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Images are courtesy of HBO Home Entertainment
Games of Thrones fans have been given something to get excited about just in time for the gift-getting season in the form of limited edition steelbook releases of the HBO series’ first and season seasons.
The new Steelbook Collectors Sets from HBO Home Entertainment have box art designed by Elastic, the agency responsible for the show’s opening credits. The art for each set is themed on a location that features prominently in that season.
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The Collectors’ Steelbook for Season One, which TMR received for review, features Winterfell. The box art includes semi-abstract representations of objects associated with this location set against a dark olive-green metallic background. Those objects include a weirwood tree that appears to be growing out of the case’s back cover and the direwolf sigil of House Stark, which features prominently on the front cover.
Each set also comes with a magnet modeled on the sigil of one of Game of Thrones' main families. The direwolf sigil magnet that comes with Season 1 is about two inches across and has a small round magnet on the backside. Unfortunately, the magnet is not strong enough to allow the sigil to stay attached to the steelbook’s cover. However, the set comes with a plastic holder that on the front of the steelbook as part of the retail packaging and this could be used to hold the sigil in place on a bookshelf.
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The other big feature of this release is the Dolby Atmos soundtrack, which is designed to provide all-around sound if played through a Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver and speaker combination. HBO claims that Game of Thrones is the first TV series to be released on Blu-ray using this state-of-the-art home theater technology. We were unable to test this but apparently it produces sound around and above the listener. Other surround sound options are available if you don’t have Atmos gear.
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No new special features are included with these steelbooks but they do come with Ultraviolet/iTunes compatible digital copies and all the bonus content from previous Blu-ray releases. Seasons One and Two will be released on November 3 and Seasons 3 and 4 will come at a future date that has not yet been announced.
The new Steelbook Collectors Sets from HBO Home Entertainment have box art designed by Elastic, the agency responsible for the show’s opening credits. The art for each set is themed on a location that features prominently in that season.
The Collectors’ Steelbook for Season One, which TMR received for review, features Winterfell. The box art includes semi-abstract representations of objects associated with this location set against a dark olive-green metallic background. Those objects include a weirwood tree that appears to be growing out of the case’s back cover and the direwolf sigil of House Stark, which features prominently on the front cover.Each set also comes with a magnet modeled on the sigil of one of Game of Thrones' main families. The direwolf sigil magnet that comes with Season 1 is about two inches across and has a small round magnet on the backside. Unfortunately, the magnet is not strong enough to allow the sigil to stay attached to the steelbook’s cover. However, the set comes with a plastic holder that on the front of the steelbook as part of the retail packaging and this could be used to hold the sigil in place on a bookshelf.
The other big feature of this release is the Dolby Atmos soundtrack, which is designed to provide all-around sound if played through a Dolby Atmos-enabled receiver and speaker combination. HBO claims that Game of Thrones is the first TV series to be released on Blu-ray using this state-of-the-art home theater technology. We were unable to test this but apparently it produces sound around and above the listener. Other surround sound options are available if you don’t have Atmos gear.
No new special features are included with these steelbooks but they do come with Ultraviolet/iTunes compatible digital copies and all the bonus content from previous Blu-ray releases. Seasons One and Two will be released on November 3 and Seasons 3 and 4 will come at a future date that has not yet been announced.
