PlayStation Blogcast 025: The Last of Us Explore the Future of Oddworld

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PlayStation Blogcast 025: The Last of Us Explore the Future of Oddworld

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With Jeff and Rey in L.A. for pre-E3 activities, and Nick still wandering his ancestral homelands in Africa, I preside over today’s somewhat more intimate show. Luckily, I roped in PSN Sr. Community Manager Matthew Harper to share his eye-opening Origin Story, which provides some helpful tips for those of you who have wondered how to break into game development.

We kick off with a late-breaking interview featuring Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley from Naughty Dog, the creative director and game director of upcoming PS3 survival epic The Last of Us. If you’ve wondered how the game will play compared to UNCHARTED, or how Naughty Dog is handling the game’s decidedly mature themes, today’s shows will provide the answers you need.

Then we shift gears for a detailed discussion with Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning and Just Add Water CEO Stewart Gilray. The pair provide insight into the upcoming PS Vita version of Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath HD, discuss how PSN’s indie-minded model has reinvigorated the seminal series, and lay out their plans for world domination.

And as always, we reveal next week’s PSN game lineup, share a selection of new user questions and tips, and provide a head-scratching new Mystery Theme.

Stuff We Talked About

Official PlayStation.Blogcast - Sid ShumanJeff Rubenstein

Matthew HarperOfficial PlayStation.Blogcast: Rey Gutierrez

The Cast

  • Sid Shuman – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Specialist
  • Jeff Rubenstein – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Manager
  • Matthew Harper – Sr. Community Manager, PSN
  • Rey Gutierrez – PlayStation Sr. Social Media Specialist
  • [Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game
    details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating
    descriptions.]

    Comments are closed.

    58 Comments

    5 Author Replies

    • Wonderful! Gonna listen right now.

    • i thought Ghost Recon: Future Soldier was coming to PSN on tuesday as well?

    • When is Retro City Rampage coming out!?!

    • I love this podcast. Keep it up! Also, BEYOND! :D

    • I’m about to listen. I saw a Just Add Water dev tweet @yosp the other day about meeting up so let’s hope that means the Vita version of the Oddbox is close to completion

    • What’s up with the statement, “Nick still wandering the primordial plains of Africa…?” Sounds very ignorant and disrespectful.

    • I have only one question where is (EiGHT DAYS) PS3 exclusive it was annonced in 2006?
      THANKS….

    • So happy I can finally play the games Jeff Rubenstein and his wife have worked so hard on! I can play Minis on my Vita now!! ;)

    • Yes! Moar podcasts! And please tell me that that you made “Stranger’s Wrath HD” your PSN gem of the week, $15 for a full retail game is great

    • @7 That game was cancelled…

    • Excited to hear about the Oddworld stuff! Stranger’s Wrath for PSN was an absolutely brilliant remake.

    • Dragonslayer_023

      “At-lee-air Ma-ru?”

      What’s important is that you weren’t afraid to try.

    • Speaking of Minis on Vita, what is the update on Velocity? It’s 93 on Metacritic at the moment but can’t be played on Vita in the US. Unbelievable! This is exactly the sort of pick up and play game that perfectly complements the Vita and should be used to push the system.

      Happy to hear The Unfinished Swan is coming to PSN this year. Hope to see more indie announcements soon. Ibb and Obb, Dyad, Retro/Grade, Machinarium? There should be one or two good exclusive indie games coming out every month. Where are they?

    • This is the earliest i have come in order to download a podcast.
      ROBUST!!!!

    • I’ll be blunt, I don’t believe for a second that the second wave of psp and mini titles is coming next week. If that’s the case, why didn’t they announce it two days ago. They could’ve easily stated coming next week, here are the games and avoided much of the justified criticism heaped on them. Don’t even know what to say anymore, sony’s communication skills are awesomely BAD.

    • Where is Pure Chess for PSV? It had a release date of 22nd for NA. Its already out in the EU.

    • @15 Two days ago in a blog post they posted that additional minis and PSP games would be coming soon. They even listed the games. Today they are giving the actual day. I am sure they are giving us the information when it is available, if they would have been able to confirm the actual date two days ago, they probably would have.

      So basically from your criticism, they did everything you wanted except give you an exact date.

    • Ghost Recon: Future Soldier on psn tuesday?

    • Gnordy, I’ll believe it when I see it. Atm, I don’t believe it. I don’t believe a single thing coming out of this blog anymore. One hand doesn’t seem to know what the other hand is doing. They’re like a bunch of chickens running around with their heads cut off.

      Gee, did we say rayman origins was going to be $15?! PJM deluxe on the vita? Say what? On the 15th? Here, we’ll look into that for you, wink, wink.

    • sooo… what exactly is blogcast about ?

    • is the song from one of the gran turismo games?

    • I just starting playing catch up on this. I’m at #11 and climbing fast. I really like the what are we playing portion of the show. All the talk about Heavy Rain made me finally want to get it out of my backlog. I do want to however disagree with your “Move is the only way to play the game” opinion. The only part of it that move makes easier is the text selection only because it makes it stop dancing around the way it does for the controller. Moving the character around is painful.

      Maybe my mistake was playing La Noire first. But I think the controls need work, but the story is wonderful.

    • All I can say about next weeks PSN update is PLEASE TAKE MY MONEY

    • love it.

    • seems ilogical to do it here but o well… BEYOND!! keep up the good work guys! I LISTEN TO 2 PODCAST now! i have been listening to this one since day 1 and will not stop listening to it :D

    • Good episode but it needed some more Jeff and Rey…. Sid was having too much fun having the podcast almost all to himself! ;)

    • Really excited about the work being done with the Oddworld series. Picked up Stranger’s Wrath HD the day it hit, plan on getting it for Vita as well, and have all of the PS1 Classics. Can’t wait for the rest especially Munch’s Oddesey which is my all time favorite of the series. I really loved that game and can’t wait to play it again in it’s HD glory.

      Also FINALLY Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is coming!

    • Dr. Who the eternity clock, is coming to the vita June 13th. They did not mention that, so if you’re interested in the vita version, that’s the date.

      I’m a bit bummed that so little work has been done on stranger’s wrath for the vita. They’ve only been working on it for five weeks according to the blogcast. What gives? They’re adding 3d and move functionality to the ps3 version. The vita, more and more is like the red-headed stepchild. Ignored and cast off to the side. I’m not double dipping on stranger’s wrath. I buy it on the vita or I don’t buy it.

      What is it going to take for companies to start taking the vita seriously?

    • Well, finally some good news for the vita, Sly Cooper 4 Thieves in Time will be getting a vita version day and date with the ps3 version of the game this fall featuring cross save functionality. This needs to become standard for sony. About effin time.

    • I believe the guy from Wisconsin that tested the game for them was Glenn from psnation.org because he talked about it on their podcast

      btw I have been listen since they very first episode you guys are doing a great job the only thing that I can request is to make show longer

    • Guys, please hurry and make the Mini Velocity PS Vita compatible on the US.

    • + Sid Shuman on May 17th, 2012 at 11:45 pm said:
      We did reveal that more are on the way earlier this week, here’s the post: https://blog.playstation.com/2012/05/15/more-psp-titles-and-minis-coming-to-ps-vita-starting-today/

      Don’t play me for a fool, sid, absolutely no mention that the rest would be coming may 22nd and there’s a 7 page thread of comments in that posting with not one single word from the ps blog team that that would be the case. We’re not stupid. Two days later and mysteriously, out of nowhere the coming soon games are out on may 22nd. Only two options here, either you’re misinformed or sony doesn’t have a clue how to communicate to its customer base. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you guys don’t know how to run a business. It’s like I’m communicating with a bunch of kids running their first business venture. I’m not your buddy, I’m not your fellow gamer, I’m a consumer wanting some reliable info. Is that too much to ask?

    • Once again, my comments are being moderated. Why don’t you just ban me, if you’re going to censor me. Dissenting opinions not allowed in our happy playstation universe, is that the gist. I still have yet to receive an answer regarding the pjm deluxe vita fiasco. Any takers on that one, anyone? Hmm?

    • I Apluad NAUGHTY DOG,for thier trying too bring us a different experience through gameplay interaction and what would i do senerios,SILENCEcan be ERRIE,dont get me wrong i love all styles of game play and epic titles that stay within thier comfort zones,karate chops,throwing spears,falling cubes to gun games,im in. thank you to playstation blog and every one involved with this prodution. looking forward to next time.

    • I’m not teasing or anything but Matthew you sound just like Solid Snake XD (made my day). Anyways….. I was wondering what are you guys anticipating from E3 this year? And thank you for inviting Sna… I mean Matthew Harper because I loved hearing his origin story which would help people like me in my future career.

      Thank you :D

    • I was wondering if you knew what kind of social media monitoring technology that Sony uses on the PSN side of their business. I had played with Radian 6 in school and was just interested.

    • Oddworld… we need some Oddworld something in PlayStation All-Star Battle Royale. Anyhoo…

      I love Oddworld, and can’t wait for Stranger’s Wrath on PS Vita, Munch’s Odyssey HD and Abe’s Oddyssey HD. <3 And I can't wait for whatever the series is doing in the future.

    • MP_is_for_Chumps

      who needs faceboock, eh?

    • MP_is_for_Chumps

      *facebook

      also disappointed the latest Last of us Trailer is still not on PSN :(

    • @massmodo, your kinda starting to get annoying. why dont you just get off the blog for a day, and figure something out for us vita owners, not to complain.

    • The Oddworld Strangers Wrath control ideas sound horrible using the back touch for melee is a terrible move

    • Loved the Lorne Lanning and Stewart Gilray interview. Lorne is an awesome guy and I haven’t heard honesty like that in a while.

    • Hey, buddy, I’ve been bugging this blog for an ignore poster function for a while. You got a problem, take it up with them, not me.

    • Great episode guys. I really liked the strangers wrath portion of the show. Very interesting and great group of guys. I wanna checkout that game and download it now. Gonna have to give it a shot and show these guys some support. Keep up the good work blogcast team. I <3 listening to the blogcast and look forward to it every week.

    • Love the Abe section! There are many games I’d love to play and it would be perfect if they were available for the Vita. I’m definitely getting Stranger’s Wrath on Vita once available! Obviously can’t wait for Last Of Us.

    • Zoryu_of_Setsuna

      20
      + PainOfSarrow

      It’s basically a “Podcast”, just on a Blog. “Blogcast”.

    • Zoryu_of_Setsuna

      20
      + PainOfSarrow

      Just listen to it and you’ll get the idea of what it’s about.

    • Aright Matthew Harper. Your description of Community Manager really resonated with me. It reminds me of my experience as a student org leader. It sounds like a fun job, if you are the right kind of person. Which I am, I love that stuff. I’m redirecting my career path and origin stories like yours are really helpful for someone like me who is having difficulty blending a social science within a down economy.

      Any advice on resume builders the gaming industry is looking for? I’d assume running/moderating a blog and writing game reviews? I’m currently fishing out an internship under a communications manager, but why stop at just that? I’m sure others here are as interested in breaking into the industry as me, so I’ll just have to beat them to it.

    • I see that you guys are coming to pensacola fl is going to be at deluna which I looked up is a concert. How am I going to find you guys? Do I have to pay for admission to the concert or can I just go straight to you guys? I don’t know where or who to ask this so if someone would help me find out where I would be very grateful. I would like to start making plans now.

    • nothing on this to commet but , please sony band cheaters by playstation if they had to waste 300 bucks everytime they get caught they mit be less cheaters , game SOCOM confrontation all games really . youtube has most of it posted . youtube should tell you when they post so u can get the ones who are hacking you . well heres two from about 7:30 pm here ( Fastyy , l-zpsychotlc-l ) they was laughing at sony saying easy cheat and sony dont care . i done believe that . well thanks ACE

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