bullet-ants
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Latest speculation about Sony's The Last of Us blames ants for everything
Oh, this is fun. We don't care if we're playing right into Sony's marketing plan by speculating on the nature of its virally campaigned title, The Last of Us -- we love a good puzzle. And ants. And lethal, cadaver-loving fungus. There has been a lot of speculation about The Last of Us' origin and plot since Sony's limited reveal last week, but it has consistently seemed clear that the game involves bullet ants, apocalyptic chaos and the Cordyceps fungus. PlayStation Lifestyle has rummaged through the clues online and put together a slightly clearer picture of the game: The Last of Us' YouTube account was created in July 2006 (yes, more than five years ago and before the PS3 was a thing), and in the same month it released a research and development presentation about group-animal movements on the PS3. The research leader is involved heavily in stigmergy, a concept of swarm behavior, which is connected to bullet ants. Yes, it all comes back to the ants. At the end of Sony's promo video (above), we can hear a series of clicking -- which is how bullet ants communicate with each other -- and then a high-pitched, inhuman scream -- which is how bullet ants call entire swarms to one area. The scream can be heard meters away, even by humans, PlayStation Lifestyle writes. In The Last of Us, Texas and New Mexico are infected, and bullet ants live just south of there, in Brazil's Atlantic Forest. For more information on bullet ants than you ever thought you'd want, check out PlayStation Lifestyle's research synthesis, and tune in tonight to our liveblog coverage of the VGAs for what we expect will be an official announcement.
