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News

Verizon to launch its Netflix competitor soon? Domain names may be sign

Netflix Instant movies

Back in December there was talk of Verizon planning its own Netflix competitor and even talk of the company making a very “serious bid” to acquire Netflix. 

While nothing is official yet on either front, Verizon did shell out a few bucks this week to buy up some online real estate related to its rumored Netflix competitor like VerizonInstantMovies.com and VerizonInstantMusic.com.

In total, the company registered four new domain names on January 12, through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor.

The registrations include:

http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantmovies.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantmusic.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstanttv.com 
http://whois.domaintools.com/verizoninstantvideo.com 

As of today, none of the domain names resolve to a web page.

Discussion: Business Insider

(Image of Netflix on the Wii via Netflix.com)

Categories
News Video Games

Sequel may be closer as Activision secretly acquires BlackOps2.com domain

Black Ops 2

A sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, one of the best-selling games of all-time, may seem more likely as it appears Activision has secretly acquired the domain name blackops2.com.

First registered in May 2010 shortly after Black Ops was announced, the domain remained under Whois privacy up until this week using Go Daddy’s Domains by Proxy service.

Now, the domain blackops2.com (Whois) has switched from Domains by Proxy to the privacy service provided by internet brand protection company MarkMonitor, who caters to over half the Fortune 100, of which Activision is a client.

In August, I reported that Activision went through MarkMonitor to buy up a slew of Black Ops domains, all the way up to BlackOps6.com. 

Missing from the list was blackops2.com. 

A deal has now apparently been struck.

Treyarch, the development studio behind Call of Duty: Black Ops, hasn’t officially gone on record to say it is creating a sequel.  But with all these domain acquisitions, signs point to a Black Ops 2 being a very strong possibility in 2012.

If a cash amount was paid, the sale price of the domain will likely remain unknown, as the previous owner’s identity and contact information were hidden through Go Daddy’s privacy service.

As of today, BlackOps2.com does not resolve a web page.

[Update 1 on February 17, 2012: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been outed by Amazon reports GameSpy.]

Discussion: Joystiq, Game Informer, IGN, N4G, Side Mission, PC Gamer Magazine, Cinema Blend, Forbes, Shacknews, This Is Xbox, VG247, Xbox 360 Achievements, Onlinewelten, elotrolado.net, Digital Trends, MMOMFG, RipTen, Just Push Start, Gameranx, Yahoo! News, GameDynamo, GamersHell.com, JVN.com, RevogamersWe Got This Covered, Product Reviews4Gamer.netCo-Optimus, Connected Consoles, Eurogamer.se, iNSIDE, Power Unlimited, games.co.il, GamingSackGamefly and GamesRadar

Categories
News Video Games

Zynga goes on domain buying spree for new Scramble with Friends app

Scramble with Friends

On Thursday, Zynga announced the launch of the mobile social game Scramble With Friends, saying, “Scramble with Friends is a fast-paced, fun-packed game that combines the brain bending experience of Zynga’s original Scramble.” 

On the same day the social gaming company announced the game on its blog, it also registered several domain names through the brand protection company MarkMonitor, like scramblewithfriends2.com and playscramblewithfriends.com.

Zynga doesn’t own scramble.com, and it’s hard to say whether the company officially owns ScramblewithFriends.com.  The web address, which was first registered back in January 2011 according to WHOIS records, points to a Go Daddy parked page.  The owner is currently hidden using Go Daddy’s privacy service Domains by Proxy. 

Here’s the full list of domains that were registered on January 5 through MarkMonitor.

playscramblewithfriends.com
scramblewithfriends2.com
scramblewithfriends3.com
scramblewithfriendsandroid.com
scramblewithfriendsapp.com
scramblewithfriendsfacebook.com
scramblewithfriendsgame.com
scramblewithfriendshd.com
scramblewithfriendsipad.com
scramblewithfriendsiphone.com
scramblewithfriendslive.com
scramblewithfriendsmobile.com
scramblewithfriendsplus.com
wwwscramblewithfriends.com

Scramble with Friends is available for download on the App Store for iPhone and iPod touch and will be coming soon for Android.

Categories
Movies News

Prequel will be called 300: The Battle of Artemisium according to domains

300 The Battle of Artemisium

It appears Warner Bros. Pictures has finally settled on a title for the prequel to 300 after kicking around several working titles like 300: Battle of Artemisia.

According to newly registered domain names, the film studio will go with the rumored title 300: The Battle of Artemisium.

On January 3, several names were privately registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor like thebattleofartemisium.com, 300thebattleofartemisium.com and 300-thebattleofartemisium.com.

Although the owner of each domain is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s privacy service DNStination, Warner Bros. is a client of MarkMonitor, so there’s little doubt that Warner Bros. is the registrant.

Last June, Warner Bros. publicly registered names like 300thebattleofartemisia.com (WHOIS), but has taken extra steps to privately register this week’s names.  So if I had to speculate, I would say “300: The Battle of Artemisium” is no longer a rumored title.

Talking about this story: Movieline, Cinema Blend, IGN, 411Mania, FilmWatch and Celebrities.com

Categories
News

Google apparently registers Googan domains, slang for lowlife webmaster

Googleplex

If you’re not familiar with the term Googan, according to Urban Dictionary, “Googan” can be used to describe a lowlife webmaster who “posts ads and web pages typically with no meaningful content, no regard for adwords copywriting, or consideration for other people, especially those who click on promising-looking links.”

Now it appears Google has plans to market Googan “the lowlife webmaster” in the very near future, according to several new domain registrations that include names like Googan.net (WHOIS), BewareofGoogan.com, DonthireGoogan.com, and GooganInterviews.com.

All of the Googan names were privately registered through MarkMonitor, a company Google uses to help manage its domain portfolio. 

As is the case with domains privately registered using DNStination Inc, MarkMonitor’s privacy service, it’s safe to say the company behind the names is Google, since MarkMonitor is in the business of internet brand protection for over half the Fortune 100 companies.

Google registered the Googan names, as well as others, on December 29.

None of the domains resolve to a web site at the time of this story going online, and Google has offered no details on Googan as of yet.  But if I had to guess, I’d say Googan will be used in an online marketing campaign, similar to the company’s use of the domain EmailIntervention.com. 

Here’s a look at all the domains apparently registered by Google on December 29.  Also in the list are lighting domains like Googlightingstranger.com, which may have something to do with its Android-controlled light bulb, that goes on sale in early 2012.

bewareofgoogan.com
bewareofgoogan.net
donthiregoogan.com
donthiregoogan.net
gapsingoogle.com
gapsingoogle.net
glightingstranger.com
glightingstranger.net
googan.net
googanapperson.com
googanapperson.net
googanapprehension.com
googanapprehension.net
googaninterviews.com
googaninterviews.net
googanlighting.com
googanlighting.net
googlelighting.net
googlightingstranger.com
googlightingstranger.net
thegooganinterviews.com
thegooganinterviews.net
whatsinitforgoogle.com
whatsinitforgoogle.net

Discussion: Marketing Land

(Image of Googleplex welcoming sign via Ardo191)