Category: Video Games

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News Video Games

Another twist in ModernWarfare3.com story, still not owned by Activision

Modern Warfare 3

The ModernWarfare3.com ‘not owned by Activision’ story took another twist today as the producer of the video displayed on the homepage of the now ‘anti Call of Duty’ website, posted a message on the YouTube video saying, “I did not create ModernWarfare3.com.”

I’ve been following the story of ModernWarfare3.com even before it was officially revealed that Activision was planning to launch its next Call of Duty Modern Warfare game called Modern Warfare 3.

Way back in January, rumors were already circulating that the next Call of Duty game title would be Modern Warfare 3.  But as I wrote back then, Activision didn’t own ModernWarfare3.com.

By mid May, information and dates were leaked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to online gaming magazine, Kotaku.  It was announced that Activision was developing what could turn out to be its biggest installment of a Call of Duty game to date, but surprisingly, it didn’t even own the matching domain name.

Days after news hit the internet, the owner of ModernWarfare3.com had a website online with thousands of Facebook fans.

Activision then announced plans for Call of Duty Elite, to coincide with the release of Modern Warfare 3. 

As news outlets ate the stories up about Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite, ModernWarfare3.com went offline for days, in what appeared to be a response to Activision’s lawyers.

At the same time, the battle between EA’s Battlefield 3 and Activision’s ModernWarfare 3 heated up.   But online, EA had already positioned itself with a website on Battlefield.com and Battlefield3.com, while Activision owned neither ModerWarfare.com nor ModernWarfare3.com.  In fact, during this time in mid June, EA acquired Battlefield.net.

Then, just over a week ago, ModernWarfare3.com came back online, but instead of being a fan site, the owner launched a revamped website lashing out at Activision, in a series of statements and videos, throwing support instead to Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 3.

The site, which claims to be “Under Seige”, still doesn’t belong to Activision.

Now today it appears the producer of the YouTube video posted on the homepage of ModernWarfare3.com who goes by RoboJules, never endorsed the website.  

Titled “Modern Warfare 3 sucks”, a message has been overlayed on the the video (screen shot below).

Modern Warfare 3 Sucks

I’ve reached out the owner of ModernWarfare3.com (who also owns the .net) for comment, and will update this post if I hear back.

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News Trademarks Video Games

Will Zynga give The Sims on Facebook a run for its money with Familyville?

Zynga Familyville

Electronic Arts is making some big waves in the social gaming world this week amid rumors the company is buying PopCap Games a direct competitor of Zynga.  But that’s not the only news regarding EA and social gaming.  In the fierce competition for the next top game title on Facebook, EA announced that it would be bring the world’s most popular life simulation game “The Sims” to the world’s biggest social network “Facebook”.

You read it here first: After some domain name sleuthing, I have strong evidence that Zynga will answer EA’s challenge with its own yet-to-be released life simulation game on Facebook called Familyville.

That’s right Zynga fans, along with other blockbuster titles like Cityville and Farmville, Zynga may be launching Familyville sooner than later in response to EA’s announcement in early June.

Some Whois history and recent name server changes on the domain name Familyville.com are what lead me to believe that Zynga is working on its next mega hit.

Whois History

In March 2011, ownership of the domain familyville.com changed from its previous owner (Internet Computing) to  Rob Holmes – founder & CEO of IPCybercrime, the very same company that acquired the domain cityville.com on behalf of Zynga for $38,225 at Moniker in June 2010. 

Cityville went on to become the first game in Facebook history to reach 100 million monthly active users.

Here’s a look at the Whois record from March 2011.

Domain name: familyville.com

Administrative Contact:
   –
   Rob Holmes (rob @ipcybercrime.com)
   101EParkBlvd.#400
   Plano, TX 75074
   US

In late April though, the Whois record switched again, this time to GoDaddy’s Domains by Proxy, a Whois privacy service regularly used by Zynga for many of its domain names such as rewardville.com.

Nameserver change

Another change occurred just this week, with the domain name changing from its previous name server to COTDNS.NET, the same nameserver where many of Zynga’s most popular domains reside, including rewardville.com and hangingwithfriends.com.

cotdns

The Sims Social on Facebook hasn’t been released just yet.

But if this rumor of mine proves to be true, EA may want to speed things up a bit on Facebook. 

As of today, Zynga has not filed for a trademark on the word familyville in the U.S. or Europe.  But there’s nothing odd about that;  Zynga didn’t file for a trademark on Empires and Allies until shortly after its launch. 

With social gaming competition becoming fierce, Zynga has gotten smarter with its trademark filings and domain name registrations.

Discussion: The Business Insider, Kotaku, Kotaku Australia, Techmeme, Gamezebo, VentureBeat, Games.com, and Pocket Gamer.

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News Video Games

ModernWarfare3.com owner lashes out at Activision, voices online support for EA’s Battlefield 3 with parody site

Modern Warfare 3

The owner of ModernWarfare3.com is lashing out at Activision, the publisher of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, in a series of statements and videos that appear on the ModernWarfare3.com website, and throwing support instead to Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 3 due out two weeks before the release of Modern Warfare 3 this fall.

Up until yesterday the site had been taken offline.  Before going offline the website was anything but negative about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, racking up over 7,000 “Likes” on Facebook, as the owner looked to be building out a massive online fan website, albeit a site that was confusingly similar to Activision’s own MW3 site.

Now the tone on the website has changed.  In what seems to have been prompted by Activision’s lawyers. 

WARNING — THIS WEBSITE IS UNDER SEIGE, reads a message at the top of the homepage.  Instead of an official trailer video, a video called “Modern Warfare 3” sucks runs on the homepage.

The site’s owner has also updated the disclaimer at the bottom of the site to say, “Modern Warfare 3 .com is a 100% unofficial fan site dedicated to the Modern Warfare series.   IF you haven’t figured it out yet, this site is a parody of Modern Warfare 3. Call of Duty official site.  Modern Warfare is crap. On November 8, 2011, the most over-hyped first-person action series of all-time returns with the copy and paste sequel to the lackluster Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.  Check out the E3 2011 gameplay demo featuring the Black Tuesday level for a look at the epic fail of the campaign.  Pre-Order Call of Duty MW3 Today for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC to secure exclusive bonuses only available online for Modern Warfare 3 fanboys who don’t know that Battlefield 3 is the better game.”

Click on other links on the site such as Media, and additional YouTube videos explaining why Modern Warfare 3 will suck are posted.

The Intel page is much of the same, with testimonials that say things like, “Been there , done that. NEXT! The new kid on the block Battlefield 3.”

I’ve reached out to the site’s owner for comment and will update this post if I hear back.

As far as the dramatic change to a parody site showing support for EA’s Battlefield 3, the only conclusion that I can reach is that Activision has contacted the owner about the domain name and website.  While that’s clearly speculation, if they weren’t in touch before, they might be in touch soon.

EA may win the battle when it comes to intellectual property online.  The company already owns and operates Battlefield.com and recently acquired Battlefield.net.  It also owns Battlefield3.com.

Activision, as I’ve pointed out before, doesn’t own ModernWarfare.com or ModernWarfare3.com.  One can only imagine the online games that would be played if Activision decides to release a Modern Warfare 4 in the future.  As I’ve noted in the past, ModernWarfare4.com is one of the most interesting domain registrations by far.  It’s yet another domain not owned by Activision, but in this case, the owners made news headlines when they threatened to hurt a clown if the game development studio behind Modern Warfare, Infinity Ward, didn’t play ball with their demands.

According to the latest Compete statistics released for May, the “rough” estimated traffic to ModernWarfare3.com was over 20,000 unique visitors.

Here’s a link to the Modern Warfare 3 Sucks video, in case the website goes offline again.  WARNING: Language is strong.

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News Video Games

Electronic Arts adds Battlefield.net to its arsenal of killer domains as it prepares to battle Modern Warfare 3

Battlefield 3 Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts (EA) already owns and operates Battlefield.com, a domain name it acquired in 2007 after using Marksmen, a service used by larger companies that describes itself as the go-to-firm for corporations who want to keep their identity and costs on the down low.

EA took official ownership of the domain Battlefield.com in late July of 2007 according to WHOIS records, and now the company has acquired the web address, Battlefield.net, as it looks to take on Activision’s Modern Warfare 3 with its launch of Battlefield 3 in October 2011, two weeks before Modern Warfare 3 hits stores.

The WHOIS records for Battlefield.net changed owners this week to EA.

Registrant: 
      Electronic Arts Inc.
      Domain Administrator
      209 Redwood Shores Parkway 
      Redwood City, CA 94065
      US

   Registrar Name….: CORPORATE DOMAINS, INC.
   Registrar Whois…: whois.corporatedomains.com
   Registrar Homepage: www.cscprotectsbrands.com 

   Domain Name: battlefield.net

      Created on…………..: Thu, Feb 11, 1999
      Expires on…………..: Wed, Feb 11, 2015
      Record last updated on..: Fri, Jun 17, 2011

It’s WAR

Could domain names play a part in the battle between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 online?  While that’s unlikely, if it were the case, Electronic Arts would likely win.

EA not only owns Battlefield.com, it also owns Battlefield3.com.

Activision, on other hand, doesn’t own ModernWarfare.com or ModernWarfare3.com. 

Although, things might be changing when it comes to ModernWarfare3.com, as I pointed out earlier in the week.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga: On the hunt for domain names for its next big Facebook or mobile game

Zynga

As pointed out by Games.com blogger Joe Osborne, Zynga is looking for ideas on making its next game.  The survey, which can be found here, asks respondents “What games would you like to play?” 

“We want your input. We’ve got a lot of fun ideas, but we want to know which games you would be most excited to play. Please help us by rating the following game ideas on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 = I love the idea and 1 = I’m not interested at all. Thank you for your feedback!” 

Joe Osborne on Games.com wrote, “The game ideas span Hollywood acting and production to acting as a music mogul. But our favorite from the list is absolutely the idea for a pirates game in which players sail the high seas in search of treasure and–gasp!–romance aboard a massive ship.”

Zynga games and domains

If you know anything about Zynga, you know that the company buys domain names on the aftermarket. 

The social gaming giant paid only $400 on Sedo in April 2008 for YoVille.com.  But the company also spends thousands, paying $38,225 in June 2010 at Moniker for the domain name CityVille.com.  One of the company’s most recent aftermarket purchases for a developed title, was Rewardville.com for $4,500.

The company also looks for bargains, with its latest title Empires & Allies, apparently using a web address that was purchased for around $10 last summer.

On Thursday, the company registered several domains, likely as part of a brand protection strategy.  Although hidden by WHOIS privacy the domains were registered through MarkMonitor and include MafiaWarsBrazil.com and Drop7byZynga.com.

This week’s survey gives Zynga and domain enthusiasts a chance to speculate on the next game title.

“MYSTERY VILLE” “MYSTERY WORLD”

While MysteryVille.com and MysteryWorld.com are already taken, Zynga has plenty of options when it comes to thinking up new game titles.  The first question in the survey asked readers how they felt about solving mysteries with friends. 

“Every crime scene tells a story. Become the world’s most famous detective, travel to exotic locations, solve the toughest mysteries and capture the most notorious villains with the help of your friends.”

“HOLLYWOOD VILLE” “HOLLYWOOD WORLD”

You guessed it, Hollywoodville.com and Hollyworld.com are also taken. 

Zynga asked respondents for their thoughts on a game that lets you become a Hollywood VIP. 

“Be a star of the silver screen, produce the next blockbuster, run the industry’s top talent agency and more. Fame, fashion and fun await in the city of angels as you and your friends become Hollywood VIPs.”

While Zynga uses other phrases in its game titles, it’s not known for straying to far from its well recognized brands.  It’s latest take on hangman for the iOS is called Hanging with Friends, but the company also registered hangmanwithfriends.com back in early May.

There are other teasers in the survey, including one legendary tale of Robin Hood and Maid Marian as you protect the people from the King’s evil henchmen.

Do you own a domain that you think Zynga might want for its next blockbuster game?

Readers: Feel free to share your thoughts on Zynga’s next game based on what you read in the survey.