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New Last Of Us Podcast provides inside look at series

The first episode of a new podcast based on the popular PlayStation 4 game The Last of Us is out now, according to the official PlayStation blog.

The Official The Last of Us Podcast is hosted by writer, podcaster, and comedian Christian Spicer and is available on multiple platforms, including Spotify and Apple.

“After hours of recording and captivating discussions over the last several months, today I’m proud to announce The Official The Last of Us Podcast and the launch of our very first episode,” Spicer said in a statement.

The podcast will include guests like Troy Baker, who voices protagonist Joel in the game, as well as character Ellie’s voice actor Ashley Johnson. Developers of the game, like Naughty Dog vice president Neil Druckmann and Anthony Newman, a game designer and the architect of the game’s melee combat, will also appear.

The slickly produced podcast episode begins with a breakdown of the first game, where Joel is forced out of his home with his daughter Sarah, and the horrible tragedy that follows. It plans to follow that narrative as a lead up to the release of the second game.

Spicer said that on July 7, “once everyone’s had a chance to play (the new game), we’ll be turning our focus to The Last of Us Part II and unpacking the story, gameplay, and development process.”

In the first episode, Druckmann says The Last of Us was going to start differently, with Joel going to a neighbor’s house and discovering the harrowing illness that plagues the game. But the team felt that opening wasn’t original enough.

They decided that starting the game with his daughter Sarah would have a more substantial emotional impact.

“Because you’re playing a much more innocent, not as capable person you feel the fear of the world kind of falling apart around you,” he said.

These broad emotional strokes are part of what has made The Last of Us one of the most cherished and lauded games in recent memory. After it was released, the game landed on many award lists, including the coveted Game of the Year at the 14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

The podcast episode is full of insights for fans and serves as a refresher before the release of The Last of Us Part II. There are eight planned episodes, which will be released every Tuesday.

The Last of Us Part II comes out on June 19 for the PS4 and will continue the story of Ellie as she deals with an apocalyptic world.

Naughty Dog devs suffer layoffs, reportedly impacting Last of Us multiplayer spinoff
Ellie looking concerned.

A new report revealed that Naughty Dog has ended several contracts it had with developers early, laying off around 25 developers. This had a negative impact on The Last of Us multiplayer game but, more importantly, is chillingly just the latest batch of layoffs in a rough couple of months for the video game industry.
These contracted developers were informed that their contracts were ending prematurely at the end of October and that they'd get no severance afterward, according to the report at Kotaku. Reportedly, most of these layoffs at Naughty Dog, PlayStation's darling studio that employs over 400 developers, come from the quality assurance, art, and production teams. According to Kotaku, Naughty Dog asked its developers to keep quiet about it. That didn't happen, though, with developers telling Kotaku not only about the layoffs but that the multiplayer The Last of Us game "while not completely canceled, is basically on ice at this point."
Concept art for Naughty Dog's Last of Us multiplayer title. Naughty Dog
These layoffs are unfortunate but sadly not uncommon for the game industry. Throughout the last few weeks, studios like Ubisoft, Creative Assembly, Ascendant Studios, and Epic Games have all laid off people. Epic, in particular, cut a whopping 16% of its workforce despite the fact that Fortnite is one of the most popular video games. Then, there are studios like Saints Row's Volition, support studio Puny Human, and Boomerang X's Dang are closing entirely.
Although 2023 has been a year full of fantastic games like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6, and Baldur's Gate 3, it's unfortunate that it has been so rough for the developers who actually make the games in this gigantic industry. It's clear something needs to change.

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7 games with queer representation to play this Pride Month
A screenshot from The Last of Us Part 2 of Ellie and Dina slow dancing with one another.

With Pride Month here, there’s no better time to play a new game or two that focuses on LGBT+ characters and stories. Luckily, the number of games with LGBTQ+ representation has been growing over the last few years, particularly in the indie space. There’s a significant history of the queer community not getting represented in video games at all or in less than well-intentioned ways. And while there’s still plenty of room to grow in terms of queer storytelling in games, there are a host of fantastic games to pick from.

From games that feature queer main characters like The Last of Us Part II to titles that give players the freedom to build out their characters' identities themselves like The Sims franchise, there are games across genres that have LGBTQ+ representation. Here’s a list of games that represent different queer identities, providing a good starting point if you’re looking to see how games tackle queer stories this Pride Month.

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Naughty Dog confirms its working on a new single-player game in odd apology post
Abby screaming in The Last of Us Part II

The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog has confirmed that it's working on a new single-player game in a fairly odd manner. The news came in the middle of an apologetic post explaining why the studio didn't show its upcoming Last of Us multiplayer project during this week's PlayStation Showcase.

https://twitter.com/Naughty_Dog/status/1662166716892479488

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