The Last of Us Update Phone Sex Numbers

As promised, Naughty Dog and Sony have released a patch for The Last of Us that removes a few real phone numbers from a wall texture. Those phone numbers were initially thought insignificant by the developers — as they use the 555-XXXX formula — but it turns out they actually directing dialers to a phone sex hotline.

Luckily, as soon as news broke of the phone sex scandal, Naughty Dog was quick to respond, promising that a patch was already in the works. And now it has arrived.

While fixing a wall texture is all well and good (and a smart move on Naughty Dog's part), the update also includes some improvements for the game's multiplayer. Some of the multiplayer improvements include better host migration, camera fixes for some introductory cutscenes, a reduction in match selection voting time, and players can now select Explosion Expert Level 2.

Naughty Dog has also made a change whereby players will only advance one "Clan Day" if they are kicked from a match or leave through the menu. Before, clan days would also advance if players disconnected or lost connection to the host.

Here's a full list of patch notes:

  • Single player
    • Texture of a phone number on a bulletin board changed
  • Multiplayer

Technical

  • Host migration has been improved. Losing connection to the host during a migration should occur less often
  • General crash when leaving multiplayer fixed
  • Intro camera fix for some introductory cut-scenes
  • Connectivity issues while playing have been tuned
  • If you disconnect or lose connection to the host, you will no longer advance a clan day. You will only advance a day if you are kicked from the match, or exit through the menu

Gameplay

  • Explosion Expert level 2 should be selectable now
  • The voting time for match selection has been reduced to 15 seconds
  •  “No party” playlist options have been added to both Supply Raid and Survivors, players can only join this playlist solo
  • Melee against a downed character now uses the same range as normal melee

While The Last of Us' multiplayer might not be the "best ever," it certainly is something unique. More importantly it's a logical extension of the single player narrative, or at least it tries its best to recreate that pacing and tone against real-life opponents.

And obviously, the multiplayer is still somewhat of a work-in-progress as with any game's online component. That isn't to say it's significantly broken — in fact, it's pretty great — just that there may still be a few areas that Naughty Dog would like to improve.

As well, the developer is likely hard at work on downloadable content for The Last of Us. The single player DLC is said to trade Joel and Ellie for new characters and a new storyline. Aside from that, though, we don't know much.

Have you experienced any noticeable improvements in The Last of Us multiplayer? Is there anything you hope will be addressed in the next update?

The Last of Us is out now for the PS3.

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Source: Naughty Dog