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All Articles: The Last of Us
HBO is turning Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us into a limited series
HBO is one of the many channels that have given new life to the “limited series,” and it looks like they’ve zeroed in on their next project… Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO will partner with PlayStation Productions to produce the post-apocalyptic series alongside Craig Mazin (the creator of HBO’s Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (the Creative Director of The Last of Us):
Mazin, who is said to be an avid player of the game, stated, “Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and The Last of Us is his magnum opus. Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I’m so honored to do it in partnership with Neil.”
“From the first time I sat down to talk with Craig I was equally blown away by his approach to narrative and his love and deep understanding of The Last of Us,” said Druckmann in a statement. “With Chernobyl, Craig and HBO created a tense, harrowing, emotional masterpiece. I couldn’t think of better partners to bring the story of The Last of Us to life as a television show.”
The adaptation will cover the events from the first game, but HBO told The Hollywood Reporter that a second season of “additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel” is also a possibility.
Sam Raimi was previously attached to a film adaptation of The Last of Us, but it seems that that version of Joel and Ellie’s story is no longer in development.
Posted in Etcetera, News, PS3, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us
The Last of Us: Left Behind will be available as a standalone game on May 12
Sony has announced that Naughty Dog’s Ellie-centric expansion for The Last of Us will be released as a standalone PlayStation Store download in May. For $9.99, players will be able to download The Last of Us: Left Behind for either the PS3 or PS4 on May 12.
The downloadable add-on, which is currently priced at $14.99, will get a permanent price cut on May 12 to match the price of the standalone game.
In case The Last of Us has completely passed you by, you can catch up with Left Behind’s opening cinematic right here.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind
4/1: Sony is NOT creating a “PlayStation Flow” underwater VR device
With all the crazy virtual reality rigs that actually exist (such as the Birdly flight simulator), it’s possible that someone is working on an underwater VR experience. However, that someone is definitely not Sony (as reported by the PlayStation Blog Europe).
But if they were to create it, the PlayStation Flow is probably exactly what it would look like. When players reach a swimming section in any game (say, The Last of Us Remastered, for example), Sony wants them to sync their PlayStation Flow with their PS4 and head for the nearest pool. After putting on the Flow goggles and several body sensors, you dive in and dive right back into the game with your swimming movements translated to in-game actions. Even knowing that this is an April Fool’s prank, I’m still pretty convinced that someone is actually working on it. However, the PlayStation Flow Body Dryer, which uses “ionizing technology to dry you within seconds” is more than a little absurd.
As goofy as the PlayStation Flow is, I loved the tiny little details hidden within the video, including the name of the presenter. Ariel Ingannare, is supposedly the Wearable Tech Manager at PlayStation Wearable Entertainment Technology (P-WET), which is amusing enough on its own. But then you take apart her name. “Ariel” is, of course, the Little Mermaid, and “Ingannare” is Italian for “fool.”
Well played, Sony.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us
Dragon Age: Inquisition wins “Game of the Year” at 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards
BioWare’s Dragon Age: Inquisition won “Game of the Year” at the 2015 SXSW Gaming Awards, but 2014’s other big releases walked away with the rest of the categories.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and The Last of Us: Left Behind were the only multi-award winners. Shadow of Mordor collected trophies for “Excellence in Gameplay,” “Excellence in Animation,” and “Excellence in Design and Direction,” while Naughty Dog’s expansion to The Last of Us was awarded with the “Most Valuable Add-On Content” trophy as well as “Most Valuable Character” (for Ellie).
The full list of winners (which also includes Destiny, Far Cry 4, Alien: Isolation, Transistor, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, and many others) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Child of Light, Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, Tabletop Games, The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind, The Wolf Among Us, Transistor
Destiny wins “Best Game” at 2015 BAFTA Game Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) handed out their Game Awards last night and Bungie’s Destiny was awarded “Best Game.” The top prize was Destiny’s only win at the ceremony as the British Academy decided to spread the Game Awards around to many different deserving titles.
However, that didn’t stop Monument Valley from winning big. The mobile title from Ustwo captured the “British Game” award as well as the “Mobile & Handheld” award. Other only other multi-winner last night was Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us: Left Behind, which took home the “Story” award and the “Performer” award for Ashley Johnson’s portrayal of Ellie.
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, which won “Game of the Year” at the GDC Awards only managed to come away with the “Game Design” award at the BAFTAs. Dragon Age: Inquisition, which won “Game of the Year” at both Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards and the DICE Awards, went home empty-handed at the BAFTAs.
The complete list of winners can be found after the break. (more…)
WGA bestows Writers Guild Award on Last of Us: Left Behind for Outstanding Writing
The Writers Guild of America has announced the winners of this year’s Writers Guild Awards and Naughty Dog (and Neil Druckmann) has emerged victorious for a second year in a row. After taking home the statuette last year for The Last of Us, Naughty Dog and Druckmann were recognized this year for the writing in the game’s expansion, The Last of Us: Left Behind.
The Last of Us: Left Behind beat out three other games for this year’s Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award including Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation and a pair of Assassin’s Creed titles (Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry and Assassin’s Creed: Unity).
Their 2015 win marks the fourth time a Naughty Dog-developed game has won the Writers Guild Award. In addition to Druckmann’s win last year, Amy Hennig was honored in 2012 for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and in 2010 for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Posted in News, PS3, PS4
Tagged The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind
2015 Writers Guild nominees: Alien: Isolation, Last of Us: Left Behind, AC: Unity, Freedom Cry
The Writers Guild of America has announced the nominees for this year’s Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award, which they use to honor the best game writing of the year.
Continuing their love affair with Ubisoft, the Guild nominated both new entries in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed: Unity and Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry, for this year’s Writers Guild Award. Two other games are have also been nominated this year, Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us: Left Behind expansion. The full list of nominated writers can be found here:
Alien: Isolation (Sega)
Writers: Dan Abnett, Dion Lay, Will PorterAssassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry (Ubisoft)
Lead Scriptwriter: Jill Murray
Scriptwriter: Melissa MacCoubrey
Story: Jill Murray, Hugo Giard, Wesley PincombeAssassin’s Creed: Unity (Ubisoft)
Story: Alexandre Amancio, Sylvain Bernard, Travis Stout
Scriptwriting: Alexandre Amancio, Travis Stout, Russell Lees, Darby McDevitt, Ceri Young
Additional Scriptwriting: Jeffrey YohalemThe Last of Us: Left Behind (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Written by: Neil Druckmann
Writers from Naughty Dog and Ubisoft have been trading off top honors at the WGA Awards for the last five years. Naughty Dog prevailed last year for their work on The Last of Us, following wins for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (2012) and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2010). In between, Ubisoft collected a pair of WGA Awards for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation (2013) and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (2011).
If history repeats itself, writers from Ubisoft will be hoisting a trophy in victory when the winners of the 2015 Writers Guild Awards are announced on February 14.
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, Assassin's Creed: Unity, The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind
Madden NFL 15 spikes the competition by outselling all games in August 2014
Even though his stance said, “stop,” Richard Sherman took it to the house as the cover athlete of Madden NFL 15. While it’s too early to be concerned with The Curse, EA Sports’ latest football sim, as expected, toppled the competition and emerged as the best-selling game of August 2014, according to The NPD Group.
Only a small number of new releases made their way onto store shelves last month and many of them were re-releases of older titles. This tactic helped Diablo III: Reaper of Souls reach the #2 spot as the “Ultimate Evil Edition” is now available for previous-generation and current-generation consoles. And thanks to its PlayStation debut, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare cracked the top ten for the first time at #7.
Joystiq posits that this lack of major releases is the reason why game sales were down when compared to last August. The eighth month of 2013 saw the release of Madden NFL 25 as well as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Saints Row IV, and Disney Infinity.
A full look at the top ten best-selling games of August 2014 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Madden NFL 15, Minecraft, NPD, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, The Last of Us, The Lego Movie, Watch Dogs