Westeros

The PC strategy game, A Game of Thrones: Genesis, is now available for preorder at the Focus Home shop at the digital download vendor Gamesplanet, which should be available internationally. The game is due to release on September 29th (at exactly one minute after midnight), but digital download preorders are 10% off and if you’re in the States you’ll actually be able to get the game on the evening of the 28th.

I’ve consulted a little bit on the game and had a chance to play with a beta and it is, I think, a pretty unique game. It’s real time, and it’s a strategy game, but it’s not anything like a typical, resource-gathering RTS (at least, none that I’m familiar with,). If I had to compare it to anything, it’d be something like a real-time board game with abstract mechanics that open up some very different approaches to the game than your typical resource-gathering, military-focused RTS. Up to 8 players can be involved in multiplayer games, and I can just imagine a very Diplomacy-like wheeling-and-dealing, with alliances and backstabbing and all that good fun.

The single-player game itself begins with Nymeria landing in Dorne and then covers many significant events in the course of the history of the Seven Kingdoms, including the arrival of Aegon the Conqueror and the unification of the Seven Kingdoms, the Dance of the Dragons, and Robert’s Rebellion. To learn more about the game, check out the official site.

Following the news listing all five directors for this season, George R.R. Martin has followed up with a post focused on the latest director to join the directorial team, Neil Marshall. Martin is clearly a big fan of his work, calling his The Descent possibly the best horror film o the last twenty years.

But it’s not just to praise him that Martin has commented—it’s to reveal that Marshal will be directing the episode titled, “Blackwater”, written by Martin himself. Suffice it to say, this is a big, pivotal effort, and a director of Marshall’s experience may just be the thing to bring it to the screen.

In an unrelated note, after digging around a little, we’ve learned that director Alan Taylor (who directed the well-received final two episodes of the first season) is still set to direct four episodes. With Marshall taking episode nine, that leaves five episodes for three directors.

The full list of directors for the second season of Game of Thrones has been revealed, thanks to The Hollywood Reporter‘s report on feature director Neil Marshall (perhaps best known for cult horror classic Dog Soldiers) joining the crew. He joins the previously-reported Alan Taylor (who, so far as we know, is still set to direct 4 episodes this season) and David Petrarca.

Also revealed are two other names, which we hadn’t had connected to the show previously: veteran TV director David Nutter (he’s directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Pacific, and Entourage for HBO, as well as Smallville, ER, and Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicle) and first season cinematographer Alik Sakharov. HBO has directly confirmed these to us, so that’s quite solid.

Five directors this season, with Taylor originally slated for four episodes… that doesn’t seem quite right, does it? If I had a guess, Taylor’s committment has been reduced by an episode or two, something that we’re looking into.

The Creative Arts Emmys were handed out last night, and this was a category where many fans hoped Game of Thrones would do very well, with a total of nine nominations. It was not to be, however, as the list of winners go. In categories such as casting, hair styling, costume design, and more, the Emmy voters went with other shows, including HBO sibling Boardwalk Empire and Showtime costume drama The Borgias.

There was one bright spot, however: the show did take one award, namely Main Title Design, for the extraordinary opening title created by Angus Wall and his team! This seemed as sure a thing as it could possibly be, and it seems the voters agreed. Congratulations to Angus Wall and company, to the producers who decided to go with Wall’s vision, and to HBO! You can see the unforgettable title below.

Due to a possible bug or exploit, the A Song of Ice and Fire forum has had all passwords reset. No vital data or private information was lost or compromised, but we wanted to make sure that there was no way someone could access accounts despite this.

To get a new password, just use the ‘I forgot my password’ option and have it send a validation e-mail to you, which on response will provide you with the new password.

If you no longer have access to the e-mail with which you registered on the forum, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your login name and an updated e-mail address.

We should caution that we’re not absolutely sure that the bug/exploit will not be a problem again in the future, but we’re taking steps to make sure that if this happens again, we’ll be able to fix it in a more permanent way.

HBO’s Game of Thrones is gearing up for the Emmy Awards, with the Creative Arts Awards (in which category the show has a number of nominations) being held on the 10th, and the primetime event taking place on the 18th. However, the awards season comprises more than just the Emmys. For example, there’s Spike TV’s popular Scream Awards (which are devoted to genre film, television, and comics).

In fact, the show has done very well for itself with these awards—of the 14 categories in which it was eligible, it’s scored 7 nominations! Selected by a distinguished panel of judges (including Neil Gaiman, Damon Lindelof, Darren Aronofsky, Matthew Vaughn, and more), the show has been nominated in the following categories: Best TV Show, Best Fantasy Actor (Sean Bean), Best Fantay Actress (Lena Heady), Best Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage), Breakout Performance Female (Emilia Clarke), Best Ensemble, Most Memorable Mutilation (Head Covered in Molten Gold), and the top category, The Ultimate Scream (which means it’s also up against a number of Hollywood blockbusters).

The award is given out on October 15th, but until then, there’s the matter of voting—yes, you, the fans, vote for these awards from among the selected nominees. Just head on over to Spike’s award page and start voting.

Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio have set the releae date for their forthcoming strategy game, A Game of Thrones: Genesis: September 29th. Mark your calendars! They’ve released a few new images—I’m fond of the shot that shows both Sunspear and Storm’s End, I admit; and unless I’m mistaken, they’ve worked further on the model of the Eyrie to make it more reminiscent of Ted Nasmith’s masterful depiction in the 2011 calendar—to go with the following press release, so be sure to check them out.

A fan-run memorabilia shop in the UK, Fan Favourites, is having a special event with Maisie Williams (Arya), Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle), and David Bradley (Lord Walder Frey) on hand as guests.

Entry to the event is entirely free, although autographs from the actors will incur a small charge. Best of all, the event will help raise money for Our Disappearing Planet, a registered charity helping endangered species and their threatened habitats.

The “Winter is Coming” event will take place on October 1st at 12PM, at their shop in the Brunell Arcade in Swindon. More details here, and you can follow fanfavourites on Twitter for any updates—latest word is that they’re getting the Iron Throne actually used on the show in for photo opportunities!

Pearson Moore, noted essayist of Winterfell Keep and our own Features section, has compiled a terrific collection of his essays concerning the show and the setting, including some exclusive pieces not previously published (including essays whose topics were selected by fans!) Read more about it and its contents below.

These are essays unlike any you have read before.  Pearson Moore digs deep into the heart and soul of Game of Thrones, immersing readers in the world of Westeros, bringing unparalleled enjoyment, complexity, and appreciation to the most fascinating fantasy television program ever brought to television.  After reading Game of Thrones Season One Essays, you’ll want to see the episodes again and again; Moore’s compelling prose and captivating ideas will enrich your viewing experience with a depth of insight available nowhere else.  The Season One Essays include the compelling 7000-word essay on Moore’s favorite character, Bran Stark, as well as the 11,000-word overview of the history of Westeros.  You will find no dry lists of names and dates in this history.  Moore challenges on every page, connecting characters, events, and chronologies with thesis and themes, creating the novel ideas that are the hallmark of Moore’s commentary on television drama.

This first volume of Game of Thrones essays contains twenty-one long (3000- to 11,000-word) articles, 88,000 words total, with chapters on each of the ten episodes, five of the major characters (Bran Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Ned Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen), and several of the important themes.  Two full chapters are given to the analysis of the direwolves scene from Episode One, which Moore considers to the be the central scene of Season One.

You will find no more complete, challenging, and stimulating collection of essays on Game of Thrones.  Tens of thousands of readers worldwide consider Pearson Moore must-read for any episode of LOST, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones.  Now you can read all of his Season One essays in one volume.  The direwolves await!

Chris Pope of the Beyond the Wall podcast is conducting a live-streamed interview with actor Finn Jones, who plays Loras Tyrell. A cool idea, to say the least—tune in here.

For more information about Finn, check out our own interview from back in March.

A fresh clue!

The reference to Elmo makes me think this may be teasing the role ofthe torturer called the Tickler in the novels. Creepy. Looking at the clues, fans have quickly surmised that they’re referring to Anthony Morris, an Irish actor who’s played someone known as Drubber Dockery, someone else called Zippy (hence ‘not a pinhead’, referring to the Zippy the Pinhead comic strip), had a part in an episode of Killinaskully titled “The Horse Whisperer”, and was in a film named Rough Diamond. That seems pretty solid to us, especially given his agency page noting, “Anthony will be seen in season two of HBO’s masterpiece ‘Game of Thrones’.”

After leading fans on a brief but merry chase through the internet regarding the identity of Biter, George R.R. Martin has now confirmed both actors. As previously reported, Andy Beckwith is indeed Rorge… but Biter is, I admit, a bit of a surprise to me just in terms of appearance. Cast in the role is Gerard Jordan, who (among other things) met former President Bill Clinton when he was younger (hence Martin’s remark at the end that it was good that the “big dog”—refererring to Clinton’s nickname—was not bitten).

Scratch that. WICnet pointed out that, as hard as it may be to believe, there’s more than one actor from Ireland named Gerard Jordan. Who’d have thought it? This is the best photo found of the actor in question. He certainly looks a bit tougher than the other actor we noted, and should transform into the hideous Biter without too much difficulty.

French Factor News’s exclusive interview with Cyanide’s Thomas Veauclin, project manager on the Game of Thrones roleplaying game that Cyanide Studio has been developing, has a pretty remarkable revelation: Cyanide has secured the rights to certain HBO Game of Thrones assets and are implementing as much of them as they can. This includes the appearances of actors, recorded dialog, the music, certain designs (such as the Iron Throne), and the like.

Alyssa Rosenberg strikes again—first writing for Think Progress, this time writing in The Atlantic regarding the success of Game of Thrones in comparison to HBO’s big summer show, True Blood. The focus of the article is very much on how the two series have approached the process of adaptation and the impact their choices have had on the more fantastic aspects of the series, and why Rosenberg thinks that Game of Thrones is the better of the two shows because of the choices the executive producers made.

It’s true, as commentators warn (and Rosenberg acknowledges),that the real test for Game of Thrones will be how it adapts the second novel to the second season—True Blood was relatively close to the first Sookie Stackhouse novel, apparently, in its first season as well.

It’s now live—the Podcast of Ice and Fire has its 63rd episode up, and it’s another “Guy’s Night Out”, featuring Amin and Dan of Podcast of Ice and Fire, Alex of Tower of the Hand, and FaBio/Tobias of Winter is Coming... oh, and me.

We discuss A Dance with Dragons, and spend a great deal of time arguing about various topics related to it, so beware spoilers (and off-color language, too)!

Listen to it here.