Category: Video Games

Blizzard Entertainment registers the domain name ProjectBlackstone.com [UPDATED]

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 30, 2012
4 Comments on Blizzard Entertainment registers the domain name ProjectBlackstone.com [UPDATED]

Blizzard Entertainment has had quite a bit of activity lately on the domain front. Earlier this month the company filed a complaint against the owner of HeroesofWarcraft.com. Then this week, Blizzard registered the name ProjectBlackstone.com (WHOIS).

ProjectBlackstone.com was at one time registered to a resident of Texas, but expired in early 2011 and wasn’t renewed by its original owner.

On November 26, 2012, Blizzard registered the name, as you can see from details of the WHOIS record.

It’s unknown what Project Blackstone is destined to be. At the time of this story, the name doesn’t resolve to a web page.

UPDATE 1 February 6, 2013 – A new teaser site on Battle.Net is teasing narrative elements for the campaign of Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm. (Project Blackstone via Gamenguide)

Talking about this story: Gamespy.com, MMO-Champion, Buffed.de, PC Gamer Magazine, Game Revolution, Side Mission, Blue’s News, Shacknews, Video Game Writers, Escapist Magazine, Joystiq, Softpedia, The Force Feed, Massively, Game Informer, Gameplorer.de, JeuxOnline, games.on.net, Ubergizmo, VG247, Bayoubuzz, gamona.de, GameSpot.com, Jeux Video.fr, IncGamers, playNATION.de, IGN, FZ, ZAM News, Reddit gamernews, Inquisitr, GameBreaker.tv and Strategy Informer

Tags Blizzard Entertainment, featured, Project Blackstone, Project Titan

Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Warcraft IV? Blizzard Entertainment files complaint over HeroesofWarcraft.com

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 19, 2012
7 Comments on Warcraft IV? Blizzard Entertainment files complaint over HeroesofWarcraft.com

Over the past year, Blizzard Entertainment has made a number of domain acquisitions including StarCraft.com, nearly 15 years after the game’s first release. The company also registered the name WarcraftBattles.com just last month for unknown reasons.

Now, Blizzard Entertainment is attempting to acquire the domain HeroesofWarcraft.com, only instead of having to pay what may be a lot of money demanded by its current owner, the company has filed a complaint (Case No. 1470639) with the National Arbitration Forum in hopes of the name being ordered transferred to their control.

Will “Heroes of Warcraft” be the title of the next Warcraft?

According to WHOIS records, HeroesofWarcraft.com is currently registered to a resident of the United Kingdom. Originally hidden behind Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy (DBP) service, Go Daddy removed the privacy service on the domain in the past week, revealing the identity of the owner.

It’s unknown what Blizzard has planned for “Heroes of Warcraft” or why the company had to file a dispute, but the company hinted at something more for Heroes of Warcraft back in September when it registered the name HeroesofWarcraft.co.uk (WHOIS).

Warcraft III started out as a game called Heroes of Warcraft, but was ultimately called Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

Blizzard Entertainment is no stranger to the UDRP, having filed its first case back in 2007 over worldofwarcraft.es and winning.

To win this dispute, the company must demonstrate that all of the elements enumerated in paragraph 4(a) of the Policy have been satisfied:

(1) that the disputed domain name registered by the Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and

(2) that the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the disputed domain name; and

(3) that the disputed domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith

I will update this post as more information becomes available.

Talking about this story: gamona.de, Joystiq, Escapist Magazine, games.on.net, Buffed.de, ComputerGames.ro, PC Games, InsideGamer, Gamenguide, Gameranx, NeoGAF, GamingBolt, Strategy Informer, VG247 and Eurogamer.net

Tags Blizzard, featured, Heroes of Warcraft, HeroesofWarcraft.com

News Video Games

THQ to giveaway Metro 2033 for free, according to its newest domain names

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 17, 2012
5 Comments on THQ to giveaway Metro 2033 for free, according to its newest domain names

In October, THQ allowed customers to purchase the first-person shooter Metro 2033 for half-off for an entire week.

Now, it looks like THQ may sweeten the deal on Metro 2033 by giving it away for free, as the release date for Metro: Last Light draws closer and closer.

This week THQ appears to have privately registered several names hinting at the offer, like GetMetro2033free.com (WHOIS) and FreeMetroGame.com (WHOIS).

Currently, the actual company that registered the names is hidden behind Go Daddy’s WHOIS privacy service, but as you can see from the screenshot below, the domains are listed on THQ’s nameservers.

While it’s still only speculation, here’s a look at several of the domains THQ apparently registered.

At the time of this story, THQ has made no official announcement, but with Black Friday and the holidays right around the corner, news could be coming soon.

UPDATE 1 – NOV. 18, 2012: It’s a good thing I took a screenshot of the WHOIS record. Since the story was published, the domain names have changed name servers and are now parked with Go Daddy. THQ also decided to park Metro2033game.com (WHOIS) at Go Daddy, which it has owned for some time and once sent visitors to an official web site, according to screen shot history.

Talking about this story: VG247, Online Welten, NowGamer and games.on.net

Tags 4A Games, featured, Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, THQ

News Video Games

EA put up $80K to buy Battlefield domain, owns all the way up to Battlefield9.com

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 11, 2012
2 Comments on EA put up $80K to buy Battlefield domain, owns all the way up to Battlefield9.com

Earlier this month Marchex announced it would be splitting into two companies, with Marchex becoming a pure play mobile advertising company and Archeo focusing on a premium domain and advertising marketplace.

With the news came the announcement of the company’s top 500 domain sales (PDF), one of which included the sale of Battlefield.com to Electronic Arts for $80,000 USD.

A number of bloggers and tech journalists wrote about the news, with blogs like Domain Name Wire digging into the historical sales to learn which companies plunked down cash to acquire names. As Andrew Allemann points out, several paid top dollar. Glam Network dropped $90,000 for foodie.com, while Google shelled out $100,000 for Chromium.org and $40,000 for HotPot.com.

Electronic Arts has invested a lot of money into its Battlefield franchise and its domain report card shows it has succeeded in the online arena.

In June 2011, EA acquired Battlefield.net for an undisclosed amount of cash.

The company also owns other matching names in the video game series like battlefield2.com (WHOIS), battlefield3.com (WHOIS), battlefield1942.com (WHOIS), battlefield2142.com (WHOIS), battlefieldheroes.com (WHOIS), and battlefield1943.com (WHOIS).

It’s already been reported that the franchise isn’t ending at Battlefield 3 with talk of Battlefield 4 already swirling around the internet.

Perhaps though, Battlefield will see new releases to rival Activision’s Modern Warfare for years to come.

EA currently owns names all the way up to Battlefield9.com according to WHOIS records.

That’s right, Electronic Arts owns battlefield4.com (WHOIS), battlefield5.com (WHOIS), battlefield6.com (WHOIS), battlefield7.com (WHOIS) and even battlefield8.com (WHOIS).

While one might say owning all these names may be nothing more than EA protecting its intellectual property, one could also speculate that EA has long term plans going far beyond Battlefield 4.

Talking about this story: MP1st and Gameranx

Tags Archeo, Battlefield, Battlefield 4, Battlefield4.com, Battlfield.com, Electronic Arts, featured, Marchex

News Video Games

League of Legends Fantasy League? Tencent owned ZAM registers domains

Post author By J.B.
Post date November 3, 2012
2 Comments on League of Legends Fantasy League? Tencent owned ZAM registers domains

The idea of launching a fantasy league for online battle arena game “League of Legends” has been the subject of many forum messages on LeagueofLegends.com, so the idea is nothing new.

But now it looks like a fantasy league is being developed by ZAM Network, a Tencent owned company that operates a number of gaming and addon sites like Wowhead, LolKing and D3DB.

According to WHOIS records, on November 1, 2012, ZAM Network registered the domain names LeagueofLegendsFantasy.com (WHOIS), LeagueofLegendsFantasy.net (WHOIS), LeagueofLegendsFantasyLeague.com (WHOIS), and LeagueofLegendsFantasyLeague.net (WHOIS).

ZAM didn’t stop there. It also registered LoLFantasyLeague.com (WHOIS) and LoLFantasyLeague.net (WHOIS).

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

Tencent, which also has a majority stake in Riot Games, acquired ZAM earlier this year. Because ZAM is being backed by one of the largest internet companies, you can bet they will have the budget and resources to successfully run a fantasy league.

As of right now, ZAM hasn’t made any official announcement. Nor do any of the domain names direct visitors to a gaming site.

At the time of this story being published, each of the names sends visitors to a parked web page at Go Daddy, where they were registered.

In May 2012, ZAM acquired LoLKing, an online summoner database that boasts over 50,000 users per month according to a rough traffic estimate by Compete.

I’ve reached out to ZAM for more information about the ‘League of Legends Fantasy League’, and will update this post if I hear back.

Talking about this story: Kotaku

(Image of Season 2 World Champions Taipei Assassins via leagueoflegends.com)

Tags featured, League of Legends Fantasy, League of Legends Fantasy League, LeagueofLegendsFantasy.com, LeagueofLegendsFantasyLeague.com, Riot Games, Tencent, ZAM, ZAM Network