Never heard of the books or George R.R. Martin? For shame. Or maybe you have, but you're not on negotiating terms with "fat" fantasy, in which case -- I hear you.*

That said, while I'm told Martin loses his way in the most recent installment, what I've read of the first doorstop was impressively cliche-defying. Think virtually no-magic Medieval Realism -- not to be conflated with virtually no-medieval Magic Realism -- and twice as interesting.

As a bemused aside, one news outlet tainted their nod to the press release by calling Martin's series Hey guys, try no orcs and goblins in the books. Dragons, yes, as well as the occasional monster, but mostly of the "humans behaving badly" sort.

Predictions for the game: Originally planned for three or four installments, it'll balloon into something like eight or nine iterations. That, or they'll just go full-on MMO with it, though you'll get Part One: Epic Character Creation, then have to wait a couple years for Part Two: The Actual Game. In the meantime, the developers will start -- -- but a "virtual-hangout-journal-space-thingy" where they'll regale us with .

Chances we'll see the games before we see George's next book? Magic 8-Ball says: "Outlook good."