GundamOfficial.com dead?

Topics not covered in other forums. NO POLITICS OR RELIGION.
Post Reply
User avatar
Brave Fencer Kirby
Posts: 1308
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 3:14 pm

GundamOfficial.com dead?

So I just tried to go to GundamOfficial.com (which I still do on occasion to do thinks like make sure I'm spelling "Miriallia" correctly), and it appears to be dead. Not just a 404 error, but a DNS lookup failure -- meaning that it's not just "cannot connect to that server", it's "there's no website at that address anymore". Anyone know how long that's been the case? I looked around online a bit but didn't see anything commenting on it.
Fighting evil so you don't have to!
Xenosynth
Posts: 1166
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2012 5:03 am

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

Sorry, the website www.gundamofficial.com cannot be found

^ My ISP gives me that. I think it's gone for good. I was just on it a few weeks ago too, so it has to be very recent that it went down.
User avatar
Dark Duel
Posts: 4833
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:39 pm
Location: A blue City in a red State

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

Yeah, GO is in fact gone for good AFAIK. I noticed it was gone...oh, about three weeks or so ago.
Unless you're looking for pics, you should be able to pull it up with Wayback Machine though.

@Kirby: It's spelled "Miriallia Haw", by the way.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
User avatar
Deathzealot
Posts: 979
Joined: Sun Mar 12, 2006 2:08 am
Location: Las Vegas, NV

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

Well darn... I still use GO for reference stuff like the timeline and stuff. Also yes Wayback Machine is your friend. However any news on WHY it closed down? There had to be a reason right?
User avatar
Wingnut
Posts: 6026
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 7:44 pm
Location: Detroit, MI
Contact:

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

No idea as to why it was taken down, but as said the last version can still be accessed.
http://web.archive.org/web/201106291414 ... ndex2.html
The Gundam wiki

"Reality makes a crappy special effects crew." - Adam Savage

R.I.P., SDGO.
User avatar
Khandri
Posts: 72
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2012 4:01 pm
Location: Wisconsin
Contact:

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

I'm guessing it shut down because of Bandai Entertainment closing its doors here in the US/the West. Kind of ridiculous that they couldn't just give it to their parent company in Japan to use for something, but then again, Gundam.info already has an English-language version, so they probably thought it redundant.
That wacky Gundam X fangirl (yes, girl) the fandom warned you about...
User avatar
PowerdGNFlag
Posts: 405
Joined: Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:45 am

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

Fortunately the Gundam 00 site (formerly hosted at Bandai Entertainment's site) is also archived. I had a soft soft for that site. http://web.archive.org/web/201107072111 ... i-ent.com/
Well, I guess I'm a nobody...
toysdream
Posts: 3164
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:24 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA
Contact:

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

I suspect there may be an element of centralization here, too. The information at GundamOfficial.com and the Gundam 00 site was newly arranged and written for the U.S. market; these days, I think Sunrise prefers to write all the information itself and simply have it literally translated for the English-speaking audience. The English versions of Gundam.info and the Gundam Unicorn site are straight translations of whatever happens to go on the Japanese versions, and in the case of Unicorn, Sunrise goes over the translations line-by-line to make sure they approve. I think it's unlikely we'll see any more original English-language content published under the Bandai or Sunrise aegis.

-- Mark
User avatar
ProfessorMecha
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:44 am

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

It's so sad that they folded, now that Toonami's back, things might get better for Anime in the west.
User avatar
MechLife
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:22 pm

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

That's a disappointment :(. Did they have info on all versions of the games? Because that would be really useful!
User avatar
Dark Duel
Posts: 4833
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:39 pm
Location: A blue City in a red State

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

You wish. They weren't even fully up to date on the series.
Still, they had a lot of useful info.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
User avatar
MechLife
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:22 pm

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

Shame...I guess the archives will have to do then. Until someone unites all the various wikis into one.
User avatar
foxpaws
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 7:39 pm

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

In hindsight, I'd say that GundamOfficial didn't satisfy the primary objective of the company: to market Gundam merchandise. Mark and I built it to satisfy the cravings of hardcore Gundam fans for more info (which I guess indirectly fuels desire for more merchandise), whereas my employer was trying to sell Gundam toys to a considerably younger market demographic who didn't really give a damn about the technobabble or timeline.

I might still have a complete backup of the site on CD-R somewhere - I always make an effort to archive all my past project work - but I'll be damned if I remember where I put the disc...

-- Keith

PS: if the site didn't have info on every Gundam product, it was because I was instructed to limit the content to anime and game products that were available to the N. American audience at the time, on the grounds that providing info on products not available in N. America would "create confusion and unnecessary queries to Bandai customer support." (Didn't stop me from sneaking in a few profiles about the Astray Gold Frame, just because I could.)
User avatar
HellCat
Posts: 1491
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:24 am

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

I think this is a bit like that scene at the end of a Gundam show where the home ship is finally sunk :?

I see the logic in switching to en.gundam.info, but given all the 'Read more!' links seem to shoot me at a completely unrelated, Japanese-only article...

Farewell, GundamOfficial. From teasing me with Endless Waltz nuggets to the fun days of GOUF, it was a fun ride.
Gundam AGEs Forum- Three destinies will form discussion.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
User avatar
MechLife
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 7:22 pm

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

^ getting an ad blocker might help with that! It's what I do
User avatar
HellCat
Posts: 1491
Joined: Sun Apr 26, 2009 10:24 am

Re: GundamOfficial.com dead?

I'm not talking about clicking ads by mistake, i'm clicking leads to articles and getting sent to much older ones on the Japanese site.
Gundam AGEs Forum- Three destinies will form discussion.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Post Reply