Tag: Modern Warfare 3

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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.

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Disputes News Video Games

ModernWarfare3.com, site taken down; domain not owned by Activision

Modern Warfare 3 reveal trailer

The website had reached over 7,000 Facebook Likes in the weeks following the announcement of Modern Warfare 3 and looked confusingly similar to Activision’s official MW3 site.  And the site even added new features in the past couple weeks including a newsletter for announcements, videos, pre-order links, and a forum that was slated to launch.

But now the site ModernWarfare3.com (which is currently not owned by Activision), returns a “404” not found page on the web — a move that may have been prompted by Activision’s lawyers after witnessing the site’s growth and similar look to its own official site, which can be found at callofduty.com/mw3.

Although it’s difficult to tell whether the site is just down for something as simple as maintenance, this is the first time since Activision’s newest title was leaked that ModernWarfare3.com has been offline for a significant time period.  In this case, days not hours. 

Activision and ModernWarfare3.com

The big question is whether Activision is even trying to acquire the domain.

The company doesn’t have a strong trackrecord of buying domain names on the aftermarket, at least publicly.  Nor has the company ever filed and won a formal domain dispute, according to a quick query at UDRPSearch.com. 

As an example of Activision’s poor track record with domains, last year the company registered several names for possible future game titles including: callofdutyfuturewarfare.com, callofdutyfuturewarfare2.com, callofdutyfuturewarfare3.com, and a number of variations including codfuturewarefare.com, codfuturewarfare2.com, and codfuturewarfare3.com.  The company also registered secretwarfare2.com, secretwarfare3.com, spacewarfare2.com and spacewarfare3.com.  But what you might notice about the list is not what the company purchased, but more so what the company didn’t — generic domains like futurewarfare.com or spacewarfare.com.

Regardless of the company’s history with domains, this time though when it comes to a domain it doesn’t own, the company may finally be honing in.

Considering Modern Warfare 3 is set to be one of the company’s biggest launches to date in November 2011 and will coincide with the launch of its own online social network called: Call of Duty Elite, the registrant information could be changing soon, just like Halo4.com did yesterday – as reported here on Fusible and covered by Gawker Media’s Kotaku.

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News Video Games

ModernWarfare3.com: Cashing in on the buzz of top-selling videogame franchise

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 concept art Sandman

Some companies just don’t get it when it comes to domain names.

Back in January I wrote about Activision missing out on Modern Warfare domain names.  Though the company does own ModernWarfare2.com, the company doesn’t own ModernWarfare.com and it missed out on a slew of other domain names early on. 

Not owning the exact match domain names hasn’t hurt sales, but it has certainly helped a few fans and domain owners cash in one way or another on the popularity of the first-person shooter game.   

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Buzz

This week information and dates were leaked on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to online gaming magazine, Kotaku.  Now, everyone is talking about Modern Warfare 3.  Though the buzz has been going on for several months, one might think Activision would buy the matching web address now that the cat is out of the bag.  Not likely.  

Even threats of killing a clown can’t change Activision’s mind as seen with ModernWarfare4.com – a controversy that made headlines. 

It doesn’t appear Activision has bothered registering any related domain names recently.  Besides, most have already been taken by other people- modernwarfarethree.com, codmodernwarfare3.com, callofdutymodernwarfare3.com and more, making it unlikely the company could find an easy-to-remember domain name specifically for Modern Warfare 3.

Then there’s callofdutymodernwarfare.com… 

The domain name is currently in a RedemptionPeriod status, meaning, the domain name expired, and the registry is waiting for 30 days as a precautionary measure before releasing it. 

But that doesn’t necessarily mean Activision will land the name.  You can bet hardcore Call of Duty fans are already eyeing it.  Since the beginning of May, several Modern Warfare domain names have been registered by individuals and organizations.  Here’s a sample: Call-of-Duty-Modern-Warfare-3.com, ModernWarfare3Fan.com, Modern-Warfare3.org, PlayModernWarfare3.com, NextModernWarfare.com, FreeCallofDutyModernWarfare3.com and ModernWarfarethree.com.

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News Trademarks Video Games

Activision misses out on Modern Warfare domain names, ModernWarfare4.com still hostage

Modern Warfare 3 Ghost

There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the next Call of Duty game title. 

It is being rumored that Activision will be releasing its next title in November 2011, and there are plenty of gaming blogs and news sites thinking it will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, focused on a character named “Ghost” who appeared in Modern Warfare 2.

With all the buzz swirling around, I thought it would be interesting to see what memorable Modern Warfare domain names Activision owns.   

Surprisingly, what I found is that Activision doesn’t own many.

Modern Warfare

ModernWarfare.com isn’t owned by Activision.  The domain is registered to Goran Blagus and sits parked.  According to a rough estimate by Compete, the domain receives anywhere from several hundred to several thousand unique visitors per month.

On Friday, October 15, 2010, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed by Activision for MODERN WARFARE, as reported by Trademarkia.  

Modern Warfare 2

ModernWarfare2.com is actually owned by Activision – and it’s not surprisng that the company somehow got its hands on this name considering Modern Warfare 2 is one of the best-selling games of all-time.

Modern Warfare 3

Activision wasn’t so lucky with ModernWarfare3.com.  What could possibly be another record-breaking title, isn’t owned by the company.  A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads, “Modern Warfare 3 .com is a 100% unofficial fan site dedicated to the Modern Warfare series.”

Modern Warfare 4

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.

A message at the top of the site reads:

Welcome to the ModernWarfare4.com Website. It would appear that Infinity Ward forgot to purchase this domain. No worries – We have good care of it.

There has been huge amounts of controversy about our actions. We won’t go into details here, (but to read part the story, click here, then google for any more..) – what we will say, is that the domain was purchased by the UK based gaming community ZiiP. We have been wondering what to do with it for a while now.. threatening to hurt this clown that you see unless IW played ball…

Sadly, it would seem IW don’t like clowns. They appear not to like PC Gamers either, as we were (like scores of others) extremely disappointed by there lack of dedicated server in the release of Modern Warfare 2.

We are not bad people. Therefore, we have decided to compromise on our previous demands of fast cars and cheap hookers in exchange for the domain. Instead, we would like IW to implement dedicated servers into MW2 for the good of the PC gaming community. We don’t want IW.net. It wasn’t asked for.

ModernWarfare5.com and ModernWarfare6.com are both registered at the time of this story.  

You won’t find any available domain registrations until you reach ModernWarfare7.com.  However, chances are good Activision won’t ever get to 5, 6, 7, or whatever – given that its Infinity Ward game studio is in shambles and it’s rumored that a futuristic Call of Duty could be the focus of its next series.