Tag: Electronic Arts

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Disputes National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Activision files complaint over ModernWarfare3.com, posted online

Modernwarfare3.com domain dispute

Breaking update July 19, 2011 04:57 AM EST:  The identity of ModernWarfare3.com has now been revealed.

**

Activision has had enough with ModernWarfare3.com.

The gaming company has filed its first domain name dispute with the National Arbitration Forum.

The complaint was filed today, July 15, a week after the mystery owner of the domain started re-directing the URL to EA’s Battlefield.com, sparking a flurry of news stories.

Although I track domain disputes filed with the National Arbitration Forum and the World Intellectual Property Organization, I didn’t find out about the dispute through their online databases, instead I found out about the dispute when I paid a visit to ModernWarfare3.com.

As of today, ModernWarfare3.com is back to its old format online, but with a twist.  Sitting on the home page is a copy of the complaint (read here) the owner received.

Now begins the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), which was adopted by ICANN in the late nineties.

The complaint cost Activision $2,600 USD to file for a three-member panel.

The 11-page document, includes among other things, reasons by Activision as to why the respondent has no right or legitimate interest to the name.

Activision states, “It appears that the Respondent supports the game Battlefield from the game developer Electronic Arts (“EA”).  EA is one of Complainant’s principal competitors in the video game industry, and Battlefield game competes in the marketplace with Complainant’s MODERN WARFARE games and its other military-themed shooter games in the CALL OF DUTY series.”

Discussion: Kotaku, gameinformer, Electronic Arts UK Community, Gaming Union, RipTen, GameSpot, Benzinga, Games On Net, GoNintendo, Joystiq, IGN, ars technica,  The Daily BLAM!, Game Rant, Digital Trends, VideoGamer, GameSpy, Kit Guru, MCV, The Inquirer, PCWorld, The Escapist, Facepunch, Gamasutra, VE3D, Lazygamer, The Morton Report, Spong, 1UP and bnet

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News Video Games

ModernWarfare3.com begins redirecting to EA’s Battlefield 3, more drama

Battlefield 3

Updated July 15, 2011:  The web address no longer re-directs.  Activision has filed a complaint over ModernWarfare3.com.  The domain dispute has been posted online.

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The saga of the web address ModernWarfare3.com, which is not owned by Activision, has been a story filled with bizarre twists.

And if you thought the battle over first person shooters between Activision’s Modern Warfare 3 and EA’s Battlefield 3 was interesting, type ModernWarfare3.com into your web browser. 

As of today, the web address takes you to the official website of EA’s Battlefield 3, Activision’s rival.

Last week, I was able to piece together a storyline after keeping an eye on the domain name for months. 

What started as an unofficial fan site, quickly turned into an anti-Call of Duty site.

WARNING — THIS WEBSITE IS UNDER SEIGE, read a message at the top of the homepage up until days ago.

The anonymous owner of the web address ModernWarfare3.com, has taken their sense of humor and anger one step further, by re-directing the domain to battlefield.com/battlefied3.

The redirection started after the site was suspended yesterday by web hosting provider iPage.

It’s unknown why iPage suspended the website, but a Google search shows iPage has shutdown other sites in the past after receiving complaints.  It could also be that the website needed its own dedicated server due to internet traffic, something the owner may not have been willing to pay for.

Discussion: Kotaku, The Escapist, jeuxvideo.com, Videogameszone, PC Games, Games Aktuell and MeriStation

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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.

Categories
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.

Categories
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.