Cyanide, developers of the as yet unreleased Bloodbowl have recently snagged the rights to fantasy writer George RR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series which is currently four very big books with a fifth still on the way.

Anyone familiar with the series is probably wondering just how the hell one could make a game of such a convoluted and complex series.

For those unfamiliar with the story the books are set in an almost brutally realistic fantasy universe. There’s no mysterious rangers somehow becoming just and beloved kings in an afternoon; instead we have a collection of aristocrats and military leaders fighting, shagging, murdering and betraying their way to the throne and then doing even worse things they can to keep themselves or their family in power. Any character with teensiest modicum of honour often finds themselves butchered, banished or on the run. The fantasy elements of the novels, dragons and supernatural threats at the countries border, are largely part of the scenery while the real meat of the text focuses on the various characters schemes and interrelationships.

The books are absolutely gripping and near impossible to put down. Author George RR Martin is a true master of the written word and a master juggler of characters. But they're also uncompromisingly brutal, we're talking about the sort of stuff no Hollywood movie exec would ever touch, rape, incest, child murder, public executions, and thats just the first book.

I can only assume that you would play the role of some kind of alternative character who doesn’t exist in the canon of the main story and that the game takes the roll of some kind of RPG game. But as yet we know nothing. It’s certainly not an easy universe to penetrate. Cyanide are all ready in development on the title so hopefully we will learn more soon.

If you've never read the series before, get out and grab the books now, the first one is called The Game of Thrones. You won't be dissapointed.