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'The Last of Us' is HBO's third largest debut of the streaming era
'The Last of Us' scored HBO's third largest debut since streaming began, outshining even some of the network's biggest hits.
HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ successfully trades hordes of monsters for emotional depth
HBO's The Last of us, which premieres on Sunday January 15th, is a faithful adaptation of the video game that should delight existing fans and find a new audience.
'The Last of Us' lead Neil Druckmann becomes Naughty Dog co-president
Naughty Dog has a new co-president, and it’s the creative director behind some of its most popular titles. The company has announced that Neil Druckmann, who led the development for The Last of Us franchise as well as for Uncharted 4, has been promoted to co-president. Since Druckmann is leaving his old position, the company has also promoted Alison Mori and Christian Gyrling to serve as co-vice presidents.
'The Last of Us' TV series is coming to HBO from the creator of 'Chernobyl'
Naughty Dog isn't stopping with its long-in-the-making Uncharted movie. The studio is partnering with HBO to create a The Last of Us TV series -- yes, a full show rather than a one-off feature. It'll even have stronger-than-usual talent. Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin (who's apparently a fan of TLoU) will helm the the project alongside Naughty Dog's own Neil Druckmann, who'll help write and executive produce the series. Naughty Dog president Evan Wells and Sony's PlayStation Productions are also involved in adapting the game.
Arya Stark has met with The Last of Us movie producers
Maisie Williams - or as fans of HBO show Game of Thrones might know her, Arya Stark - has met with Neil Druckmann (of Naughty Dog) and Sam Raimi (of Sam Raimi) regarding the in-development film adaptation of The Last of Us, /Film reports. The 17-year-old actress was not in attendance for the Comic-Con panel where she was mentioned, but thankfully there was more to share, including the teaser poster you see above. Raimi, who is set to produce the film, said he's confident in Druckmann's vision and script. It was also revealed that Druckmann was originally planning to write opening and ending scenes that differed from the game, but Raimi convinced him to stick closer to the source material. "I started this process thinking I'd have to protect the story from producers," Raimi said to Druckmann. "And then I had to protect it from you." The film is still quite a ways off, but things seem to be moving at a good pace, with crew and potential cast all sounding confident and excited. [Image: Naughty Dog/Ghost House Pictures]
The Last of Us spawns one-night only, live stage show
Having conquered the virtual world, Naughty Dog's smash hit The Last of Us is now headed to the stage for a one-time performance. Before you get excited over seeing Joel decapitated by a fungus zombie in person, know that this isn't a traditional stage adaptation of The Last of Us. Instead, the event (dubbed "The Last of Us: One Night Live") will feature the game's principal actors reading select scenes from the game under the direction of Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann. Additionally, composer Gustavo Santaolalla will perform selections from the game's score. "How this all fits together will remain a bit of a mystery until it happens, but trust me when I say it will be a very special evening," wrote producer Geoff Keighley on the PlayStation.blog. The Last of Us: One Night Live will make its sole appearance on July 28 at Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California. If you can't make it, the event will be streamed live via Twitch, YouTube and the PlayStation Network's Live Event Viewer. [Image: Naughty Dog]
Last of Us leads heading up Uncharted PS4 after Hennig's departure
Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, co-leads on multiple-award-winning The Last Of Us, will be taking charge for the next game in the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells revealed to Game Informer. Straley, who served as game director, and Druckmann, who served as creative director on The Last of Us, will be taking over for previous Uncharted writer/creative director Amy Hennig, who departed Naughty Dog for Star Wars-ier pastures at Visceral Games earlier this year. Try not to worry too much that the change in leadership will make Uncharted on PS4 as dark as Naughty Dog's fungal apocalypse drama; both Druckmann and Straley have experience working on the PS3 Uncharted games. Druckmann helped pen Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, while Straley was game director for Uncharted 2 and art director for the original Uncharted. In other words: this won't be exactly ... unexplored territory for the developers. ... Wait, did we mess that joke up? [Image: Naughty Dog]
The Last of Us movie will adapt the game's storyline
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.
The Last of Us film moving ahead with Naughty Dog writing
Naughty Dog's stellar PlayStation 3 exclusive, The Last of Us, may soon appear in theaters, thanks to an agreement between the developer, Sony and Resident Evil: Afterlife production company Screen Gems. According to Deadline, the film adaptation will be written by Neil Druckmann who served as creative director on The Last of Us. Druckmann will also join Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra as well as game director Bruce Straley in designing the film's overall creative vision. Ghost House Productions, a company led by Evil Dead auteur Sam Raimi, will assist with general production duties. "Screen Gems' Brian Dukes and Eric Ling brought this game to my attention insisting we go after it, and when I saw the quality of the storytelling, I knew the audience for this project was far greater than just the gaming community and that Neil Druckmann must write the screenplay," stated Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper. Missing from Deadline's report is any info on who might star in or direct the movie. This means you readers get to fill the comments below with speculative casting choices - well, except for Ellie. That one's a no-brainer. [Image: Sony]
Naughty Dog pondering new IP and what comes after The Last of Us
Now that Naughty Dog has wrapped up "Left Behind," the first (and only) single-player DLC for The Last of Us, the studio is considering new game ideas. "We have started brainstorming some stuff. To be honest, some of them are sequel ideas, and some of them are brand new IP - we've spent the last few weeks brainstorming new IP," Neil Druckmann, creative director of The Last of Us, told Eurogamer. "So we have to get some good steps and see... It's kind of like how we approached Left Behind. Can we tell people a story that's really worth telling, and that's not repeating itself? And if we can't, where can we get inspired - what is something that's really going to challenge us, and push storytelling in this medium forward?" Druckmann's statements imply Naughty Dog is leaning more towards cultivating new ideas than pursuing a sequel to The Last of Us. Naughty Dog already has one confirmed sequel in development: the Santa Monica studio is working on a new Uncharted game for PS4. "Left Behind," a prequel chapter to The Last of Us campaign, is set to be released on Valentine's Day, February 14, for $14.99. The supplemental story follows Ellie and her best friend, Riley, who are both stuck in a military boarding school in the Boston quarantine zone. [Image: Naughty Dog]
The voices of Joel and Ellie to judge The Last of Us fan art competition
Naughty Dog has partnered with t-shirts-and-art-prints online shop We Love Fine for a The Last of Us-inspired fan art competition, and according to a post on the Naughty Dog website, the winner's designs could end up on official The Last of Us merchandise. Artists have until November 11 to submit up to five designs, which will be rated by Last of Us fans. On December 17, the most popular designs will move on to the final round of judging. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who voiced Joel and Ellie, respectively, as well as Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley will serve as guest judges. The Grand Prize winner will take home up to $2,000, as well as a Post-Pandemic Edition of the game, Season Pass DLC, a Dark Horse artbook, a trade paperback copy of The Last of Us American Dreams, and a signed poster by the dev team. You can check out all the rules for entry, as well as other prizes, on the We Love Fine website.
Ponder this concept art from Naughty Dog's canned Jak and Daxter reboot
Prior to working on The Last of Us, Naughty Dog had considered a Jak and Daxter reboot. During a recent IGDA talk revolving mostly around The Last of Us, creative director Neil Druckmann revealed some preliminary images of the canned project and told the story of why Naughty Dog ended up dropping the game. Work on this reboot began in 2009, when Naughty Dog's presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra formed a second team focused on creating something different from the work that was ramping up on Uncharted 3. Druckmann said the team "spent a lot of time exploring the world of Jak and Daxter," but that all of their ideas and concepts didn't feel right for the universe. Ultimately it felt like the team was "doing this for marketing reasons." He went on to say the concept wasn't "doing service to what the fans of this franchise really liked – even if the reinvented Daxter is pretty damn good looking." So they asked if they really had to create this reboot. "No, I just thought it'd be easier for you guys if you started with something, but if you want to do something else, come up with something else." Shortly after, The Last of Us started to form, based on another game concept Druckmann had come up with years prior to joining Naughty Dog. Druckmann is the better storyteller, so we'll let you hit the play button on the video above for the rest.
Naughty Dog had to 'specifically request' female focus testers for The Last of Us
Naughty Dog hired a research firm to focus test The Last of Us, who then didn't bother to involve any women in the testing. "My big surprise during this process is that the research group wasn't planning on focus-testing female gamers," Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann told The Escapist. "It's something we had to specifically request. I hope this is a relic of the past that will soon go away."Though it's tempting to say that's problematic for this particular game, the issue here isn't just that they were commissioned to gather feedback for a game with both male and female leads. The firm was commissioned to gather feedback for a game, which automatically means that its audience is not exclusively male. And focus testing that starts with a warped, unrepresentative group doesn't seem like it would result in useful data.
The Last of Us not hitting (or shooting, or sneaking) until 2013
The last we heard about The Last of Us arriving at retail, it was pinned to "late 2012/early 2013." That date seemingly shifted to a less definitive "2013" recently, as Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley told Jimmy Fallon as much on last night's Late Night.The Naughty Dog duo also gave Fallon a personal walkthrough of the gameplay we saw back at E3, with 100 percent fewer swears and 100 percent more Jimmy Fallon commentary. If you're into that kinda thing, we've got it above.
Uncharted 2 designer confirms DLC, hints at more locales, sidekicks
PlayStation.Blog interviewed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves lead designer, Neil Druckmann, during the first-look event for the game's multiplayer modes and ended up learning more about the solo game. Among other tidbits -- many of which we covered in our first preview of the game -- Druckmann spilled more about the game world, who will be in it and how it might grow.When asked if portions of the game will still be set in jungles, a la Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, he responded, "Yes, you will see lush areas, you'll see all kinds of different areas as you go through the adventure, much more than in Uncharted 1." Druckmann points out that the game's co-op levels are indeed modified versions of single-player locales, paired with a "Battle Manager" designed to keep the experience fresh with each playthrough. Think Left 4 Dead's "director."Pressed on the possibility of DLC, Druckmann confirmed that Naughty Dog is planning some, saying, "We will be supporting DLC," though he wouldn't go into more detail. He was similarly coy when asked if Nathan Drake will have any sidekicks in the solo adventure apart from the already seen Chloe. "For single player, we've only shown that Drake teams up with Chloe," he began, teasing, "As for who Drake teams up with for the rest of Uncharted 2, we're going to hold our cards to our chest for now." You can see PlayStation.Blog's full video interview after the break.
