Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Archives

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

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.]

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Microsoft launching a Halo Monument for its Combat Evolved remake [UPDATED]

In mid-October I wrote about Microsoft registering the domain names HaloLivingMonument.com and HaloLivingMonument.net.

I suggested that Microsoft might be launching a website having to do with Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, which is set to be released on November 15th for the Xbox 360.

Well, today Microsoft temporarily put a website together (pictured above) on the web address halolivingmonument.com for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, but it’s currently not operational.

None of the links are active and the Windows Live sign in in the top right is disabled.

I took a screen shot before the site was taken down by Microsoft, which occurred while I was writing this post.

It appears the website is part of the online marketing campaign for Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary as I suspected, similar to the Remember Reach website it released for Halo: Reach. Remember Reach had visitors create a “living monument” of lights to honor Noble team members.

While details are limited, according to the source code pictured below, it appears visitors will enter their birth date when entering the site in order to view the multimedia. The same way it works for Remember Reach. .

Apparently, Microsoft has been working on the site at halomonument.cloudapp.net (which I also noticed in the source code), but neither halolivingmonument.com nor halomonument.cloudapp.net resolve to a web page.

The look-and-feel of the site is much like the product page for the game and has the exact same background.

With the game’s release only 2 weeks away, one would imagine the site will be back online within days, if not sooner.

[Update 1, Nov. 2, 5:00am EST: Halolivingmonument.com has been officially confirmed. A commenter on the Joystiq article who goes by MrGreenCastle points to The Halo Fan of The Decade Contest, where one winner will receive a chance to be immortalized. All entrants will have their photos uploaded to the interactive Halo living monument beginning on November 13.]

[Update 2, Nov. 3: Microsoft has now posted a teaser page on HaloLivingMonument.com that displays nothing more than the launch date of 11-13-11, as shown in the picture below.]

[Update 3, Nov. 13: HaloLivingMonument.com has gone live.]

Discussion: Joystiq