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Naughty Dog will finish out its planned season pass content for The Last of Us with new weapons, additional multiplayer maps, and a new single-player gameplay mode as part of the upcoming Grounded Bundle.

Grounded Mode puts a new, difficult spin on The Last of Us' single-player campaign, pitting players against "relentless, smart, and brutal" enemy mobs throughout. Naughty Dog notes that survival in the new mode will be "near impossible," and claims that the "Completed Grounded Mode" challenge will be one of the most difficult Trophies players will earn.

The Grounded Bundle additionally features the Reclaimed Territories Map Pack, adding the Wharf, Capitol, Coal Mine, and Water Tower maps to the game's multiplayer component. Players may opt to expand their arsenal with the Survivalist Weapon Bundle, which introduces the multiplayer-only Specter, Double Barrel, Enforcer, and Launcher weapons. Also arriving are the Situational Survival Skills and Professional Survival Skills bundles, which enhance character abilities in online battles.

Grounded Mode will be priced at $4.99 as a standalone download. The Reclaimed Territories Map Pack is priced at $9.99, the Survivalist Weapon Bundle is $5.99, and the Survival Skills Bundles are $3.99 apiece. All upcoming content is included as part of The Last of Us' $19.99 season pass, but interested players may want to hop on the deal soon, as the season pass bundle will be discontinued in mid-May.

A release date for Grounded Bundle content has not been announced.

[Image: Naughty Dog]

We’re pleased to announce the third and final drop in The Last of Us season pass. Here’s a look at what’s in the Grounded Bundle:

New trophies and a mix of single-player and multiplayer content await you in this DLC drop. Grounded Mode will be the hardest challenge you’ll ever face as you try to complete the single-player campaign of The Last of Us. The AI is relentless, smart, and brutal, and survival will be near impossible. “Completed Grounded Mode” might be one of the most difficult Trophies you’ll ever earn. If you’re not a season pass holder, Grounded Mode will cost $4.99 standalone.

The Reclaimed Territories Map Pack features four news maps: Wharf, Capitol, Coal Mine, and Water Tower. Each map has a mix of Trophies attached and is set in a location that will be familiar yet unfamiliar to players of the single-player campaign. Intelligent use of climbing, stealth, flanking, and all your clan survival techniques will be essential to master these maps. It’s available for $9.99 for non-season pass holders.

Wharf Set in the rusted-out docks where Joel encountered Robert, the Wharf map features close quarters gameplay, two snipers nests, and a giant boat. It’s full of good opportunities for climbing, flanking, and stealth. Capitol Set in Boston, the Capitol Map features indoor and outdoor gameplay. It encourages the intelligent use of flanking. Coal Mine Set in Colorado, Coal Mine is a winter map that’s spotted with abandoned buildings. It’s a spacious map that has long lines of sight and a bridge that’s a perfect perch for snipers. The dynamic snowstorm obscures the view so be on your toes. Water Tower Set in Lincoln, PA, the Water Tower map features two primary chokepoints for some deadly face-to-face confrontations. It’s mainly an outdoor map with a few indoor areas and some very unique lighting. It might seem open, but it’s really a tight map that’s perfect for close quarters melee.

New guns and new survival skills are coming as part of the Grounded Bundle as well. All new guns and skills are available to try before you buy as part of new pre-set load outs. The Survivalist Weapon Bundle costs $5.99, and contains four new weapons: Specter, Double Barrel, Enforcer, and Launcher. These guns have very unique attributes that have been carefully balanced so as to offer new play styles that fit into the existing Factions gameplay.

Survivalist Weapon Bundle Need more firepower? This is your bundle. The Survivalist Weapon bundle includes the Specter, Double Barrel, Enforcer, and Launcher. PSN purchase unlocks this gun for use in your Custom Loadout. Equip in the Purchasable loadout slot, then use in-game parts to buy it during the match. Specter A silenced assault rifle that’s great if your style is stealth stalker. PSN purchase unlocks this gun for use in your Custom Loadout. Equip in the Purchasable loadout slot, then use in-game parts to buy it during the match. Double Barrel Classic, deadly, double-barrel shotgun. Only 1 loadout point. PSN purchase unlocks this gun for use in your Custom Loadout. Equip in the Purchasable loadout slot, then use in-game parts to buy it during the match. Enforcer Highly accurate pistol but will cost you an extra loadout point. Launcher A weapon that fires small explosives, in the vein of a home-made potato gun. PSN purchase unlocks this gun for use in your Custom Loadout. Equip in the Purchasable loadout slot, then use in-game parts to buy it during the match.

Two Survival Skills Bundles, Situational Survival Skills Bundle and Professional Survival Skills Bundle, are also included if you own the season pass. If you want to purchase these standalone, they’ll cost you $3.99 each. These skills are very effective ways to find your new favorite play style.

Situational Survival Skills Bundle Unlock four survival skills that will help you get the best of any situation. This bundle includes Agility, Awareness, Fortitude, and Scavenger. Agility Climb, vault, and move while crouching faster than you could before. At level 3 you are nearly impossible to hear while moving. Awareness See enemy nametags before they see yours and enemy nametags remain on screen for several seconds when taking fire. Fortitude Downed? Level up this skill and it will help you survive longer as you’ll take longer to bleed out, crawl faster, and have more health when downed. At higher levels you’ll start with an extra health pack, and earn extra parts each time you heal. Scavenger Automatically pick up ammo and supplies and see increases in drops from enemies with this valuable skill. At level 3 enemies sometimes drop a random crafting ingredient. Professional Survival Skills Bundle Unlock four survival skills that will make you even more deadly. This bundle includes Gunslinger, Bomb Expert, Executioner, and Damage Marker. Gunslinger Equip this skill to start each spawn with more pistol ammo as you level up the skill. Bomb Expert Your bombs will explode more quickly and you’ll be immune to the stun of your own smoke bomb as you level up this skill. Executioner If your play style is the higher the risk, the greater the reward, then this is the skill you want. Earn more parts for shiv kills and special executions, and get extra shiv uses every time you craft a shiv. Damage Marker Good at hitting your targets? This is the skill for you as you’ll automatically mark any enemies you hit and earn double the parts for making.

Finally, everyone — non-season pass holders, included — will be getting a new gun, the Full-Auto Rifle, for free. This is a fully automatic, modified burst rifle that is very easy to use. It’s the perfect weapon for people who are new to Factions and experts alike.

While it’s been very cool to tell you about all this fresh content, nothing beats showing you. To that end, we’ll be livestreaming for the first time ever Thursday, April 24th over on the Naughty Dog Twitch channel. We’ll be showing off some of the new Grounded Bundle content, so tune in at 12:00 PM Pacific on April 24th to see new DLC in action.

Additionally, we’ll be doing some livestreaming on Twitch for our participation in Operation Supply Drop’s 8-Bit Salute on May 17th. Head over to learn more about the event at Team Naughty Dog’s fundraising page today.

If you haven’t purchased a season pass for The Last of Us yet, you’re missing out. With our final pack, this Grounded Bundle, as well as the Abandoned Territories, the Left Behind, and the multiplayer head item drops all included, you’ll be getting savings of more than 80% versus purchasing all the content individually. The season pass will be available for $19.99 for four more weeks. After the week of May 13th, when PlayStation Store updates in your region, the season pass will no longer be available. Get the most out of The Last of Us while you still can.

Operation Supply Drop Inc., 9301 Alvyn Lake Circle, Bristow, VA 20136, (412) 370-3665. Operation Supply Drop is a 501(c)(3) organization, Tax ID: 27-3842517, mission statement.

Well, it’s no secret that we have been working night and day at the studio to bring The Last of Us to PS4.

We’re calling it The Last of Us Remastered.

Moving our efforts to the PS4 has allowed us to remaster an already phenomenal looking The Last of Us in 1080p with a list of upgrades including higher resolution character models, improved shadows and lighting, upgraded textures, along with even more improvements. We love setting challenging technical hurdles for us when working on each game – and this is no different. We’ve been working hard on The Last of Us Remastered to release a next-gen evolution worthy of the 200+ Game of the Year awards, not to mention the acclaim and expectations of our fans. We will be revealing more detailed information about the upgrades for the PS4 version in the coming months.

In addition to all the technical updates, we’re also including an exclusive director’s commentary for all in-game cinematics featuring Creative Director and Writer, Neil Druckmann; Voice Actor, Troy Baker, who plays Joel; and BAFTA Award winning Voice Actress, Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie.

We’ve released a ton of additional content since The Last of Us launched in June 2013, including our first ever single player expansion, Left Behind. We’re happy to say that the major content releases will be included with The Last of Us Remastered:

• Left Behind single player expansion
• Abandoned Territories multiplayer map pack
• Reclaimed Territories pack – details will be coming soon on exactly what is included

Whether you are new to The Last of Us or have played it already on the PS3, we hope you are all looking forward to this release. We are!

You can preorder The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 right now from many of your favorite retailers and receive these preorder bonuses:

• 100 Supply Points (XP) for use in Factions mode
• Two special bonus skins for Joel and Ellie which will be unlocked after your complete the single player campaign
• Increased Crafting Speed for use in the Single Player Campaign
• Increased Healing Speed for use in the Single Player Campaign
• 9mm Reload Speed Increase Upgrade for use in the Single Player Campaign
• Rifle Clip Capacity Increase Upgrade for use in the Single Player Campaign

If you preorder on the PlayStation Store, you will receive three extra preorder bonuses to unlocks in Factions multiplayer:

• Early Access to the Brawler Survival Skill in Factions Mode
• Early Access to additional Loadout Points for use in Factions mode
• Early Access to the Jeep Cap and Surgical Mask for use in Factions mode

Now that we’ve finally gotten the official announcement out of the way, we’ll be keeping you updated regularly about The Last of Us Remastered until it releases Summer 2014.

Designer Lucas Pope came close to apologizing for his frequent appearance on stage at 2014's Indie Games Festival Awards, collecting award after award for Papers, Please. The dystopian game of bureaucracy and hard-earned immigration was recognized by a panel of industry peers for its considered narrative, game design, and ... downloadability? Pope couldn't help but poke fun at the vestigial "Best Downloadable Game" category, noting the distinct advantage of making a game that's a quick 40MB download.

Papers, Please also won for innovation in the Game Developers Choice Awards, the more mainstream half of the evening's show. Naughty Dog's own take on dystopia, The Last of Us, won here for best design, best narrative, and best overall game of the year. (This despite fellow nominee Super Mario 3D World having some pretty sweet overalls.)

For the rest of the winners, including some gongs for Device 6, Risk of Rain and Grand Theft Auto 5, please see below.

Tal Peleg is senior cinematics editor at Naughty Dog, where he worked on The Last Of Us. If you ever wondered where the wonderful Joel-does-the-Banderas animation came from, well, Tal's your man.Read more...

Developer Naughty Dog revealed today that its PS3-exclusive post-pandemic survival game The Last of Us has sold more than six million copies worldwide since its launch in June last year.

The latest sales figure likely includes digital purchases and copies of The Last of Us packaged with PlayStation 3 consoles, including last year's Amazon Black Friday bundle. The Last of Us topped Joystiq's list of the best games released across all platforms in 2013.

Naughty Dog's announcement follows up on last month's launch of The Last of Us' "Left Behind" DLC, and accompanies recent reports stating that an upcoming film adaptation will stick closely to the game's storyline.

[Image: Naughty Dog]

As we did in 2012, we’ll have a large pack of Dogs giving talks at GDC 2014. We just wrapped up The Last of Us: Left Behind to universal critical acclaim. It currently has a score of 89 on Metacritic, making it the highest rated PS3 downloadable content ever. We also recently received five BAFTA awards, including the coveted Best Game in 2014, for our work on The Last of Us.

We’re now heading to GDC to talk about some of the techniques and process that went into making The Last of Us, which has now hit over six million copies sold worldwide, as well as what made Left Behind, our first ever downloadable, single player story chapter, so unique.

The full list of sessions for all Naughty Dog talks, along with dates, times, locations and descriptions, is available on the Naughty Dog blog. Visit the GDC Schedule builder if you want to put these sessions in your calendar, export them or print them out.

Win a Kotobukiya Hulk Statue! Ubisoft clarifies Assassins Creed's ending confusion & Xbox player breaks one million gamerscore. Plus, Google acquires game tech & BAFTA Awards announced.

The upcoming film version of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us will be an adaptation of the game's original post-apocalyptic storyline, creative director Neil Druckmann told IGN this week.

"It's an adaptation of the story of The Last of Us," Druckmann said. "As far as where we go and how we make it fit into a film, how it takes into account the unique properties of film... We're not sure yet. We're only just scratching the surface."

Historically, video game-based movies often veer sharply from their source material. The Super Mario Bros. film's reptilian underworld and Street Fighter: The Movie's Bison Dollars linger as reminders of the rocky relationship between the film and game industries, and the difficulties involved in bringing popular games to theaters.

Rumors of a film based on The Last of Us began circulating with a pair of URL registrations late last year, and Deadline later reported that Druckmann would write its script with input from Naughty Dog staff. Sam Raimi's company Ghost House Pictures will assist with production.

"Sorry for ****ing your horse." This semi-spoilery censored take on The Last of Us, put together by YouTuber NormalDifficulty, is both funny and disgusting. Enjoy.Read more...

One might wonder: how the hell do you turn a game as cinematic as The Last of Us into a movie? One will keep wondering. Sony's doing it, working alongside Naughty Dog to make their PS3 hit into a film.Read more...

The final DLC for The Last of Us' Season Pass will contain a new difficulty mode for the game's single-player mode, as well as new maps, weapons and skills for the game's multiplayer component. Naughty Dog only described the upcoming difficulty mode as "new," not necessarily harder. So who knows, maybe it's Lollipop Difficulty, where the infected have been replaced by fluffy teddy bears and sadness is replaced with rainbows. Naughty Dog wrote that they will provide more information "as in-game elements near completion."

Naughty Dog also released a new behind-the-scenes video detailing their journey creating Left Behind, the single-player DLC follow-up for a game with roughly a bajillion awards. We've included it after the break since, like the game's Clicker enemies, spoilers can rip your throat out make you have a very bad day if you get too careless. [Image: Sony]

Stop reading now and head here if you haven’t completed The Last of Us: Left Behind or The Last of Us.

To be crystal clear, so you’re not tempted to read on…

Spoilers Ahead — Turn Back Now

Okay, if you HAVE played the new story chapter and learned about Ellie’s adventures and relationship with Riley, we’re happy to show you our addendum to Grounded, our feature-length documentary on the development of The Last of Us. Our new video is called From Dreams — The Making of The Last of Us: Left Behind. Watch it now:

Maybe you’ve caught Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us on Amazon Instant Video or via the Season Pass on PlayStation Store. Perhaps you prefer to watch videos on YouTube. We made that possible as the full feature is now up on the PlayStation YouTube channel:

We’re exploring additional ways to make these videos available to watch in your region of the world. These are the stories of development on The Last of Us we have so far. There’s more to come. Our final drop in the Season Pass is coming. It’s chock full of multiplayer goodness with new maps, new weapons, new skills, and also a brand new difficulty mode for the single-player campaign. We’ll have more information on it as in-game elements near completion.

In case you ever wanted to know more about how a video game title sequence was put together, here's a great interview with the three folks most responsible for The Last Of Us' gross intro.Read more...

Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us, a documentary that chronicles the creation of Naughty Dog's post-pandemic PlayStation 3 action game, is now free to watch on YouTube.

Previously available as an exclusive bonus for The Last of Us Season Pass buyers, Grounded tackles the game's development from pitch to release, explaining a number of design choices developer Naughty Dog made along the way. This week's YouTube release follows up on Grounded's recent launch on Amazon Instant Video.

Fair warning: Grounded occasionally delves into spoiler territory, so you might want to hold off on watching it until after you've completed the game's single-player campaign.

[Image: Sony]

This is Grounded: Making The Last of Us, an 85-minute documentary that gives us a backstage look at Naughty Dog's critically-acclaimed PS3 game. (And Kotaku's 2013 Game of the Year!)Read more...

Ashley Johnson comes by to talk about Ellie in Left Behind, and a Thief developer talks about reinventing the franchise.

Naughty Dog seemingly won everyone over last year (including Joystiq and the DICE Awards) with The Last of Us, its tale of survival in a clicker-ridden world. Its ending felt fairly conclusive, but in a recent discussion (which you should not explore if you're wary of spoilers for the game or DLC) on Reddit, a fan asked what the odds are for a future chance to visit The Last of Us' world once more.

"If you're asking about a sequel ... right now I'd say it's 50/50," Creative Director Neil Druckmann responded.

If that's not enough to rile people up, Game Director Bruce Straley teased in the same thread that the team is "working on the 3rd DLC drop for MP right now! ... and maybe something else ... we'll see." It's almost like they enjoy teasing fans!
Of course, if you missed your date with "Left Behind," the game's Valentines Day dose of narrative DLC, that's an immediate opportunity to spend more time with Ellie. [Image: Sony]

It's difficult to discuss why so many people would not want a sequel to The Last of Us without getting deep into spoiler territory. Its story has ... rather clear boundaries, let's say. But the game's creative director said in a Reddit AMA that there's a 50/50 chance there'll be another game in the series.Read more...

In the end, both The Last of Us and its (fantastic) new downloadable expansion Left Behind had a lot to say about life, loss, and why we fight to survive. But they said those things in slightly different ways.Read more...

Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us, the behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the development of The Last of Us, is now available on Amazon Instant Video.

The documentary follows developer Naughty Dog's creative process and provides insight into how the studio successfully cultivated a new IP following Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Formerly exclusive to The Last of Us season pass holders, this 85-minute feature is only available to Amazon users in the US right now, but Sony says it'll also be made available on the company's YouTube channel eventually.

Grounded was produced by Area 5, the outfit formed by ex-1UPers in 2009. Area 5 has since produced I Am Street Fighter, a documentary on the community surrounding arguably the most popular fighting game franchise on the planet, and most recently successfully crowd-funded a six-episode series highlighting the culture of video games, called Outerlands.

By now you’ve played The Last of Us and likely have learned more about Ellie’s backstory in The Last of Us: Left Behind. Maybe you’re been wondering how we got Joel’s beard to look so good or why Ellie acts like she does. We’re pleased to say that Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us can provide you with some answers and that it’s now available to watch for free.

If you live in North America, head over to Amazon Instant Video now and be the first, outside of our season pass holders, to watch the full, ninety minute, in-depth look at the making of The Last of Us throughout its development. We partnered with Area 5 to produce the video and it’s a thoughtful afterword to the game itself.

For those of you outside the US, Grounded will be coming to the PlayStation YouTube channel very soon. We’re working on additional ways for you to view Grounded in its entirety, so be on the lookout for those announcements.

In the next few days, we’ll also be providing a glimpse into the making of the Left Behind and some thoughts from the development team about what it was like to make our first-ever single-player downloadable chapter.

If you haven’t purchased The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind or our Season Pass yet, it’s best to do so before you dive into watching Grounded. As for our season pass holders, we’ll be adding even more value to your season pass in the coming weeks.

Be sure to check out Grounded and see how the game that’s won over 230 Game of Year awards, The Last of Us, was made.

Curious how they made The Last of Us? The documentary Grounded: The Making of The Last of Us is now free on Amazon. Apparently it's pretty good, too!Read more...

There are topics that mainstream video games rarely tackle, but lately, the list is getting shorter. It got shorter yet again last week. It happened in a PS3 game, or rather, in an expansion to a PS3 game from last year. It happened in a way that makes me even more excited for what games can do and where they're going. It's something I can't not talk about. Spoilers follow.Read more...

I've never played anything quite like The Last of Us: Left Behind.Read more...

The Last of Us "Left Behind" DLC refers to important moments in the main game's story. As such, this review may contain SPOILERS for The Last of Us. "Left Behind," the first and only piece of narrative downloadable content for The Last of Us, has a strange task ahead of itself. It attempts to tell an impactful story with an ending every player is assuredly already aware of, reaching into the past to tell the story of Ellie and her best friend Riley. Despite the knowledge of Riley's fate - we learned of her death in The Last of Us - I still found myself becoming hopeful for her future, wishing something magical would happen, that I could avert the tragedy.

No such luck.

It’s been an incredible February. On the same night, The Last of Us won big at the 41st annual Annie Awards and the 2014 Writers Guild Awards. Five days later, we took home ten awards, including Game of the Year, Adventure Game of the Year, Outstanding Character Performance by Ashley Johnson for her role as Ellie — and many others at the 17th annual DICE Awards. To date we’ve received more than 230 Game of the Year picks around the globe. We are deeply honored and humbled to receive such high praise and recognition from our peers and industry fans. On behalf of everyone that worked on The Last of Us, thank you!

We’re proud to continue this strong month by releasing our first ever, single-player downloadable story campaign, The Last of Us: Left Behind. Unless you’re on a media blackout, check out the launch trailer for Left Behind.

Left Behind tells the story of Ellie and Riley. It continues the themes of survival, loyalty, and love that we explored in the full game. We wanted to dig deeper into the events that transformed Ellie into the fighter players were introduced to on her fateful meeting with Joel. What does it mean for two teenagers to survive in a world that offers little hope. How far will you go to save yourself? How far will you go to save the ones you love? While you might think you know how Left Behind ends, there are plenty of surprises and insights into who Ellie is. Fans of The Last of Us will not want to miss this new chapter that ties directly into the main story.

The Last of Us: Left Behind drops tonight. Within the hour it’ll be available on PlayStation Store in your region. It’s a hefty 5GB, so get ready for the download and be the first to play it!

After you’ve finished Left Behind, write down those burning questions as we’ll be holding a Reddit AMA on Friday, February 21st at 2:30 PM PT.

If you still haven’t played the full game, there are regional sales happening that offer The Last of Us and our season pass bundled at a great discount. Buy it online and enjoy the complete story.

Left Behind is really something special. It’s one of the most polished single-player experiences we’ve ever crafted. We are super proud of the quality of the gameplay and the depth of the story.

And once again, thank you for making The Last of Us so successful. None of this would be possible without your support.

Neil & Bruce

Gather your molotovs and modems, because according to a Naughty Dog tweet, The Last of Us patch 1.06 goes live tonight at 10 p.m. Pacific. The update is required for anyone wanting to play the game's story DLC, Left Behind, which comes out tomorrow.

Patch 1.06 also tweaks much of the game's multiplayer, fixing spawn locations, lag issues, weapon balance and more. You can read the full list of notes on the official site. About the only thing it won't fix is your heart - Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic universe is a bit short on warm, fuzzy feelings.

It’s that time of year again. The time when many people’s thoughts and most things you find in stores turn to hearts, sparkles, and some form of red and white paper craft. Or maybe this kind of heartfelt celebration is a joyful, everyday occurrence for you. Even if you’re the Who-needs-love type we have something special for you to mark the occasion.

As you might recall last year we posted up some funny Valentines featuring heroes, villains, and objects from our games. We’ve expanded the cast of characters this year. Check out a few sentimental reflections on love, tenderness, and romantic etiquette from our beloved IP – The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Jak and Daxter.

Drawn by Alexandria Neonakis and Lily Nishita, two of our many talented artists at Naughty Dog, these ardent wishes are the perfect surprise for your favorite friend or biggest crush. So select a proper sentiment or favorite character and paste it into an email. It’s sure to bring a smile.

If you’re not into hearts, but still enjoy cool stuff, check out our latest collaboration with We Love Fine, a new The Last of Us: Left Behind t-shirt by fan art design contest winner Brandon Meier up above. Pretty sweet, huh? You can order it on the We Love Fine website now.

Also, hitting the online stores and your local music shop is the new The Last of Us: Left Behind soundtrack by world-renowned composer Gustavo Santaolalla. Featuring twenty-five, brand new, sonically beautiful tracks, it is now available on Amazon and will be available via iTunes.

The Last of Us: Left Behind, our first ever single player downloadable chapter, arrives in less than 48 hours. Happy Valentine’s Day — spread the love!