Most of you may value picking up physical copies of video games over a digital version, but we have some interesting news to share with you regarding the highly anticipated release of upcoming PS3 exclusive The Last of Us. Developer Naughty Dog has revealed that a bonus feature will be available to those consumers who plan on buying the digital version direct from the PlayStation Store.

In a scenario which we don’t see very often, the digital version of The Last of Us is going to be available the exact day as the retail Blu-Ray version, with both launching on June 14. While this is already a bonus for digital buyers, Naughty Dog has also revealed a further bonus – being able to play the digital version when it is only 50% downloaded.

The developer has told Game Informer that Sony has managed to pull a few internal strings, to allow gameplay to begin whilst only being partially downloaded. If you have been keeping up to date with all things PS4, you’ll know that this feature is expected to be available across all titles – we just didn’t expect to see it available on PS3.

It also suggests that if Sony can make this possible with The Last of Us, then it also means theoretically that they can do it with other PS3 games that are on the way too – like the digital version of Gran Turismo 6? We can’t tell you how annoying it was to have to wait more than a day for the gigantic digital download of Tekken Tag Tournament 2, it’s a shame this feature wasn’t available a few months ago.

While Sony has confirmed that gameplay can start once the download bar has passed 50%, it should be almost instant when buying digital PS4 games from the PlayStation Store – we’re guessing the enhanced hardware will make it all possible.

A great bit of news for those picking up the digital version of The Last of Us. Are any of you tempted to stay at home and buy the store version instead now, or will you still look to pick up a retail copy?

We have some important news for those of you looking to pick up The Last of Us, when it releases exclusively on PS3 this Summer. A recent interview with Naughty Dog has stealthily revealed the exact time duration that the single-player campaign will take on an average run through.

This should be very juicy information for those that have played the Uncharted game and were perhaps a little disappointed with the rather short single-player modes. The good news is that The Last of Us is going to feature a campaign that is over 10 hours, with Naughty Dog’s Arne Meyer conceding that the game will last between 12-16 hours as a target that the team are aiming for.

The differences will involve whether a player is going straight from mission to mission, or whether a player decides to explore every nook and cranny for extra items to collect, which is what will bump the game up to 16 hours. That is pretty respectable we feel, although some of you may still be disappointed that it isn’t near the 20 hour mark considering all of the hype.

For the casual gamer though, 16 hours or even 12 hours should be plenty. Don’t forget that the game will also have a multiplayer mode on top, a mode that Naughty Dog is yet to reveal. We’re guessing that details on this will arrive in the build-up to and during E3 2013 though, so the game should provide plenty of content to keep everyone happy.

Plus this is Naughty Dog we’re talking about, so we’re in very good hands even if the campaign mode turns out to be a little on the short side. What would be the perfect single-player campaign duration for you? Are you happy with 12-16 hours for the game, or did you expect a little longer?

We have a much needed update on The Last of Us to bring you now, and it’s great news. The game won’t be out until May 7 this year, but we can now confirm that you’ll have the opportunity to play the game earlier thanks to a special demo promotion. If you pre-order God of War Ascension which releases in March, it will come bundled with a gameplay demo for Naughty Dog’s upcoming title.

God of War Ascension is due out March 12 on the PS3 and there is a multiplayer beta that is currently in progress on the PlayStation Network for selected users. It’s obviously not the first time that we have seen Sony cross-promotions like this, and even the Ascension demo itself was bundled free for those who opted to pick up the Sony Movies Total Recall reboot.

Unfortunately, there are no additional details on the demo for The Last of Us yet, so we don’t know what kind of content it will contain. We’re guessing Naughty Dog will give players a preview of one full mission in the single-player campaign and save multiplayer for when players actually pick up the game.

The developer has said though that details on the demo will be released soon on the PlayStation Blog. Either way, it’s a nice little incentive to preview the game a full two months before the game goes on sale. Is God of War Ascension looking good enough to merit a purchase by itself though, or are you planning to pick it up just to play the demo?

Let us know your thoughts on the demo announcement and whether you think God of War Ascension is worth the money or not.

The game is expected to be one of the final highlights on the PlayStation 3 along with GTA V before the PS4 arrives, although having said that there is now Dark Souls 2 apparently on the way to the PS3 as well, thus proving that the console is far from dead just yet.

As far as we’re aware, this is the first time that we’ve seen horse riding in the game as well, so that is an interesting feature that fans can expect to see when the game is out. We also see the emergence of a potential relationship between main character Joel and a woman named Tess.

Ellie features heavily throughout just like the previous reveals for the game, while there is also a glimpse of civilization as well in a busy town area which doesn’t appear to have been infected yet. Going back to GTA V though, is there possibly a danger of The Last of Us playing second fiddle to Rockstar’s game, since we know it will release during Spring 2013?

GTA V is arguably the most anticipated game ever across all platforms and PS3 users may not have time to consider The Last of Us if Rockstar decides to launch their game at the end of April. GTA is one of those types of games where users can play for hours on end, so is May 7 really the perfect time for The Last of Us to come out?

Of course, those gamers with a lot of time on their hands will simply pick up both games, but we have a feeling that most of you will only opt for one considering that the release windows between both massive games are now incredibly tight. If you have a PS3 and have been looking forward to The Last of Us since its initial reveal, let us know if you are now facing a dilemma over which game takes preference with GTA V in the mix.

The Last of Us is clearly going to be Naughty Dog’s final game on current-gen consoles, but will you delay playing it so you can concentrate on GTA V first?

Don’t worry, we’re going to go all Daily Mail on you as we actually think it’s a great idea that Naughty Dog are putting all this profanity in the game. When you are on the brink of survival and facing an angry mob of flesh eating individuals, it’s only natural for our two heroes to get all hot and bothered and let slip of the tongue right?

You may remember that the E3 demo shown featured a fair amount of profanity, but even Ellie is at it in a new trailer that Naughty Dog has shown off as part of Comic Con 2012. In it, we see also see a new character introduced called Bill – an individual who appears to have a past history with Joel and also takes an instant disliking to Ellie as he attempts to handcuff her.

There are obviously going to be some people who think that the no holds barred swearing is too much, but we say that it adds to the realism in what is already a fantastic looking storyline. The game is looking more like a hollywood movie by the day and we have to say that this is our favorite trailer for the game yet.

Take a look at the game yourself and let us know your thoughts on the frequent use of profanity. Do you agree that it adds to the ‘realism’ of the story and situation, or do you have other views?

Considering that the multiplayer portion inside Naughty Dog’s last game, Uncharted 3 has proved to be a hit with fans, Druckmann has confirmed the expected in saying that there will definitely be a multiplayer mode for The Last of Us.

While this shouldn’t really be a surprise to you, the following details might. He also revealed to Gaming Examiner that the main campaign mode won’t feature a two-player co-op mode, so you won’t be able to take control of Ellie as the other player controls Joel.

It also means that most of her actions in the game will be ‘scripted’, the word that has been flung around a lot on message boards, but don’t forget that it doesn’t rule out the possibility of co-op being included in a different part of the game. Naughty Dog may have a co-op mode in the pipeline as an alternative to multiplayer, but for the time being they are keeping Ellie AI-controlled only.

It would have been nice to ‘launch those bricks’ at the opponents ourselves, but it appears that this was just a slick move set up by Naughty Dog at the specific part of that level shown at E3. Given the amazing detail that Naughty Dog has gone to though in making Ellie a crucial part of your team, we say that it isn’t really an issue that you can’t control her anyway.

Joel is the main man in the game but as long as Naughty Dog shows more fine detail like those brick throwing elements, then we don’t really need co-op. As for multiplayer, expect a similar format to Uncharted 3 we imagine, but with more emphasis placed on melee combat and conserving those bullets.

What are your thoughts on this? Are you disappointed about a lack of campaign co-op, or is this a non-issue for you?

This new gameplay was saved until the very moment at E3′s keynote and after watching the clip during the event, we can see why. The Last of Us is easily the most anticipated game on the PS3 at the moment, or at least on par with Grand Theft Auto V which was notably absent from the event.

In the new footage, we see plenty of brutal action, plenty of swearing and an ending scene which leaves everyone wanting more. Joel and Ellie are now starting to become a lethal partnership and we even see Ellie hold her own when Joel lands himself in a bit of trouble.

During this year’s E3 we have seen a collection of games which are really going to push the boundaries of what is capable on current gen consoles – some of them may even end up on next-gen consoles. Star Wars 1313, Watch Dogs, the new Final Fantasy themed-tech demo all look great, but does The Last of Us top them in your opinion?

Sit back and enjoy this latest gameplay demo from the game. Don’t forget that it was recently confirmed that The Last of Us won’t be out in 2012 so it is going to be some time yet until we see the game hit shops. Aside from the excellent graphics on show here, it also seems to be the compelling storyline that seems to be winning fans over – would you agree with this?

2013 is shaping up to be a really exciting year. Who isn’t going to be buying The Last of Us on PS3?

Almost unexpectedly, Naughty Dog has given us a brand new trailer to enjoy right before E3 next month and once again it showcases the breathtaking graphics that seemingly defies what the PS3 is capable of. Personally, we’re struggling to find a better PS3 game that looks as good as The Last of Us does.

The trailer previews a truck ambush that takes place and if you have been paying attention to those stories regarding Ellie, you may notice that her appearance has been changed slightly to look a bit younger. The clip is short, but enough to leave you wanting more and those facial animations on the guy’s beard is something to behold for sure.

We still don’t know when The Last of Us will release, but we’re guessing that a release date will be given at E3 in June – at least we hope so. We have a feeling that given the sheer amount of game releases already scheduled for 2012, this will end up being one of Sony’s crown jewels for 2013 and the one exclusive that can really drive sales before the PS4 arrives.

Here’s a challenge for you – watch the trailer below and let us know if there is any current PS3 game that can challenge these visuals shown here. Ok it’s a shame that we still don’t have any actual gameplay, but these cut-scene teasers that Naughty Dog are dropping are mouth-watering to say the least.

There’s lots to get through, but before we carry on we must point out that if you carry on reading this you might read some spoilers. Before we get started with anything which may ruin the game for you let us just tell you that it has been confirmed that there will be some form of online game mode, nothing’s been detailed, but Naughty Dog’s game director Bruce Straley had this to say:

“We’re going to have some sort of online component, we’re working on a bunch of ideas, but we haven’t nailed anything down. We definitely know it’s going to be awesome.”

Over at NeoGAF they also suggest that the game will be released in late 2012 and the game’s main campaign is single-player, we hope that some sort of co-op online mode comes to the game, how about you?

If you’ve watched the trailer you will have seen the game’s two main characters, we now know that the young girl, Ellie, is 14 years old and lives in a military quarantine zone where she’s safe from the infection which is spreading across the world, she is said to be fascinated by what she regards as relics (books and CDs). The man we get to see in the video is Joel, he’s in his late 40′s and smuggles items into and out of the quarantine zone, he was asked by a dying friend to escort Ellie to a safe place, he does, but is caught and the game sees them both flee across the entire country.

You can see full details regarding all of the following spoilers here, in our article we will highlight some of the most interesting information.

It is thought that this game will have a mature rating, apparently swearing during combat won’t be a rare occurrence (especially from Ellie) and there will be quite a lot of blood and gore, also there’s plenty of hints suggesting that there will be follow-ups to this game, perhaps just like there were for Uncharted.

Here’s some other things we can confirm: the fungus can transfer by the air if the concentration is high enough, weapon selection effects the behavior of the enemy and if they see a friend die they may get frightened, melee-based combat will occur frequently as there aren’t many bullets, you can hit the enemy with bricks and planks and stun them, however if all else fails you can kill an enemy with one bullet. If you think you are about to die there will be health packs, but they take a while to use so use them wisely! Finally it is worth knowing that you won’t always be facing the infected, due to the lack of resources you will battle it out with scavengers – interestingly some humans you come across may help you.

As you can see we are finally beginning to build a picture of what to expect from The Last of Us, the lack of ammo, the intriguing enemy AI and the time it takes use a health pack should ensure that the campaign will be a tense affair, not to mention the fact that Gustavo Santaolalla is composing the game’s music (he has 2 Oscars, see his IMDB profile here). We think that Ellie’s AI is very important, apparently she will help during combat and become more useful as the game progresses – in our opinion if she became too much of a burden it could perhaps ruin the game’s fun-factor, so Naughty Dog’s developers will have to find the perfect balance.

Do you have any concerns about this game? Or will you buy it on its launch date due to Naughty Dog’s past? Let us know in the comments section below…

Let’s start with the obvious, The Last of Us is a PlayStation 3 exclusive which is being developed by Naughty Dog, expectations are very high following the success of the Uncharted franchise and many beleive that when it arrives in 2013 it will be the best-looking PlayStation 3 title of all-time. Wikipedia describes the game as a “third-person survival horror action-adventure”, one game which also falls into this specific genre is 2009′s Resident Evil 5.

There are two trailers which you need to watch, both of which have been embedded at the bottom of this post. The first of these is a teaser trailer which shows a real parasitoid fungus that infects ants, once infected the term zombie ants is widely used to describe them and eventually the ant will bite into the vein of a leaf and die with a stalk extending from the back of its head – nasty eh? Check out Wikipedia for more information about Cordyceps unilateralis.

The next trailer is made up of in-game footage, you get to see the two main characters and the enemy, also you get to see what looks like an eerily empty world. As many have mentioned it looks a lot like the 2007′s ‘I Am Legend’, a blockbuster movie which starred Will Smith.

We didn’t really pay too much attention to the trailer, well apart from drooling over the stunning graphics, but then we saw an interview with two guys from Naughty Dog (embedded at the very bottom of this page). One of the guys says the following:

“Keep watching the trailer over and over again, lots of clues and little teasers in there about what the game’s about, you will be finding out more in the coming months”

After hearing this quote we watched the trailer over and over in the hope of finding something exciting which we spotted, sadly we didn’t! But here’s a few thing which we have found:

The young female character is called Elly and many are pointing out that she looks a lot like Ellen Page. We don’t know the male character’s name (perhaps Noel) but some are saying that the male character looks like Viggo Mortenson. The voice actors playing these people are said to be Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson.

The game’s name, The Last of Us, suggests that to their knowledge they are the last normal people alive and ammo must be low as Elly seems extremely happy to find a few bullets from a fallen enemy. If you check out the screenshot below you will see that the enemy looks like a mutated human being with something growing from his face, it looks like a similar parasite to what the zombie ants get.

At the end of the video Elly says “this is our routine, day and night all we do is survive, in never lets up. He tells me how these streets were crowded with people just going about their lives, it must have been nice”, this suggests that the world has been like this for quite some time as Elly (presumably a teenager) has no recollection of a crowded world. Something which many YouTube viewers find interesting can be seen in the second video, at roughly 1 minute 44 seconds – you will see the main character seemingly seeking approval of Elly before cocking his gun, only after she nods does he cock it. Could this mean that Elly is more than just a young female character who has been dragged into this situation? So many questions and so few answers…

Check out all the videos below, can you spot any of the things which Naughty Dog describe as “clues and little teasers”? If so leave us a comment…