Game of Thrones Video Game Announced

Telltale Games has announced that it will release a video game based on the phenomenally popular HBO television series Game of Thrones, reports Kotaku. The news was revealed Saturday at Spike TV's annual VGX show.

The game is scheduled to debut sometime in 2014, but further details are sparse at this time. However, it will presumably be what is referred to as an episodic graphic adventure, whereby players assume the role of a character in the Game of Thrones world of Westeros and explore the series' rich environment. Similar formats were used for Telltale's Walking Dead and Fables games -- both also based on licensed properties -- and were well-received by critics and fans.

Game of Thrones -- based on the long-running book series by George R.R. Martin -- has been a huge success for HBO and has become notorious for its frequent nudity and explicit sex scenes, which occasionally include same-sex couplings. Thrones' most famous gay character is Renly Baratheon, portrayed by English actor Gethin Anthony.

Though it's unclear at this time if the game will include any LGBT characters or queer content, the Game of Thrones adaptation provides Telltale Games with an excellent opportunity to further LGBT visibility in video games -- a medium that has begun to embrace diversity in recent years.

In addition to independent developers like Dani Landers, a trans game designer who is currently developing an RPG game titled Bloom: Memories, which includes a transgender woman among its main cast of characters, some progress has been made in the industry's mainstream as well. Recent releases such as Dragon Age II, Skyrim, and Mass Effect 3 allowing players to choose characters who are attracted to individuals of the same gender. The controversial Grand Theft Auto series even offered an expansion game titled The Ballad of Gay Tony in 2009.