This week on HBO’s Game of Thrones, we finally, finally get to see some much-missed faces. Bronn, baby, Bronn. And Tyrion. And Stannis. Remember him? And Robb, the handsomest king. And Ros. Because we all thought she didn’t get enough valuable screen-time at the beginning of this season.

Lots of pieces were moved around the board this week as we move towards the biggest clash of kings at season’s end. And then there’s Dany’s story.

Warning: Episode reviews contain episode and book spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler-free, follow Leigh Butler’s read of ASOIaF. Tor.com is not liable for your further enjoyment of the series if later books get spoiled in the comments.

[“One game at a time...”]

As we mentioned last week, this past Tuesday, May 15, marked the official launch of Blizzard’s Diablo III, and the Internet, as always, runneth over with feedback that runs the gamut from praise, to complaints, to out-and-out trolling. Good times for all! Sadly, as a victim of a delayed pre-order, I am one of the many gamers still waiting to set foot onto Blizzard’s servers; however, at least my wait isn’t due to Blizzard’s server issues, so I won’t belabor the point. With that said, if you, like me, are stuck at work and are looking for a way to satiate your clicking finger, here’s some news to tide you over.

[Click. Clickclick. Clickclickclickclickclick.]

Remedy’s original blockbuster franchise gets the Rockstar treatment with its latest installment, Max Payne 3. It’s been almost nine years since we last encountered the titular hard-boiled mess of a man, but he’s clearly returned with a fresh look for today’s consoles and a few new tricks up his blood-stained sleeves. Reviews are pouring in and, as is expected of a new Rockstar title, they’re glowing.

Read for yourself at Polygon, IGN, Kotaku, and wherever ex-cops sit in smoky bars, popping pills, and waxing existential.

Also in this week’s news: we discover who was really behind Diablo III’s error 37 fiasco.

[Kingdom Hearts, The Last of Us, and haunted videogame stories within...]

This week’s episode of Game of Thrones gets a much more appropriate title than last week’s. We see a lot of contrast between those who have honor, those who fight to preserve it, and those who have forsaken it. The last kind of man is of course the most interesting because it means we finally get to check in on Jaime Lannister, still held captive by Robb Stark.

Women also get to discuss duty this week, from the wildling woman Ygritte to Cersei giving Sansa a lesson on what it means to be a woman. And, appropriately enough for Mother’s Day, Cat Stark yelled her head off to calm some tensions on her son’s behalf.

Warning: Episode reviews contain episode and book spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler-free, follow Leigh Butler’s read of ASOIaF. Tor.com is not liable for your further enjoyment of the series if later books get spoiled in the comments.

[“You know nothing, Jon Snow.”]

When my sister and I were much younger and shared a bedroom, we would often play a game of “Don’t Step in the Lava,” jumping from one piece of furniture to the next like little spider monkeys, careful to not touch the floor. We were very good at it until the day I wasn’t and I fell short of the bed. My bare feet landed on the carpet and almost instantly I began to scream. The imaginary lava shouldn’t have burned for real. When I lifted my right foot off the carpet, a crushed yellowjacket was lodged between my toes.

The stakes were definitely raised for the next time my sister and I played.

Now imagine this common childhood game writ large across an entire world where the oceans are instead poisonous soil, teeming with dangerous life, and a network of railroad tracks connect one land mass to the next. Observe this unusual world through a prism of Moby Dick, adventure fantasy, and metaphysical musings, and you have China Miéville’s new YA novel Railsea.

[“This is the story of a bloodstained boy...”]

As many avid Blizzard fans (or gamers in general, really) already know, Diablo III’s release is less than a week away from becoming reality. The May 15 launch date is welcome news to jonesing players who were unable to get their hands on a beta invite during Blizzard’s extensive beta-testing period (if you’re interested, you can check out our earlier impressions of the beta here). We already know that Diablo III begins in the town of New Tristram, where a fallen star has plunged through the town’s cathedral, leaving scorched earth and a plethora of demons in its wake. As (bad) luck would have it, the star has also awakened the undead, who are now laying siege to the township. Enter, you.

[“Stay awhile, and listen.”]

That was definitely my favorite episode of Game of Thrones this season. It was gut-wrenching, nail-biting, downright disturbing, and it had some moments to cheer for (though they were few and far between.)

I found the episode title misleading, as so much of this week’s show was about Winterfell, Robb Stark, and Jon Snow encountering a troublesome wildling. The Old Gods were well represented. I can’t say the same about the new, as we didn’t check in with Melisandre this time. Which maybe contributed to me liking this hour that much more.

But really it was about Joffrey getting slapped again.

Warning: Episode reviews contain episode and book spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler-free, follow Leigh Butler’s read of ASOIaF. Tor.com is not liable for your further enjoyment of the series if later books get spoiled in the comments.

[Read more...]

Independent game developer Jon Blow recently ignited a mini-firestorm across the Internet due to his comments in a feature piece in The Atlantic, in which he proclaimed the mainstream game industry to be “a fucked-up den of mediocrity. There are some smart people wallowing in there, but the environment discourages creativity and strength and rigor, so what you get is mostly atrophy.” (Coincidentally, this exact quote serves as an accurate assessment of several aspects of modern post-secondary education... but there’s a different argument for a different day.)

[Click indignantly for more.]

Things got off to a characteristically grim and shocking start on this week’s episode of Game of Thrones.

After the opening scene, we were treated to an episode heavy on characters. It was a welcome relief after the torture and gratuitousness of last week. Why, this might’ve been the first episode of Game of Thrones without a single bared breast. (Except for that shirtless fat guy begging in King’s Landing.) But just because this episode didn’t earn a hard R doesn’t mean it was without some exciting developments.

Warning: episode reviews contain episode and book spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler-free, follow Leigh Butler’s read of ASOIaF. Tor.com is not liable for your further enjoyment of the series if later books get spoiled in the comments.

[“Three deaths for the Red God.”]

EA has released the first substantial gameplay trailer for their latest entry in the Crysis series, Crysis 3. Set in a futuristic New York overgrown by rainforests, and encased within a nanodome by a corrupt billion-dollar corporation intent on world domination, the player is thrust into the role of Prophet, a recurring character in the series, who makes his way through the city looking for vengeance and, of course, kicking some alien ass along the way.

[Don your nanosuits after the jump]

Uh-oh. Joffrey’s been reading Hunger Games again.

This week on a shocking episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the adaptation gets a little loose in places, to varying degrees of WTF-ness. But nothing that comes before it can prepare one for a final twist that would make J.J. Abrams proud.

Warning: episode reviews contain episode and book spoilers. If you want to remain spoiler-free, follow Leigh Butler’s read of ASOIaF. Tor.com is not liable for your further enjoyment of the series if later books get spoiled in the comments.

[How is babby formed?...]

Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced that Master Chief will awaken once more this winter, in the upcoming Halo 4. The latest installment of Microsoft’s gaming magnum opus marks both a transition in development studios (from Bungie to 343) and the start of a new trilogy in the Halo franchise. Perhaps as a result of this culture shift, Halo 4 purportedly departs somewhat from the more traditional FPS tropes of the previous games and instead assumes more of a mysterious, exploratory mantle.

[Click to victory crouch on Conan O’Brien’s face]

This week on Game of Thrones, a bunch of twenty-something, rich, awkward, white chicks talked a whole lot. Wow, HBO really wants people to watch Girls. The commercials before Game of Thrones seemed to take forever.

In the world of Westeros, which seems more real to me than a Manhattan full of trust fund babies, Catelyn reaches out to Renly and his clever new wife, Tyrion sets a trap in Kings Landing, Jon learns a tough lesson, and the Kingsroad is stained with more blood.

Warning: book and episode spoilers after the cut. If you wish to avoid spoilers, I refer you to Leigh Butler’s excellent ASoIaF read.

[Read more...]

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International and Atari Corp, passed away on Sunday, April 8, 2012 at the age of 83. Born in Poland, Tramiel’s family was sent to Auschwitz during the German invasion of World War II. After the war, he emigrated to the United States and repaired typewriters for the Army.

He is most famous for his role in the development of the Commodore 64, the best-selling home computer of all time. The quote most attributed to Tramiel is “We need to build computers for the masses, not the classes.”

[Other gaming news this week]

This week on HBO’s Game of Thrones, we mostly just felt uncomfortable whenever Arya was offscreen. The sex that has become a hallmark of this series returns in full force as we learn, by turns, that some girls can be neither rock nor salt wives, some girls can be daughter-wives, pimpin’ is not in fact easy, and supposedly moral kings can get a little loose with their definition of moral.

But, yeah, Arya had all the best lines. Bless her.

Warning: book and episode spoilers after the cut. If you wish to avoid spoilers, I refer you to Leigh Butler’s excellent ASoIaF read.

[“A man has a thirst...”]

BioWare can’t win. Well, as much as shipping 1.3 million copies of a game in the first month of release can be seen as a loss.

While highly praised by critics and many fans, Mass Effect 3 looks to be remembered most for a controversial ending and sthe ubsequent fan uproar. More than that, the final showdown between Commander Shepard and the Reapers seems like a schoolgirl slap-fight compared to the dissenting opinions on consumer demand and creative control, especially in a medium that’s already fighting hard to be taken seriously as art.

Whatever that means.

[Stuck between a krogan and a hard place...]

Microsoft and Sony, ever at one another’s throats, are embroiled in yet another competition: the race to put a next-gen console out onto the market first. According to reports, Sony is in the lead and plans to release the Playstation 4 sometime prior to the end of next year, beating the Xbox 720’s projected release date of Christmas 2013. Early speculation indicates that the Playstation 4 will not be backward compatible with the Playstation 3, so gamers would do well to hold on to their old consoles — a bit of a cashgrab, undoubtedly, but such is the way of technology today.

One wonders just how much room is left for technological improvement in gaming hardware. Developer Warren Spector observed recently, and we wholeheartedly agree, that the biggest next-gen challenges have to be creative, not technical.

[Click to declare your allegiance]

My how those direwolves have grown.

I won’t say it’s good to be the king, but it’s good to be watching a new episode of Game of Thrones. The premiere episode did a fantastic job of taking stock of the large cast of characters and introducing a few new ones. Some people are much as we left them (which in Joffrey’s case is a sadistic little jerk) and some find themselves in precarious new positions (Tyrion) but this episode seemed to belong to Robb Stark and it’s his actions that will set in motion the events to come.

Be warned: episode and book spoilers ahead.

[Read more]

Game of Thrones premieres this Sunday, April 1st, at 9PM E/PT on HBO. (Can’t remember what happened in the first season? Let’s Westeros’ gossipiest barber remind you up above.) How are you planning to watch the second season of the Emmy Award-winning drama based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels?

If you’re hosting a party, why not try replicating one of our specialty House-inspired cocktails developed by Rupa DasGupta, the talented artist behind An Octopus a Day and a budding mixologist.

[A toast to the clashing kings and queens...]