Category: Video Games

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News Video Games

Riot Games registers the domain name ChampionshipSeriesLeague.com

Riot Games registers ChampionshipSeriesLeague.com

In August 2012, Riot Games announced The League of Legends Championship Series, a global league of the top professional, salaried teams that features multiple matches per week and playoff events leading up to the World Championship.

As players begin to battle for spots in the League of Legends Championship Series during Season Three, Riot has went and registered the domain name ChampionshipSeriesLeague.com (WHOIS) through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Could Riot be planning to launch a new website that provides online coverage of the Championship Series?

It’s too early to tell.  For now, the domain name doesn’t resolve to a web page, but given the massive popularity of League of Legends and its thriving community, it wouldn’t be surprising.

Another possible sign that Riot may do more with the name than just park it, is that, unlike most companies that buy up dozens, sometimes hundreds of domain names to help protect their brand, Riot Games has gone a different route, selectively acquiring a limited number of domain names over the years.

According to a rough estimate using Reverse Whois, Riot only owns about 100 domains.

The company’s last major buying spree came in April 2012, when it secretly registered a slew of domain names for the top secret project Supremacy.  Riot has also acquired names by filing complaints with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which led to the company taking down porn and scam sites like support-leagueoflegends.com, LeagueofLegends.co, and LeagueofLegendsPorn.com.

LeagueofLegends.co
In August, Riot won a dispute over LeagueofLegends.co (missing the ‘m’) which redirected users to a porn site.

If you’re not familiar with the League of Legends Championship Series, here’s a recap:

  • The League of Legends Championship Series: the top eight teams from the US and EU, plus top teams from the Asian regions
  • The top three teams from Gamescom and PAX immediately qualify
  • Weekly regional pro League of Legends matches live, for free, in HD
  • Millions of dollars at stake
  • Regular season, regional playoffs and a spectacular World Championship
  • Critical Challenger Circuit events featuring up-and-coming teams vying for a shot at the League of Legends Championship Series

Whether Riot launches a new online website for Season Three and beyond, is all just speculation at this point.

We’ll just have to wait and see.  In the meantime, you can keep checking the website ChampionshipSeriesLeague.com to see if anything goes online.

(Image of Season Two via LeagueofLegends.com)

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News Video Games

Is Riot Games working on a top secret game project called “Project 425”?

Project 425

Sometime in the mid-2000s, the domain name Project425.com was privately registered through the registrar Melbourne IT.  The organization behind the registration was unknown until November 2008, when the Whois record showed Riot Games President Marc Merrill as the name’s owner.

Merrill continued to renew the domain name each year, but this past week it underwent some changes, most notably it transferred to the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor and instead of being renewed on an annual basis, the name was renewed through March 2015.

And as you can see from the Whois record, Riot Games is the outright owner.

Project425.com

So, what exactly is “Project 425”?

Right now, I don’t know anything about the project, because the secret of “Project 425” is hidden behind a password-protected website.  Currently, when you go to the web address http://project425.com, you’re asked for a username and password.

A senior League of Legends community member pointed out late last year, that Riot Games owns several random domains including names like onslaughtgame.net (Whois) and InstituteofWar.org (Whois).

However, unlike Project425.com which actually is some type of website, the other domain names either don’t resolve to a web page or are parked at a registrar like Go Daddy and display ads.

It’s no secret that Riot Games is working on other projects, but what’s in store will likely remain unknown up until its launch.

Talking about this story: GameZone and iDigitalTimes.com

(Image via RiotGames.com)

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News Video Games

Activision acquires ‘Command Line Systems’ dot com domain name

Command Line Systems

Chalk this up to unusual domain names that companies register.

According to WHOIS records, Activision Publishing, Inc, now owns CommandLineSystems.com, a name that was first registered back in January 2011.

The identity of the owner was hidden behind Go Daddy’s Domains By Proxy (DBP) service, however, this week the privacy service on the domain name was removed, revealing Activision as the owner.

According to Wikipedia, “a command-line interface (CLI) is a means of interaction with a computer program where the user (or client) issues commands to a program in the form of successive lines of text (command lines).”

It appears the company has plans for the domain, but what exactly, is unknown at this time.

Currently, commandlinesystems.com resolves to a blank web page.

(Image via forums.activision.com)

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Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Microsoft disputes XboxFitness.com, files European Community trademark [UPDATED]

Xbox Fitness

Microsoft has filed a complaint (Case Number 1473274) with the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) over the domain names XboxFitness.com and XboxFitness.net.

So, is this domain dispute nothing more than the company trying to protect its intellectual property?  Or, could Microsoft be looking to launch a new service beyond its Kinect Fitness line of products which haven’t received the best reviews over the years?

It appears plans are in the works to launch a new service as Microsoft filed a European Community trademark application earlier last month (trade mark no 011333705) for Xbox Fitness that covers, “Telecommunication services, namely, providing electronic transmission of video over the Internet.”

Throughout the past year, the company has filed a number of complaints with NAF, some of which became new services and others that have yet to materialize.

In May, Microsoft went after the domain XboxMusic.com and won.  Xbox Music was launched on October 16, 2012.  In another case, Microsoft filed a complaint (Case Number 1446970) over XboxSmartGlass.com, and also launched the service in late October.

The domain name dispute proceedings commenced this week.  Microsoft also filed a separate complaint (Case No. 1473913) over the names microsoftapproval.com, xboxsafety.com and xboxaccount.com.

Currently, XboxFitness.com (WHOIS) and XboxFitness.net (WHOIS) redirect visitors to xbf.co, and are owned by a resident of Canada.

Microsoft has a lot of success with its domain disputes, so the newest cases will likely go in their favor.

At the time of this story being published, Microsoft has made no official announcement regarding Xbox Fitness.

UPDATE:. Microsoft has won the dispute for XboxFitness.com and .net.  Both domains have been ordered transferred.

Talking about this story: NowGamer

(Image via Xbox.com)

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News Trademarks Video Games

Square Enix registers ‘All The Bravest’ domain, files game-related trademark

AllTheBravest.com

It would appear that Square Enix is working on something game-related called “All The Bravest”.

This past week, the company not only registered the domain names AllTheBravest.com (WHOIS) and AllTheBravest.net (WHOIS), it also filed a European Community Trademark for the name.

Both domain names were registered through the trademark and domain management company Thomson Brandy on November 29, 2012.

Also on the same day, Square Enix filed a trademark application (trade mark no 011386349).  The goods and services in the filing cover:

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 image files; 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 non-downloadable magazines in the field of computer games, video games, cartoons and/or general entertainment.

At this point, it’s unknown what sort of plans Square Enix has for “All The Bravest”.

Aside from the details of trademark application and domain names (neither of which resolve to a web site) not much is known.

Talking about this story: Siliconera, Computerandvideogames.com, Shacknews, We Got This Covered, Anime News Network, GameDynamo, This is Xbox, IGN, GamingBolt, Develop, Joystiq, PSX Extreme, VG247, Nintendo Everything, GameZone, Kotaku, play3.de, gamesblog.it, MeriStation, Nintendo Master, Game Informer, Gematsu, Eurogamer.pt and NeoGAF