)
attacksquads.us (WHOIS)
starwarsattacksquadrons.org (WHOIS)
starwarsattacksquadrons.net (WHOIS)
starwarsattacksquadrons.us (WHOIS)
starwarssquad.org (WHOIS)
starwarssquad.net (WHOIS)
starwarssquad.us (WHOIS)
starwarssquadrons.org (WHOIS)
starwarssquadrons.net (WHOIS)
starwarssquadrons.us (WHOIS)
starwarssquads.org (WHOIS)
starwarssquads.us (WHOIS)
swattacksquadron.org (WHOIS)
swattacksquadron.us (WHOIS)
swattacksquadrons.org (WHOIS)
swattacksquadrons.net (WHOIS)
swattacksquadrons.us (WHOIS)

The above list is not an exhaustive list.  The same names also appear to have been registered in the .biz and .co.uk extensions.

The names were all registered on July 26, 2013, but none resolve to a web page at the time of this story.

In the past 24 hours, they were moved over from CSC’s domain servers to Disney’s.

Disney has yet to announce anything official.

UPDATE 1 August 16, 2013: So far, nothing has surfaced at this point to explain Disney’s plans behind “Star Wars Attack Squadrons”, but there has been a new development. The domain names, AttackSquadron.com and AttackSquadron.net, which EA has owned for years, changed registrants to CSC Corporate Domains, Inc. in the past 24 hours and were moved to Disney’s DNS servers on dig.com.  You can look at the WHOIS records here and here to learn more.

Talking about this story: Game Informer, Joystiq, IGN, The Escapist, Computerandvideogames.com, 411mania.com, Digital Spy, ZoKnowsGaming, games.on.net, ScreenCrush, Game Rant, Metro, PCGamesN, PC Gamer, Gameranx, tweakers.net, GameZone, gamona.de, GameSpot, JeuxVideo.com, Comicsblog.fr, NeoGAF, VG247, ComingSoon.net, NZGamer.com, Comic Book Movie, Superherohype.com, SPONG, iDigitalTimes, Xbox 360: The Official Xbox Magazine, Eurogamer.net, Game Revolution, Playstation Lifestyle, GameStar, Multiplayer.it, PlayFrance, Play3-Live, play3.de, Softpedia, Screw Attack, playm.de, FOK!, Gamereactor Sverige, PC Games, All Games Beta, Hardcore Gamer, EGMNOW and Vandal