Westeros

There’s been a bit more movement on the RPG and strategy game fronts, thanks to Focus Home Interactive and Cyanide Studio. First, we were remiss not to note that Game Banshee has an interview with one of the designers of the roleplaying game, which features a couple of new images, including a nicely moody bit of concept art which we really hope they translate into the game proper.

On top of that, Focus and Cyanide have released a few new screen shots of the game, along with a press release providing just a bit more information about the game’s concept:

A number of little things to post about, so here they go in easily digestible chunks. Make sure to watch the clips at the bottom, as they’re good fun.

• HBO has revealed that their subscriber streaming service HBO GO has some exclusive (and fascinating) content attached to each episode. This exclusive content includes detailed maps, pop-up “author commentaries” with remarks from GRRM, 360-degree looks at locations and even objects (some amazingly high-resolution-seeming shots of Robert’s crown, Ice, and Lyanna’s effigy), family trees, and more.
• For Swedes, it’s worth noting that Cinema magazine has a contest to secure tickets for the May 3rd screening of the first two episodes in a theater in Stockholm.
• Similarly, HBO has a sweepstakes you should really check out (U.S. residents only). A chance to win a clutch of dragon eggs? Awesome. It should be noted that Sky Atlantic has a similar contest (U.K./Ireland only).
• A couple of clips for this Sunday’s episode have been released, featuring Jon Snow and Jaime Lannister in an interesting (and non-book) scene, as well as a scene from the books featuring Daenerys and her handmaidens. You can find them below. Can you spot Mikken in the first one?

AOL TV in the UK has a few exclusive interviews with members of the cast of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which airs in the UK exclusively on Sky Atlantic. The cast members in the following videos include Sean Bean, Jason Momoa, Mark Addy, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau:

A report has just gone out revealing HBO’s category placements for Game of Thrones (as well as HBO’s other big show, Boardwalk Empire). The voting members have apparently received an “impressive screener package”, and HBO has noted the following category placements for the show:

TIME magazine has honored George R.R. Martin on it’s Top 100 most influential people list for this year, and with a write-up by none other than humorist (and fan!) John Hodgman. At the end, Hodgman writes:

Tyrion Lannister is the best character in fiction since Stringer Bell and that if you have not read these books, you should be ashamed of yourself.

A ringing endorsement, both from, Hodgman and TIME!

In the wake of the first episode, we have seen several people take issue with—on Twitter as well as on various forums—the show’s portrayal of certain issues relating to race and gender. There has also been some lively discussion on our own forum, such as here and here. Please note that both topics are ones that allow spoilers from the books to be posted.

A commentary of our own can be found in our newest article, a brief consideration of the criticism directed towards the show and the books on these matters.

All the great press around the show has started to overshadow some of the interviews, but we thought that these two interviews with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister) were worth noting. First, this “tease” from TV.com which includes his musing question, “The one thing I don’t understand is that sex [in this show] has to be from behind. Why is that?” Don’t worry, Nikolaj, sometimes the ladies are on top!

And then we have Den of Geek with an excellent interview. Note, though, that at one point Coster-Waldau speculates about what his character might be up to in the fifth volume of the series. He is, I reiterate, speculating, and simply emphasizing something about the way GRRM writes his characters. It is not a spoiler!

James Hibberd on EW had a chat about the renewal with HBO executives Michael Lombardo and Richard Plepler, in which they discuss their happiness with the viewership. They note that its numbers are stronger than True Blood‘s were in its first season, and they predict it’s a “slow build” show that will win over more viewers as more episodes air and they decide that it’s worth watching even if they don’t consider themselves a fan of the genre.

On the other hand, they note that Benioff and Weiss are largely writing this on their own, without help of staff (except the odd free-lanced episode), and they think 10 episodes would be best to keep quality high. Which is, one supposes, an imminently reasonable reason to stick to 10 episodes. But the next season, if we are so lucky (*knock on wood*)? This may be why Benioff and Weiss have suggested that they wouldn’t mind splitting the third book into two seasons.

Via Variety (and, actually, a recent interview or two), George R.R. Martin has revealed what section of the second series he’ll be writing. A bit of spoiler protection is in order…

Apologies for the down time ... but surely it mitigates a bit to know…

... that Game of Thrones has been renewed! GRRM has posted the press release, which we’ll copy below. He is, obviously, very excited! A minimum of ten new episodes seems sure, but George expresses his hopes (and ours, we may add) that HBO will order up 12 episodes. Fingers crossed!

This comes after news that while the initial airing had a modest number of viewers—2.2 million as opposed to Boardwalk Empire‘s sensational 4.8m—it had much more competition in terms of the NBA playoffs and baseball. When the two repeats afterward are added to the mix, total viewership on Sunday reached 4.2 million. No numbers are yet available on the Monday airings across six HBO channels, or DVR figures and the like, but we expect we’ll hear more about those soon.

Here’s the release below:

Explosions of tweeting, post-episode recaps, and more followed yesterday’s premiere of Game of Thrones. We’ve contributed a bit to that, with a recap and review for Suvudu, and a audio podcast with Tom and Daniel of MTV Geek in which we discuss the show.

And, on top of that, we do a star turn *cough* on Sky’s post-episode Thronecast, where we discuss Westeros a bit, and just some quick views on the episode just seen. Uhm ... just ignore the fact that I look like an idiot, glancing down at the monitor rather than looking at the camera. I’ll attempt to do better next time! On the bright side, Linda’s much, much better than I am.

Finally, HBO has joined in the fun, not only releasing an “Inside the Episode” video, but by popular demand they’ve placed the title sequence on Youtube in glorious 720p, exactly as it was meant to be watched! See the embed below:

So… how was your night last night? Was it everything you wanted? Almost? Not at all? Join the discussion and discuss the series with fellow fans! And while you’re at it, feel free to check out our extensive episode guide! Or ... how about going inside the episode with executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, or a preview of episode 2, The Kingsroad?

See below!

Now that the first episode, “Winter is Coming”, is up, we provide a lengthy recap plus a detailed analysis in our episode guide. More content to come tomorrow, including a look at the changes from book to screen.

In the mean time, after reading up, why not join the discussion?

Today is the day! Today, the Game of Thrones begins. For those who haven’t followed the anxious wait ever since the pilot was announced, an introduction to what we offer in terms of Game of Thrones coverage here at Westeros is in order.

Ahead of tomorrow’s premiere of Game of Thrones, we’ve made our newest skin for the A Song of Ice and Fire forum go live. The largest change is that we’ve moved from two columns (on either side of the forum) to one, somewhat larger one on the left side (however, overall the forum now dominates more of the dispaly). With the kind permission of Ted Nasmith, who’s allowed us to use his 2011 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar imagery in other parts of Westeros.org, we’ve added his amazing depiction of the Hightower of Oldtown on the sidebar as well.

We’re aware this skin is not 100% yet, but it’s mostly there, and in the next week or so we manage to deal with most outstanding issues. In the interim, however, we’re leaving the “old” skin—renamed Legacy Song of Ice and Fire—available for those who need some time to transition, especially those members of the forum who are using one of the mods that turn the skin much whiter (ala the old “Stark” skin) for whatever reason. Note that it’s staying put only for a limited time, however, just to help with the transition—we’ll probably remove it entirely in a month or two.

As we said, it’s not 100% yet, but we’ve a list of things we’re going to tweak.