httpv://youtu.be/ewB12Y_rqd0

As far as video games are concerned The Last of Us easily won Comic-Con 2012. With its reveal of a new character and in-depth look at the world and character interactions, Naughty Dog's survival action title left us more than itching to delve deeper. Unfortunately, as opposed to events like E3 or PAX, Comic-Con requires a certain amount of dedication in order to participate in that closer look because panels fill up fast.

Thankfully Sony has chosen to release footage from their panel for The Last of Us to help gamers get a greater understanding of the world in the game, and to get better sense of the characters of Joel, Ellie, and newcomer Bill. Unfortunately, the panel recap doesn't feature any of the gameplay footage and commentary that dominated a good portion of the panel, but for information on that you can read our preview.

Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie, also talked about working with the motion capture suits that have become a trademark of Naughty Dog's development process. One thing that's important to note is that the developer doesn't map the faces of their actors, but hand animates them. It's a time consuming process, yes, but it also helps them overcome that "uncanny valley" problem you get in most games.

One of the most interesting things we learned from the panel was the inspiration for the viral outbreak that leaves the city in The Last of Us in a state of decay. While they still won't exactly say what the infection is they did say it is partly inspired by a fungus that causes a species of ant to become almost zombie-like, infecting other ants via a cloud that bursts from their head. Early trailers for the game have shown a similar type of growth on the heads of the "zombies" in this game as well.

As one of the standout titles from both E3 2012 and Comic-Con, The Last of Us continues to impress both with closer looks at its deeply moving gameplay and explanations of the world Naughty Dog has created. From our perspective it looks amazing.

Will The Last of Us be able to live up to the hype slowly being generated for it? How would you like to see Naughty Dog incorporate the viral outbreak?

The Last of Us is slated for a 2013 release on the PS3.

Source: PlayStation Blog Europe