From the developers of Uncharted and the Jak and Daxter series comes there next big thing: The Last of Us.
The Last of Us is a new action adventure/survival horror IP Naughty Dog has created that will be released as a PS3 exclusive on June 14th. Ever sense its reveal this game has gotten a lot of hype. It's even predicted to be one of the biggest releases of the year. (Its my number one most wanted game out of my list of top 5 upcoming games) The Last of Us has many things going for it; putting it in a great a position to be a very successful game.
Perhaps the biggest lure to the Last of Us is that its being created by Naughty Dog. Naughty Dog is one of Sony's most successful developers; creating games like Jak and Daxter and the Uncharted series both selling very well but the latter selling particularly well this generation. Even though this is a brand knew game and not a sequel to an already popular series, gamers know that this game will most likely have the same amount of polish and story driven style that Naughty Dog likes to have in there games. Also as a smart tactic to try and sell more units they should add in the trailers for the game this: "From the creators of the Uncharted series we bring you the Last of Us". This will inform the casual gamers that may not pay attention to what developers make, that the Last of Us is created by the same people that created Uncharted; a series they may have liked and now seeing an ad saying this company also created the Last of Us may get them to buy it.
There release date, June 14th can be seen as a great time to release a game or be seen as an awful time. The original release date for the Last of Us was on May 7th (Omg it would have been released today!!) but that was latter changed to June 14th. Ironically the biggest western video game event of the year E3 will be happening between June 11th-13th. As you can see the Last of Us will release just one day after E3. This can be a good thing because there will be a huge focus on video games during this time. The media will be buzzing with all types of video game news which can draw people to look more into the video game industry and more into the Last of Us. This can also be a bad thing as there will be so much news out during this time that the Last of Us can be overshadowed by bigger news like; Next gen consoles and next gen games. June 14th is also the second week of June and most people get paid every 2 weeks of the month. If my math serves me right, I believe that 1 week is 7 days long and 7 times 2 ( 2 for 2 weeks) is 14! Which means that the 14th of June would be the first 2 weeks of the month! Because most people get paid every 2 weeks of the month they would get paid on the 14th which means that people will have money to purchase things they want ( possibly the Last of Us!).
The trailer and the graphics shown on this game look amazing. I believe graphics should come secondary to any game development because they should work on the core gameplay first but it certainly doesn't hurt to look this good. Also the amount of gamplay they have showed so far in my opinion looks amazing. They always make me want to see more and actually play it! The amount of detail the developers put into the game is clear from the graphics all the way to its main concepts. I mean do you know why the infected look like they have fungus growing on them? Its called Ophiocordyceps unilateralis.... instead of me explain it just watch-
Speaking of trailers Sony has done a very good job advertising the game. Sony is usually criticized by the community because of its poor marketing, but it seems Sony has been really smart when advertising this game. They show of the game often at major press conferences like E3 and they often upload there youtube channel with videos on the Last of Us. Also, Sony chose to advertise a 30 second trailer of the Last of Us during The Walking Dead season finale which had over 11 million views. This may seem as small thing to do but was smart advertising move sense both the Walking Dead and the Last of Us have a common enemy and theme Zombies/Walkers/Infected (What ever you would like to call them) which will draw in interested viewers. Speaking of zombies they have gotten extremely popular from the show; which makes the game more appealing.
It also is a new IP which many people can appreciate. Even though you can see this as a negative because it isn't an established franchise. I like it when companies take a chance and create something different. Also sense this is a new IP being made by Naughty Dog it may be the new series sense Naughty Dog seems to like there games in threes: Uncharted has 3 games and so does Jak and Daxter. Although there are some spin offs to the Jak and Daxter series and Uncharted may have a 4th installment (Hopefully) it seems we can suspect a few more entry's in the Last of Us depending on how it all ends up.
Obviously the game doesn't have everything going for it and has some set backs like being an exclusive and being a new IP but the steps that Sony and Naughty Dog are making are setting up the Last of Us to be a big success.
No comments:
Post a Comment