Westeros

Thanks to Massively, we’ve gotten quite a few more details concerning Bigpoint‘s officialy licensed Game of Thrones massively multiplayer roleplaying game. They had a chance to sit down with some of the developers of the game during the San Francisco Game Developers Conference, and certainly got some interesting details out of them that expand on our previous report.

Details of the game’s combat system are expanded on, as are its skills-based system. One of the most important points for many players when considering a free-to-play MMO is the fact that there’s a fear players with deep pockets can “buy” their way to the top of the pile… but Bigpoint insists that the game is not balanced that way, and skilled players are always going to trump less skilled players, regardless of what perks the less skilled players have. It’s probably true that when looking between players of equal skill, those bought-for perks are going to give them the edge… but it’s at least a good move to make sure those perks don’t destabilize competition across all levels of play.

The territory-gain system sounds interesting, with three classes of battle—ranging from 20 v 20 fort battles to big, 50 v 50 castle battles to secure a territory for your side. The voting for a Hand each week, on the other hand, does sound sort of strange on the face of it. Who will vote, and how is this mechanic explained in terms that make sense? It’ll be interesting to learn more as the game develops. On the whole, this seems very much a combat-focused game with a secondary political element (which seems largely to be about deciding when to jump ship to a different faction), but it seems to have potential according to what Massively and other gaming sites who were at GDC have to say.

We’ve also added a sub-section in our gallery for the MMO, with the six high-resolution images that Bigpoint has released so far. The game uses hte Unity engine, which provides very robust graphical performance inside the browser, and it certainly does look quite good from these images.

Thanks to the scores of people who commented on our two posts regarding Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords (pre-order:  US Paperback, US Kindle, UK)!

The copy of the book, signed by Professor Jacoby, has now been won: congratulations to Natalia Nznk! The response on this contest was so great, we’re putting our minds towards a few others in the future.

Remember, the book is out next week, hitting shelves on May 13th.

The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is in full swing, and massive online game developer Bigpoint is there to give journalists an early preview of their progress with the licensed, Game of Thrones MMORPG. With an Iron Throne on hand to draw attention to their close ties with HBO’s successful fantasy series.

Here’s what we’ve gleaned from two reports, from Games Radar and MMORPG.com, each of which has a new screenshot of the game:

• Based on the television series, it takes place shortly after the end of season 1 as the war for the throne begins. There are three (initial?) factions: Stark, Lannister, and Baratheon. You can also avoid picking a faction for awhile, but there are benefits to having one… but you and your guild (representing a minor house) can always jump ship to a different faction if it benefits you, which is touted as one of the means of playing out the political aspects of the game.
• The game is a sandbox-style game focused on PvP (that’s player vs. player) action and warfare. Players can take part in ranked 5 on 5 duels, or battle for control of castles and fortresses in the massive, open-world sandbox. From what Games Radar reports, the combat is action-based, with players able to earn “cards” that allow them to summon NPCs like Jaime Lannister to help your side out in a fight. Games Radar found these mechanics clunky, but Bigpoint noted this was still quite early in the process.
• Using the Unity graphics system, this is a browser-based game… but it’s indicated that the graphics look really amazing for this sort of game. That said, it’s clear from comments that hardcore gamers are dubious of browser-based, free-to-play games.
• The game is skill-based rather than class-based, but you can specialize your character down the route of melee, ranged, or commander skills (which allow you to provide positive modifiers to allies and negative modifiers to enemies).

All in all, sounds interesting, and we’re going to try and keep atop the news as the game approaches its beta in the Fall. Bigpoint has also launched the official site for the game, where you can presently sign up to indicate your interest in receiving news updates concerning the game. They also have an official twitter account.

A couple of days ago we announced a contest to win a copy of Blackwell’s forthcoming Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords (Pre-order:  US Paperback, US Kindle, UK), and there we promised an interview with Professor Henry O. Jacoby, editor of the book and one of its contributors.

You can find it below, as we ask him seven questions (starting to feel like a “thing”, having seven questions!) about his work, the book, and some of his thoughts on questions that concern the series. And after you’ve read it, please feel free to leave a comment… not least because your comments will be entered into the pool for winning a copy of the book!

Gosh, it feels like the actors have been through a junket or three at this point! Here’s a few more interviews that have popped up onto our radar in the last couples of days:

Using the infamous refrain of the ironborn devotees of the Drowned God, “What is Dead May Never Die” turns out to be the title for the third episode of season 2—and the first not penned by David Benioff & Dan Weiss. Instead, this one’s written by story editor Bryan Cogman, who wrote last season’s fourth episode, “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”.

I think it’s a pretty safe bet it’ll be giving us our first, in-depth look at the Iron Islands…

For the titles of the first two episodes, see our earlier post.

For awhile now, we’ve been sitting on some information regarding one of the upcoming, Ice and Fire-related things that George and we are involved in. But now, in the last days, things have been moving quite quickly, and it’s time to pull back the curtain.

Some have seen a listing for a product named Maps of Ice and Fire at Random House’s sites. But this is not, in fact, the final title. We can exclusively reveal that the final title is The Lands of Ice and Fire, which will be a boxed collection of posters featuring quite a few different maps, covering everything from the Seven Kingdoms we all know and love, to the lands Across the Narrow Sea… including the fabled Yi Ti, the lands of the Jade Sea, and the mysterious Asshai-by-the-Shadow. There’ll even be maps of a city or two.

This will be the most accurate and complete maps of the world of the setting ever published, featuring lands and places that we’ve never even heard of before—including long-dead kingdoms, half-forgotten cities, and more. I’m not presently certain as to who the artist(s) is/will be… but I’ve been looking over George’s own, hand-drawn maps (we’ve been asked to help proof them and do some of this and that for the final product—and no, don’t ask us for any details!), and suffice it to say, there’s plenty there to fire the imagination for any artist.

The poster collection is due to be released on October 30th or thereabouts, and you can pre-order it now.

Last month, we reported on the forthcoming release of Game of Thrones and Philosophy: Logic Cuts Deeper than Swords (Pre-order:  US, UK), part of the Blackwell Pop Culture and Philosophy series of popular philosophy books.

This week, we’re offering readers of Westeros.org a chance to win a copy, signed by editor and contributor Henry O. Jacoby.

All you need to do to enter? Leave a comment on this post, and we’ll select a winner at random! The winner will be announced on Friday, and the book will be dispatched soon after.

Keep an eye out in the next day or two, as well, as we’ll have an exclusive interview with Professor Jacoby and a chance to improve your odds of winning the signed copy by leaving a comment on the interview as well.

Really, it’s a full-court press! To start off, here are Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Michelle Fairley, and Kit Harington discussing the first season of Game of Thrones as part of press for the Blu-ray and DVD release… plus, perhaps, a few hints as to the second season.

And then, for something completely different, Wilko Johnson—ace guitarist of Dr. Feelgood and the retiring Ilyn Payne—chats with Nörrbottens Kuriren about his role in the series, including the second season, and a bit about his touring plans. Though he’s not really a fan of the novels (not to his tastes), he seems to have had great fun taking part in the filming, and even proposes a spin-off idea…

And, though not an interview, here’s a couple of photos and a video of Emilia Clarke during a GQ UK photoshoot.

Update: And here are executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss… with a little commentary from an HBO representative on the side. ;)

HBO has quietly been adding a few new items to its store in the run-up to season 2. Besides getting more of the Cersei Lannister posters in stock from season 1, there’s some brand new shirts that are rather cool (including a Westeros map shirt), plus some knick-knacks such as house sigil and character magnet sets. You can find these, and much, much more, over at the Westeros Store.

Busy, busy times. Thanks to an invitation from the excellent Amin of Podcast of Ice and Fire, yesterday I joined him, Alex from Tower of the Hand, Apocalypse Dan, and Stefan Sasse from TotH and Boiled Leather for the latest episode of the podcast (which mysteriously ended up with the episde number of 69… hrm!)

Lots of good discussion about the TV series and the books, but naturally it’s full of spoilers and the occasional off-color humor. Check it out!

Two weeks ago, Linda and I flew over to London to do the tourist thing… and one thing more: meet the team from Sky Atlantic and Koink that put together last season’s Thronecast, and film a special video bringing together the HBO Uk “Sessions” series of DVD/Bluray promotional videos with Sky’s Thronecast! It was great to meet host Geoff Lloyd in person at last, as well as Ben Barnes from Sky Atlantic and Georgie Hobbs, who joined Linda and I in discussing the series. And seeing Miltos Yerolemou again (and introducing him to Linda) was a treat.

I have to say, they all did great… me? Not so much—extemporaneous speaking and getting to the point is not necessarily my strong suit!

In any case, here it is:

Will there be more Thronecast for the second season, you ask? We’ll see what we’ll see…

Boy, the Old Vic Tunnels DVD launch was massive for getting photos and interviews with the actors, wasn’t it? Someone helpfully pointed out that there’s even more in the way of interviews via Getty Images. They’re watermarked, but they feature a massive swath of the cast, including Emilia Clarke, Michelle Fairley, Oona Chaplin and Rose Leslie, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gwendoline Christie, Isaac Hempstead Wright…. basically, almost everybody!

Plus, Digital Spy has a few more.

Twitter exploded last night with news that The Simpsons made another reference to Game of Thrones in the latest episode… and not just any reference, but a long couch sequence spoofing the TV series’s opening with its clockwork world. You can see it here—and if you’re in the US and have cable or satellite, you can view the episode online at Fox’s official site.

Last night, HBO did a couple of nice things. First, they released the “Seven Devils” trailer in its full, 720p glory, which you can check out below… but they also released a re-cut version of the “Power and Glory” trailer on HBO following the airing of Luck, including a handful of new shots. These include our first look at Robert Pugh as Craster... and our first real look at Grey Wind. Thanks to fan @FittenTrim, we’ve an image that you will definitely want to check out.

It’s just a somewhat grainy still, but it looks really, really good. Hopefully this will lay to rest some of the CG concerns!

Until HBO puts that online in HD to get a better look, though, here’s “Seven Devils”: