Genius...Did you notice it? Naughty Dog, I see what you’re doing with The Last of Us

SchollA from Console ControllUs pronounced console-control-us writes:
You guys are something, geniuses I tell you! But I see you Naughty Dog, I may just be “The First of Us”…LMBO.

It all started with an Ant.

[Moonman]

Can't wait!!!

[showtimefolks]

i like how ND went out of their way to make sure its not another zombie game, grant if ND do a open world zombie game it would be pretty sick

still don't understand the release date around E3, why would you put one of your biggest games around the time where it will be over shadowed by bigger news

its on pre order list so can't wait to get it

[smashcrashbash]

News is not a game. How can it be overshadowed by news? I don't think anyone who is truly excited for LTOU will just forget about it the moment news starts coming from E3

[showtimefolks]

smashcrashbash

we the core gamers are not the issue, its those who don't visit gaming sites daily that need to be sold on the game. with so much e3 coverage a review for the game will be lost in shuffle

i remember infamous 2 and how it was such a great game yet lost in shuffle because of e3 coverage

i also hope the new advertisement firm sony hired shows its worth with this game

[Elimin8]

I have that feeling! The one where it might be announced for the PS4... One can dream can't he?

[cooperdnizzle]

showtime you have got it ass backwards, hardcore gamers if any would be the one's who might skip it after seeing e3, but in my opinion would not be the case at all, but causal gamers wont know the difference any way being that don't fallow game news all that well. Anyway you comment is way off base and pretty horribly wrong

[nevercloser07]

elimin8 - why do you want TLOU on PS4?

Personally I want TLOU to be Naughty Dog's last blockbuster on PS3 with Uncharted 4 being a launch title on PS4.

Let's not forget that UC3 came out on 11/1/2011 which will be roughly 2 years before PS4 launches. We know that Nuaghty Dog is split into two teams.

The bigger story IMO is how Naughty Dog has kept us so preoccupied with TLOU that they aren't even asking what the second team is doing. It also makes me wonder about who is on what team. I'm curious if most of the UC2 team is on TLOU or their second IP.

[andibandit]

@cooperdnizzle

Sorry bro, but you got it completely wrong, as in "MEGA FAIL". TLOU wont get the coverage it needs from Journalists and Reviewers because they'll be too busy talking about PS4 and Xbox720. Dedicated gaming sites will have coverage of the game but your local newspaper, which may have a column or two on gaming, wont.
This means potential casual gamer customers wont even see this game.
I really dont hope we'll be seeing TLOU listed under "Games that may have slipped under your radar" articles.

[JsonHenry]

lol, so a bunch of infected humans are running around attacking normal humans and they are not zombies? lol. THEY ARE STILL ZOMBIES!

Just a lot cooler zombies than what we typically get.

[IRetrouk]

Zombies are made from infections, the enemies in the last of us are taken over by parasites, there are diffrences.

[krautgamer]

how do you know that? you havent even played the game yet and only saw a bunch of videos. uncharted was a great adventure game but it was basically a third person shooter because of the numbers of enemies you had to kill.

I expect the same from the last of us. a lot of zombie shooting.

[subtenko]

Us...us..us...us...us...us

Not all about the Zombie-like monsters. Got it. Seriously they showed this well from the start pretty much. Day 1 for me

[wsoutlaw87]

ya they were not trying to hide this fact at all. There was not need to discover it, theyve been saying it.

[DigitalSmoke]

This guy might be spoiling this game....

[GribbleGrunger]

Clearly this guy was one of those people that thought TLOU was just going to be another zombie game but now more information has emerged he thinks he's had a revelation. Myself and others were constantly telling people that it wasn't. This says more about the authors lack of foresight than anything else.

[Blackdeath_663]

i couldn't have said it any better myself. totally agree. not once, since TLOU was announced, did i think it will be a zombie game. firstly because i have come to expect more from naughty dog and secondly because they already told us it won't be a zombie game.

on a side note, i like how ND made the infection some sort of fungus instead of a disease which is much more believable. i really hate these zombie games where they tell you there has been some sort of disease break out or virus that is rapidly spreading yet the main character has zombie blood all over and is in contact with raw flesh throughout the entire game yet seems immune to this disastrous disease.

[DigitalRaptor]

It's funny. It really is.

Every shred of information released by Neil Druckman and Bruce Straley has emphasised that The Last of Us is a story about the journey and emotional connection of the two lead characters more than anything else - the development of a "father-daughter" type relationship under harsh post-apocalyptic constraints.

Also we've known that the concept of humans infected by 'cordyceps' fungus is unique and different, for a long time now and that you're NOT going to be seeing the infected often during the game. There are also several human factions within the world that greatly outnumber the classes of the infected.

So it's not a zombie blast-fest that many people have this strange preconception of it being. I can't count how many times I've had to tell people that it's not a zombie game, and when it comes out, these people will see.

It's about the "human condition". It's unique in gaming and we've also known this for frickin' ages!

[GribbleGrunger]

Agreed and bubble. The emphasis is clearly going to be on how the infection and it's repercussions have and will effect the protagonists in the story. All to often the character just feel like nothing more than a vehicle for pointless violence, but I have followed ND for a long time (as I have Cage) and their vision of future gaming is leaps and bounds ahead of most developers.

Yes we'll have typical moments of high octane action and set pieces but the emphasis will be on creating believable character with believable motives and the way the plot 'changes' the protagonist. The perfect recipe for great fiction and story telling. Bring it on.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I never read anything about not seeing the infected often during the game. Would you know where I can look that up?

[HammadTheBeast]

To be honest, this is much better in horror terms than a zombie, because cordyceps fungi could potentially evolve into this. Pretty unlikely, but who knows...

Soon.... we may be the Last of Us...

Can't wait :D

[Y_5150]

I've never become so obsessed with a teaser, the ant teaser gave me that thought. This game is going to amazing!

[t0mmyb0y]

Agreed Gribble. I was reading thinking, I don't get what this Austin Hillbilly is talking about. "Some people pick up on ou'ther people right quick!"

[TheRealSpy]

Until reading this article, I didn't know anyone that thought it was just going to be a zombie shoot-em-up.

It was pretty obvious from the original demo that this was basically Uncharted with fewer bullets and a lot more scavenging. Even Uncharted ended up having monsters which played a role but weren't the focus of the story.

I am just worried it's going to be as linear and as scripted as Uncharted. A survival game like this should have more replayability.

[Conzul]

Dude it's got the best AI since FEAR. Yes it'll be linear but replayability will come from approaching enemies differently and exploring and stuffs.

[Bathyj]

I agree making zombie hordes and showcasing them constantly robs them of their power. The scares will come when you never quite expect them to be there, but you can never assume theyre not.

[TheRealSpy]

Left 4 Dead 2 still scares the hell out of me. I just don't think most developers are capable of recreating the magic that's in that game.

The route they're going is definitely the safer, more obvious one. And, ultimately, probably better for a developer like ND.

[Pillsbury1]

Happy it's not a zombie clone, there are plenty of those if that's what you want. Naughty dog is above that.

[TheRealSpy]

WTH do you mean above that? They are above Valve? Give me a break. There are plenty of games in this style, as well.

It's so difficult to get in any way excited for a ND game when so many people on n4g constantly over-hype and overpraise everything they do.

"they're above that." "i put them on a pedestal for absolutely NO reason."

[MakiSaad2]

every game was made by ND had been block buster and a critical success so yeah I think they are on the same par as valve if not higher

[TheRealSpy]

you're out of your mind. Comparing a company the pushes innovation (valve) to a company that churns out the same crap we've seen over n over (ND) is an absolute joke.

Uncharted games are popcorn games. Something you can sit down and kind of enjoy for 6-8 hours (except the first one which takes about 5) then forget about. Uninspired puzzles that solve themselves and require 0 intelligence, 3rd person cover shooting, generic, one-dimensional villains, laughable AI that get stuck walking into walls or throw grenades at their own feet (honestly, UC2 on brutal was the easiest mode because the enemies do all the work for you), and so on.

Like i said, completely overpraised. You people need to snap out of it. Most overrated developer in the industry. hands down. And i'm not trolling cuz I want to piss people off (although, we all know that if you don't express the same cookie-cutter "sony is the greatest thing on earth" opinions, then you're trolling no matter what), I just call it as I see it. People so desperate to want them to be better than they are...so they are. It's delusional.

[Hicken]

Maybe we're hyped FOR A REASON!

Maybe it's the memories we've had of their games when we were kids. Maybe it's the way the setpieces in Uncharted wowed us.

Naughty Dog has an excellent track record; why are you letting other people's hype or OVER-hype affect your own anticipation?

[Shinekami]

What does the red "U" with mean?

[porkChop]

Maybe it's to emphasize "you", as in the gamer. And "Us", as the game industry?

[Legendary-Status]

I Think The Last of (US) means joel and ellie.. and whoever is playing the game at that moment... naughtydog really wants US as the gamer to really feel as if were right with joel and ellie.. the gamer...joel and ellie = The Last of US

[Danja]

Lol why ? Because they have lost my trust after the way they handled Uncharted 3, they released a half baked broken game riddled with bugs & glitches out the gate, they ruined the online portion of the game with patches & turned the online portion into a money grab pay to win game. How is it possible that the summer beta is better than the retail game ??? they are one of the most money hungry / arrogant developers in the industry, they don't care about gamers / games, they make games solely for profit these days & nothing else.

They make good single player games but they are a bunch of incompetent corporate puppets.

And to the person saying I don't deserve the game ?? I'll assume you're a blind ND fanboy who probably thinks UC3 is one of the best games ever lol.

[Enemy]

What's Uncharted 3's MP got to do with the Uncharted 2 team's The Last of Us?

[Danja]

It has everything to do with them because they are still apart of Naughty Dog last time I checked, you are acting like Naughty Dog didn't mess up Uncharted 2 MP as well after patch 1.05 so quit acting like UC2 team is perfect, when the recent patch 1.17 came out who do think announced it ?? Evang did & he's currently working on TLOU & he kept saying how he's proud of the patch so it links right back to them.

Are you trying to imply I should give them a free pass because their so called 'A Team' is working on TLOU, even though Naughty Dog continues to destroy UC3 & continues to show how greedy they are with the current release of Free To Play ??

They are the Acitivision / Square Enix / Capcom of Sony First Party Studios.

[floetry101]

Has anyone read or seen The Road? I'm surprised no game journalist ever mentions it as a comparison to The Last of Us. The similarities are there and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to find that the story unfolds in the same way.

Yeah, you should read The Road. Amazing book.

[FlunkinMonkey]

Bubble+ The Road is a great book, and it does bare similarities! I bet there will be some emphasis on cannablilistic tendencies from some of the survivors (just to spice things up a bit). Cormac Mccarthy is such a sick writer.

[MariaHelFutura]

Has anyone actually seen what this fungus does to ants in real life? Check that out.

[brave27heart]

Terrible article. Forget the fact that ND clearly said its not a zombie game and forget the fact that the title "The Last of Us" clearly suggests the game is about exploring who we are and what we become when we go from being a dominant species to being a suriving few, the article is so badly worded and punctuated I can only think it came from someone under the age of 15 with a below average intellect.

I wish I could toss these articles into space and nuke them.

[Thatlalala]

How the hell are you supposed to understand what a game is about or if even teaches you anything without playing it. Your right, anyone who speculates this hard into a game not even released yet is a fuckin bore. "Guys I see what Disney is doing with Star Wars, they are going to make a shit tons of money" - see what I did there, that at least is a true statement.

[mp1289]

True although RE4 in specific was not like the bad zombie movies. It wasn't zombies anyways,...but Finally a true contender to beat the Best Survival horror game of all time.

[Nivalis]

I fear someone is going to say 'look he made the U a capital, bold, and red, it must mean it's coming to the WiiU!'

I really do fear it.

[o-Sunny-o]

Seasons don't fear the reaper...
ND doesn't fear anything!

[lifesanrpg]

Author needs to learn how to properly use semicolons. I also don't really understand the point of this article...was it simply a personal revelation? I think a lot of us knew this wasn't going to be just another zombie game. ND made that clear from the very beginning.

Whatever, as long as the author is on board and loving it, it's all grooooovy.

[pissed999]

Naughty Dog just rip off movi€s.