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Nearly Half of Game of Thrones Season 5 Leaks Online
HughPickens.com writes Paul Tassi reports at Forbes that the first four episodes of the new season of "Game of Thrones", nearly half of the ten total episodes, have been leaked online to various torrent sites. The four episodes appeared to come from a screener sent to reviewers with the digital watermark blurred out and are in 480p video format, equivalent to standard-definition TV, not HD.The episodes have already been downloaded almost 800,000 times, and that figure was expected to blow past a million downloads by the season 5 premiere. Game of Thrones has consistently set records for piracy, which has almost been a point of pride for HBO. "Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising If you go around the world, I think you're right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that's better than an Emmy."
How the leak happened isn't a mystery. Television critics typically receive the first four episodes of an HBO show before its season premiere, and "Game of Thrones" is no exception. HBO could not immediately say whether the leak could be traced to screener copies of the show. "I suspect HBO may be a bit more restrictive about handing out Game of Thrones screeners to press, given the event-like nature of the show and its reliance on keeping spoilers close to the chest," writes Tassi. "I really don't see why commentary like that needs to exist in the first place." The network can take solace in at least one thing, though. Episode four ends on a heck of a cliffhanger, and those who pirated the episodes will be in the same boat as those of us who received them legally — waiting until May to find out what happens next. "I would imagine it's more fun to just spend the next month watching week to week as nature intended, even if you are watching illegally," concludes Tassi. "Game of Thrones is one of the last true "event" shows where it's something you want to talk about Sunday night or Monday morning with friends and strangers alike."
How the leak happened isn't a mystery. Television critics typically receive the first four episodes of an HBO show before its season premiere, and "Game of Thrones" is no exception. HBO could not immediately say whether the leak could be traced to screener copies of the show. "I suspect HBO may be a bit more restrictive about handing out Game of Thrones screeners to press, given the event-like nature of the show and its reliance on keeping spoilers close to the chest," writes Tassi. "I really don't see why commentary like that needs to exist in the first place." The network can take solace in at least one thing, though. Episode four ends on a heck of a cliffhanger, and those who pirated the episodes will be in the same boat as those of us who received them legally — waiting until May to find out what happens next. "I would imagine it's more fun to just spend the next month watching week to week as nature intended, even if you are watching illegally," concludes Tassi. "Game of Thrones is one of the last true "event" shows where it's something you want to talk about Sunday night or Monday morning with friends and strangers alike."
All you have to do is read anything about the books.
Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising If you go around the world, I think you're right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that's better than an Emmy.
That right there is why I happily pay a premium for a technically poor streaming service (HBO Nordic ). Even though it's much easier for me to download episodes than to use the service, I still think that HBO has met me half way in providing their content in a reasonable, fair manner. Time to put our money where our mouths are.
Is that a joke? The series followed the book (thankfully) close enough that anyone can know what's coming by RTFB.
Oliver.
Judging by the hype and how popular it is with the general populace, it seems my decision is the correct one.
Is that not the definition of being a hipster?
I don't think nature intended us to be sitting on our asses to watch stories happen on animated flat canvases.
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Oh, Hugh Pickens. 'Nuf said. As if being the #1 pirated show doesn't bring it enough publicity, they have to advertise it here.
I pride myself in the fact that I have never watched even a single episode of the show. Judging by the hype and how popular it is with the general populace, it seems my decision is the correct one.
Silly me, I tend to base my viewing decisions on whether a particular show is good or not, whether the "right" people share my particular taste is irrelevant.
By taking pride in not seeing a single episode you're not celebrating refined taste, you're celebrating ignorance.
I stole this Sig
I still think that HBO has met me half way in providing their content in a reasonable, fair manner.
I've bought legal copies of the previous seasons on Blu-Ray, lacking better options for seeing them. HBO's insistence on not releasing each season on disc until just before the next one (with the inevitable resulting spoilers in between) really annoys me.
When I've paid full price -- and it's an expensive price for a show with only 10 episodes per season -- for something that from my point of view was only just released, I don't appreciate seeing trailers and promos for the new season that show the person in supposedly mortal jeopardy at the end of the episode I just watched is going to make it/not make it/turn into an angel and fly away. This has been happening even in between old shows I'm rewatching on second-rate freeview TV channels for more than a month (advertising the new GoT season coming up on an expensive premium channel not conveniently available where I am). They even had two principal characters on the front cover of TV magazines at the store last week.
I'm generally anti-piracy, but this is a show that depends on the big plot twists and no-one-is-safe surprises, and I'm far more likely to give up and just rip it on-line as so many others do because of the spoilers than for any other reason. Or just give up watching at all, because why bother when the story has already been ruined anyway?
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
SO in other words, you have no idea if the show is any good or not, but you'll pull the whole superiority thing (aka I don;t even own a tv). Sorry but puffing out your chest doesn't make you any less ignorant.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
A nuanced response to piracy seems to me to be a very good thing. Individuals sharing your stuff? That's free advertising and lots of companies would kill for it. Somebody you trusted with a screener leaking it? That's a breach of trust and you shouldn't feel any qualms about going after them. Professional pirate pressing thousands of copies and profiting from selling them? Again, no problems going after that.
"We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia."
If only that book wasn't so popular, I could read it...but alas.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
You're not alone. I mostly like science fiction. Star Trek, BSG, Firefly yes. Star Wars no. And LOTR and Hobbit did not do anything for me. But, Game of Thrones is in another league. I love Game of Thrones. For me, it is as good as the hype suggests it is. I was surprised by that.
Watch first first season of Game of Thrones and then come back and give us your feedback here. I am interested in finding out if your opinion changes.
Let me help you over the bridge. Science fiction is often just fantasy, but with lasers and pod racers instead of swords and horses. Star Wars itself would lose little if it happened in a medieval setting (storywise, special effects would have suffered, and sadly that was 80% of the cool factor for me). I mean they already have a princess who keeps getting captured and needs rescuing by a knight...uh, I mean jedi knight. Lucky the old master is there to train the young apprentice in the way of the sword...er...force! He struggles to become strong enough to take on the black knight...um, Lord Vader. But only once the old master is defeated can the new apprentice rise above his master and defeat the black knight...fuck it, I mean Vader.
There's an old saying, if it's fantasy the women are dressed in fur bikinis. If it's science fiction, they are wearing metallic bikinis.
So, just take any science fiction story, and if the storyline itself could play out just as well in medieval Europe, Middle Earth or some spell casting land (swap guns and gadgets for wands, staves and magic items) then it's really just fantasy.
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.
I still don't understand why people want to watch such a crap quality (480p and blurred watermark)..
There's an old saying, if it's fantasy the women are dressed in fur bikinis. If it's science fiction, they are wearing metallic bikinis.
Funnily enough, I think this is one of the things that gives GoT its edge over a lot of on-screen sword and sorcery fantasy. You get women wearing realistic clothes, like expensive formal outfits at court or actually useful armour for combat. You get women wearing effectively no clothes at all. However, you rarely get much in between, and in particular you don't get women going into situations with random skimpy clothing for no apparent reason beyond the ratings. Also, while there has been (with some justification) criticism of the gratuitous nudity on the show, the same basic all-or-nothing-but-plausible divide has been true of the male characters as well.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
He didn't say he read the books, so he only went at most half hipster.
For full hipster credit, he would had to 1. say he read the books before the show came out, 2. say that they were ruined by the TV show and 3. found a way to say the books were much better than the TV show he's supposedly never seen WITHOUT saying "because it's popular."