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Ubisoft working on something called “Talk and Play” according to domains

Ubi Talk and Play

New domain names registered by Ubisoft have revealed that the company could be working on something called “Talk and Play”.

On April 3, 2012, Ubisoft Entertainment registered the domains UbiTalkandPlay.com (Whois) as well as Ubi-Loud.com (Whois).  The registration of the hyphenated name Ubi-Loud.com follows an earlier registration of UbiLoud.com (without the hyphen) that was reported this week.

Obviously, “talk and play” appears to be a reference to gamers chatting it up while playing video games.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the registration of Ubiloud.com followed the announcement that Ubisoft would launch a cloud-based storage system that will allow players to save game data across multiple devices such as an iPhone and iPad.

With any new domain registration, it’s tough to speculate what a company’s intentions are, so it may be some time before we know of the company’s plans.

At the moment, none of the domains resolve to a web page and Ubisoft has made no official announcement.  Nor has the company filed any trademark applications for “Talk and Play” or “UbiLoud” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

(Image of Ubisoft San Francisco office via Ubisoft.com)

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News Technology Trademarks

Samsung files trademarks for Galaxy Sire, Lift, and Perx smartphones

Samsung Electronics

On March 30, 2012, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. submitted trademark applications for the Galaxy Sire (Serial Number: 85585397), the Galaxy Perx (Serial Number:85585381), and the Galaxy Lift (Serial Number: 85585386).

As with many of Samsung’s recent filings over at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the goods and services described in each application cover the same thing: Mobile phones; Smartphones.

Other than the limited information in the trademark applications, there’s not much to go on at this point.

No details on specs just yet.

At the time of this writing, Samsung has made no official announcement of releasing these smartphones.

Discussion: Phandroid, Geeky Gadgets and Android Police

(Image of Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business via Samsung.com)

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News Video Games

Microsoft Corporation privately registers slew of “Halo: Infinity” domain names

Halo: Infinity

Microsoft has made some interesting domain name registrations this week, picking up several “Halo Infinity” domains like HaloInfinity.net (Whois) and HaloInfinityMultiplayer.com (Whois) through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

Microsoft didn’t stop there either.

Additional domain names that were registered include: HaloInfinity.org, HaloInfinity.co.uk, HaloInfinity.mobi, HaloInfinity.de, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.net, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.org, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.co.uk, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.mobi and HaloInfinityMultiplayer.de.

Infinity was a popular multiplayer level exclusive only to the PC for Halo: Combat Evolved, so it’s possible Microsoft will be offering it as a multiplayer map for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary.

Other domains that were registered the same week through MarkMonitor include SpartanOps.org (Whois), SpartanOps.net, and MorethanJustamap.com (Whois).  These too, were privately registered.

Microsoft hasn’t officially been confirmed as the buyer of the Halo: Infinity domains since the registrant of each name is hidden behind Whois privacy, but the names were registered through MarkMonitor, and Microsoft is among their high-profile clients. Microsoft’s own Microsoft.com is registered through MarkMonitor.

I won’t speculate on what Microsoft is planning, but to register this many names means something is on the way.

None of the domains resolve to a web site at the time of this story going online, and Microsoft has not announced anything official.

[Updated Apr 5, 2012 at 9:50am EST:. Microsoft registered additional domains including: SpartanOps.in, SpartanOps.jp, SpartanOps.tw, SpartanOps.co.uk, SpartanOps.mobi, SpartanOps.de, HaloInfinity.in, HaloInfinity.jp, HaloInfinity.tw, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.in, HaloInfinityMultiplayer.jp and HaloInfinityMultiplayer.tw.]

Discussion: GameSpot, Joystiq, N4G, IGN, VG247, Game Rant, Geek, tweakers.net, MCV, NOW Gamer, G4 TV (blog), Cinema Blend, This is Xbox, Xbox 360 The Official Xbox Magazine, Computerandvideogames.com, Xbox 360 Achievements, Shack News, Gameranx, Game Revolution, Complex.com, GamingBolt (blog), Capsule Computers, Halo Waypoint, iNSIDE, Softpedia, NeoGAF, Videogameszone, Geeky Gadgets, juegosDB, PlayNation, Buddha Gaming and GameZone

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News Video Games

Ubisoft planning “Might and Magic: Duel of Champions” game [UPDATED]

Might and Magic: Dual of Champions

Might and Magic: Dual of Champions

[UPDATED April 23, 2012:. Ubisoft announced Might & Magic Duel of Champions. “Might & Magic Duel of Champions is the free online card game set in the fantastic Might & Magic universe. Choose a hero and build his army with Unit, Spell and Fortune cards to defeat your opponents in epic card battles. Experience the time-tested factions of the Might & Magic universe in a completely new format. Discover a wealth of beautifully illustrated game cards, featuring all the well-known characters, spells and heroes from the Might & Magic series of games.”]

**

ORIGINAL STORY:.

It appears Ubisoft has inadvertently released details of a new installment in the Might and Magic video game series called Might and Magic: Duel of Champions.

On March 30, 2012, Ubisoft registered a handful of new domain names that point to the game like MightandMagicDuelofChampions.com (Whois) and DuelofChampions.com (Whois).

In all, four domain names related to the game title were registered including:

duel-of-champions.com
duelofchampions.com
mightandmagicduelofchampions.com
mm-doc.com

Ubisoft Entertainment has not announced anything about the game’s release date or developer.

As of the time of writing, none of the domains resolve to a website.

In October 2011, Ubisoft released Might & Magic Heroes VI (pictured above), part of the Heroes of Might and Magic series.

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News

Amazon drops more hints of B2B marketplace with AmazonB2B domains

Amazon B2B

Andrew Alleman reported yesterday on his blog Domain Name Wire (DNW) that Amazon had registered a slew of domains like SuppliesAmazon.com on March 28 that suggested a manufacturing or B2B play.

While big tech companies like Amazon typically don’t comment on rumor or speculation, Amazon continues to specifically hint at the launch of a B2B marketplace with over a dozen new “AmazonB2B” domain registrations that were made on March 29, like AmazonB2B.net (Whois) and AmazonB2B.org (Whois).

Amazon has already owned the web address AmazonB2B.com since 2006, but the domain has sat unused for years.

So, could Amazon be planning to compete with the likes of Alibaba.com, the world’s largest online business-to-business trading platform for small businesses?

Well, according to the company’s newest registrations it looks very promising.

On March 29, a day before the DNW news story was published, Amazon not only registered AmazonB2B dot-net and dot-org, it also registered several more domains that DNW had never spotted, so no mention was made in the story.

Here’s a look at the AmazonB2B domains that were registered, that further strengthen the idea of an AmazonB2B marketplace.

amazonb2b.asia
amazonb2b.biz
amazonb2b.ch
amazonb2b.dk
amazonb2b.fr
amazonb2b.in
amazonb2b.info
amazonb2b.it
amazonb2b.jp
amazonb2b.mobi
amazonb2b.mx
amazonb2b.net
amazonb2b.org

At the time of this story, AmazonB2B.com does not resolve to a website.  But with the new “AmazonB2B” domain registrations and the earlier names spotted by DNW, it does look like Amazon is getting ready to launch its own B2B marketplace.

For now, it’ll just remain speculation.

[Updated April 1, 2012 11:01am EST:. I’ve found more AmazonB2B domain names that were registered including AmazonB2B.co (Whois) and AmazonB2B.co.za (Whois).]