HBO turns video game into a show!

An interesting bit of news today, as HBO announced it would make a television show out of the award winning video game The Last of Us

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Those who played this game probably remember feeling the overwhelming sensation of despair , the one word heard over and over when people described this game. The tragic story and several gut wrenching sad side stories will be forever burned into the memories of the gamers who played this game. But please don’t get me wrong, the game was fun to play, and the story was great. But it was the first year of PS4 realistic graphics and the game play made you feel like you were in the game, so all the emotions of the character were your emotions. The main character was complex and mysterious. His back story was tragic and although he is a good guy now, he keeps saying in reference to the bad guys “ I use to be one of them”. This point is stated multiple times and driven home by his ability to outwit groups of would be captors by anticipating what they would do...almost like he worked for the same boss or something. And he killed them. He killed them all. No survivors, no loose ends, no one to go back and report his strengths and weaknesses. He was the most ruthless good guy many gamers had seen up to then. He was loving and at times terrifying and out of control. And the most emotionally gripping thing was that he was played by you, the gamer. Thus combined with the way cutscenes melted into game play made it all the suspenseful and pulled you into the game. Gamers found it hard to put the game down. You needed to know what was in the house, in that basement, behind that fence...and you needed to know now. Not tomorrow, not Friday...now.

Additionally, the game was difficult on both an emotional level and gaming skill level with some unique game mechanics and cut scenes. Many times the cut scenes couldn’t be distinguished from live play, and more then once I was caught off guard by the return to live play. It none the less very very enjoyable game. And the year it came out it seemed like it the awards would never stop. The game story was well written, the game graphics were very realistic and close to the best possible at the time. The flashbacks in the game to explain the story were done very well. Plus the gameplay mechanics while new, were broadly liked. The game seemed to win awards in every category of game assessment. But it was emotionally draining and I still haven’t played the sequels. Those Gamers who were brave and hardy enough to have played the sequel have my respect.

To those who never played it is described thus;

The game tells the story of Joel, a divorced single father turned smuggler with a dark and tragic past, who is tasked with smuggling a 14-year-old girl named Ellie across a post-apocalyptic United States. The two struggle to stay alive in a dystopian world ravaged by the outbreak of a deadly disease that turns people into murderous monsters, similar to the “infected” wretches in the horror classic “28 Days Later. The Last of Us took the gaming world by storm on the PlayStation 3 in 2013, becoming one of that year’s best-selling titles. Its harsh, dramatic themes and cinematic gameplay made it a hit with critics and fans alike. A remastered version of the game, with better graphics, was released the following year on the PlayStation 4.
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According to this article Sony representatives said; HBO and Sony paired the game’s BAFTA award-winning writer, Neil Druckmann, with “Chernobyl” writer and executive producer Craig Mazin to bring the story to life on screen. Fans of the game celebrated the news online and “The Last of Us” was a trending topic on Twitter Thursday. It will be the first PlayStation video game to be turned into a TV series, according to an HBO spokesperson.

The Last of Us, I strongly recommend the game. It was great.

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Title: HBO turns video game into a show!