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The gaming industry’s rumor mill is spinning at full speed following Troy Baker’s reported return to Naughty Dog. While the veteran voice actor’s upcoming reunion with Neil Druckmann has sparked inevitable speculation about Uncharted 5, the reality might be a bit more complicated than fans are willing to admit.

A scene from Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog

After all, Uncharted isn’t just about snappy one-liners and death-defying leaps across ancient ruins. At its core, it’s the product of a very specific creative vision—one that came from someone who hasn’t been part of Naughty Dog for quite some time.

And while Baker’s talent for bringing characters to life is undeniable, there’s an argument to be made that some treasures are better left in their final resting place.

The Uncharted Legacy: Way More Than Just Star Power

According to GQ Magazine...

The gaming industry has seen its fair share of high-profile departures, but few have sparked as much speculation and controversy as Amy Hennig’s exit from Naughty Dog in 2014. The creative force behind the Uncharted series left the studio under mysterious circumstances, taking with her nearly eight months of work on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

Amy Hennig, the mother of the Uncharted franchise. | Image Credit: @Sonaratv/Wikimedia Commons

While Hennig has consistently maintained a diplomatic stance about her departure, citing only “creative differences,” her rare comments about her final days at the studio paint a picture of an increasingly demanding environment. In a revealing 2019 interview, she opened up about the toll that game development was taking on developers, though she carefully avoided pointing fingers.

The Fiasco That Was Hennig’s Naughty Dog Exit

When news broke of Amy Hennig‘s departure, the industry was stunned. Here was the...

The gaming industry is no stranger to behind-the-scenes drama, but few controversies have sparked as much debate as the internal shake-ups at Naughty Dog during the transition between The Last of Us and Uncharted 4. While the studio has delivered hit after hit, the path to success hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

A scene from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog

A Hollywood writer’s previous candid interview about his scrapped vision for the Uncharted movie has reignited discussions about one of gaming’s most contentious periods. His words not only shed light on what could have been but also stirred up old controversies about creative ownership and studio politics.

When Hollywood Met Naughty Dog

Back in 2016, when the Uncharted movie was still in its early stages, Hollywood writer Joe Carnahan had a different vision for Nathan Drake’s big-screen debut. His R-rated take on the...

In the high-stakes world of video game development, few stories have sparked as much controversy and speculation as the departure of Amy Hennig from Naughty Dog in 2014. The acclaimed writer and director, known for her work on the Uncharted series, left the studio under mysterious circumstances, leading to a whirlwind of rumors and accusations.

Amy Hennig, creator of the Uncharted franchise. | Image Credit: @Sonaratv/Wikimedia Commons

At the center of this storm stood Neil Druckmann, fresh off the success of The Last of Us, and suddenly thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. But what really happened behind the closed doors of one of gaming’s most prestigious studios? And how did this incident spark a wave of unjustifiable hate that continues to this day?

The Uncharted Territory of Studio Politics To say the studio has had its “fair” share of controversy is an understatement. | Image Credit: Naughty...

HBO’s award-winning post-apocalyptic TV series, The Last of Us made waves ever since it premiered in 2023. Based on Naughty Dog’s video game franchise of the same name, the show was created by Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin.

However, what most fans don’t know is that the show wouldn’t exist if not for another HBO miniseries. Druckmann, who was the writer and studio head of Naughty Dog, wasn’t planning to take the game onscreen. It was Mazin’s Chernobyl that had such a powerful impact on the writer that he immediately agreed to collaborate with the director.

Disaster Meets Dystopia: The miniseries which inspired The Last of Us‘ TV debut

The Last of Us video game series was first released in 2013 and followed by several additions. Created by Naughty Dog‘s studio head Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley, it became widely popular among PlayStation users.

The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann, while talking about the inspirations for his widely celebrated game, shed light upon a BBC show that inspired him the most, to an extent where he claims to have ripped it off.

Neil Druckmann sheds light on what inspired The Last of Us. Image Credit: Naughty Dog

The Last of Us was released back in 2013. The game received a lot of acclaim as it redefined the way stories could be told through the medium games. Druckmann managed to create a highly emotional and indulgent universe by ripping off this BBC show.

Neil Druckmann And His Biggest Inspiration For The Last of Us Neil Druckmann was one of the creators of The Last of Us. Image Credit: Sony

While reflecting on his inspirations for The Last of Us, Druckmann reflected on all the things that he went through during the development of the game.

When it comes to crafting emotionally gripping, cinematic experiences in video games, few studios can hold a candle to Naughty Dog. The developer behind the Uncharted series and The Last of Us has consistently pushed the boundaries of interactive storytelling, delivering games that feel more like blockbuster movies than your typical run-and-gun fare.

The Last of Us tells a deeply resonant tale that stays with players. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog

But what is it about Naughty Dog’s approach that sets them apart? As it turns out, the answer may lie not just in the world of gaming, but in the hallowed halls of Hollywood.

No Country for Old Clickers

In a 2013 interview with GamesBeat, The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann revealed a surprising source of inspiration for the game’s narrative and emotional depth: the Coen Brothers’ neo-western thriller, No Country for Old Men.

Druckmann, discussing the...

When The Last of Us first came out, creative director Neil Druckmann made a deliberate decision to mislead players about certain aspects of the game’s story, a choice that has gone relatively unexamined until now.

Neil Druckmann. | Image Credits: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 | Wikimedia Commons.

When the game was released in 2013, it quickly became one of the most successful titles in gaming. Central to its success was the unique dynamic between Joel and Ellie, which transformed what could have been a typical escort mission into something none of us expected.

Neil Druckmann’s Trickery Was a Genius Move

In an interview with VentureBeat, creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley talked about their deception. From the start, Druckmann and Straley decided to lie about certain aspects of the game in interviews.

Here are things we will lie about in interviews. If somebody asks,“Do you play as Ellie?...

The Last of Us is a beloved action-adventure game set in the post-apocalyptic world. The game boasts impressive graphics and engaging gameplay, but what makes this game feel more immersive and connected are the 2 main characters: Joel and Ellie. The bond both of them created during their epic journey of escaping the military quarantine zone is what makes the game so epic.

The bond between Joel and Ellie immersed players into the game’s narrative. | Image Credit: Naughty Dog

However, not many fans know that the idea behind Ellie came when Neil Druckmann, Lead Writer and Co-Director, was discussing a potential female mute character in Uncharted 2 (which didn’t happen). However, the idea remained stuck in his mind, so when discussing the next project (The Last of Us), the game’s concept and the character of Ellie were born, the rest is history.

How Revisiting an Old Concept Gave Birth...

The Last of Us is an award-winning game set in the post-apocalyptic world where players follow Joel and Ellie. They are roaming the world to find the cure for the modern fungal plague which killed most of the population. The storytelling and the gameplay of the game were what made it very popular and an instant classic in the gaming industry.

According to Neil Druckmann, creative director and writer of The Last of Us, the first idea for the game’s story was so bad that they had to rework the whole premise. Studio gave them the time to rethink then he and Bruce Straley came up with the story everyone loved.

Original Idea behind The Last of Us

The Last of Us story was very different | Naughty Dog’s Last of Us

At the start of the development, the Last of Us story was very different as it was...

The history of video game cinema is littered with fascinating what-ifs when it comes to the movies that were never made. George A. Romero's "Resident Evil" and Gore Verbinski's "Bioshock" are the stuff of legend, while David O. Russell's vision for "Uncharted" — which was put into development back when Russell's name wasn't mud — was certainly a far cry from the final version of the film. If nothing else, it would have featured a whole lot less parkour.

Not as well-remembered but perhaps just as notable is Sam Raimi's "The Last of Us," a film that would've seen the "Evil Dead" and "Spider-Man" helmer try his hand at bringing directors Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann's touchstone post-apocalyptic survival horror video game to life on the big screen. Screen Gems and Raimi's Ghost House Pictures boarded the movie in March 2014, less than a year after the...

Naughty Dog have revealed the first names casted in the forthcoming The Last of Us: Part II, along with the characters they’re set to portray.

In a series of posts on their social media, the acclaimed studio one-by-one unveiled the names of three of the characters featured in the brand new trailer released yesterday during Paris Games Week.

Ian Alexander, a teenager actor known for starring in The Oa TV series, will portray Lev, Victoria Grace, who starred in the 2013 film 47 Ronin, is Yara, and Emily Swallow, a TV actress known for The Mentalist and The Good Wife, will be Emily.

Laura Bailey, who has also starred in Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4, will also portray a character not revealed by the studio.

Writer-director Neil Druckmann revealed shortly after the release of the new trailer, that the sequel to the 2013 critically acclaimed The Last of Us is now in “full...

The Last of Us: Part II is now officially in “full production”, its writer-director today confirmed.

A brand new trailer for the highly anticipated sequel to the 2013 critically acclaimed The Last of Us was today released during PlayStation’s Paris Games Week to a rapturous response.

Shortly after the trailer, writer-director, and Naughty Dog Creative Director, Neil Druckmann, briefly offered a few details of the upcoming apocalyptic thriller sequel in a video package.

“The entire studio is now on The Last of Us: Part II, we’re in full production,” said Druckmann.

“The Last of Us, at its heart, is about Joel and Ellie and their journey, but it’s also an ensemble piece with all these other characters fitting into that theme and this time we wanted to focus on some of the other really important characters.

“Last year at the PlayStation Experience, we talked about the theme of...

Bruce Straley, co-director of The Last Of Us and multiple Uncharted games, is stepping away from Naughty Dog. The 18-year Naughty Dog vet broke the news via a heartfelt post on the developer’s website today, saying that “after heading up three extremely demanding projects, and taking some extended time away from the…

Read more...

Bruce Straley is departing Naughty Dog after 18 years with the studio.

The Last of Us director took to Naughty Dog’s website today to announce he would be leaving the studio following “three demanding projects” and “extended time away” to focus on “other directions”.

“This has been the hardest decision of my career,” wrote Straley. “Naughty Dog is home. The Kennel is family. I’ve learned and grown so much from working with this incredible team. But after heading up three extremely demanding projects, and taking some extended time away from the office, I found my energy focusing in other directions, and I slowly realised this was the signal that it’s time to move on.

“I’m leaving Naughty Dog with the strongest team it’s ever had, and that’s saying a lot. But more than the talent, it’s the people that I’ll miss the most.

Uncharted 4 took home Best Game at the BAFTA Games Awards last night.

Naughty Dog’s fourth and final instalment in the action-adventure series took home Best Game, making it the fifth win for the series having previously won Best Game in 2010 for Uncharted 2.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without the contributions of hundreds of people at Naughty Dog,” said Arne Meyer, Director of Communications at Naughty Dog, who took to the stage last night at Tobacco Dock, London, alongside voice actors and fellow nominees Troy Baker and Nolan North, and also Scott Hanau of Sony.

“Particular our co-directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, the support of our co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Valestra, of course also to our partners at PlayStation…..without their support we wouldn’t have been able to really do the final chapter [of the] Nathan Drake story the way that we would’ve wanted too.”

“The game...

Last night, the Visual Effects Society handed out their awards at their annual gathering. It was mainly a good night for The Jungle Book, which took the top prize, known as Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature. It beat back Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while at the Academy Awards, it’ll be up against Deepwater Horizon, Doctor Strange, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. It was an expected win, but one that was eagerly awaited to try and figure out the Oscar category of Best Visual Effects. The Jungle Book ended up with five prizes in total, easily besting the rest of the bunch. As mentioned above, this top award ties directly into the Visual Effects category at the Oscars. Nine out of the...

“The Jungle Book” is on its way to VFX Oscar gold after getting five Ves nods Tuesday night at the Beverly Hilton. “Rogue One,” the “Star Wars” standalone, however, came away empty-handed after receiving seven nominations.

Innovative Disney hybrid “The Jungle Book” won for outstanding feature, King Louie’s animated performance, virtual cinematography, effects simulations, and compositing.

Laika’s Oscar-nominated “Kubo and the Two Strings” earned VFX animation props, “Deepwater Horizon” took supporting VFX and model work for Industrial Light & Magic, and “Game of Thrones: Battle of the Bastards” continued its TV dominance.

Disney’s “Moana” grabbed two animation awards (created environment and simulations), Pixar won for Hank’s animated performance, and Marvel’s “Doctor Strange” won for its New York City environment

The Ves Visionary Award went to Victoria Alonso, producer and Marvel Studios Evp of physical production. Five-time Oscar winner Ken Ralston (“Return of the Jedi” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?...

Matthew Byrd John Saavedra Oct 24, 2019

Everything we know about The Last of Part 2, including latest news, release date, trailers, and much more!

Yes, one of the greatest games of the previous console generation is getting a sequel. Fans hoped that Naughty Dog might find a way to return to the world of The Last of Us, but the nature of the original game's ending left some to speculate that the developers had said all there was to say about the adventure of Ellie and Joel.

It's not entirely clear exactly what the story will be this time around, but the ominous and fearful tone of Ellie's looming threats suggest that this will be a story of revenge. The recipient of said revenge seems to be fairly obvious based on context clues in the trailer, but in the interest of not completely outlining the ending of the original game, we will...

Neil Druckmann, Creative Director at Naughty Dog and one of the lead developers who worked on The Last of Us, has cast doubt over Sony’s feature film adaptation.

Word comes by way of IGN, where Druckmann was quizzed about the progress of the movie while promoting next month’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Early signs may have been positive, during a time when Game of Thrones starlet Maisie Williams had been linked with the coveted role of Ellie, but fast forward a year and change and Druckmann appears less confident, conceding that The Last of Us film has slipped in development hell “like these things tend to do.”

Per IGN:

“I know I said in an interview a while back we had a table read, got the script to a good place and it kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do. There hasn...

Our long national nightmare is over! After several delays, Naughty Dog has announced that Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has officially gone gold. The highly-anticipated PlayStation 4 exclusive is set to launch on May 10.

Originally announced back in 2013, waiting for the return of Nathan Drake has felt longer than it really has been. Uncharted 4 was originally announced for a 2015 release, but that date was soon realized to be a bit of a pipe dream. Following that initial delay, Sony stated that the sequel would arrive on March 18. In January, though, the adventure was once again pushed back, this time until April. Finally, Naughty Dog announced earlier this month that the release date of the game changed again, this time until the final May 10 date.

It certainly hasn’t been easy for the folks at Naughty Dog. Not only have they had to deal with the pressure of successfully wrapping up the franchise,...

Naughty Dog

Thankfully, after months of delays, speculation and varying amounts of hype, fans got their hands on the final build of Uncharted 4 this past weekend, and man, is it shaping up nicely indeed.

Naughty Dog aren’t one not to knock it clear out the park (seriously, have they had a single bad game?), but thankfully, although the Uncharted series has already accrued quite the gaming pedigree, they’ve amended the tiniest of fixes and implemented changes you didn’t even know you wanted, providing the best-playing Uncharted yet.

Although it’s true Naughty Dog’s development cycle was fraught with personnel changes, setbacks and at one point, an entire script rewrite by The Last of Us guys, Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, what’s emerged is a very promising package in all respects. And that’s a damn good thing, because it recently got yet another delay, setting...

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If Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End really is to go down as Naughty Dog’s last foray at the helm of the series, then Creative Director Neil Druckmann wants to send off Nathan Drake on a very, very high note.

In an interview with the New York Times, Druckmann touched base on closing out Drake’s adventure. Having worked all across the series – most notably on Among Thieves – with Bruce Straley, it represents the end of an era for the game designer, though Druckmann believes the time is right to bring the curtain down on Nate and Co..

It’s time. Sometimes, a character just lets you know it’s time to move on. For me, that was part of the intrigue of coming back to this world. You never see something successful in the industry end. It usually just fizzles out.

As for the...

Originally slated to arrive in mid-March, developer Naughty Dog today confirmed plans to postpone the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End by little over a month, meaning the PS4 exclusive is now on course for a release on April 26, 2016 and April 27 across North America and Europe, respectively.

Word comes by way of PlayStation Blog, where Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley explained the studio’s reasoning behind the sequel’s second delay.

This is our largest Uncharted game to date, and the team has been working incredibly hard to meet the challenge of closing out the game’s development in a timely manner. However, as we approached our final deadlines and started wrapping up the game’s levels, we realized that several key sequences needed extra resources to bring them to the finish line. After carefully considering all of our options, we decided to extend our schedule,...

Sony PlayStation and developer Naughty Dog have announced that the upcoming "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" has been delayed again - though thankfully this time only a small one.

Originally slated for a March 18th debut, it will instead drop on April 26th. Creative director Neil Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley released the following statement:

"Let's start with the good news: Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is wrapping up production and is shaping up to be the proper send off for Nathan Drake that we've promised you. The bad news is that we need a bit more time to finish the game so that it meets our standards and vision. Let's cut to the chase, 'Uncharted 4: A Thief's End' has a new release date in North America of April 26, 2016.

This is our largest Uncharted game to date, and the team has been working incredibly hard to meet the...

Naughty Dog may be riding the crest of a wave at this point in time, buoyed by the glittering success of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, but there was a time when Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End appeared in trouble.

Back in March 2014, writer and director Amy Hennig – a talent that had been synonymous with the studio’s action-adventure franchise – abruptly parted ways with Nd before finding a new home in Visceral Games. Naturally, this led to many questions being directed in Naughty Dog’s direction and quite frankly, very few – if any – of the them have been answered. Upon drafting in The Last of Us alum Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley during development, A Thief’s End was subject to several script changes – script changes that “didn’t sit well” with Firefly actor Alan Tudyk.

Speaking candidly with IGN, Tudyk confirmed that he opted to quit the sequel shortly after Hennig’s departure,...

All good things must come to a close and for swash-buckling adventurer Nathan Drake, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End will be the proper conclusion fans have asked for, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann says.

Since its original delay from late 2015 to the spring of next year, Uncharted 4 has taken up a great deal of the studio’s time, even sidelining its ideas for a sequel to 2013’s The Last of Us. It was a decision that it didn’t make lightly, says Druckmann.

“It was a very hard decision,” Druckmann said in an interview with Official Playstation Magazine. “The Last Of Us was the first game we ever delayed – by a month – and we felt so guilty and so horrible having to do that, and yet shipping a game that wasn’t up to our vision would have felt worse. Much of the development and figuring things out happens as we go.

Now that its existence is all but confirmed – after shipping over 8 million units, it’s practically guaranteed – Naughty Dog has begun to talk slightly more openly in relation to The Last of Us 2. At least in terms of brainstorming ideas for the sequel, that is.

In the latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine (via GamesRadar), Creative Director Neil Druckmann spoke briefly about the follow-up, which has largely been kept under wraps ever since the studio pumped out the original, heart-wrenching tale of Joel and Ellie. What’s interesting, though, is that Druckmann notes that both he and Bruce Straley mapped out potential avenues for The Last of Us with and without the two main protagonists, fuelling the convincing rumors that a sequel could center on an entirely new branch of the studio’s apocalypse.

“The answer is – and this is totally honest, and I’ve said this in the past...

Widely considered to be one of – if not the – best game’s of last generation, Naughty Dog struck a chord with The Last of Us, a post-apocalyptic tale of survival lined with engaging characters, nerve-shredding moments and a wonderfully realized game world. It may came to your surprise, then, that prior to release the studio believed that the new IP “was going to tank.”

Speaking during PlayStation’s ongoing Conversations with Creators web series, Co-Director Bruce Straley even went so far as to the say that he worried the third-person adventure game would tarnish the Naughty Dog brand.

“We though it was going to tank. We thought we were going to ruin the name and image [of Naughty Dog] that’s been so heartily built for years with blood, sweat, and tears,” he explained. “We thought we were ruining Naughty Dog’s image.”

It’s a frank admission from a studio that prizes itself on genre-defining releases.

Naughty Dog

Did you catch the Crash Bandicoot ‘leak’ that happened back in May? It looked to be a fan-taken snapshot of a presentation by Naughty Dog, ending on a silhouette of the orange marsupial and the text “He will rise again” underneath.

However, whilst that was almost immediately proven as fake – although the knowledge that Sony don’t own Crash any more should’ve given it away – now Naughty Dog’s Bruce Straley has conducted a new interview with Av Club. He confirmed that despite the fake teaser, the team were actually intending on including Crash as a playable easter egg inside Uncharted 4 regardless.

The quote is as follows:

“Well, there’s actually been a conversation about if it were at all possible – which it’s not, let me emphasize – but we wanted to put a Crash Bandicoot game inside. Not gonna happen, though. Don’t worry.”

He then...

Naughty Dog announced earlier today that the highly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has been delayed until spring 2016. While no date was ever officially revealed, the studio had previously been targeting a 2015 release for the title.

As the conclusion to one of the biggest PlayStation franchises of the past decade, Naughty Dog wants to make sure that Uncharted 4 is as good as it possibly can be. Directors Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley spoke about the decision recently on the PlayStation Blog, stating the following:

After spending so many years with Nathan Drake, he means a lot to the team, and telling the climactic chapter of his adventures is a task we don’t take lightly — this game deserves every bit of the attention to detail, precise pacing, and nuanced storytelling Naughty Dog is known for. So we’ve made the difficult choice of pushing the game’s release date.

Last year, it was Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Knight that got pushed back from October to this June and this year it's Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End that gets the date shift from an undisclosed date in 2015 to Spring 2016. Earlier this morning, the game's directors Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann released a Playstation blog post, which announced the new release window and also addressed why the delay had to happen. Check out their full blog post below: Since we showed you our first gameplay reveal of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, more of the game and story have come together, and it’s become clear to us that this game is much more ambitious than we originally envisioned. After spending so many years with Nathan Drake, he means a lot to the team, and telling the climactic chapter of his adventures is a task we don’t...

It's a sad day people, as gamers have learned that we now have to wait even longer for Naughty Dog's next video game endeavor, the fourth game in the Uncharted series, A Thief's End. The developers revealed today that the game won't be ready by the Holidays as intially expected, and is being pushed back into 2016.

Last year during E3, Naughty Dog blew us all away with our first look at Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, and since then, every piece of gameplay and bits of story have only served to make it sound even more amazing. The developers are well known for crafting engaging experiences and pushing the boundaries of technology, and delivering polished games that look and play great. In order to do the same thing with Uncharted 4, it looks like they need more time.

The game's directors, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann, announced today on the...

Given all of the technical hoo-ha that can spring up out of the blue during a live demonstration, it’s no wonder game developers choose a vertical slice that represents their product in the best possible light. And in the case of Naughty Dog, this method of approach meant locking the recent PlayStation Experience demo of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End at 1080p and 30 frames-per-second, a threshold that the studio might adhere to with the final product.

In an interview with Edge magazine, Game Director Bruce Straley outlined the company’s stance on the performance of the action-adventure title, and revealed that that actual experience itself takes priority over technical standards.

We’re actually above 30, but we locked it [for the demo]. We’re going to do whatever it takes to make the game we want to make. If it means we could go for 60 but lose something that would really impact the player’s experience,...

As Game Informer continues to peel back the layers of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in their continued coverage of Naughty Dog’s upcoming title, the publication dug a little deeper to find out the status of the rumored sequel to The Last of Us.

According to Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann — Game Directors behind the critically-adorned title — talk of a direct follow-up to Joel and Ellie’s adventure is “on ice” as the studio focuses all resources on the development of Uncharted 4.

“We’re 110 per cent in Uncharted 4 territory now. Blinders on, make this awesome.”

When asked the inevitable question about a potential sequel to The Last of Us, Straley replied as so: “We totally get it, because we have those same feelings as well. We have brainstormed sequel ideas for The Last of Us, and we’ve brainstormed ideas for new games, but all of that is...

Among the pages of Naughty Dog’s 30th Anniversary art book was an all-new look at Nathan Drake for the studio’s in-development sequel, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

The image comes via Kurt Margenau’s Twitter feed, who is serving as Lead Game designer on the upcoming PlayStation 4 exclusive.

Drake looking next gen as f*ck at #ND30 celebration! pic.twitter.com/6RTE4BaGST

— Kurt Margenau (@kurtmargenau) September 27, 2014

Without doubt, the image showcases the stunning visual fidelity that the studio is able to achieve on current-gen hardware — as if the in-game trailer from E3 wasn’t enough evidence already. But, after scratching beneath the glossy surface, it becomes abundantly clear that our quick-witted adventurer is beginning to show his age.

And while other mid-life crises end at receding hairlines and unpaid bills, Drake will come out of retirement for one last job in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End,...

Just as "Halo" is synonymous with Xbox, "Uncharted" is the same with PlayStation. Naughty Dog's first video game in the series launched with the PS3 in 2006 and was a critical and commercial hit for the platform.

That lead to 2009's "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves" which, with a 96/100 on Metacritic, remains the best reviewed PS3 game of all time aside from the last two "Grand Theft Auto" entries. 2011's "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" also fared strongly with a 92/100.

Now though, with the launch of the PlayStation 4, the adventures of fortune hunter Nathan Drake may be coming to an end with next year's PS4-exclusive "Uncharted 4: A Thief's End" potentially being the final outing for the series.

Nolan North, the voice actor behind Nathan Drake in the games, tells IGN that as far as he's aware the upcoming fourth game will be the last title that Naughty Dog want to...

Currently in development under Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley (The Last of Us), Naughty Dog's next entry in their wildly successful Uncharted game series will be available exclusively for Sony's PlayStation 4 gaming console next year. Several years after his last adventure, retired fortune hunter, Nathan Drake, is forced back into the world of thieves. With the stakes much more personal, Drake embarks on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. His greatest adventure will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he’s willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.

Uncharted 4 is already in development – most likely as a PlayStation 4 exclusive – and we will probably see actual gameplay footage at Sony’s E3 press conference on June 9th, but in an interview with GameInformer, Naughty Dog confirmed that they also have another project underway and early in development.

For those worried that this will spread the development talent pool thin, it’s worth noting that Naughty Dog has two different teams, and that these teams created both The Last of Us and Uncharted 3 alongside each other. In other words, there should be no concerns that the highly reputable studio is dividing its precious resources.

What gamers should be asking themselves is, what could the project turn out to be? There’s always a chance that the second property could be a sequel to The Last of Us, but there are just too many factors working against that theory. For starters,...

Sam Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures have signed on to produce a live-action movie based on the much acclaimed PlayStation 3 video game "The Last of Us" for Screen Gems to distribute.

Released last year, the game is set twenty years after an infectious fungal pandemic has ravaged humanity. A hardened survivor named Joel and a young girl named Ellie are brought together by chance and journey together through a radically transformed United States.

The game garnered over 200 global Game of the Year awards last year, and a WGA award for 'Outstanding Achievement in Writing for Video Games'.

Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann will write the screenplay. Druckmann, Bruce Straley, Evan Wells, Christophe Balestra and Raimi will produce.

Source: The Wrap...

News Aaron Birch 7 Mar 2014 - 05:39

Naughty Dog's critically acclaimed The Last of Us is set to appear on the big screen...

It's been revealed that a film adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is in the works, and Sony's Screen Gems, in tandem with Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures, are bringing it to the movies

Naughty Dog's co-presidents, Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, will be joined by the game's directors, Bruce Straley and Neil Druckmann for creative duties, with Druckmann penning the script for the movie.

“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,” said Screen Gems president, Clint Culpepper. “I...

One of the greatest video games I’ve ever played is officially making its way to the big screen for an adaption that everyone assumed was going to happen. Naughty Dog, the award-winning studio behind The Last of Us, and Screen Gems is distributing the live-action movie adaptation.

The story follows Joel who is trekking across a post-apocalyptic United States in 2033, in order to escort the young Ellie to a resistance group with the hopes of surviving a viral pandemic. It’s not zombies, so don’t worry. The game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, will write the film’s script and produce alongside the company’s co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, Game Director Bruce Straley, and Sam Raimi via Ghost House Pictures.

Here are all the details on The Last of Us adaptation in a boring press release as well as a video showing actor Seth Rogen playing...

If you’ve played The Last of Us, the idea of a movie alone is probably enough to get you excited, but video game adaptations don’t have a great track record. However, it might help that the game’s developers will be directly involved, along with Sam Raimi and Ghost House Pictures.

According to Deadline, Screen Gems will distribute the live-action version of The Last of Us and Neil Druckmann, the Creative Director at Naughty Dog, will write the script. It has also been said that Sam Raimi, Ghost House Pictures and Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells, Christophe Balestra, and Bruce Straley will be involved creatively.

For those that haven’t played the game, here’s the logline and the trailer: “Hardened survivor Joel teams with young and capable companion Ellie to journey through a radically transformed world some 20 years after an infectious pandemic ravages humanity.”

The post The...

The building block game Minecraft just got picked up for film treatment, and now the hit Playstation 3 video game The Last of Us is poised to hit the big screen as well. Deadline has word that Screen Gems, the company behind the Resident Evil franchise, will distribute a live-action adaptation of the pandemic ravaged open world game with Sam Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures banner producing. The game studio Naughty Dog will have their co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra working as the "creative architects" along with the game's creative director Neil Druckmann and director Bruce Straley. For those who don't know anything about The Last of Us, here's a cool game trailer: The game follows two characters, hardened survivor Joel and the young and capable Ellie, who join forces to try and survive in a radically transformed world some 20 years after an infectious pandemic has ravaged humanity. Joel...

Critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 video game The Last of Us is getting the big screen treatment, with Screen Gems agreeing to distribute a live-action version of the already extremely cinematic story. Neil Druckmann, the creative director for the game, will write the script on behalf of developers Naughty Dog.

They’re also responsible for the Uncharted series of games, and Horrible Bosses helmer Seth Gordon is currently attached to direct a movie based on that franchise.

The Last of Us will be produced by Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, along with Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley. Interestingly, Sam Raimi is also set to produce the adaptation through his Ghost House Pictures banner. That makes sense due to the horror elements of the game that this movie is based on.

The Last of Us follows survivors Joel and Ellie on their journey through a radically transformed world, 20 years...

Screen Gems is teaming up with Sam Raimi to bring us a live-action adaptation the hit video game The Last of Us. The script for the film will come from Neil Druckmann, the Creative Director for the game. The game is pretty incredible, and it should make for an awesome movie. Right now Raimi is only producing the film through his Ghost House Pictures, but maybe there's a chance he could direct it.

The story follows "hardened survivor, Joel, and Ellie, a young and capable girl, on their journey through a radically transformed world. Set twenty years after an infectious pandemic spread by the cordyceps virus ravaged the course of humanity, these two people, who were brought together by chance, must make life-altering decisions in order to survive. The Last of Us explores themes of survival, loyalty, love, and redemption in an emotionally charged expedition across a post-epidemic United States.

The post-apocalyptic tale of Joel and Ellie will make the jump to live-action after all. According to Deadline, The Last of Us’ cinematic adaptation will be distributed by Screen Gems — the studio behind the company’s evergreen Resident Evil series — with production support from Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures.

In a statement, Naughty Dog’s co-president Evan Wells outlined the creative vision for the film:

“Our partnership with Sam Raimi, Ghost House Pictures, and Screen Gems to develop a film based on The Last of Us universe is a perfect fit. Since our game released last June, we’ve talked with many companies about making a film, but we couldn’t have found better partners who share our creative vision and high standards.”

Having overseen development of The Last of Us, the game’s creative director Neil Druckmann will pen the script for the movie, with additional input from...

Popular PlayStation3 video game The Last of Us is getting the movie treatment. Neil Druckmann, the creative director for the game, will write the script for the big-screen live-action adaptation, which Screen Gems will distribute. On behalf of Naughty Dog (the game developers), the project will be produced by co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, as well as Druckmann and game director Bruce Straley, along with Sam Raimi via his Ghost House Pictures banner. The video game The Last of Us, which was released in June 2013, follows survivors Joel and Ellie on their journey through a radically

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Sam Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures banner have signed on to produce a live-action movie based on the popular PlayStation3 video game “The Last of Us,” which will be distributed by Screen Gems, the company announced Thursday. Naughty Dog developed the game, and its creative director Neil Druckmann will write the screenplay. Druckmann will also produce with Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, as well as game director Bruce Straley and Raimi. Also read: ‘Spider-Man's’ Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert and Good Universe Acquire ‘Angelfall’ Rights Released in June of 2013, “The Last of Us” follows hardened survivor Joel and a.

TWC-Dimension has hired Mark Bomback to write its adaptation of Ira Levin’s Broadway thriller Veronica’s Room.

Bomback’s credits include Fox’s upcoming July release Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and The Wolverine and he did a production re-write on Fifty Shades Of Grey.

The Allegiance Theater’s Daniel Dubiecki and Lara Alameddine are producing and The Allegiance Theater’s Tim Crane serves as executive producer.

Screen Gems will distribute the live action adaptation of PlayStation 3 video game The Last Of Us developed by Naughty Dog. The game’s creative director Neil Druckmann will write the screenplay and produce alongside Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, game director Bruce Straley and Sam Raimi through Ghost House Pictures.