Naughty Dog to "change the industry" with The Last Of Us

[Sub-stance1]

I hope it releases this year. They may just set a new standard for storytelling.

Uncharted developer Naughty Dog says that its goal with its latest project, The Last Of Us, is to "change the fucking industry" and improve videogame storytelling.
Speaking to us as part of an in-depth preview of the studios' new survival adventure - which tells the story of Joel, a fortysomething man, and his 14-year-old companion Ellie, after a virus has decimated the population - game director Bruce Straley and creative director Neil Druckmann tell us that development is once again being driven by the studio's signature flair for characterisation and storytelling.
"With the casting process, we're trying to get humour," Druckmann tells us. "With this music, we're trying to get emotion. We're not going for horror. There's going to be horrific things happening in this game, but that's not the focus of it. The monsters aren't the focus of it. It's the relationship between Joel and Ellie.
"We're trying to say something about human beings and how they exist. Not necessarily just in this setting, but in every setting."
Naughty Dog is renowned for its non-hierarchical, collaborative structure, and this is again on show in The Last Of Us. Straley nominally heads up gameplay mechanics and technology, with Druckmann overseeing performances and story, but as the former explains, "There's a lot of overlap. There has to be the marriage between the story, the gameplay and the aesthetics. That triangle needs to work together."
Druckmann agrees: "We're constantly pushing and challenging each other to make sure I'm not here just making a movie, and he's not here just creating fun for the sake of it. It's like, 'how do these two work in concert?'"
While the characters remain the focus, Druckmann reveals that staff at Naughty Dog are often disappointed when the praise lavished on the studio's output focuses on its cinematic flair.
"We try so hard at Naughty Dog to push things and then games come out that are fun and exciting and get visceral things right," he says, "but to read in reviews that they have an amazing story is disheartening to us because we work so hard at it. We really hope we can raise the bar."
The full, eight-page preview is the cover story of our new issue,E237, which should be with subscribers in the coming days and will be with all good newsagents on January 17.
http://www.edge-online.com/news/naug...dustry-last-us

[lee___radio]

the story line has always been the least of my worries. tight, weighty, fluid controls and lots of bloody fat meaty 1080p graphics is what i'm after!

[Sub-stance1]

the story line has always been the least of my worries. tight, weighty, fluid controls and lots of bloody fat meaty graphics is what i'm after!

I'm sure we'll get those anyway. Looks like the story will be the main focus for this one which is ok by me. Graphics shouldn't be the main focus for a game like this.

[SchaffinOSX]

I'm always optimistic, but I don't want to get too hyped quite yet. I like that Naughty Dog realizes that a great game isn't just good gameplay, or a good story, etc. It's a mixture of good visuals, good storytelling, and of course, excellent gameplay. Naughty Dog has had immense success with this mindset in the likes of the Uncharted titles, and I presume that they will have similar success with The Last of Us.

My main concern is that this will be another zombie-horror title that doesn't really stand out from the others. There are plenty of implications that ease my concerns, like their lack of focus on horror, but there are plenty of games that have attempted to go above and beyond the normal zombie-apoaclypse genre and ultimately fail. Hopefully Naughty Dog keeps the failures of past developers in mind.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

If anyone in the industry can, it's them (and Ken Levine lol).

[Ghost-Rhayne]

I'm sure we'll get those anyway. Looks like the story will be the main focus for this one which is ok by me. Graphics shouldn't be the main focus for a game like this.

In the videos that have been floating around recently, ND have spoken about how they are very analytical when it comes to how all the aspects of the game help develop the core purpose of the game (story driven). This includes gameplay and graphics which they mentioned in one of those vids. The game should be a tightly woven coherent experience from the sounds of it. The trailer so far it beautiful, I think it's awesome and they talked too about how it teased many gameplay elements. Talking about Dead Island, they said that emotional trailer wowed everyone but it didn't really accurately portray the game and this wasn't the case with theirs. With their dual mo & voice cap technique, graphical godliness and the rested of the Uncharted experience gained, it's going to be a badass title. Well, this is the hope!

[lee___radio]

I'm sure we'll get those anyway. Looks like the story will be the main focus for this one which is ok by me. Graphics shouldn't be the main focus for a game like this.

agree, but i actually feel that good story telling is what we already do have from naughty dog. in terms of graphics, i think they are still more on the cartoony side of the fence. my prime example of "meaty graphics" would be "little big planet 2." if all games were this meaty w/ a complete library of physics, animation hybrids, and fluid mechanics, it would in my opinion, totally beat 3d!

seriously, nathan drake in 3d is not nearly as appealing as sack boy in 2d... i could almost reach out and pet him.

[TEJ2025]

agree, but i actually feel that good story telling is what we already do have from naughty dog. in terms of graphics, i think they are still more on the cartoony side of the fence. my prime example of "meaty graphics" would be "little big planet 2." if all games were this meaty w/ a complete library of physics, animation hybrids, and fluid mechanics, it would in my opinion, totally beat 3d!

seriously, nathan drake in 3d is not nearly as appealing as sack boy in 2d... i could almost reach out and pet him.

Really?

I have faith in Naughty Dog to make sure this game isn't just another zombie game and something that will go into the gaming history books as a classic game that everybody should play.

[Blacksite]

I don't want The Last of Us to be just another zombie game with shiny visuals anyway. I like a good character-driven experience; one that leaves a lasting impression on the consumer. Naughty Dog is probably the only PlayStation 3 development studio in the industry right now that can achieve this.

[daLa]

Well it is Naughty Dog behind this, so I'm confident this won't be a let down.

[ddPLaNeT]

agree, but i actually feel that good story telling is what we already do have from naughty dog. in terms of graphics, i think they are still more on the cartoony side of the fence. my prime example of "meaty graphics" would be "little big planet 2." if all games were this meaty w/ a complete library of physics, animation hybrids, and fluid mechanics, it would in my opinion, totally beat 3d!

seriously, nathan drake in 3d is not nearly as appealing as sack boy in 2d... i could almost reach out and pet him.

What the hell are you talking about ? LBP physics are kinda limited, the fact that it's 2d helps it being interactive with the objects in a realistic way, in 2d always... comparing it to Uncharted is not fair because Uncharted's 3d world is way more complex than anything LBP is.

and why that tinny font size ? really ugly and annoying...

[radgamer420]

Well it is Naughty Dog behind this, so I'm confident this won't be a let down.

Agreed. ND has earned my confidence.

[Xelios]

Meh. They wont be changing the industry.

[SchaffinOSX]

Meh. They wont be changing the industry.

I agree. Rather, they'll be raising the bar for other zombie-apocalyse type titles.

[lee___radio]

What the hell are you talking about ? LBP physics are kinda limited, the fact that it's 2d helps it being interactive with the objects in a realistic way, in 2d always... comparing it to Uncharted is not fair because Uncharted's 3d world is way more complex than anything LBP is.

and why that tinny font size ? really ugly and annoying...

it is fair, a video game is a video game. btw, i was comparing graphics not physics. i don't believe we could argue that uncharted 3's graphics are better than LBP2, because it simply is not. different but not better.

[claud3]

This is a trailer of the game,



at the time 2:10 and they leave the building, it looks like ( I AM LEGEND )




another fallout game but from a different game company... Just how they are going to change the storytelling of a same old story is interesting to see..

[Forcedme]

"We want to change the FUCKING industry!" FUCK YEAH you do, Naughty Dog. So I got this idea, see? First! Take EPIC FUCKING SET PIECES with (check it) NO FUCKING RELATION TO EACH OTHER and then (holy shit), and THEN (HOLY SHIT!), tie them together with the LEAST POSSIBLE NARRATIVE EFFORT POSSIBLE (changing FUCKING EVERYTHING) so that it looks like your writers are FUCKING RETARDED (They changed FUCKING everything, man!) whose sole talent is in dialogue, but not in narrative cohesion. FUCKING whatever, man.

Second; listen here, SECOND, take Juno, right? Not someone INSPIRED by Juno, I mean fucking take the one and only JUNO, and put her in your game. You know how Juno was far too witty and clever for her age, possessing an odd sardonic remark or witty comment for every situation, despite it being sometimes unneccesary and even misplaced? Yeah? WELL DO THE SAME FUCKING (FUUUUUCKIIIIING) THING! It'll be awesome.

Dead corpses! A man just getting attacked! STABBING MOTHER FUCKERS IN THE BACK!

"How you feel?"

MAKE HER SNIDE, NAUGHTY DOG! MAKE HER FUCKING SNIDE!

"Better than that guy!"

Show me the human condition, Naughty Dog. Show me FUCKING everything. And hey, while you guys do that, I'ma go find my plumber and see if I can help pull your head out of your asses, since they've been lodged pretty high up there these last few weeks, see.

Okay guys, gotta go. It was FUCKING awesome chatting with ya!

[Ghost-Rhayne]

"We want to change the FUCKING industry!" FUCK YEAH you do, Naughty Dog. So I got this idea, see? First! Take EPIC FUCKING SET PIECES with (check it) NO FUCKING RELATION TO EACH OTHER and then (holy shit), and THEN (HOLY SHIT!), tie them together with the LEAST POSSIBLE NARRATIVE EFFORT POSSIBLE (changing FUCKING EVERYTHING) so that it looks like your writers are FUCKING RETARDED (They changed FUCKING everything, man!) whose sole talent is in dialogue, but not in narrative cohesion. FUCKING whatever, man.

Second; listen here, SECOND, take Juno, right? Not someone INSPIRED by Juno, I mean fucking take the one and only JUNO, and put her in your game. You know how Juno was far too witty and clever for her age, possessing an odd sardonic remark or witty comment for every situation, despite it being sometimes unneccesary and even misplaced? Yeah? WELL DO THE SAME FUCKING (FUUUUUCKIIIIING) THING! It'll be awesome.

Dead corpses! A man just getting attacked! STABBING MOTHER FUCKERS IN THE BACK!

"How you feel?"

MAKE HER SNIDE, NAUGHTY DOG! MAKE HER FUCKING SNIDE!

"Better than that guy!"

Show me the human condition, Naughty Dog. Show me FUCKING everything. And hey, while you guys do that, I'ma go find my plumber and see if I can help pull your head out of your asses, since they've been lodged pretty high up there these last few weeks, see.

Okay guys, gotta go. It was FUCKING awesome chatting with ya!

...but...tell us how you REALLY feel.

[daLa]

I agree. Rather, they'll be raising the bar for other zombie-apocalyse type titles.

Yes, changing the industry may sound a bit farfetched but it may be just exactly what you said.

[Chille]

Naughty dog just take my money already

[Xelis]

I hope their egos dont get the better if them.

[I_Luv_2_Game]

I wish other developers had that kind of compassion.. I'm looking forward to what Naughty Dog has to offer in there next installment..

[ERC1980]

GOTY 2012 folks.

make it 2 yrs in a row!

[itachi73378]

Meh. They wont be changing the industry.

You're overflowing with positive energy

Naughty dog just take my money already

+1

[Equinoqs]

I'm not asking for much. Just an "I Am Legend" approach to a "Walking Dead"-style story with a Quantic Dream-type character focus and Demon's Souls-detailed gameplay.