By Nathan Grayson on July 12th, 2012 at 11:00 am.
So it was promised, so shall it be. After a brief introduction to Game of Thrones: Seven Kingdoms – which promised an MMO in which “players form alliances through Player vs. Player (PvP), Siege combat, and politics to control Westeros” – Bigpoint vanished into the seat-and-BO-flavored mists of Comic-Con. And from that primordial ooze of glorious geekery, it’s now produced one trailer. It features betrayal, war, power, and GIANT WORDS introducing each. Find it after the rather unimposing Wall that is our break.
So that looks pretty all right, huh? I mean, it’s browser-based, so I wasn’t expecting it to pull a [SPOILER BUT YOU PROBABLY KNOW WHICH BE-HEADED CHARACTER I'M TALKING ABOUT] on Guild Wars 2 and WoW. Can’t say I’m too terribly excited about what appears to be more stand-in-one-spot-and-autoattack combat, but coolly calculated politics don’t make for the most eye-catching trailers, so here we are. Some of the aforementioned siege warfare would’ve been nice, though. I mean, if Battle of Blackwater’s an actual thing we can do, I’ll be killing brave men on day one for that alone. And in the game.
Still though, Game of Thrones’ popularity took everyone by surprise, and developers are struggling to catch up. GoT: Genesis and the recent single-player RPG were both pretty obviously re-stitched to better fit the TV show and rushed out the door, and I’m not entirely positive Seven Kingdoms isn’t suffering the same fate. Game of Thrones is such a giant, ponderous thing that even Martin himself has trouble keeping up. It’s the world’s tallest house of cards in book form, and so far, I’ve yet to see a game do anything other than come precariously close to knocking it down.
12/07/2012 at 11:10 Malk_Content says:
Still unable to listen to the Game of Thrones intro without singing the nsfw lyrics in my head.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25KABvPbq-U
12/07/2012 at 12:04 westyfield says:
I always hear Sansa, Arya, and Bran singing it.
“I don’t even know the tune anymore.”
“Yeah, this is the bit where the tune changes.”
12/07/2012 at 14:18 neolith says:
Haha – that is awesome! Thanks for the link! :)
12/07/2012 at 12:25 Theon says:
I always hear this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REasBBiJm00
MEEEP MEEEP MEEP-MEEP MEEEP MEEP
MEEP-MEEP-MEEEEP
BAM-BAM BABA-BAM-BAM BABA-BAM-BAM
12/07/2012 at 11:28 Jimbo says:
Valar DOAhaeris.
13/07/2012 at 02:20 Universal Quitter says:
I was going to say Valar DOTAeris, but you beat me to the punch.
12/07/2012 at 11:51 MuscleHorse says:
I have little to no interest in this game, but bravo on the headline.
12/07/2012 at 17:47 Flakfizer says:
I think you mean Braavos
12/07/2012 at 11:52 Firenz says:
GoT mod for CKII comes close to showing the sheer scope of the place and the number of random and bastardly individuals involved. Maybe a Westeros:Total War? Although TW’s character interaction etc doesn’t come close to Paradox’s….. maybe CA and Paradox should get together and make it!
12/07/2012 at 20:29 DigitalParadox says:
The only thing I’ve been able to think of that could outdo the CK2 mod (once finished) as a A Song of Ice and Fire game would be some sort of Romance of the Three Kingdoms type deal. Control a single character with that basic blend of strategy game elements with RPG.
13/07/2012 at 21:12 Werthead says:
A WESTEROS: TOTAL WAR mod is on its way (and after five years, hopefully is close to being done):
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=721
12/07/2012 at 11:57 augustuskent says:
That was about as stale as an MMO can get….
Seriously you’d think they’d try and at least flaunt some sort of political system unique to the Game of Thrones story instead of show generic combat and lackluster graphics
12/07/2012 at 15:10 Jnx says:
Yeah. Funny how the first words are “greed” and “betrayal” which are both usually abundant in MMOs and marketing.
12/07/2012 at 11:59 BobbyDylan says:
Browser based MMO….. that sums up my (Lack of) interest.
it.
12/07/2012 at 12:19 gunny1993 says:
I’m beginning to believe George R.R Martin is only in this writing lark for the money, I mean why else would he let these crappy games keep being released …. he’s not even that good a writer.
12/07/2012 at 12:22 Beartastic says:
I too hate that latest popular thing.
12/07/2012 at 13:13 derbefrier says:
i’m so hip that i liked it when it no one knew what it was, then i hated it went mainstream, now i i like it because its ironic. actually i dont even know what i like anymore i am so confused.
12/07/2012 at 12:31 doma says:
lolwut?
He started this series back in 1996.
It remained below the radar of the mainstream until HBO decided to make a series of it 2 years ago.
How the hell is that George writing this “just for the money”.
He had 4 pretty damn good books out before the public took notice.
Now I agree that it is not the best fantasy out there (it is no Malazan thats for sure), but it is pretty solid.
Bottom line here is that he didnt write this stuff for crap games to be made. You know this. No more silly comments like this please.
12/07/2012 at 13:18 soco says:
I’ve had Gardens of the Moon sitting on my shelf for what must be a year now.
Too much to read, too many games to play. But I take it that I should get on that by your recommendation?
12/07/2012 at 16:41 neems says:
I was horrendously disappointed with Gardens of the Moon, haven’t touched Erikson with a barge pole since.
You could try Joe Abercrombie?
12/07/2012 at 16:47 Unaco says:
GotM isn’t the greatest opening novel in a series, and it perhaps isn’t the best entry to the Malazan world, but I’d definitely recommend giving Erikson another shot… the whole Malazan Book of the Fallen is a terrific series. GotM suffers somewhat from having to be a beginning for a story that doesn’t have a beginning, from having to establish the vast world as well as tell a story, and from having been passed round and changed for about a dozen years (as a film script or a comedy based around the Phoenix Inn regulars, among other things) before settling on the novel it is.
12/07/2012 at 17:21 Friend says:
Having read the entire Malazan series (save, actually, for most of the last book, which despite being the final book in the series, I couldn’t stomach more than several hundred pages of, which hardly made a dent in it) my opinion is that Erikson is pretty good, but desperately in need of a stalwart editor.
The books stretch out over a sea of unnecessary pretentious, blathering prose and conversations between cringe-inducingly artificial bit characters who debate ‘deep’ philosophical matters and come to fairly straightforward conclusions (life’s pretty much a bitch after all) which would be much more satisfying were they concepts introduced to the reader through actual, say, narrative progression rather than narrative standstill. All the while, the already disjointed and hazy story drifts farther and farther away.
That said, the first three books are excellent and much tighter (as well as chunks of some of the later books), and are some of my favorite fantasy books, but the series as a whole leeches away many more hours wading through the blubbery filler than it does provide hours of enjoyable meaty reading. Keep in mind that this is also coming from someone who largely enjoyed the Wheel of Time series despite its own issues of bloat.
Personally, I think Martin is a better writer because, despite similar issues of bloat at times, he is quite good at writing very tight, believable, and dynamic characters who are interesting to watch interact; he has a compelling story which he is largely pretty good at doling out; and his writing is more prone to naturally reveal complexities, where Erikson almost always instead artificially inserts added complexity.
Sorry, sort of ended up with a bit of my own novel there. Mainly just because it’s fresh, since I attempted and subsequently failed to read the final Erikson book again recently.
12/07/2012 at 17:48 Unaco says:
For an alternative angle on the Malazan books, I’ll drop these here…
http://www.salon.com/2004/06/21/erikson/
http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ma343.htm
12/07/2012 at 14:02 iucounu says:
Protip: most professional writers are ‘only in it for the money’. And if GRRM were not a good writer, he would not have sold so many books (for the only value of ‘good’ that is objectively measurable.)
12/07/2012 at 15:26 Resonance says:
Good call, Twilight and The Hunger Games sold well, ergo they must be well-written because objectivity.
In all seriousness, In what possible way can the quality of a product be ‘objectively’ measured due to sales? Sales are based largely on marketing and hype – neither of which require a quality product to attain. Strong sales merely indicate the product holds enough features that endear themselves to the masses.
I can’t imagine anyone well-read would argue Martin’s prose is anything special; his story-telling however is excellent and for the mainstream that’s the most important aspect of a novel.
12/07/2012 at 12:58 Timthos says:
The graphics kind of look like Skyrim with one of those ridiculous ENB mods installed.
12/07/2012 at 13:59 DXN says:
I can’t help but feel that making a pretty generic-looking mass-combat MMO out of Game of Thrones is kind of missing the point in a lot of ways, given that the books are essentially a reaction to the mindlessly accepted and regurgitated tropes of genre fantasy.
I don’t know. Going by this trailer, the game’s idea of “betrayal” is “attack someone’s back for massive damage!”. It seems to me like something isn’t translating here. I figure that kind of approach is going to take the place of any real depth.
12/07/2012 at 14:10 bhagan says:
How does a guy in plate sneak up on someone anyways?
12/07/2012 at 14:16 bill says:
Those early books were kind of the Saving Private Ryan of fantasy novels… it definitely made the whole fighting and war thing unappealing (and mostly un-heroic). I’m a little worried that the books are going the same way as the end of SPR though..
12/07/2012 at 14:21 HisMastersVoice says:
See the screenshot, think “M&B2 announced and looks godly!”, get crushed.
Now instead of not caring, I hate this game for not being what I wanted it to be.
12/07/2012 at 14:46 db1331 says:
I would only play this if Hodor was a character class.
12/07/2012 at 15:29 DXN says:
Hodor is OP.
12/07/2012 at 19:04 niuqqz says:
http://is.gd/PFQQs4
12/07/2012 at 19:35 lexoneir says:
Shouldn’t it be “You Win Or You Respawn”
I somehow doubt permanent death with feature in this game. But bravo (or braavos) if it does.
12/07/2012 at 21:05 pipman3000 says:
Goddamnit every trailer for TES Online I see makes it look even more boring and generic then it did before Christ as least show off a province besides Skyrim. >:(