After suffering through the legal nightmare of trying to reacquire ModernWarfare3.com, a URL that at one point redirected to Battlefield 3's official site, it appears that Activision isn't taking any chances. Recently the publisher has registered a wide swath of domains in relation to China and Black Ops 2.

Since the game centers around the idea of China invading American soil — an umbrella attack for a more personal confrontation with Raul Menendez — these domain registrations are most likely in relation to the sequel's content rather than an indication of what's to come. But if it is, Activision has invested quite heavily in a few key phrases spelled out in Chinese, along with URLs like BlackOpsChina.com and ModernWarfareChina.com.

As we said before, there is likely not much to get excited about in relation to these domains being purchased — it could easily be chalked up to Activision being gun shy about letting any domain slip away — or it could very well be an indication of the types of confrontations the publisher is looking to explore in future iterations.

While we had known for quite some time, despite Treyarch refusing to comment, that Black Ops 2 was going to be the developer's next iteration, the status on Infinity Ward's next is still up in the air. Couple that in with recent developments that suggest new developers are hopping on board to develop their own Call of Duty experience, and you have a good old fashioned rumor trail.

What we do know is that Black Ops 2 and Black Ops: Declassified (Vita) are slated for release later this year, and that a few developers are trying their hands at adding a new iteration to the Call of Duty franchise. We wouldn't be surprised, though, if the next game didn't prominently feature China as a setting or once again a source of conflict.

What do you make of these Activision domain registrations? Have the Call of Duty developers run out of clever villains to put against the player?

Source: Fusible