Game of Thrones hit a huge climax in the middle of its final season with The Long Night, the third of the show’s final six episodes. With the army of the dead at its gates, the forces of the living, led by Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow, faced a final showdown to defeat the Night King once and for all. (In his review, Senior Entertainment Editor Mike Rougeau wasn’t too happy about how the show handled the battle.) Finally, Jon Snow’s long-missing direwolf, Ghost, was among the fighters for the living–least for a second.
We’ve been wondering what the deal is with Ghost for quite a while. He last had any real screentime back in Season 6, when Melisandre resurrected Jon from the dead. He basically vanished after that, on account of the effort and cost of animating the direwolves being actually pretty high. But we saw him briefly return in Season 8’s second episode, establishing that the pup was hanging around Winterfell with Jon. And finally, we saw him get into the action at the start of the Battle of Winterfell.
Ghost charges into the fight with Daenerys’s Dothraki screamers and Jorah Mormont, who lead the battle against the army of the dead. Slowly, however, we realize the Dothraki are completely overmatched, and only a few horses and Jorah Mormont seem to survive the attack. Ghost isn’t among the survivors who come fleeing back to Winterfell–so what happened to the direwolf?
It seems there’s no wight version of Ghost out there in the fields around Winterfell, despite the suggestion that the direwolf might have fallen in battle. Though he never shows up again in Episode 3, HBO gave a super-quick hint that there’s more Ghost to come, at least in the next episode of the show.
You can very briefly glimpse Ghost with the survivors of the Battle of Winterfell in the teaser for Episode 4, which aired at the end of The Long Night. Look extremely closely on the right side of the frame, behind Daenerys and Samwell Tarly, and you’ll catch sight of Ghost hanging out with everybody else just outside the Winterfell gates, as the survivors ostensibly prepare to burn the many, many bodies piled up outside the castle. A flash of white fur and four legs is about all we can spot, though.
Not seeing what Ghost got up to in the Battle of Winterfell was definitely something of a bummer. In the early seasons of the show and in George R. R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” novels on which they’re based, the direwolves and their connection to the Stark children always seemed like a very big deal, and a relationship that was leading somewhere. The show has all but written the remaining direwolves out altogether, though. Summer, Bran’s wolf, died protecting him at the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven, and Rickon’s wolf Shaggy Dog died off-screen before the Battle of the Bastards in Season 6. Ghost pretty much vanished from the show, along with Arya’s wolf Nymeria, who showed up briefly in Season 7 to give Arya an emotional moment before disappearing back into the woods. In fact, there were some fan theories that suggested both Ghost and Nymeria would have a part to play in the battle against the Night King and in saving their respective Starks. That the direwolves and their relationships with the Stark family has seemingly amounted to so little is one of the bigger disappointments with the show’s adaptation of the novels.
It’s not clear what role Ghost might have, if any, going forward. We know Daenerys means to head south to King’s Landing with her remaining forces to take the Iron Throne, and one assumes Jon will be in tow to help. So maybe Ghost is heading down to rip out the throats of some Golden Company dudes. Maybe Ghost will take a page from his sister and go be free, now that the threat of the Night King has been eliminated. It would certainly help keep the effects budget down for show’s last few episodes.
Sony released the PlayStation Classic mini-console in December for $100 USD. It was very quickly discounted to $60 and now you can get it for $40 or less. Retailer Best Buy has now rolled out a new deal where it’s giving the mini retro console away for free when you buy a new PS4 Pro.
It’s a pretty simple deal–buy a $400 USD PS4 Pro and you get a PlayStation Classic for nothing extra. Go to Best Buy’s website here to see the listing at Best Buy. The deal was spotted by Wario64.
A warning of sorts is in order for the PlayStation Classic. In GameSpot’s PlayStation Classic review, critic Peter Brown wasn’t thrilled with the retro console. “The PS Classic doesn’t feel like a celebration of PlayStation’s formative years the way Nintendo’s systems do,” he wrote.
The PlayStation Classic comes with 20 games pre-installed, including classics like Metal Gear Solid and the original Grand Theft Auto, as well as Resident Cvil Director’s Cut, Rayman, and Twisted Metal. You can see the full list of games below.
It’s never too early to get excited about the new football season. If you’re thinking about picking up the recently announced Madden NFL 20, there are a few different editions and pre-order bonuses to consider ahead of the game’s release in early August.
The pre-order bonuses include things like early access to the games, content for the very popular Ultimate Team mode, and special abilities for the brand-new Face of the Franchise: QB1 mode that features college football. Below is a breakdown of the various Madden 20 SKU
Madden NFL 20: Ultimate Superstar Edition
$100 USD
This premium version of Madden 20 includes a series of nice perks. Starting off, this version unlocks three days early, beginning on July 30. It also comes with a unique QB legend superstar ability, in the form of either Steve Young, Kurt Warner, John Elway, or Randall Cunningham. The Ultimate Superstar Edition also includes MUT content like 16 Gold packs, 1 of 32 Core Elite players from any NFL team, and more.
Madden 20: Superstar Edition
$80 USD
The Superstar Edition also comes with three-day early access, as well as the same options for unique QB legend superstar ability. There is also MUT content as well, including 1 of 32 Core Elite Players, 12 Gold team fantasy packs, and 1 small training quick sell.
Madden 20: Standard Edition
$60 USD
The standard edition, meanwhile, unlocks on the regular launch day–August 2–and it also includes the same choice of unique QB legend superstar ability. Some MUT content is also packaged in, including one of the 32 Core Elite players and 5x Gold team packs.
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It hasn’t been mentioned by EA yet, but most EA-published titles are available early for EA/Origin Access subscribers, so that may be another way to play early.
Madden NFL 20 launches on August 2 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. For more on Madden 20, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage here.
Technology giant Microsoft is rising to new heights. After reporting strong earnings results last week, the company reached a valuation above $1 trillion for a period of time.
This happened by way of Microsoft’s share price jumping as a result of the positive earnings report, which in turn pushed the company’s total market valuation to above $1 trillion for the first time ever. Share prices later dropped, decreasing the overall valuation to around $995 billion. Apple and Amazon are the only other companies to ever reach a $1 trillion market valuation based on share prices. They have also retreated. Microsoft’s $995.4 billion market valuation currently is ahead of Apple ($973.2 billion) and Amazon ($942.8 billion). Stock prices are constantly changing based on a variety of factors.
What propelled Microsoft’s share price to climb was likely the strong third-quarter earnings results it announced last week. Microsoft’s revenue jumped 14 percent to $30.6 billion, while net income rose a healthy 19 percent to $8.8 billion. Yes, that’s $8.8 billion in profit for three months.
As GameSpot sister site ZDnet reminds us, Alphabet (which owns Google) is now the only remaining member of “The Big Four” to reach a $1 trillion market cap.
Microsoft’s earnings report also provided some insight into the health of the Xbox division. While Xbox One console sales are down (just like PS4 sales are), total gaming revenue at Microsoft jumped by 5 percent. This uptick in revenue was driven by Xbox game sales and services, which rose by 12 percent.
As expected, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame is a massive, record-breaking success at the box office. It’s made $1.2 billion worldwide after just five days, which is by far the biggest global opening for any movie in the history of cinema.
Endgame made $350 million in the US/Canada for its opening frame, which is a new domestic record. It’s also the first movie to ever make more than $300 million in its opening weekend in the US and Canada. Endgame also holds the domestic box office records for fastest to $100 million (17 hours), as well as biggest single day, biggest Saturday, and biggest Sunday in the history of movies. It’s also the most widely screened film in US/Canada history, showing at 4,662 theatres.
The previous biggest US/Canada opening weekend box office record-holder was Avengers: Infinity War ($257.7 million).
In terms of Endgame’s international release, it set the record for biggest opening weekend in history, coming in at $859 million and surpassing Infinity War’s $443 million from last year. This includes China, where Endgame made $330.5 million over its opening weekend to set a new all-time record for biggest opening. Endgame also set various box office records in countries all over the world.
Given Endgame’s strong start, it’ll be interesting to see where the movie finishes when it ends its theatrical run. James Cameron’s Avatar holds the all-time global box office record with $2.78 billion. After just one weekend, Endgame is already the 18th biggest box office success in history, but it still has much work to do to climb the ladder. Infinity War ended its theatrical run with $2.048 billion.
The world of Rage 2 is overrun with mutants and ruled by a group known as the authority. As Walker, you can lay waste to both of these factions with guns and powerful Nanotrite abilities. You can also drive any vehicle you see in the open world, opening up plenty of roadkill opportunities.
Nintendo Switch is getting a batch of games this month too, but these three Resident Evil titles are all sold separately. The original game stars Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine in the Spencer Mansion, 0 is a prequel featuring Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen in an abandoned facility, and 4 sees Leon Kennedy searching for the president’s daughter in Spain.
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Team Sonic Racing — May 21
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch
As the name implies, Team Sonic Racing is about winning together–but not always by coming in first place. Other game modes challenge you to collect rings or get the fastest lap time. You can customize every character’s kart to your liking too.
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Total War: Three Kingdoms — May 23
Available on: PC
The long-running strategy series is headed to China for the first time, where 12 different factions can battle for control. Victory is achieved by capturing a city or by slaying the opposing army’s generals. It’s not that simple, though, as the generals you choose create certain limitations for the types of troops you command during battle.
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These are some of May’s biggest games, but the new month has even more to check out. Next week, New Releases will check out the third episode of Life Is Strange 2 and the PC port of Yakuza Kiwami 2.
Warning: Full spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 “The Long Night.”
The Night King has finally met his end thanks to none other than Arya Stark — and it’s a moment that the Game of Thrones showrunners have been building towards for a long time.
“For, god, I think it’s three years now we’ve known that it was gonna be Arya who delivers that fatal blow
,” executive producer and writer David Benioff said during the post-show “Inside the Episode” breakdown.
The Valryian steel Catspaw dagger can be traced all the way back to Season 1 where it was used by an assassin in an attempt to kill Bran Stark. It turned out the ornate blade belonged to Littlefinger, who tried to pin the assassination attempt on Tyrion. The dagger wound up back in Littlefinger’s possession, and he held it up to Ned Stark’s throat when he betrayed him to the Lannisters. The dagger was off-screen for a few years until it popped back up in Season 7 when Littlefinger gave it to Bran, and then finally Bran gave it to Arya.
Through all the twists and turns over the last eight seasons, Game of Thrones has never been straightforward–until now. Season 8 Episode 3, “The Long Night,” brought one of Game of Thrones’ main storylines to its conclusion. The battle with the dead is over, the Night King is defeated, and the forces of the living are victorious. And it happened in the least inventive, most predictable way imaginable.
It’s possible that I’ve been immersed in the world of Game of Thrones theories, speculating, and prophecies for too long. But that’s a huge part of the fun of being a Game of Thrones fan: The books, and sometimes the show, are crafted so densely, with layers on layers of meaning and allusion, that combing through line-by-line to suss out every last secret feels endlessly rewarding. Fan communities across the internet have been cranking out theories for literally decades, even as the pace of book releases slowed to a crawl (and apparently stopped altogether at some point).
All these years of deep-digging have sometimes made it hard to enjoy the show, which is (understandably) simplified compared with the source material. But it also gives the series’ biggest fans a huge amount of perspective: We can see all the possibilities for which the groundwork has been expertly laid over the years. And in “The Long Night,” those possibilities all amounted to basically nothing.
Where do I even start? I guess with the fact that it seems like Game of Thrones, the show, has just missed the point of the entire series: that the squabbles between the great houses of Westeros are nothing compared with the unstoppable force of nature slowly bearing down on them from the wintery north. Game of Thrones was never supposed to actually be about the battle for the throne–it’s supposed to be about the characters coming together to realize what was really important. The quintessential human fallacy, according to the brain of George R.R. Martin, is believing with absolute certainty that your personal battles are the most important fights that exist. It’s a failure of perspective.
Now, with three episodes left, the series’ ultimate threat died with a whimper, and the series’ most short-sighted characters turned out to be right, their selfishness justified. As we saw in the preview for next week’s episode, the survivors are going right back to their squabbles. They won the great war, but lost the thematic throughline. Why did any of this matter? To give Arya a cool hero moment? So Bran could keep doing absolutely nothing? So Theon could die pointlessly?
The litany of “whys,” “whats,” and “wheres” won’t stop marching through my mind: What has Melisandre been doing in Volantis since last season? Where was undead Rickon Stark (or any other recognizable character) when the Stark corpses came alive in the crypts? Why was there so much foreshadowing about the crypts if nobody important was going to die down there? Why does the show refuse to acknowledge Ghost or include the direwolf in any meaningful way? Why did Jon’s revelation to Dany–one of the most important plotlines in the entire series–occur right before this battle if it wasn’t going to have any bearing on the events of this episode?
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Game Of Thrones – Season 8 Episode 3 Official Preview
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There’s no catharsis or payoff in anything that happened in “The Long Night.” Yes, it was cool to see Jon and Dany tearing through the sky on their dragons laying waste to the army of the dead with massive gouts of flame. But this episode felt weirdly self-contained, like everything that’s happened leading up to it didn’t matter. Every fan theory I’ve seen about the battle with the dead–whether it’s a theory from the books 20 years ago or from Reddit last week–is immeasurably more interesting than what actually happened.
One of my favorites until now was that the Night King wouldn’t actually show up at this battle–that the attack on Winterfell was a feint, and he was flying to King’s Landing to roast Cersei on her throne. There was a ton of evidence for it, but it still would have been a shock. And even better, it would have fit that ultimate series theme–that the fight for the throne was a petty squabble, and the people who failed to see the big picture (ie Cersei) would pay a price for it. Instead, the Night King took the bait at Winterfell and died like an idiot. He took his entire race with him, and we never learned anything about them besides “White Walkers=bad.”
There are so, so many things that will just never be paid off now. Dany unified the Dothraki tribes and brought them to Westeros so they could die, one and all, in a single ill-conceived charge (seriously, what was the strategy there?). What was the point of Melisandre’s entire storyline–the Lord of Light, the resurrections, the Prince that was Promised? Was it really all so she could light some swords on fire and tell Arya to go stab a dude?
Even within the confines of this episode’s story–Night King is just a dumb Big Bad Guy after all, he comes to Winterfell, he gets killed–there are endless more rewarding ways it could have gone down. Remember when Dany magically survived Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre in Season 1? Now imagine Jon hadn’t told Dany about his true identity last season, and instead she had realized there was more to him than she thought when he stepped into her dragonfire, unharmed, and stabbed the Night King in the back. Or it’s Arya–but instead of nonsensically jumping onto the Night King’s back, she employs her Faceless Men magic to pose as Bran. Bran stabs the Night King, removes his face, bam, it’s Arya.
That’s payoff. This was boring.
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Game Of Thrones Season 8: 8 Most Convincing Fan Theories
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The battle wasn’t even that cool, for all they hyped it up. Long, yes, but much of it was so dark that it was hard to read the action and tell what was happening. And all their strategies were terrible: They wasted the Dothraki in a single pointless charge, Jon and Dany flew around in the clouds doing nothing for minutes on end, and they sent their most vulnerable people underground to the place with dozens of pre-packaged zombies just waiting for the Night King to pop them into the microwave. Dany sat on the ground for no reason and didn’t notice the horde of undead crawling onto Drogon’s back, and the Night King and all his generals didn’t hear the young woman sneaking up on them through the snow. Every single character, living or dead, acted in the stupidest ways possible. It’s incredible to me that this episode was written by showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, because it feels like it was written by somebody who’s never seen the show before, much less has any understanding of the source material.
With three episodes left, Game of Thrones has pulled one of its final twists: It subverted all our expectations in the worst ways possible. We expected some real, impactful main character deaths in this episode, and it turned out the stakes weren’t nearly as high as we thought. We expected some payoff for things Game of Thrones has spent seven seasons setting up, and the reality is none of it mattered. And worst of all, we expected the culmination of Game of Thrones’ most important storyline–the literal battle between life and death–to matter.
We expected Game of Thrones to be better. And unfortunately, the show did what it’s done so many times before: It turned our expectations upside-down. But being surprised by Game of Thrones has never felt worse.
The Biggest Battle Of The Show Had Quite A Few Casualties
We’ve been waiting for the Night King to bring the battle to Winterfell for the entirety of Game of Thrones Season 8 (and the huge amount of time that passed between now and the end of Season 7). When the dead finally arrived to challenge Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and their united forces, we knew some major characters were going to see their ends. (And probably even more are going to buy it in Episode 4.)
The massive, 82-minute battle saw the army of the dead crashing through the forces of the living, with the Night King mustering all his forces to take down the castle. As expected, not everyone made it out alive. With three more episodes left before the show wraps up for good, there are sure to be quite a few more deaths before the end, as well.
Here’s the complete running tally of all the deaths in Season 8, including everybody who bought it trying to stop the Night King from overrunning the world.
