Has anyone become interested in the Game of Thrones television series, or read the books?

A friend allowed me to watch his recording of the series and I was totally hooked. Went out and bought the books and am now waiting on number six, seven and hopefully an eighth. Anyway, I haven't heard word one about GoT and was wondering.

The second show of the second season is coming on tonight and my other HBO friend is out riding in a hot air balloon today so we will watch two and three next week.

HBOGo had both the first and second episodes up, so my wife and I watched them both earlier this week. We love the show and I have been tempted to read the books but haven't done so yet (despite having the first on my kindle.

I have not seen it, but I have heard very good things about it, both from people who's tastes I trust and from folks whose tastes run counter to mine own.

So, it appeals to a wide range, at the least.

Now the books... I do indeed like the books - George R. R. Martin is not afraid to have bad, even terminal, things happen to his characters. The political bickering reminds me of the Plantagenets.....

The Auld Grump, but remember... Winter is Coming....

So far, I have watched the series three times. Had to get my own copy after I saw it the first time. Now my son has it and he spent two nights watching it.

As for the books, after watching the series the first time, I read the first five books in three months. That in itself has to be some kind of record for me. In the last twenty years I have only read maybe a couple of fiction books. My reading tends to move in the history section, medieval and mid twentieth century Western European for the most part.

Perhaps the reason I was so easily hooked was how the series mirrored what I think would make a good role playing game. In the past I have tried to run games in this dark gritty manner, but my players always drag me to a more imaginary fantastical type of game.

I like the books, plan to watch the series but just haven't gotten there yet.

Martin has a rare ability to subtly change characters so my feelings about them evolve, without it being obvious. And no one has plot immunity. I haven't read the most recent, in part because it's been so long since reading the last book, and I've lost track of who's who. I know I need to go back and reread, but I just haven't found time yet.

Steve

I started to read the first book, but got bored.

However, I watched the first season and loved it. The visuals are stunning (imho) and direction is fantastic. The story is gritty, and no one is safe. Me and my wife are anxiously waiting to watch the second season, but unfortunately for us, we don't have HBO access.

I believe that you can utilize the HBO Go method via internet (or even the On-Demand service with your TV provider)

We don't have access due to costs unfortunately.

I've seen an episode or 2 and they've done great work. Unfortunately although all the work is great the whole political faction struggle really disinterests me. So I don't watch the show or read the books. Though I would be interested in seeing them do something solely about the creatures beyond the wall.

I enjoyed most of the books, but the series has more and more gone the way of Lost--the author just doesn't seem like he'll ever resolve anything.

I actually found the first season of the series a bit disappointing. I hosted a Game of Thrones viewing party for friends and we all found the first season mediocre. I think a bit of odd casting (the actors cast for Sam Tarly, Loras, Renly, and a few others really seemed odd) combined with some awkward acting make it feel kinda poorly done. I watched the first episode of the new season, though, and I have to say that the quality has increased dramatically. I'm fairly impressed so far. I'll definitely continue to watch.

I do feel that things improved over the first season, but I also was not disappointed with things at the start. I am actually thinking I will start the books soon. I just haven't had any reading time lately due to work and family being busy.

I started the series of books, but put them down as Martin was not telling the story I wanted to read... Not saying it wasn't good, just that he went in other directions then what I wanted to know about.


As for the show, I saw season one and it's very close to the books. Haven't seen any of season two yet as we dropped cable, and you can't have HBOGo without a cable subscription.

Game of Boobs...er. Thrones, is an AWESOME tv series!

Fantasy, great sets, awesome FX, terrific cast, adult themes, thoughtful plot, I mean what's not to love? Its a pretty rare thing to behold when you really think about it and shows us a fantasy style that doesn't hold back to meet a rating. We need more of that out there!

Ha! Said it perfectly!

Except it makes it hard to watch with youngsters in the house....

Silly April Fools review of The Game of Thrones.... Apparently Stark is Canada....

The Auld Grump

Has anyone played the games? I played the board game. It was ok, but I am not a board game player. The role playing game has my attention, but have held off buying it because of the revision out soon. Would like to purchase it soon after it is released, but $50 is a lot to me for a game if it is not done right. Would hate to get another DnD game.

I played the 1st edition of the board game once. It was just ok. It was interesting, but not well balanced. Players play the following houses: Stark, Lannister, Greyjoy, Martel and Baratheon. In this 1st edition with no expansions, nobody gets to play House Sunspear, so the board isn't very balanced. And since Houses Greyjoy and Lannister start right next to each other, they often spend the entire game beating on each other while the other players push to victory. So, I wasn't very impressed.

Saw some folks playing the newer 2nd edition of it a month ago at a board game marathon (mini-con) and they said it was better and more balanced. I will say when I checked back later, it still looked like Greyjoy and Lannister spent most of the game beating on each other, though.

Someone is allegedly making a Game of Thrones MMO now, too. The little I've read on it makes it sound kinda lame, though.

Regarding the TV show "Game of Boobies," though, it was recently revealed in an SnL skit why there are so many boobs: http://bcove.me/d260fpu0

I think that computer game is already out. My son was talking about that several weeks ago. I think.

Here's what I found online about the launch of that MMO:

There'll likely be a closed beta test in the fall, and Artplant and BigPoint are hoping to launch by the end of 2012.

From the articles I've read, it'll be free-to-play (which likely means they make money from having microtransactions where you pay real money to get in-game bonuses) and browser based. You get to play a member of a minor house that is allied to the Lannisters, Starks, or Baratheons. If you form a guild, then that becomes your minor house. And apparently your guild can switch allegiances from one major house to another if they want. The game will allegedly be class-less and sounds like it'll have more action-y type of controls, rather than typical MMO controls.