Author: Trafficblast

HBO has gone to great lengths to keep Game of Thrones plot details a secret for the final season. Sophie Turner, who plays Sansa Stark, spoke to Vulture about the numerous ways in which the producers went about keeping things locked down, and one part of this involved some kind of device or system that knocked drones trying get a peek out of the sky.

“The secrecy is crazy,” Turner said.

Regarding the “drone-killer” specifically, Turner said she doesn’t know how it worked, but it was apparently effective. “I don’t know how it does it. It creates like this field around and the drones just drop,” she explained.

Another method that HBO used to keep Game of Thrones secrets from leaking was using a fake name for the show so people passing by shoots might not know what they were looking at. “We have a whole different name for it when we’re shooting it. I think this season it was like the Tree of Life or something,” Turner said.

She added that actors’ names are changed in scripts and call sheets, while HBO also spends time and money on shooting completely fake scenes. Previously, it was reported that some scripts were written in code to help keep the story details secret.

Casey Bloys, the head of HBO original programming, said in a previous interview that HBO shot multiple endings for the final Game of Thrones season so that even the cast members don’t know how it wraps up. That being said, Maisie Williams, who plays Arya Stark, says she knows how the season ends.

While there are only six episodes in the final Game of Thrones season, each one might be as long as a movie. And it sounds like there will be some epic sequences, as one of the battles required 55 consecutive nights of shooting.

The Game of Thrones series has aired new seasons on a yearly basis since the show premiered in 2011. However, with Season 7 wrapping up in 2017 and Season 8 not coming until 2019, the wait for new episodes has been longer than ever. Why the wait? Showrunner David Benioff said at the Emmys this year that Season 8 represents the “biggest thing we’ve ever done,” and this takes time.

“I think it’s quite extraordinary what the crew and these actors have created. And I think when people see it they’re going to understand why it took so long.”

The final Game of Thrones season is set to premiere sometime in 2019. Author George R.R. Martin recently said he believes the show could have run for 11, 12, or even 13 seasons, though he understands that Benioff and D.B. Weiss want to go do new things.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the inaugural test-bed for Google’s ambitious streaming platform, Project Stream. Now that the service has launched, we’re seeing more details of just how the test is working–at least this time around.

According to an email sent to participants, Google will allow testers to play Odyssey for free until January 15, 2019. After that point, you’ll lose your access and won’t be able to continue your saved game. Streaming takes place right through the Chrome browser, and you can swap between computers by signing in with your Google account.

To speed you on your way, each account is being credited with $10 worth of in-game currency to purchase some of the game’s microtransactions. After that, though, you won’t be able to purchase more credits on your own, so you’ll need to make them count. You’ll need an Ubisoft account, and you can play with a USB controller or mouse and keyboard.

Google’s announcement came just before a similar one from Microsoft, detailing its new xCloud streaming plans. Google beat it to the testing phase, since Microsoft doesn’t plan to start rolling out its public tests until 2019. But Microsoft’s service does have one advantage that we know of so far. Google’s participant email specifies that you can’t play on a smart device, while Microsoft’s announcement made a point of mentioning you can.

The schedule for BlizzCon 2018 has been released, and it certainly seems to imply something big for the Diablo series is on the way. The event shows two planned panels for Diablo, one of which is first up after the main stage presentation where Blizzard shows off its big upcoming announcements.

First, just a half-hour after the opening ceremony, the main stage will host a “Diablo: What’s Next” panel on the main stage. The conference has similar panels planned for Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft–but Diablo’s is conspicuously coming first. These panels tend to delve into more details about whatever announcements came during the opening ceremonies. A second panel, planned for the following day, covers the world of Diablo and is followed by a Q&A session.

Combined, those give pretty good reason to believe that Blizzard is planning to announce a Diablo project on the main stage. Earlier this year, the company announced Diablo 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch, but it would be strange to roll out the blood-red carpet just for a port.

Blizzard has also previously stated that it has multiple Diablo projects in the works. We know about one, since that tease came before the Switch announcement, but that still means at least one more is on the way too. “Some of them are going to take longer than others, but we may have some things to show you later this year,” said community manager Brandy Camel.

BlizzCon starts on November 2, with the opening ceremonies kicking off at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET. The Diablo: What’s Next panel will follow at 12:30 PM PT / 3:30 PM ET.

Numerous game companies believe that streaming technology is the future. Now, Microsoft has announced its own approach to streaming video games: Project xCloud. The project aims to bring console-quality games to PC, consoles, and smart phone devices, and it will be rolling out public trials starting in 2019.

As detailed in the announcement, players will be able to use an Xbox One controller connected to supported devices. Smart phones can be used via Bluetooth, and a small attachment connects the controller to the phone for ease of use. If you don’t have an Xbox One controller, touch controls are also available.

The service uses Microsoft’s Azure as a backbone to set up new datacenters, with customized hardware that uses the parts of multiple Xbox One consoles. Azure has datacenters in 140 countries, so Microsoft feels it is already in a strong position to roll out the service wide-scale. It’s also developing ways to combat latency, with current tests running at 10 megabits per second. The ultimate goal is to make streaming available on 4G networks. Microsoft also notes the intention is for developers to be able to make their games available through xCloud without requiring any additional work from them (not unlike how it handles backwards compatibility on Xbox One).

Similarly, last week Google announced its own Project Stream, using Assassin’s Creed Odyssey to issue a technical test. PlayStation Now, meanwhile, has offered streaming games for quite a while, but recently began offering the option of downloading instead.