Category: Video Games

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News Trademarks Video Games

Activision misses out on Modern Warfare domain names, ModernWarfare4.com still hostage

Modern Warfare 3 Ghost

There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the next Call of Duty game title. 

It is being rumored that Activision will be releasing its next title in November 2011, and there are plenty of gaming blogs and news sites thinking it will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, focused on a character named “Ghost” who appeared in Modern Warfare 2.

With all the buzz swirling around, I thought it would be interesting to see what memorable Modern Warfare domain names Activision owns.   

Surprisingly, what I found is that Activision doesn’t own many.

Modern Warfare

ModernWarfare.com isn’t owned by Activision.  The domain is registered to Goran Blagus and sits parked.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, the domain receives anywhere from several hundred to several thousand unique visitors per month.

On Friday, October 15, 2010, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed by Activision for MODERN WARFARE, as reported by Trademarkia.  

Modern Warfare 2

ModernWarfare2.com is actually owned by Activision – and it’s not surprisng that the company somehow got its hands on this name considering Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-selling games of all-time.

Modern Warfare 3

Activision wasn’t so lucky with ModernWarfare3.com.  What could possibly be another record-breaking title, isn’t owned by the company.  A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads, “Modern Warfare 3 .com is a 100% unofficial fan site dedicated to the Modern Warfare series.”

Modern Warfare 4

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.

A message at the top of the site reads:

Welcome to the ModernWarfare4.com Website. It would appear that Infinity Ward forgot to purchase this domain. No worries – We have good care of it.

There has been huge amounts of controversy about our actions. We won’t go into details here, (but to read part the story, click here, then google for any more..) – what we will say, is that the domain was purchased by the UK based gaming community ZiiP. We have been wondering what to do with it for a while now.. threatening to hurt this clown that you see unless IW played ball…

Sadly, it would seem IW don’t like clowns. They appear not to like PC Gamers either, as we were (like scores of others) extremely disappointed by there lack of dedicated server in the release of Modern Warfare 2.

We are not bad people. Therefore, we have decided to compromise on our previous demands of fast cars and cheap hookers in exchange for the domain. Instead, we would like IW to implement dedicated servers into MW2 for the good of the PC gaming community. We don’t want IW.net. It wasn’t asked for.

ModernWarfare5.com and ModernWarfare6.com are both registered at the time of this story.  

You won’t find any available domain registrations until you reach ModernWarfare7.com.  However, chances are good Activision won’t ever get to 5, 6, 7, or whatever – given that its Infinity Ward game studio is in shambles and it’s rumored that a futuristic Call of Duty could be the focus of its next series.

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News Video Games

YourMomHatesthis.com: How some video game companies use domain names to market titles

Your Mom Hates This
Real Moms react to footage of Dead Space 2 video game. Photo courtesy Electronic Arts

In early November, the domain name yourmomhatesthis.com was privately registered at GoDaddy.com. 

Electronic Arts has now launched a big marketing campaign using the domain name to create buzz for its third person shooter video game Dead Space 2, which is being released on January 25.

If you haven’t seen the marketing campaign yet, which captures the reactions of Moms watching the video game, it certainly is creating a lot of buzz.  Kotaku has a funny story by one Mom upset at the stereotype that Moms hate violent video games.  “I’m a mom and I don’t hate “Dead Space 2.” You know what I hate? Stereotyping”, writes Winda Benedetti. 

Not only did Electronic Arts develop a creative marketing campaign centered around “Your Mom Hates This”, they made sure to register the domain name and launch a web site.   Surprisingly though, EA didn’t register YourMomHatesDeadspace.com – which was registered earlier this week by a “BE Ads” in Florida. “Your Mom Hates Dead Space” is the headline used in many of the game’s online ads, including Google Adwords.

Activision ran a similar online campaign that began in late 2010, not centered around Moms, but around a somewhat controversial domain name: murderyourmaker.com, which it used to create buzz over its Prototype 2 video game.  The domain name now redirects to prototypegame.com.  The use of the word ‘murder’ in its marketing campaign drew the attention of many, as I wrote about in December.

Shocked Reactions

The shocked and disgusted reactions in the “Your Mom Hates This” campaign look legit – and for good reason.  The game is rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, which gave the following summary:

This is a third-person action game in which players assume the role of an engineer (Isaac Clarke) who must fight his way through hordes of aliens aboard a space station. Players use futuristic weapons (e.g., plasma guns, flamethrowers, electrified spikes) to kill a variety of mutated creatures—attacks generally result in cries of pain, dismemberment, and large spurts of blood. Some cutscenes depict close-up views of characters getting stabbed in the face by blades and needle instruments. Several environments depict mutilated bodies, as well as blood-splattered floors, walls, and ceilings. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” can be heard in the dialogue.

You can watch the video below and see the Moms’ reactions.

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Fusible domain blog gets mentioned in TechCrunch; other major news sites and technology blogs

Rewardville Beta by Zynga

Early this morning, I broke a story about the Beta launch of Zynga’s Rewardville after I noticed that the web address Rewardville.com was resolving to an actual web site and not to a GoDaddy Parked page.  This followed a week of speculation of what Zynga might have planned for the domain name. 

Just over a week ago, another domain blogger Elliot Silver first pondered whether Zynga purchased the name, then I was able to confirm the social gaming company applied for a trademark in Europe shortly thereafter.

When I posted my story this morning, I tipped off several news sites and technology blogs.

Robin Wauters was the first to write me back after he posted the story on TechCrunch, giving Fusible.com and Elliot Silver credit for ultimately uncovering the trail to Zynga.  A big thanks to Robin Wauters, and other news sites who credited their stories. 

Not all technology blogs and news sites like to attribute their stories

Mashable ran their story hours later after I submitted my news tip on their website early this morning through their Contact Form and via Twitter.  And of course, no credit back to Fusible or even TechCrunch who was the first major news site to report it.  In fact, all Mashable did was post the same statement that Zynga’s PR group sent to me and other blogs hours after the story had broke – then Mashable tried to call the story their own by not crediting any other news source.

It’s this kind of blogging or news reporting that’s difficult to see, but occurs at a disappointing rate among some of the more mainstream bloggers and news sites — a point brought up by another domain blogger over at Domain Gang in a story titled: We already told you so!

While the post is short, the message is loud.  As DomainGang writes bluntly: “Twice in recent days so-called “mainstream blogs” reiterate content we already broke the news for – sometimes with a lapse of one or more weeks”.

I might not always see eye-to-eye with DomainGang who offer a different spin on domain blogging with a dash of humor, but on this matter I most definitely do.  It’s not unusual to see breaking stories in the domain industry appear on the popular domain news aggregator Domaining.com over and over and over – with absolutely no mention or credit to the original blogger who broke the story.

As DomainGang simply says: “This comes as no surprise because the focus these days seems to be the regurgitation of news ad nauseam.”

Sure, it’s great to hear opinions by other bloggers, but it’s also good to see credit given to the source.

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News Video Games

Breaking: No longer speculation, Zynga launches Rewardville Beta

Zynga Rewardville

Zynga Rewardville

You read it here first.  After days of speculation as to what Zynga’s plans were for the domain name Rewardville.com and even a mention on AOL’s Games.com for confirming the rumor, Zynga minutes ago unveiled its Beta site for Rewardville.

Although no official announcements have been made, Zynga started displaying a web page this morning for its newest venture Rewardville.com, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks according to a message posted on the website.

zPoints and RewardVille FAQ

Information made available on the Zynga customer help site explains more how Rewardville will work.  According to the website, http://zynga.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3273, Rewardville will involve zCoins and zPoints.

What are zPoints?

Zynga writes: zPoints are points you earn for playing Zynga games. You can earn a maximum of 80 points per game per day, with a maximum of 300 points across the entire Zynga network each day. As you earn points you increase your zLevel and earn zCoins. Currently, you can earn zPoints for playing the following games: FarmVille, FrontierVille, Mafia Wars, Treasure Isle, Zynga Poker

What are zCoins?

“zCoins are awarded when your zLevel increases. zCoins are redeemed in RewardVille for in-game items.”

How do I sign up for zPoints?
 
“You automatically earn zPoints for playing all Zynga games. To redeem zCoins in RewardVille, you must register for a Zynga account.”

News on the launch of Rewardville

Although Zynga hasn’t announced the launch on its own blog or news section and nothing has appeared in the news, expect the big launch of Rewardville to be put out through Facebook to Zynga users in the coming weeks. 

I’ve informed several technology blogs and news sites about the launch of Rewardville Beta, and am hoping that any articles written will attribute the information in their stories to the correct source.

Updated 4:45PM EST:  Thanks to the following news sites for mentioning this story today: TechCrunch, Games.com News, Business Insider, Inside Social Games, and Gamezebo. 

Robin Wauters, was the first in fact, to write me in the wee hours of the morning after I posted my story to let me know the TechCrunch story was online with credit back to Fusible.com.

I also received a statement from Zynga this afternoon while I was away from the computer, hours after my story went online.

“As a company focused on innovation we’re constantly testing new products and features.  When experimenting with new products we take the feedback we receive and apply it to deliver the best possible user experience.  We look forward to hearing how our users like RewardVille.”  -Zynga”

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Zynga likes to buy unlikely domain names, and social gaming is expected to be a billion-dollar business in 2011

Warstorm

MafiaWars.com, Cityville.com, Rewardville.com, Warstorm.com, YoVille.com:  As reported by Leena Rao of TechCrunch, social gaming is expected to be a billion-dollar business this year.  And those businesses that are getting into the social gaming market will be looking for domain names. 

As they did in 2010 and previous years, social gaming market leader Zynga will likely be looking for more domain names to use for their up-and-coming games.

The company has bought thousands of dollars’ worth of domain names on the aftermarket, including the name for its best performing game on Facebook Cityville.com, which it paid $38,225 for in June 2010 at Moniker.   Cityville is expected to top 100 million monthly active users on Facebook at any moment.

Most recently, the company paid  $4,500 for the domain name Rewardville.com at Sedo, which is rumored that it will be used for its virtual rewards system.   Though Zynga hasn’t publicly confirmed plans for a Rewardville application, the company filed for a trademark in  Europe as reported here on Fusible.com.

But Cityville.com and Rewardville.com weren’t the only publicly reported domain name purchases by Zynga on the aftermarket.

Zynga purchased Mafiawars.com in 2009 on Sedo GreatDomains for €23,500.00 (or about $33,100).  Mafia Wars has gone on to be one of the top Facebook games, with nearly 3 million daily active users according to the latest Appdata metrics. 

The company also owns Warstorm.com.  Though Zynga didn’t directly buy the domain name Warstorm.com, it did buy the company Challenge Games that acquired the domain on Sedo in 2008 for $9,450.

But one of the best domain deals for what is now a Zynga-owned game, is that of Yoville.com, which was purchased for a measly $400 on Sedo in April 2008, shortly before Zynga purchased the Facebook game in July.

With the social gaming market looking to make history in 2011, so might sales of domain names that end up as Facebook games.  Are you holding a winning lottery ticket?