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Our good friends at Fusible note, somewhat wryly, that while Nintendo's gotten around to filing trademark applications on the Wii U it's lacking ownership of the wiiu.com domain. The console by that name is due for sale sometime in 2012. More »
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Just so you know, IO Interactive was doin' aug- alternate-reality games before doing alternate-reality games was cool, giving up a look at what's believed to be Hitman's next entry. A trademark filing by Square Enix now indicates it will be titled "Hitman: Absolution." More »
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Rooting through paperwork, a NeoGAF poster found three trademark filings by ZeniMax Media, parent of Bethesda Softworks, maker of Fallout: New Vegas. One corresponds to a name from a graffiti file (pictured) like one that tipped off December's "Dead Money" DLC. More »
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In response to Nintendo's attempt to trademark "It's on like Donkey Kong," Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert decides to squat on other dated catchphrases, just in case. More »
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Nintendo is trying to copyright the saying "It's on like Donkey Kong". It's madness. Thankfully, Super Nerd Wil Wheaton has an elegant solution. More »
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Nintendo has found a novel new way to promote the upcoming release of Donkey Kong Country Returns: Filing a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark the pop-culture phrase "It's on like Donkey Kong." Oh it's on. More »
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Popular Facebook game Mafia Wars comes under fire today as creator Zynga is sued for trademark violation by Digital Chocolate, the creator of the Mafia Wars mobile phone game series. More »
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A trademark application filed last week by Capcom for Mega Man Universe could indicate big things in store for everyone's favorite blue bomber. More »
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Some trademark filings make sense, or we can at least see where they're going. Neverdead? Sure. Someone's working on a zombie game. But then Ubisoft goes and uncorks "Horse Gaga" and yes, the mark is for a video game. More »
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One week ago Bungie filed a new trademark application for Marathon, the FPS superstar of Mac gaming's brief apogee during the mid- to late-1990s. There are few details beyond that but the paperwork's enough to stoke fantasies of a reboot. More »
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In Europe, Namco Bandai has trademarked something called "Pac-Man: Battle Royale," which sounds less like a reboot or remake of a pellet-chomper, and more along the lines of Tekken with ghosts. More »
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This always happens in threes. Yesterday we saw the magic words tipping off Nintendo and Microsoft's next projects. Today brings word that Sony's having fun with high-scoring Scrabble consonants again, registering "Qriocity" not for a game - but a network. More »
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No details other than what's on the USPTO's web site. Ubisoft filed it on Monday and the mark covers video games, so you know Ubi's not getting into the lunchbox or breakfast cereal business. More »
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In April, an Italian company announced "Wii Relax." Siliconera notes that, not only is that company's product site gone, Nintendo has now trademarked "WiiRelax" in Europe. Maybe they muscled in on the name after seeing I had shrewdly registered "WiiSittingOnOne'sAss." More »
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Another cull of patent and trademark filings turns up this gem: Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville," the soundtrack for public drunkenness and amphitheater-humping for more than two decades, has been trademarked for use in a video game. More »
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Two new trademark applications point towards EA studio Visceral Games journeying back to the 19th century to visit London's original serial killer, Jack the Ripper. More »
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Electronic Arts is asking the United States to cancel five trademarks held by Tim Langdell's Edge Games, saying the marks have been effectively abandoned. In comments to Kotaku, EA portrayed its actions as done on behalf of the development community. More »
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Tim Langdell, the CEO of EDGE Games, which has been at the heart of many controversies regarding trademark rights to the word "Edge" in video gaming, has stepped down from the board of directors of the International Game Developers Association. More »
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Read that headline one more time. Then look at this picture. And prepare yourself for the eventuality that no, this is not a joke, meaning yes, Nintendo actually patented an inflatable horse-riding peripheral for the Wii. More »
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Last week a trademark was filed for Simpson's and Futurama creator Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strip for, among other things, a potential video game. More »
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Sony Computer Entertainment America recently filed a trademark for a product named "Qore," but we don't expect to necessarily see a game coming to the PlayStation 3 or PSP with that name. Instead of the standard description "computer game software and video game software" services—as in the case with the recent filing for The Last Guy, a planned PlayStation Network release—the trademark filed for Qore protects against "computer services, namely, providing interactive online magazine and entertainment services in the field of video games." More »
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Sega's racquetball meets Tron meets Breakout oddity Cosmic Smash may be one more Dreamcast-era property headed for revival territory as the publisher has recently trademarked the title with the USPTO. The arcade title only saw release in Japan and didn't get much attention from gamers as a too late Dreamcast port, but it looks like Sega may be bringing us an update. More »
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Is Square Enix finally bringing its Itadaki Street series to North America? We've got a hunch it is. The latest entry, known as Itadaki Street DS in Japan, features a guest appearance in the long-running board game series from the Mario universe cast, including Peach, Bowser, Wario and Yoshi. While previous games in the series featured characters from Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, the inclusion of Mario and pals may have the star power Square Enix needs to finally localize it. More »
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In the latest salvo in the let's-claim-credit-for-a-commonly-used-term-that-we-didn't-even-create War(TM), Finnish software company Futuremark Games Studio filed papers on February 26, 2008 to protect the trademark "Pwnage" in relation to: More »
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Trademork is reporting that Activision has applied for a trademark for the name DJ Hero earlier this month. There's not a whole lot of details at the moment but in legal terms, the trademark refers to "computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit; interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller." More »
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Rumors of Apple gunning to enter the handheld games market have been circulating for a while, but a new trademark application discovered by Trademork dated Feb. 5th seems to lend credence to the rumor mill. According to the application, Apple is upping its trademark to include "Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games." More »
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Have you seen the movie Underworld? OK, great. Now take that movie and relate it in absolutely no way to Tomb Raider Underworld, the rumored next TR sequel since the trademark was discovered. Said to revolve around the Mayan calendar, or more specifically, the five unnamed days at the end of the year known only as "Wayeb'." During this time, the realm of the living and dead was said to blur, leading us to only one, inevitable plotline in the game: giant ghost/zombie jubblies. More »
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When we're not posting about what we've eaten for breakfast, we're often found trolling the US Patent and Trademark Office for exciting new registrations. One of the more interesting such items to pop up recently is Sony Computer Entertainment's Dress, with the logo shown above. More »
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Trademark hunters at Sonic the Hedgehog fansite Sonic Stadium uncovered an interesting recent filing from Sega for a video game named Sonic Rush Adventure. While details are miniscule—there's nothing to go on save the game's title—I have to wonder what the game could be. More »
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Gamespot is reporting that Activision has filed trademarks for two titles, Guitar Villain and Drum Villain, both for things like "computer game software" and "toy guitars designed to be used as controllers for computer games." More »
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Bad news for those of us who were hoping that the lack of a Wii trademark indicated a Nintendo marketing conspiracy to change the name back to the Revolution come E3. The trademark database has been updated and, sigh, Wii is there. More »
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