The Last of Us Message Board older than one year ago

We’re heading to PAX Prime! Along with PAX East, this is one of the most exciting conventions of the year for us as PAX always features some of the best panels, the most passionate fans, and we’re all there for one thing: gaming. To that end, we’ll be showing off a demo of The Last of Us in these digs:

Recognize the room? Probably not, but some of you may be able to place it in the world of The Last of Us. If you can’t figure it out, watch the announcement trailer and our E3 demo for some clues.

For everyone who stops by to check out the demo, we’ll have exclusive PAX Prime 2012 t-shirts for you.

Over the course of the show we will also be giving away 117 posters to hang on your wall or plaster around town. The poster features custom artwork by Alexander Iaccarino — That Kid who Draws — made specifically for PAX Prime. It’s pretty amazing.

The Last of Us Game Director (The) Bruce Straley will be at PAX Prime Saturday, September 1st from 5:00pm to 6:00pm and Sunday, September 2nd from 11:00am to 12:00pm to sign your new posters. A few random, lucky attendees of the signing will walk away with some very limited edition swag.

Head over to Collider.com on Wednesday, August 29th for more about Alexander and our very cool poster, as well as a surprise announcement about the poster itself — which will reveal what the limited edition swag is.

The demo and the signing will take place at the PlayStation Booth (that’s Booth #222). If you come to the booth in Joel or Ellie cosplay we’ll have a very special giveaway for the first five people that show up. We’ll also try to snap your photos and get your mug up on the Naughty Dog Facebook page. So grab a flannel shirt, grow a beard (or don a ponytail), shoulder your favorite backpack and come see us!

Yesterday at Gamescom in Germany Troy Baker, the voice of Joel, and Ashley Johnson, the voice of Ellie, took the stage with moderator Arne Meyer, Community Strategist at Naughty Dog, to talk about the cinematic process, the performances, and the creative ideas at play in The Last of Us. Before the presentation began, our game’s directors had a few words to say about the project.

In order to make everything Bruce and Neil discuss in the video a reality, the performances of Troy, Ashley, and every actor involved play a crucial role. Performance capture is a long, time-intensive process. It involves tight mocap suits, long hours, a ton of writing and often some fortuitous ad-lib. We called attention to these performances — one of the first steps to the game’s cinematic process — at our panel during San Diego Comic Con. At Gamescom, we went deeper into the process, and now you can watch the raw mocap for the cinematic that introduced Bill, played by W. Earl Brown.

High tech cameras record the tracking markers on the mocap suits to capture these performances. Raw mocap data is taken to our team, cleaned up, and then the next step in the cinematic process takes place.

Six steps in about a minute. Making game cinematics looks pretty easy, right? What you’ve seen is a time lapse showing over two years of planning, writing, performance, scripting, animation, lighting, and artistry. Then apply more tweaking, more adjusting, and more fine-tuning. And then some more before it ever goes out the door.

That’s where we ended up. One cinematic in the can. But there’s much more work to be done, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

Hello from Gamescom everyone! It’s always a treat to head out to Germany and show our latest project to media and fans from all over Europe.

Earlier today, we revealed a new trailer for The Last of Us, which we edited specifically for Gamescom. Set to a fitting and haunting track by Hank Williams, Sr., this new trailer mixes previously seen content along with some brand new cinematic and gameplay footage, to provide more detail of the beautiful environments and dangerous opposition Joel and Ellie will face on their journey across the United States. Take a look.

I’ll be here for a couple days with Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who play Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us, as they reveal more about the acting process to press from all over Europe. If you’re at Gamescom, be sure to hit the convention floor to get your eyes on our E3 demo.

In San Diego this past week, we were floored to see how many people turned out for Comic-Con! The highlight of our very busy weekend was our The Last of Us panel. We couldn’t believe how long some people waited in line to attend our panel on Friday. Some amazing cosplayers came by, and the room was just packed in general. The enthusiasm there was infectious and truly exciting.

If you weren’t around to see the panel, here’s a condensed look…

br>

We had The Last of Us Creative Director, Neil Druckmann, and Game Director, Bruce Straley, discuss various game inspirations and dive deeper into the characters, the plausible science behind the game, and the character acting behind the scenes. Actor Troy Baker (Joel) and actress Ashley Johnson (Ellie) commented on their performance capture experiences and actor W. Earl Brown (There’s Something About Mary, Deadwood) was introduced in a new cinematic as Bill, a new character in the world of The Last of Us.
We had an unbelievable E3 and SDCC shaped up to be equally inspiring and fun. Be on the lookout for some more content from the panel in the coming weeks. We can’t wait to share more of the game as development of The Last of Us progresses!

While we’re still processing the awesome and inspiring reception from fans and critics at E3, we’ve been heads down working to make The Last of Us something to get really, really hyped about. To that end, we’re excited that our San Diego Comic-Con plans afforded us the opportunity to discuss our mocap process and share some new content. It was really just a small glimpse into what we’ve been hard at work developing but we think you’ll enjoy it greatly. Take a look:

We first showed this video during our San Diego Comic Con panel. If you listen carefully at the onset of the video you’ll hear the sounds of Infected hunting for Joel and Ellie. The pair manages to escape into the house of some guy in a gas mask. But are they safe?

The masked man is a new character named Bill. Bill knows Joel somehow and he owes Joel a favor. What for? Well, we’re not talking about that yet but you’ll definitely be hearing more about Bill and what makes him tick in the months rolling up to launch. For starters, we also revealed that Bill is voiced by accomplished Hollywood actor W. Earl Brown, who has appeared in numerous movies including Vanilla Sky, Scream, There’s Something About Mary and the upcoming movie The Lone Ranger. He also played Dan Dority in the acclaimed HBO series, Deadwood. There will be much more information to come.

It was a joy to talk with fans at SDCC about our mocap and performance process and to go behind the scenes on The Last of Us. Get ready for us to fire out more notes from the workshop as development progresses.

It truly is an exciting time to be part of the PlayStation family. This morning, PlayStation was recognized by the gaming industry elite, winning an industry-leading seven Game Critics: Best of E3 awards including BEST IN SHOW for The Last of Us, and receiving more awards than any other platform or publisher.

Receiving critical acclaim throughout the industry, The Last of Us, the new PS3 survival action game from the talented team at Naughty Dog, took home a whopping five Game Critics Awards. In addition to bringing down the house at the close of our E3 press conference, Naughty Dog also showed a behind closed door demo that showcased a totally different way to play the press conference demo and highlighted how choices made by the gamer in the struggle to survive deadly encounters can affect how enemies react and the tactics they’ll employ.

Congratulations are also in order for Unfinished Swan developers Giant Sparrow winning Best Downloadable Game and Sound Shapes’ Queasy Games for Best Handheld/Mobile Game. Notable nominations also include Quantic Dream for Beyond: Two Souls nominated for Best Original Game and Best Action/Adventure Game, PlayStation All-Stars nominated for Best Fighting Game, LittleBigPlanet Karting nominated for Best Racing Game, and Wonderbook nominated for Best Peripheral.

We are thrilled to be leading the pack following E3 2012 — bringing a strong lineup to gamers throughout the rest of this year and well into 2013 across our PS3, PS Vita and PSN platforms. Again, a massive congratulations to all nominees and winners of this year’s Game Critics Awards: Best of E3!

Check out all PlayStation wins below and the full list of the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 winners available here.

· Best of Show
The Last of Us
(Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

· Best Original Game
The Last of Us
(Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

· Best Console Game
The Last of Us
(Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

· Best Action/Adventure Game
The Last of Us
(Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

· Special Commendation for Sound
The Last of Us
(Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

· Best Handheld/Mobile Game
Sound Shapes
(Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita, PS3)

· Best Downloadable Game
Unfinished Swan
(Giant Sparrow/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

What was your favorite game from E3 2012? Be sure to let us know in the comments!

E3 2012 is in the books. It might not have had captivating press conferences, inoffensive marketing campaigns, nor the overall level of "holy shit" we generally like to have from these sorts of trade shows, but it did have games. Lots of them, in fact. Here are my favorite games that I saw at this year's E3.

I will make no bones about my excitement for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us. I am an unapologetic apocalypse junkie. Give me an end of the world scenario wherein humans are forced to scrape up some destitute excuse for an existence amid the most horrendous circumstances are stories that resonate with me for some reason. It's why I have so much fondness for zombie horror, post-nuclear war stories, or even the concept of Biblical end times. But for me, it's less about the threat/reasoning behind the destruction than the portrayal of life after the fact. There's certainly fun to be had smashing zombie skulls or tear-assing around in some Mad Max-looking apocalyptic dune buggy, but when you can bring me a story with characters I care about struggling against any threat in a world gone kaput, I'm generally interested.

This is what's so appealing to me about The Last of Us. Naughty Dog has chosen to hyperfocus its story on two characters: Joel, a grizzled old survivor of a calamitous infection that has all but wiped out the human population, and Ellie, a young girl born after the disaster into a world she's been forced to fend for herself in. Joel and Ellie are of no direct relation apparently, but Joel acts as her protector and guide as they attempt to make it from America's eastern seaboard to the west coast. What awaits them there? Naughty Dog wouldn't say. Much like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, the destination almost seems arbitrary, more a destination for the sake of a destination than a real hope for salvation. When the world has collapsed around you, what else is there to do but keep moving in the hopes of finding something better? Maybe there's more than just a glimmer of hope in their destination, but Naughty Dog didn't say.

While the demo shown at Sony's E3 press conference was certainly impressive, I was far more taken with the approach the developers showed behind closed doors. It was basically the same section of gameplay you saw at the conference, but the demonstrators showed a completely different methodology, wherein Joel and Ellie took a more stealthy, less pronounced approach to felling the vile scavengers that had been chasing them previously. Also, yes, those guys Joel kills are bad guys. The demo didn't really provide the context for that, but the developers said that you'll know this by the time you get to this sequence in the game.

The sheer variety of ways one can approach a segment of The Last of Us is what appeals to me. Because your methods of attack rely so heavily on the scarcity of resources at your disposal, you have to employ strategy and forethought before running into a combat situation. It's not so much about mindless killing as it is evasion and defense, with offense only coming into play when necessary. I love this approach, and I love what Naughty Dog has shown of this game thus far, both technologically and in gameplay. This is the game I am most looking forward to right now. I have no idea if it will make it out this year, but far as I'm concerned, Naughty Dog should take all the time they need. They're on a smart path, and would hate to see them compromise anything for the sake of a release date.

I made it abundantly clear (I hope) in my interview with SimCity's lead producer that I fell off the SimCity wagon years ago, not necessarily because the games had become somehow terrible, but rather that the level of complexity officially exceeded the kind of brain power I could dedicate to a city simulation. So by all accounts, looking at Maxis' forthcoming reboot/sequel in the series, I should have gone cross-eyed at the mere sight of the damn thing, especially given the sheer volume of stuff it's simulating under the hood.

And yet, watching the demo given at this year's E3, I didn't go cross-eyed. Hell, I wasn't even particularly confused by it. Maybe my brain finally caught up with the technology, or Maxis finally found a way to make all that city-building information translatable to my barely-functioning mind, but whatever it was, it worked. This game looks amazing.

It's not just the visual engine (which is, of course, stunning), but also the intelligent way that Maxis has integrated multiplayer into its gameplay. The idea of asynchronous multiplayer morphed into kind of a meaningless buzzword as the show wore on, but Maxis' concept was perhaps the best example I saw at the show of how it can be done well. The idea of you and however many friends being able to create your own individual cities and interact on a less-than-direct level is kind of genius. I love that you can choose to cooperate with your neighboring cities on collaborative projects, or even just troll them by refusing to curtail crime or pollution, which will then spill out into the region. I don't think you can unleash Godzillas at them, but you can't have everything you want, I guess.

It's been a long time since I got into a SimCity game, but I have no issue picturing myself dedicating many hours to my own virtual metropolis come early next year.

If you read my glowing reviews of the various versions of Rayman Origins, you already know why I'm excited about this. This is more of what I loved about Rayman Origins, except prettier, and with some actually interesting use of the Wii U's GamePad.

The early levels that Ubisoft showed at E3 offered a similar cooperative platforming experience to Origins, except now there is a fifth character you can control exclusively via the GamePad. This character moves around the TV screen with swipes of the touch screen. This player will remove obstacles, knock away enemies, and even participate in a rhythmic minigame section (which thankfully appears to replace the infuriating treasure chest chases of the last game.) The stuff I played definitely offered up a stiff challenge, but very much the fun kind, as opposed to the painfully frustrating kind. And those rhythm minigames are awesome.

Granted, I am not exactly chomping at the bit to get a Wii U based on the stuff I've seen thus far, but were one to fall into my possession, this is the first game I'd grab for it.

I debated whether I should even put this on my list, given that what LucasArts is showing of the game is so much more technology demo than actual playable game at this stage, but I can't pretend I wasn't extremely impressed with what I saw. Therefore, I think it has to be on this list.

Gameplay wise, Brad's description of Star Wars: Uncharted seems completely apt. It's a third-person action game with a lot of similar mechanics to Naughty Dog's vaunted series. However, the thing that of course sticks out about this demo is the visuals. This is, after all, practically assured to be a game aimed at the next generation of consoles. It'd have to be, because there's no way this thing would run on a current-gen machine.

Without getting too hyperbolic about it, I'll simply say that 1313 looks as incredible as you would want a first-generation title to look on your next console. The character detail alone says volumes about what can be done with increased power, and the smoothness of the action, even in its incredibly early state, made that feeling all the more emphatic. I want very much to be excited about the next volley of console hardware, and similarly, I'd really like to be able to enjoy Star Wars again. If this game allows me to do both, I'll be a very happy boy.

Tomb Raider

I'm not overly thrilled with some of the commentary coming out of the developers of this game recently, and I do find the sheer volume of terrible shit that happens to Lara in basically every demonstration of this game rather over-the-top. By the same token, the action itself looks very strong, and visually, it's captivating stuff. I want to see how Crystal Dynamics' ideas play out in the end before condemning or praising it, but it's definitely a game that's caught my attention.

Pikmin 3

The other Wii U highlight, which sadly I didn't get to play with much thoroughness. What I did play gave me enough to know that this is a Pikmin ass Pikmin game, and a seriously great-looking one at that. Seriously, Pikmin is the best.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

Sadly, not shown on the floor and thus disqualified from being among by bests, but there's no doubt that this was the highlight (non-Halo 4) trailer of the Microsoft press conference. Those I've talked to who saw the game in action during an unannounced appearance at a late night Microsoft event gushed endlessly about its acuity to visual detail and sense of humor. Considering all the issues with THQ and Obsidian lately, I'm just thrilled this game even has a release date.

Watch Dogs

The other game of the show that seemed to grab everyone's attention out of nowhere. It looked amazing at the Ubisoft press conference, but I was never able to make it over to see the demo live and in-person. I'm putting myself in the "cautiously optimistic" zone for this one. It does look really impressive, and I love the concept, but until I see the context for how all this stuff works for myself, I don't want to get overly effusive in my excitement.

Naughty Dog has been cagey about the release date for The Last of Us, which should have been our first indication the game’s probably not coming out this year. Now, we definitely know that’s true.

The studio was part of Jimmy Fallon’s now-annual video game week, and last night included a brief demo of The Last of Us, one of E3’s most talked about games.

At the end of the segment, which played out like a truncated version of the playthrough at Sony's press conference (sans shotgun blast to the face this time), Fallon asked game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann when we’ll finally get to play The Last of Us. Their answer? 2013.

I’d say it’s pretty likely The Last of Us avoids the increasingly crowded February 2013, but with God of War: Ascension already scheduled for March 12, it's unclear where The Last of Us fits. Maybe late spring?