The Last of Us Catch-All

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So Naughty Dog is working on a new IP called The Last of Us.

There is a video posted on Gametrialers.

This isn't what I expected from Naughty Dog honestly. I generally view a game with infected/zombies with caution, but because Naughty Dog is making the game I think it could be pretty good.

The GWJ gaming contact list.

In my mind's eye, I could just see the quick time event prompts appearing as the dude wrestled with the infected.

Character action a la Uncharted, but with a zombie theme? Looks like a big fat pass from me.

I love and hate cinematic trailers; they get me giddy as a school boy on Christmas for the concept, but frustrates me because they tell me nothing about the actual game.

Still, I'm perfectly OK with this being another zombie survival thing (if that's all it turns out to be); I'm probably one of "The Last of Us" - those that are not bored with the zombie genre.

Really glad Naughty Dog continues to make high quality games that I have no interest in due to subject matter*, because it's too damn late in the cycle to be buying a PS3.

*zombies and real world adventure-shooters are just not my cup.

I guess a zombie game where you are the last survivors could be kinda cool - a la I am Legend with a daughter.

Aww, I was going to make this thread, but I hesitated, and now look the fool! I can't help but think there's a message in there somewhere...

Anyways, I'm very excited by this, which struck me as a little odd, because I've been as vocal as anyone about being done with zombies, so I did some thinking. "They're not zombies, they're infected with a fungus" sounded pretty hollow, and what I hit upon is that, for me at least, a "zombie game" implies much more than a game with zombies--they're like their own genre. The genre is done well by things like L4D and RDR: Undead Nightmare, and done, again in my view, to cravenly exploit the trend in things like that CoD zombie mode with Buffy and Danny Trejo. It's not just zombies, it's rather specifically both involving zombies and trying to emulate B-movies in attitude or aesthetic, or both. They're "trashy" and silly (neither a bad thing necessarily). And that genre, I'm done with.

I'd call the game in that trailer "post-apocalyptic" rather than just "zombie", and yeah, a lot of zombie games are post-apocalyptic, but this doesn't have that requisite trashiness for me to call it a zombie game. It's a post-apocalyptic game with zombies in it--and that's great, because there are great themes in the zombie idea, but rarely does a zombie game tap them.

So what particularly has me excited is that the trailer shows how the Naughty Dog magic could make this the mournful game that the Dead Island trailer promised but failed to deliver. The girl, Ellie, has a wry wit not unlike Nate Drake, but in this circumstance, it doesn't make her the lovable harried rascal Nate is. It makes her very sad. Her downbeat "Must have been nice" at the end of the trailer is just crushing--it says a lot more about what she's lost than any other conventional line actually about loss I can imagine.

In summation, I can't wait.

I'm interested. Haven't played that many zombie/survival games, precisely to avoid burning out. So if the gameplay's mustard, I'm going for it at some point.

I love post apocalyptic stuff and naughty dog has been good to me so they get the benefit of the doubt. I am cautiously optimistic.

Thankfully I've avoided a lot of the Zombie fatigue. I haven't played much L4D in the last year, and only played 1/3 as much of 2 as 1, I never played any tacked on zombie mode like in CoD, I never played Dead Island, Dead Rising or whatever else including House of the Dead after 2 in the arcade, except Dead Space. I only ever played Resident Evil 4 in that series, too. So, I'm looking forward to this, but share Nicholaas' opinion for cinematic trailers.

This will probably be my first ps3 game in 2 years.

As someone who has skipped every zombie game since Left 4 Dead, I'm actually good with this.

Naughty Dog rocks and will get some attention from me as long as they keep making action/adventure type games. If this is like Uncharted with a survival/zombie twist I'm sold.

Sinkwater wrote:

I guess a zombie game where you are the last survivors could be kinda cool - a la I am Legend with a daughter.

I prefer the dog.

Just a slide show.

I wonder if the in game visuals will actually keep the same level of detail throughout the environment.

Are they still doing PS3 exclusives? Doesn't Sony own a piece of them, or something?

I ask only because I am PC only, and am very interested in the promise of this.

demonbox wrote:

Are they still doing PS3 exclusives? Doesn't Sony own a piece of them, or something?

I ask only because I am PC only, and am very interested in the promise of this.

You and I both.

Gimpy_Butzke wrote:

New trailer.

I was into it until the bus out of nowhere. I assumed this wasn't an action movie like Uncharted. You build tension well, introduce a surprise, and then, oh sh*t, a bus of out nowhere!! Awesome. Way to ruin drama.

I pray this comes out this year. I hope that's the big reveal at the end of Sony's press conference, that it's out in late September or the like.

I'm not much of a preview reader, but I couldn't resist this one from Kotaku, which seems to imply a trailer of a minute and a half may be an insufficient measure for judgement.

Strangeblades wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Are they still doing PS3 exclusives? Doesn't Sony own a piece of them, or something?

I ask only because I am PC only, and am very interested in the promise of this.

You and I both.

I just mentioned this on Twitter, but I'll say it here again: Platform exclusivity needs to die in a fire. There is no way I'm spending $300 on a PS3, even for a game I know I will adore such as this. Hell, the only reason I have a 360 is because I got it as a going away present from my last job. If the PS3 came down to say $99 I'd consider it but the chance of that is slim to none.

padriec wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Are they still doing PS3 exclusives? Doesn't Sony own a piece of them, or something?

I ask only because I am PC only, and am very interested in the promise of this.

You and I both.

I just mentioned this on Twitter, but I'll say it here again: Platform exclusivity needs to die in a fire. There is no way I'm spending $300 on a PS3, even for a game I know I will adore such as this. Hell, the only reason I have a 360 is because I got it as a going away present from my last job. If the PS3 came down to say $99 I'd consider it but the chance of that is slim to none.

Guess that is why MS is trying this $99 rope-a-dope. At that price, people will consider it.

At least Microsoft will lock an exclusive for a month or two then allow the game to make MORE money by being sold on PC.

I'd love to know the cash these publishers/devs get to lock their game - what? forever I'm guessing? - on the PS3.

padriec wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:
demonbox wrote:

Are they still doing PS3 exclusives? Doesn't Sony own a piece of them, or something?

I ask only because I am PC only, and am very interested in the promise of this.

You and I both.

I just mentioned this on Twitter, but I'll say it here again: Platform exclusivity needs to die in a fire. There is no way I'm spending $300 on a PS3, even for a game I know I will adore such as this. Hell, the only reason I have a 360 is because I got it as a going away present from my last job. If the PS3 came down to say $99 I'd consider it but the chance of that is slim to none.

Agreed. Also, when all money is passed from one side to the other- it's hard to believe it's worth it to the console manufacturers to pass along enough $ for a dev to be platform exclusive. Some peeps caught in franchise wars might care about this, but I can't see making a buying decision like this truly because of console-exclusives.

Can anyone embed this video?

Wow, that video was amazing. I'm having a hard time grasping just how they are making what is seen in this video work.

Perhaps this YouTube copy will do the trick?

I'm really hoping there will an option to remove the HUD at release.

Thanks mr_n00b. I'm so impressed with the parts where everything seems like a scripted event. The way the girl just helps out in crucial situations is amazing. I'll be so let down if this video isn't actually full gameplay.

The short exchanges and conversations between the player and the sidekick are really amazing. There's lots of small contextual stuff there, enough to make it all believable.
If it isnt all scripted, the sidekick probably helps when the situation seems hopeless. Like when the ammo ran out or when the big bully was strangling the player.

Amazing demo. I was really not expecting the violence to seem so... brutal. That pipe hit and the shotgun to the face made me cringe a bit. No regenerating health makes me verry happy.

Now we just need a release date. Definite day 1 purchase.

It looks amazing but it doesn't look like a game.
The way it played out just seemed waaay to pre-determined.
I'm curious to see someone actually play it.

Too bad it is exclusive. Hopefully it is good for you PS3 owners.

Wow. I CAN NOT WAIT!

kyrieee wrote:

It looks amazing but it doesn't look like a game.
The way it played out just seemed waaay to pre-determined.
I'm curious to see someone actually play it.

That is what I am curious about. Were the sequences featuring the girl getting into the fight scripted or did it just look that way because of the way Naughty Dog set the scene? If the girl interacts in such a way that it seems scripted but it is actually emergent then this game could be amazing.

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