Without Andrew Gavin, there’s a chance Nathan Drake, Sully, Joel and Ellie would never have found a home on PS3. Even though he left Naughty Dog just before the studio made the first Uncharted, Gavin was instrumental in getting the company off the ground, co-founding the Santa Monica-based developer in 1986 with Jason Rubin. We caught up with him for an chat, where he talked about saving the bandicoot, his love of novels and what he thinks Naughty Dog is capable of on next-gen.
"The Game Music Foundation are today very proud and pleased to announce an additional concert, circling back to the roots of Game Muisic Festival in Poland. On April 28th, 2024, the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw will once again become a place to celebrate the art of video game music, featuring scores from The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II." - The Game Music Foundation.
Speaking on what’s coming next for Naughty Dog, which could be either their new IP or The Last Of Us Part III, Druckmann gave what he seems to feel are realities of the project he’s talking about. That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”
Neil Druckmann talks about Naughty Dog's Next Game which is really ambitious and parts of it are hard to make! pic.twitter.com/IqY2KEI1Gb
— DomTheBomb (@DomTheBombYT) March 1, 2024
"I’ve really surrendered to knowing it’s going to be really hard, knowing it’s going to stress members of the team out"
As if crunch wasn't stressing them enough
That it’ll both be “really ambitious” but also “really hard.”
Not 'is' but 'will be', kinda suggests that they haven't started yet, hope not.
Come on ND, a game PLEAAAAASSSSEEEE. Desperate this gen.
Also, just off-topic slightly but..
Does anyone think that layoffs now may well be making space for AI integration of game development, and 'crunch-time', 'unsustainable', 'big budget' are all terms been used to butter us up to receiving the news that AI integration will help and maintain the level of AAA games that were accustomed to? Perhaps the layoffs were the devs that didn't join a union quick enough and if only they had the smarts of SAG members and strike while the time is right, before its too late?! Imagine DEV's on strike at a time like this, there's already a game drought.
A new The Last of Us 2 documentary reveals that Naughty Dog almost made a different version of the PS4 and PS5 game similar to Bloodborne.
Kind of a misleading comparison. They were simply talking about the game being melee oriented and more of an open world. I wouldn't compare a game to a soulslike based on that.
A more melee oriented Last of Us 2 would've been so much better imo. The combat mechanics barely got any use from me cause everyone just shoots at you, and then the Scars with their bows are even more annoying. Level design was also more Bloodborne, and I love the level design in Souls game, there's a real sense of scale and exploration due to the branching paths. We really gotta move away from open world in the style of GTA and BoTW and do it more like Souls.
Def did good with their own thing I'm so over the whole copy souls combat sheesh I can dee if in certain games it would be bosses that looked like a souls boss but straight out copying the combat and feel takes away from a game that supposed to be its own lol
OPM Crash Bandicoot seems to have lost his marsupial magic over the years. Do you think his games can be revitalised?
AG Crash needs a total reboot. There’s an opportunity to reset the history, and go back to his creation story and the original conflict with Cortex. In that context, you could reprise classic Crash 1 and 2’s settings and villains. It would make sense to use a more modern, free-roaming style. I would concentrate on Looney Tunes-esque animation and really addictive action. That’s what we did with the original Crash, and there’s no reason it couldn’t be done today. Given the current Crash games, people forget that he was once cool. Our Crash had a certain whimsical edge to him. Sure, it was goofy – but it wasn’t dumb.
OPM What do you make of Crash today? Are you sad that he’s gone from PlayStation icon to yesterday’s mascot?
AG I don’t pay much attention to recent Crash games. For me, he’s like the hot high-school girlfriend who put on 50 pounds. I just can’t look. His post-Naughty Dog games fall down not only in being too goofy, but in gameplay and balance. We tried very hard to make every level evenly paced, addictive and engaging. Crash was about being frantic, but at the same time relatively free of frustration – although some of the levels in the original were too hard.
He is right the last few games that came out on PS2 were crap.Sony needs to get the license back and hand it back to it's original fathers.
I want crash back onto next gen consoles and especially a crash team racing! I couldn't stop playing them and still am by today and as for the last of us that already looks insane, imagine seeing it on the next gen platforms a long side with uncharted :O
Get him, Jason Rubin and Mark Cerny do contract work for Activision to make a PROPER Crash game, we've already lost Spyro to Skylanders, Crash can still be saved
Sony needs to bring Crash back home to Naughty Dog.
It's where he belongs and there are plenty of fans that want him back on the Playstation and back to starring in quality games. Crash deserves it!