the last of us
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Sony-sponsored 'EToo' event in London is an alternate to E3
Londoners not attending E3 this year have a video game-centric event of their own to attend called "EToo." EToo was announced as an alternative to E3 with both Sony and PlayJam's GameStick headlining the event as sponsors. The event's press release noted that over 30 developers will show off their latest games. Demos of Lost Planet 3 and DuckTales will be presented by Capcom and The Last of Us and Rain will be on display as well, to name a few. EToo will be held at the Loading Bar in Soho from Monday, June 10 through Thursday, June 13. The daily events will be free to the public but require registration in advance, while nightly livestream shows have a £6 entry fee. Hopeful attendees will have to act fast, as the June 10 evening show has already sold out.
Watch The Last of Us' Outskirts level demo right here
Those that don't have a copy of God of War: Ascension won't be able to play the free Outskirts level demo from The Last of Us until the game launches on June 14. To alleviate the pains of said folks, YouTuber HystericalGamez uploaded a full 14-minute video of their playthrough of the demo. While watching the Outskirts level isn't the same as playing it, we recommend clicking the full-screen option and holding a PS3 controller while the demo video plays. Be wary of your boss believing that you're playing games at work, though. [Thanks, Fabian!]
PSA: The Last of Us demo unlocked in God of War: Ascension
If you have a copy of God of War: Ascension, you can check out a free The Last of Us demo today. Access the demo through Ascension's main menu, which will auto-direct to the PlayStation Store and queue up the download. The demo contains the Outskirts level of The Last of Us, where Joel, Ellie and Tess must take on multiple infected - including the clickers we tussled with earlier this year. The Last of Us is Naughty Dog's latest, the story of mankind's attempt to survive the fungi-infected remnants of an apocalyptic outbreak from two decades ago. Protagonists Ellie and Joel will also need to avoid other human beings on their journey across a ravaged United States.
Naughty Dog to retain The Last of Us engine for PS4 games
In transitioning from PS3 to PS4 development, Naughty Dog will use its current in-house engine that powers PS3 game The Last of Us. Naughty Dog game director Bruce Straley says this is in contrast to the studio's strategy transitioning from PS2 to PS3, where the developer scrapped its competent Jak & Daxter engine in favor of an entirely new one for the first Uncharted game. "We scrapped everything at the beginning of Uncharted 1, and we had a perfectly good engine with the Jak & Daxter franchise," Straley tells Digital Spy. "We could have started with something there and then built off of it and only changed the pieces and parts as we needed, when we needed. And that really caused a lot of turmoil." Naughty Dog will now make modular adjustments to its existing tech as needed for story and game design. The Last of Us launches on PS3 June 14. A season pass was announced earlier this week, marking Naughty Dog's first foray into single-player DLC content.
The Last of Us to get single-player DLC, season pass detailed
Naughty Dog is venturing into single-player DLC for the first time with The Last of Us. The Uncharted developer announced the season pass for its latest PS3 project this week, revealing it'll entitle buyers to three pieces of The Last of Us DLC, including one for single-player. The other two feature maps and other additions for the multiplayer, a mode which Naughty Dog has been very coy about. The studio promises more info about The Last of Us' multiplayer later this week - which is handy, since the game is out in just over two weeks. The game's season pass is priced $19.99, and Naughty Dog says that equates to a 30 percent saving on the individual pieces of DLC. In addition to the DLC, the season pass includes some 'Day 1 Bonuses,' namely a number of in-game upgrades and an "exclusive" 90-minute making of documentary called 'Grounded.' Which you probably won't watch on Day 1, seeing as you'll have just gotten the game.
PSN Tuesday: The Last of Us pre-orders, Imaginstruments on Vita
This week's PlayStation Store update enables pre-orders for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, bundled with a PSN theme, the soundtrack and some avatars. The PS3 exclusive is slated to launch on PSN and in stores on June 14, 2013, and should be playable as soon as it's downloaded halfway. Grid 2 and Fuse are also available through PSN today, launching alongside their retail counterparts. Rockstar's The Warriors is also on the menu, making its PS2 Classics debut for $10. Meanwhile, PlayStation Plus subscribers can download a free copy of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend on PS Vita, as well as a free PS Vita music app, Imaginstruments.
The Last of Us dev diary covers survivalcraft
The Last of Us puts the fun in fungicidal funerals through the use of its weapon and supply crafting systems. This developer diary covers how the items that create offensive molotov cocktails can also be used to make med kits. There's also highfalutin words like "negative space."
Last of Us digital version playable when halfway downloaded [update]
The Last of Us launches on June 14, simultaneously on Blu-ray and as a download through PSN. Those who choose the latter route on PS3 will find the game playable once the download has reached 50 percent, Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann has told Game Informer. It's our first taste of PS4-esque functionality, just on the PS3 – as you'll recall, one of the major features touted by Sony is the ability to play games as they're downloaded. This is accomplished on the PS4 through the use of hardware dedicated to background downloading and processing. Update: This is in regards to the PS3. We've added more clear language to that effect.
The Last of Us: Bricks, bottles and a few bullets
When "survival" is trotted out as a game genre, it usually comes with implicit caveats. Developers often seem scared of the player, fearful of the controller-crushing outrage that surely results when a game constricts resources, punishes careless actions and dares to craft a deliberately unpleasant experience. The Last of Us is a crafty, tense experience in which my attempts to attack bandits and disfigured creatures head-on usually resulted in a gruesome death. Upon starting a two-level demonstration of the game, I only had two bullets in my pistol – missing a headshot felt like a catastrophe. Surprise and caution enable success, just as cynical protagonist Joel constantly tells Ellie, a young girl who hasn't yet been turned dour by the terrible state of the world. To grasp what's most important in The Last of Us, and what it might deem valuable in comparison to other games that blend stealth, scavenging and shooting, I asked Naughty Dog designer Ricky Cambier for some general survival strategies. %Gallery-188659%
The Last of Us does whatever it takes in second TV spot
This video is the second TV spot Sony created for The Last of Us. The game is due out on June 14 for PS3
Sony to begin manufacturing PlayStation 3 units in Brazil
Sony has announced plans to build PlayStation 3 systems locally in Brazil. The consoles will be manufactured in Manaus by Sony Brasil Ltda., with the 250 GB version costing 1,099 Reals. Major upcoming games The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5 are getting localized releases in Brazilian Portuguese as well. A PlayStation 3 bundle featuring God of War: Ascension will hit stores in the region as part of the "Viva Em Estado Play" ("Living in a State of Play") marketing program in South America. Sony says it's committed to investing in the local gaming development industry in Brazil, and Sony President Andrew House claims the manufacturing setup will "infuse the Brazilian economy with approximately $300 million over the next 12 months." As one more gesture of goodwill, the first ten consoles manufactured in Brazil will be given away to local gamers.
'The Last of Us' PAL special editions showcased in trailers
The PAL territories will have the option of two special editions for Naughty Dog's The Last of Us to pre-order. The Joel and Ellie editions, both priced at €79.99, are mirror images of each other, focusing on either protagonist of the game. The sets include art book, wallpaper, comic, soundtrack and SackBoy/Girl for LittleBigPlanet. The Joel video can be found above, with Ellie after the break.
The Last of Us dev diary tries to find beauty in a wasteland
Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann likens the look of The Last of Us to "nature reclaiming its domain once we are gone."
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 TV spot extends into a ferocious story trailer
Sony took the short The Last of Us TV ad that aired on The Walking Dead's season finale, infused new life into it, and resurrected it as a full-blown story trailer. The Naughty Dog game looks to mix the studio's narrative focus with, as this trailer shows in brief cuts, some brutal-looking gameplay.
The Last of Us TV spot infects the internet
The season finale of a zombie show seems like a good place to advertise The Last of Us, and Sony did just that during The Walking Dead.
God of War: Ascension enables The Last of Us demo May 31
Synergy! The demo for Naughty Dog's upcoming fungi-fueled survival game, The Last of Us, will be accessible on May 31, 2013, through copies of God of War: Ascension. The demo will be accessible through the front menu of God of War: Ascension, as Sony has previously revealed.We've contacted Naughty Dog for further clarification as to whether this demo will ever be available to those without God of War: Ascension. The Last of Us was originally due on May 7, until it was pushed back to June 14 worldwide.
The Last of Us on the horrors of echolocation and fungus
It's difficult to be truly original in the broad universe of zombie-esque creatures, but the team at Naughty Dog gave it their darnedest with The Last of Us. Take a look at how the visual and audio styles came to life – and to death. Mostly death.
The Last of Us delayed to June 14 worldwide
The Last of Us is now scheduled to drop on June 14 around the world, delayed from its initial launch date of May 7. Developer Naughty Dog says it needs a few more weeks to polish the game, in a statement on the PlayStation Blog:"As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realise just how massive Joel and Ellie's journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog's internal high standards."As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games - gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further - for ourselves, and most importantly, our fans."The extra wait will be very short and your patience will be rewarded. Update your calendars. You won't even have to change seasons. The Last of Us will be available June 14, 2013. Until then, know that we will be working extremely hard to deliver an experience that matches your high expectations."We found the demo for The Last of Us to be positively infectious.
Infectious sounds of terror in Naughty Dog's 'The Last of Us'
In Naughty Dog's upcoming PS3 exclusive, The Last of Us, the narrative inspiration for the parasitic plague wreaking havoc on civilization is ripped from a segment in the BBC-produced documentary series, Planet Earth. The segment delves into the natural actions of a fungus known as "cordyceps." The fungus takes over an insect before it bursts from the host's body in an effort to spread its spores to other insects, wiping out colonies.Though first assumed to be an undead army, the infected in The Last of Us are living humans. Each stage of the infection modifies their physical and mental capacity. People in the first stage of infection – referred to as Runners – know in their hearts and minds that their instinct to attack uninfected survivors is wrong, but they cannot control the impulse to harm life around them. Later stages of the infection offer encounters with more ghastly creatures. At stage three, the infection blinds hosts and turns them into 'Clickers,' agressors with faces bloomed in blood and gore. These enemies rely on echolocation to sniff out survivors, bellowing a haunting sound that serves as warning for survivors to remain completely still.With these rules and languages, The Last of Us establishes a terrifying new universe to explore.%Gallery-177916%
