The Last of Us takes the big prize (and many others) at the Oscars of video games

By Adam Rosenberg February 7, 2014

film version last us way the of nominee

The Last of Us is the best game of 2013 in 10 different categories – including Game of the Year – according to the top developers, industry leaders, and creative types making up the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Naughty Dog’s latest scored 12 nominations in all for the 2014 D.I.C.E. Awards when the nominees were announced in January. The two categories it lost in – Best Online Game and Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering – went to World of Tanks and Grand Theft Auto V, respectively.

“Tonight’s big winner, The Last of Us, is a prime example of how today’s modern video game studios expertly blend art, game play, and storytelling to transcend the traditional notion of video games,” AIAS president Martin Rae said in a statement. “This year’s winners range from deep, story-driven epics and massive interactive worlds to realistic sports action and engaging mobile experiences. They paint a broad picture of the new golden age we’re currently experiencing in the video game industry.”

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The easiest explanation for the D.I.C.E. Awards is that it’s the Oscars of video games. Much like Hollywood’s most prestigious annual awards show, all category nominees and winners at the D.I.C.E. Awards are chosen by peer developers and developer-types. The roughly 20,000 members come from a variety of development disciplines, from game design to localization.

The night’s other big winners included two awards apiece for BioShock Infinite (Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Musical Composition) and Plants Vs. Zombies 2 (Casual Game of the Year and Mobile Game of the Year), one for Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons in the Downloadable Game of the Year category, and one for FIFA 14 as the Sports Game of the Year. Notably, this year marks EA Canada’s fifth consecutive win in the sports category.

Other notable moments for the evening included a Pioneer Award win for Eugene Jarvis, creator of classic coin-op arcade games like Defender, Smash TV, NARC, Cruis’n USA, and the prototypical twin-stick shooter Robotron: 2084. The evening also featured a rare appearance from Rockstar Games founders Dan and Sam Houser, and Leslie Benzies, who were inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.

We’ve got plenty of cool info coming from our time at the annual D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas. Stay tuned for more soon. And hey… if you haven’t played The Last of Us, then you probably should. We hear it’s a pretty big deal.

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Action Games

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

Entertainment

The Last of Us TV show will return for Season 2 at HBO

Ellie stares at Joel and Tess in the The Last of Us TV show.

HBO has confirmed that the critically acclaimed The Last of Us TV show will return for a second season.
This announcement comes from a tweet posted after only two of the series' episodes have aired. That said, the show garnered critical acclaim, broke some HBO viewership records, and doesn't yet appear to incorporate many plot elements from The Last of Us Part II, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the series is continuing. According to the tweet, the second season of the show will air on HBO Max (or whatever that service ends up becoming later this year).
https://twitter.com/TheLastofUsHBO/status/1619017515581018112
No release window, story, or casting announcements were made in relation to The Last of Us Season 2, although that isn't very surprising as the show's first season is still airing. That said, it seems extremely likely that it would follow the plot of The Last of Us Part II, which sees Ellie go on a quest for revenge after an extremely traumatic event that we won't spoil here. While the second game in this series proved to be much more divisive than the first, there's certainly no shortage of dramatic moments and intriguing plot developments for Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin to adapt to television in another season. The Last of Us is currently airing on HBO and streaming on HBO Max every Sunday night. Digital Trends gave the series a four-star review, with Alex Welch writing that The Last of Us is a "lovingly made, often emotionally riveting adaptation of what is one of the most treasured titles in video game history."

Gaming

New art for The Last of Us multiplayer spinoff teases its seaside setting

The second piece of The Last of Us multiplayer concept art shows two players walking toward a beached yacht.

Naughty Dog reaffirmed that it will share more details about The Last of Us' multiplayer game this year and released new concept art for it. The image gives a better sense of its setting, with a massive boat serving as a key set piece.
The new image shows two players as they approach a giant beached yacht. Rusted vehicles, palm trees, and a flooded street surround them, suggesting that this is in some sort of seaside town. Earlier concept art for the game seemed to indicate a San Francisco setting, though it's unclear if the new image is from the same location.
While Naughty Dog hasn't commented on exactly what exactly this concept art is supposed to show, it seems like this is one of the maps where players will be able to fight the Infected and potentially other players. It also looks reminiscent of some of the final areas of The Last of Us Part II.
This reassurance of its development and concept art came as part of a blog post on Naughty Dog's website today meant to kick off the series' tenth anniversary. "With a team led by Vinit Agarwal, Joe Pettinati, and Anthony Newman, the project is shaping up to be a fresh, new experience from our studio, but one rooted in Naughty Dog’s passion for delivering incredible stories, characters, and gameplay," Neil Druckmann writes in the blog post.
This multiplayer game has been a long time coming, as it was originally meant to release alongside The Last of Us Part II but was separated to become a standalone release. We haven't heard that much about it since then, only getting some concept art at Summer Game Fest 2022. As this new concept art looks like it's from a very different location than the previous art, it seems like this multiplayer game could have multiple maps.
While it still doesn't have a release window, we should hear more about it by the end of 2023.

Gaming

From The Last of Us to Immortality, these are 2022’s most innovative games

A video game character standing in front of text that says 2022 Most Innovative Games.

What makes the video game industry so exciting is that it’s still relatively young. Developers are still routinely discovering new ways to turn the medium on its head, redefining the idea of what a game is by bucking against trends. Though major productions like God of War Ragnarok are no doubt impressive, the most groundbreaking titles are often the less obvious ones.

That was the case in 2022, which saw developers entirely deconstructing some fundamentals about games. In some cases, that was expressed through new approaches to gameplay, creating experiences that are unlike anything I’ve ever seen from the medium. Others were even more high-level, challenging us to think about who certain projects are for. From a massive remake project to the tiniest action game, these were some of 2022’s most innovative games.
The Last of Us Part I