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Movies News

Amidst The Hobbit trilogy talk, Riddles in the Dark and Smaug domains registered

'Riddles in the Dark', 'Desolation of the Smaug' domains registered as talk of The Hobbit trilogy

UPDATE – AUG. 31, 2012:. Collider reports the third installment in The Hobbit trilogy will now be called The Hobbit: There and Back Again. The second film has been re-titled, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  No title or release date changes have touched the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

ORIGINAL STORY:. This week there has been talk of a third ‘Hobbit’ film after The Hollywood Reporter reported that sources close to the production of The Hobbit say the filmmaker Peter Jackson wants to turn his upcoming two-film adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien epic into a trilogy.

While the first two films already have names – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” – it’s not officially known what the title of the third film will be.

Unless, of course, you take a look at some recent web activity involving “The Hobbit” and the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Domain registrations made this week suggest the title may be “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” or “The Hobbit: Riddles in the Dark”.

On July 27, several domain names were privately registered through MarkMonitor, of which The Saul Zaentz Company is a client.  MarkMonitor is the same registrar responsible for managing the domains for TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney.com (Whois) and TheHobbitThereandBackagain.com (Whois).

Here’s a look at the full list of domain names registered through MarkMonitor:

http://whois.domaintools.com/desolationofsmaug.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/riddlesindark.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thedesolationofsmaug.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitdesolationofsmaug.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitriddlesindark.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthedesolationofsmaug.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbittheriddlesinthedark.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/theriddlesinthedark.com

Riddles In The Dark, is the title of one of the chapters of The Hobbit.

The Desolation of the Smaug, is the wasted, unpeopled lands around Erebor and Dale, charred and blackened by the burning breath of Smaug the Dragon.

At the time of this story, none of the domains resolve to a web page.

It’s possible these domain names were registered for something entirely different, and not for a third film.  It’s also possible the company is doing nothing more than protecting its intellectual property.

So, for now, it’s purely speculation.

UPDATE 1: Peter Jackson has confirmed the rumor that “The Hobbit” will now be three films.  No announcement on the title as of yet.

UPDATE 2: On July 31 and August 1, The Saul Zaentz Company registered domain names for “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies”.  The names, registered via MarkMonitor, include:

http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthebattleoffivearmies.com
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthebattleoffivearmies.co.uk
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthebattleoffivearmies.info
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthebattleoffivearmies.net
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehobbitthebattleoffivearmies.org

Talking about this story: Cinema Blend, Film School Rejects, Coventry Telegraph (blog), Den of Geek, Business Insider, Collider.com, Comic Book Movie, Bleeding Cool News, ScreenCrush, /Film, Screen Rant, Omelete, Uproxx, Revista Cinemania and First Showing

(Image of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey via trailer 1)

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News Video Games

Ubisoft registers “Might and Magic Heroes Online” domain names

Might & Magic Heroes Online

Might & Magic Heroes Online

Could Ubisoft be planning to launch the next installment in the Heroes of Might and Magic series as a free-to-play online game?

According to several domain name registrations this week by Ubisoft, the possibility looks very good.  On July 27, 2012, the videogame publisher registered mightandmagicheroesonline.com (Whois), mmheroesonline.com (Whois), and mm-heroesonline.com (Whois).

It was reported earlier this week that Ubisoft will unveil new free-to-play titles at this year’s Gamescom taking place in August in Cologne.  The company is expected to hold a press conference on August 15 where it will announce the new free-to-play titles.

Given the timing of the registrations, it appears “Might and Magic Heroes Online” will be among the list of games.

Talking about this story: Kotaku, HardGamers, tweakers.net and VG247

(Image via Might and Magic Heroes VI trailer)

Categories
News Trademarks Video Games

Reign of Fear video game trademark filed by Sony Online Entertainment

Sony Online Entertainment files "Reign of Fear" trademark

Sony Online Entertainment, known for its massively-multiplayer online games, has filed a trademark this week for “Reign of Fear” (Serial Number: 85683830).

The goods and services within the filing cover, “Computer game software and video game software; providing downloadable multiplayer, role playing, real time computer and video game software via an online website for entertainment purposes” and “Entertainment services, namely, operating a multiplayer, role playing, real time game for others via the Internet and local area computer networks”.

Not much is known about “Reign of Fear” beyond the trademark filing.

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Sony’s plans may not be too ambitious though.

A quick search across major social networks and domain names shows that Sony hasn’t bothered registering any of the matching names.

Given the nature of the name, it doesn’t sound like a kid’s game.

Earlier this week, SOE released the full length PlanetSide 2 Death is No Excuse trailer.  It’s unknown whether “Reign of Fear” has anything to do with Planetside 2’s upcoming release.

UPDATE: Shortly after my story came out, a resident of North Carolina registered the domain ReignofFear.com (Whois).

Talking about this story: VG247, Joystiq, Blue’s News, Shack News and JeuxOnLine

(Image of PlanetSide 2 via planetside2.com)

Categories
News Video Games

EA registers FriendsFinals.com, LiveFriendsFinals.com domains

Electronic Arts offices

Electronic Arts purchased two brand new domain names this week: FriendsFinals.com and LiveFriendsFinals.com.

According to Whois history records, neither domain has ever been registered before.

The domains were registered on July 24 through the internet brand protection company CSC Global, which handles domains for many of the top companies.

It’s unknown what – if anything – EA has planned for the names.

At the time of this story, FriendsFinals.com (Whois) and LiveFriendsFinals.com (Whois) do not resolve to a website.

UPDATE: On July 25, Electronic Arts registered Live-Seasons.com (Whois).

Categories
Disputes News Technology WIPO

Research In Motion wins domain dispute over BlackBerry10.com, BlackBerry10.net

BlackBerry 10

Research In Motion will soon be in control of the domain names BlackBerry10.com and BlackBerry10.net, after a single-member arbitration panel with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) ordered the names transferred to the device maker.

The dotcom URL has directed users to a Google 404 page for months, which triggered a discussion thread over at CrackBerry.com where one user joked that it meant that Google was clearly buying RIM.

BlackBerry 10 is the next operating system from RIM for its BlackBerry line of smartphones and tablets and it is expected to launch in 2013.

RIM has a lot riding on BlackBerry 10, so it makes sense as the company ratchets up its marketing strategy, that it owns the matching domains.  In this case, both names were owned by the same person, so RIM was able to file one complaint (WIPO Case D2012-1146).

At the time of this story, BlackBerry10.com continues to send visitors to a Google 404 error page.

Full details of the decision have not yet been published online.

(Image of BlackBerry 10 Jam World Tour via BlackBerry.com)