The long-awaited second season of Game of Thrones (GoT) premieres this Sunday, April 1. Are you ready?
Well, HBO GO’s iPad app certainly is. Yes, owners of Apple’s tablet can now look forward to a truly interactive GoT viewing experience, with a number of “special enhancements” designed exclusively for the wildly popular device.
“Interactive viewing of Game of Thrones season 2 on the iPad provides an even more immersive and exciting experience for audiences, giving them an elegant, intuitive way to explore the world of Westeros,” an HBO rep explained in an official statement.
Indeed, in landscape mode, a few taps of the screen enables the ‘alert feed’ which appears just below the episode, calling out relevant content timed to specific scenes.
As users engage with bonus content, the episode above is automatically paused until the feature is closed and the episode resumes play. Users can also navigate throughout the feed, scrolling back or forward in time.
Special content in the alert feed includes:
- Cast/crew commentaries with David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, George R.R. Martin, and more.
- Behind the scenes interviews with the cast and crew.
- Descriptions of new characters as they enter a scene.
- Info alerts providing back stories on specific scenes and character relationships.
- Detailed set photos and concept art from the series design team.
- Quotes from series that can be shared via social media.
- A map with key locations pinpointed.
- A guide to Game of Thrones houses.
Interactive features exclusive to the iPad include social functionality, such as the ability to directly post status updates to Facebook and Twitter while watching. Viewers can also choose to watch the series in portrait orientation on the iPad which enables them to browse locations and characters during episode playback.
In portrait mode, a navigable (and convenient) map of Westeros and Essos is always visible below the “alert feed,” while a “Guide to Houses” link drives users to view family trees and profiles for all of the series characters.
