It is a heavy news day for fans of The Last of Us as we have received a small update regarding the upcoming multiplayer project, Neil Druckmann reveals who was almost cast as Ellie in The Last of Us movie, while he also dropped hints about what the show could cover. In other news PlayStation also announced a new accessibility kit for the PlayStation 5, and released some more details about PlayStation VR2.
Read all about this and more in our gaming news roundup.
Maisie Williams and Kaitlyn Dever were the choices for Ellie when The Last of Us was being developed as a film
During an interview in The Hollywood Reporter with the team behind the upcoming The Last of Us HBO series, they mentioned that before it was a series the game was being developed as a movie. The movie was set to be helmed by acclaimed horror director Sam Raimi, and the frontrunners to play Ellie were Maisie Williams and Kaitlyn Dever.
These choices are actually quite interesting. For Maisie Williams, she was in Game of Thrones as Arya Stark, like Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who play Joel and Ellie in the series respectively. Kaitlyn Dever has a history with Naughty Dog, playing Nathan Drake’s daughter, Cassie, in Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. She was also the frontrunner for the fan casting of the character as well as her younger self did look like Ellie in the first game. But the movie was never made, both actors aged out of the role and the series is coming to our screens later this month.
Naughty Dog has released new concept art for the multiplayer game set in the world of The Last of Us.
Celebrating 2023 as the tenth anniversary of The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann released a letter to the fans, which included some concept art for the upcoming multiplayer game. The concept art shows a dilapidated cruise ship, one that fits right in the world of the games. The buildings look similar to some of the buildings in the last level of The Last of Us: Part II, which took place in Santa Barbara, California.
What might be more interesting than the concept art is that he reveals that more information will be shared about the project later in the year, as well as some more surprises. In The Hollywood Reporter interview we mentioned above, he did say that he thinks that there is “more story to tell,” when talking about a potential third game in the series. So maybe we could get more information about The Last of Us: Part III later this year.
PlayStation is developing an accessibility kit for the PlayStation 5
In some wholesome news, Sony has revealed that they are developing an accessibility kit for the PlayStation 5, called Project Leonardo. This joins PlayStation’s long list of games designed with accessibility in mind, like the recent releases The Last of Us: Part I and God of War: Ragnarök. The kit was announced during their press conference at CES.
The kit was designed by accessibility experts and with feedback from the community. If you need an idea of how the kit works, as an example if a game requires to input button prompts you can configure the kit for two buttons to be on top of each other, requiring only one input. You can watch the video above to get an in-depth breakdown of what the kit does or read the blog post here to find out more.
Sony has released a first look at the upcoming Gran Turismo film
As a part of their CES press conference, Sony has released a first look at one of their upcoming adaptations of a hit PlayStation franchise, Gran Turismo. The film stars David Harbour, Orlando Bloom, and Archie Madekwe. The movie is an interesting take on the franchise, as it is not a story-heavy franchise. Instead, it will follow the races of a driver who won a gaming competition, granting him entry into real races.
In fact, the movie is based on the true story of Jann Mardenborough, who after winning the GT Academy competition, became a professional racing driver eventually competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The film is being directed by the director of District 9, Elysium, and Chappie, Neill Blomkamp, and it is scheduled to release in August 2023.
More details about the launch of PlayStation VR2 have been revealed including VR support for Gran Turismo 7
As the launch of the PlayStation VR2 is right around the corner, PlayStation has reiterated that 30 games will be available during its launch window during their CES press conference. Among the 30 games being touted for the launch lineup are No Man’s Sky, Resident Evil 8: Village, and Horizon: Call of the Mountain.
In addition to these games, it was also announced that a free update would be coming to 2022’s Gran Turismo 7, allowing players to experience the game with PlayStation VR2. But that was not all that they announced, Beat Saber, the popular virtual reality rhythm game is also coming to PlayStation VR2. Although, it was not mentioned that it would be coming as a free upgrade, so players might need to purchase the game again if they already bought the PlayStation VR version.
Sony announces that the PlayStation 5 has sold 30 million units
To cap off the PlayStation segment of the CES press conference, the current CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Jim Ryan, announced that the PlayStation 5 has sold over 30 million units. This number will only grow in 2023, as Ryan also announced that it will be easier to get your hands on a PlayStation 5 from here on out.
It also helps that we are only in the first few years of this new generation, and we still have plenty of first-party PlayStation games coming our way, like the games being developed at Naughty Dog, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 which is set to release in the fall. The PlayStation 4 had some very memorable PlayStation games, and it is likely that the PlayStation 5 will keep up that standard of quality which will undoubtedly be driving sales.
Come back tomorrow and read all the latest in gaming news.
