Latest news with #HouseStark
The Verge
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
A Game of Thrones RTS is launching in 2026
I'm not sure how it took so long, but a real-time strategy game set in Westeros is finally in the works. The new game is called Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, and it's described as a 'classic, premium' RTS game for PC that will let players take control of the various houses and factions in George R.R. Martin's fantasy universe. The game is being developed by PlaySide Studios, and will include both a single-player campaign and multiplayer options. Here's the official description: In War for Westeros, players will lead the armies of House Stark, House Lannister, House Targaryen, or the Night King in ruthless free-for-all battles where trust is fleeting and power is everything. Engaging in epic real-time strategy battles, forging strategic alliances, and weaving deceit against rival forces will be key. Each faction offers deeply asymmetric strategies, with signature heroes, armies, and mechanics forged from the brutal legacy of Westeros. Players can deploy infantry, cavalry, siege engines, giants, and dragons to break enemy lines as they work to outplay and outmaneuver rivals with inspiring hero abilities and the ruthless instincts of a true war commander.
Indian Express
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Jurassic Park, Black Mirror, dire wolves: A foreshadowing worth revisiting
Dire wolves are back — not the pack that prowled the halls of Winterfell but the real things, in flesh and blood. When George R R Martin chose the sigil of House Stark in the Game of Thrones, he took a cue from the Pleistocene era. The dire wolves that feature in the blockbuster fantasy series are named after a species of large canines that were endemic to the Americas during the last ice age. These prehistoric carnivores dwindled and then died out many millennia ago, but a team of scientists is now rewriting their script. This April, Colossal Biosciences — which describes itself as 'The de-extinction company' on X — announced the birth of Romulus and Remus, two dire wolf pups resurrected from the dead. The duo, and their younger sister, Khaleesi, are the first dire wolves to roam this planet in over 10,000 years. The complex genetic editing that made this feat possible has triggered howls of celebration in many quarters. But there have also been a few growls of consternation. Some experts have questioned the fidelity of the tall claims made by Colossal. Tweaking a minuscule number of genetic codes may have granted them the appearance of dire wolves, but to the critics, the trio are just grey wolves with cosmetic upgrades. Less technical are the questions that have been raised about the ethics of this enterprise. Is 'de-extinction' really a noble pursuit, or is it the 'allure of playing God' that drives experiments of this nature? Some of you may be old enough to remember this question being posed in a movie that made the Tyrannosaurus Rex a household name. Their social media posts suggest that folks at Colossal have watched Jurassic Park. Perhaps they forgot how the movie ends — or, simply chose to ignore its grim portents. The latter is not hard to imagine. There is, after all, a rich tradition of scientists ignoring the warnings of science-fiction — a phenomenon that has become a leitmotif for the Netflix show, Black Mirror. One of the reasons for the enduring popularity of Black Mirror is how the fictional technology it features feels eerily close to reality. In its stories, the future — often dark and dystopian — is not the distant epoch of a Star Trek but a present that is almost upon us. An early episode of the series ('Nosedive') was set in a world where every social interaction is followed by a rating. These ratings determine the course of a person's life and career, and one minor faux pas can set the dominoes tumbling. Soon after the episode's release, parallels were drawn with the 'social credit system' in China. The idea expands the well-worn concept of financial creditworthiness to incorporate the more ephemeral notion of 'social creditworthiness', by 'judging citizens' behaviour'. Granted, the system is fragmented and often misunderstood, and your neighbours in China cannot (yet) rate you poorly after a quarrel. But a low score can 'disqualify' people from buying plane tickets or boarding trains, a scenario that would fit right into a Black Mirror fable. 'Nosedive' is not the only instance when the series has echoed into the real world. In a 2013 episode (Be Right Back), a woman avails of a service that allows her to communicate with her dead boyfriend. This premise has now been realised by a host of 'grief-tech' companies. For the right price, these businesses offer you solace by generating AI-powered simulations of the loved ones you've lost. In the episode 'Metalhead', the autonomous hounds that roam a dystopian wasteland are just the bulkier (and more belligerent) cousins of the Unitree B2-W, a real-life robot dog that can outrun an average marathoner. And the ability to record and replay one's memories (The Entire History of You) is not that hard to imagine in a world where we are surrounded by tools that chronicle our conversations. None of this is to say we must become Luddites. Innovations in technology have made our lives immeasurably better. Over a decade ago, when I bought my first car, I was delighted to see volume buttons on the steering. I marvelled, then, at the wonders of science that allowed me to change radio channels without taking my hands off the wheel. Now my car can tell me the temperature in Timbuktu and remind me to take my multivitamins. This is the shape of humanity's progress, and it is, on the whole, a good thing. Yet, there are occasions when you wonder if we should pause and take a moment to reflect on the implications of our actions. When you discover that ChatGPT consumes 1.174 billion gallons of water each month — enough to fill 1,780 Olympic-size swimming pools — you question if your cutesy (and uncredited) Studio Ghibli-style avatar was worth it. These considerations are incumbent not just upon the users of new technology, of course, but also its creators. Whether it's the de-extinction of dire wolves or the building of robotic canids, perhaps it is worth prefacing the project with a query that was once raised by Ian Malcom. At the lunch table in Jurassic Park, while discussing the propriety of creating a dinosaur-filled amusement park, Malcom had chided the CEO, John Hammond, saying, 'Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to ask if they should.' More than 30 years have passed, but this has never been as pertinent as it is today. The writer is a Mumbai-based lawyer
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dire wolves brought back: See photos of Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi
Four-legged creatures known as dire wolves who were prominent in HBO's "Game of Thrones" series no longer belong solely to the realm of fantasy. Colossal Biosciences, the genetic engineering company working to bring back a few different extinct animals, announced this week the successful resurrection of the Ice Age-era species. The recent birth of three dire wolf puppies marks the first time Colossal has successfully "de-extincted" a species, the company said Monday in a press release. Colossal, a biotech company based in Dallas, Texas, is famous for its efforts to bring back the wooly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger. DNA recovered from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull is what propelled scientists at Colossal to bring back the dire wolf. The creatures, who have regularly appeared in pop culture as mythical animals, are most famously featured in "Game of Thrones" and George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy novels that the show is based upon. Fans of the series will remember that dire wolves are the sigil of House Stark, and a litter of abandoned pups becomes loyal companions to Stark children in the storyline. But dire wolves are real-world predators that once roamed North America before going extinct about 13,000 years ago. The animals are larger than modern-day gray wolves with a wider head and snout and larger jaws and teeth. If you want more details on just how Colossal pulled off the feat, we've got you covered here. But if you're just looking for some photos of the fluffy predators, you came to the right place. Here's a look at Colossal's dire wolves: Dire wolves: Dire wolf returns from extinction? Company reveals 'magic' it's using to bring back species This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Dire wolves of 'Game of Thrones' fame brought back to life: See photos
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Have Made Dire Wolves History's First De-Extinct Animal
I quite literally cannot believe, for multiple reasons, what I am about to say is true. Yet, somehow, it is: we got real dire wolves before we got The Winds of Winter. Scientists have produced three pups best known as House Stark's sigil. They are the first de-extincted animal in history. Colossal Biosciences has announced (in news we first heard at The Hollywood Reporter) a major scientific breakthrough. The company says it has given birth to 'the world's first successfully de-extincted animal' by bringing back dire wolves. The three animals are the first of its kind since the creature went extinct 12,500 years ago. 'I could not be more proud of the team,' said Colossal CEO Ben Lamm in a press release. 'This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works. Our team took DNA from a 13,000 year old tooth and a 72,000 year old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies. It was once said, 'any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.' Magic is a fitting word since most people know dire wolves from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. In his realm of magic and dragons, those American canids still exist. (Though by the end of Game of Thrones only Jon Snow's albino Ghost remained from the litter the Starks found. That means the real world a current 3-1 advantage in official dire wolves.) Colossal Biosciences paid homage to Martin's story by naming its female dire wolf Khaleesi. It named its two male pups after the mythical founders of Rome, the twins Romulus and Remus who legend says a she-wolf raised. The company says all three dire wolves 'are thriving on a 2,000+ acre secure expansive ecological preserve that is certified by the American Humane Society and registered with USDA.' We're sure they are. We're also sure they're thriving in ways A Song of Ice Fire fans, even if we're awed by this news, can't. Those animals are a living scientific miracle. Even better, they get to live their lives not realizing scientists somehow managed to de-exctint dire wolves before George R.R. Martin finished a single novel.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What are dire wolves? Extinct wolf popularized on 'Game of Thrones' brought back to life
Scientists at a Dallas-based biotech firm recently announced they have brought back the to life the dire wolf, a species popularized by the fantasy TV show "Game of Thrones." The company recently announced the creation of three dire wolves, a canine species that hasn't roamed the Earth in more than 12,000 years, in the privately held company's continued efforts to resurrect extinct animals. Here's what to know about the dire wolves the company says have been born and how they differ from the wolves roaming the Earth now. It's likely you've heard of a dire wolf if you're a fan of the HBO hit show "Game of Thrones," or of George R.R. Martin's series of fantasy novels. The "dire wolf was the sigil, or mascot, of the House Stark. It was called a "tough old beast" by head of house, Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark. Books and TV shows aside, the canines roamed the Earth about 12,000 years ago, weighed around 150 pounds and were seen throughout large swaths of the Americas, according to National Geographic. They preyed on horses of the Ice Age as well as sloths. The carnivore was known for its imposing size, specialized "bone-cracking back teeth" and propensity for preying on large herbivores, according to the publication. Dire wolves were much larger than the non-extinct gray wolf; they weighed anywhere from 130 to 150 pounds, stood about three feet at the shoulder and were about six feet long. Colossal said its latest development is the births of 80-pound brothers Remus and Romulus, and a younger female, Khalessi, named for the popular "Game of Thrones" character. According to USA TODAY, the fully extinct canines were created using DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull. The dire wolves live in a fenced-in nature preserve in a "secret" location in the U.S., according to a report by Bloomberg, and eat a mix of beef, deer and horse meat, along with specially formulated kibble. They estimate the brothers will weigh about 140 pounds when fully grown and are about 20 to 25% bigger than the gray would be at their age. While dire wolves and today's gray wolves may look similar, they are actually quite different. "The genetics say they are not related closely in any way,' Angela Perri, an archaeologist at Durham University, and co-author of a paper on dire wolf genetics, told National Geographic. As was the case with the birth of Romulus and Remus, dire wolves are about 25% larger than modern-day gray wolves. Dire wolves also had heavier, more muscular bodies with much larger heads and more powerful jaws and sharper teeth, according to the National Park Service. Like the gray wolf, they stood around three feet at the shoulder but could stretch to six feet long or more. Researchers believe the dire wolf lineage split from the one leading to gray wolves — which did not go extinct — about 5.5 million years ago and remained isolated despite overlapping territory for thousands of years, according to National Geographic. Dire wolves went extinct about 13,000 years ago. Scientists believe incoming dog-like species and wolves may have out-competed dire wolves, or spread diseases that hurt them, according to National Geographic. Climate change could have also played a role. Colossal Biosciences Inc., which has a $10 billion valuation, touts its one-of-a-kind gene editing technology that aims at rebuilding the DNA of now-extinct animals. The company said their work is more than creating animals that resemble an extinct species; rather, they are working to "restore the past, preserve the present and safeguard the future." The aim is to preserve species to be stronger and more resilient to thrive in today's ecosystem, they said, while also developing applications in health and biodiversity. The company gained name recognition in 2022 when it announced its goal to bring back from extinction the eight-ton wooly mammoth — though it has only created the half-ounce woolly mice as of now. The company plans to de-extinct the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger, according to USA TODAY. Lori Comstock is a New Jersey-based journalist with the Mid-Atlantic Connect Team. This article originally appeared on What is a dire wolf? Aren't dire wolves extinct? See new pups born
