PlayStation has released a demo for The Last of Us Part Ito coincide with the premiere of HBO’s live-action adaptation of the game.
Now, PlayStation Plus Premium members can now download a two-hour trial of The Last of Us Part I, a remake of the original PS3 game, as part of their subscription. PlayStation Plus Premium starts at $21.99 CAD/month, while The Last of Us Part I costs $89.99.
HBO’s The Last of Us premiered on Sunday, January 15th, with the series streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada. It’s a direct adaptation of the first The Last of Us game and its Left Behind expansion — both of which are included in Part I. Neil Druckmann, the writer and co-director of the original PS3 game, serves as showrunner alongside Chernobyl‘s Craig Mazin.
In The Last of Us, a weary smuggler named Joel is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie across a zombie-infested America, facing all kinds of horrors along the way. The series stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Joel and Ellie, respectively. New episodes of the series premiere on Crave every Sunday at 9pm ET.
For more on The Last of Us, read our reviews of both the remake and the TV show and check out our interview with Druckmann, Mazin, Pascal and Ramsey. It’s also worth noting that the series was filmed in Alberta in what’s believed to be the biggest TV production in Canadian history.
HBO’s The Last of Us has been getting rave reviews for being not only one of the few quality live-action video game adaptations, but a genuinely good series in its own right. It’s even won over some cynics. By all accounts, the PlayStation game adaptation is looking to be the next tentpole HBO series alongside the likes of House of the Dragon, The White Lotus and Succession.
In many ways, then, the series serves as a showcase for the province as a whole — not just its vistas, but its talented crew members and actors. On top of that, the game has a sprawling story about a smuggler named Joel (Pedro Pascal) who must escort scrappy teen Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a zombie-infested U.S., so we get to see a variety of locations and climates.
With that in mind, here are some of the Alberta filming sites to keep an eye out for in The Last of Us:
Without getting into spoilers, the first episode of the series partially takes place years before the collapse of humanity, so we get to see a lot of normal residential areas. These scenes, which include Pascal, Nico Parker (Joel’s daughter, Sarah) and Gabriel Luna (Joel’s brother, Tommy), were filmed in Calgary.
The little Albertan town played host to The Last of Us in a big way. As co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin told us in an interview, Canmore was chosen for being a “dead ringer” for Jackson, Wyoming, a key setting involving Joel, Ellie and Tommy.
Separately, Pascal and Ramsey also both told us how Canmore was their favourite location out of the whole shoot, with the former saying “every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge.” (Alas, we didn’t have time for a follow-up question, so it’s currently unclear where, exactly, Pascal was getting his fudge.)
It remains to be seen which episode(s) will feature Canmore, but expect to see the “magical little town” pop up a bit later in the series.
Edmonton
Of course, the provincial capital also features in the show for a number of Boston locations, including the Alberta Legislature Building standing in for the city’s Capitol. You’ll first see Edmonton pretty quickly in the show — the first two episodes, specifically, in scenes with Pascal, Ramsey and Anna Torv (Joel’s friend Tess).
Fort Macleod
With a population of around 3,000, Fort Macleod is perfect for “small-town” scenes. In the case of The Last of Us, one of the key moments from the Texas-set prologue was shot here.
In our interview, Ramsey shouted out this snowy location, which was home to the production for a few days as a stand-in for Colorado.
Of course, this only touches on some of the many Alberta locations featured in The Last of Us, given that it was a major year-long production. Looking at even a few of these, though, makes it clear how much of a role the province played in bringing a beloved video game to life. In fact, Pascal even told us that he felt it was “essential” there, praising the crew and other locals.
“I feel like being there was essential to the experience — that we couldn’t have done it anywhere else,” said Pascal. “Physically, for one, but also for our crew and the warmth and the dedication and everybody really in it together and caring as much. There wasn’t a fraction of apathy in the entire experience, and honestly, it felt Canadian to me.”
The Last of Us will begin streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada on January 15th.
Developed by the company’s London mobile team in partnership with Vancouver’s Navigator Games (Iron Maiden: Legacy of the Beast), Avatar Generations is a free-to-play RPG set in the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender.
At launch, the game will retell Aang’s story from the Nickelodeon’s beloved animated series, with additional content updates adding chapters centred around The Legend of Korra and other characters.
You’ll be able to assemble a team of familiar faces, including Aang, Katara and Sokka, and face off in turn-based combat. Each character will have their own unique skills and progression paths.
Marvel Snap‘s long-awaited player vs. player (PvP) mode is finally set to launch on January 31st.
Developer Second Dinner confirmed the date in a new blog post regarding its first-ever ‘Series Drop,’ in which some Series 5 cards will move to Series 4 and Series 4 cards will become Series 3.
The launch of the ‘Battle Mode’ PvP feature is an exciting one, though, given that the game has lacked any such option since releasing in October. Until now, you’ve only been able to play online with random opponents, but PvP will allow you to set up private matches with friends.
Additionally, Battle Mode will only support matches between players in the same region to start. Global matchmaking will “come a bit later,” says Second Dinner.
Marvel Snap is available for free on Android and iOS.
Skull and Bones has been delayed for a staggering sixth time, Ubisoft has confirmed.
The open-world pirate game was most recently set to release on March 9th, 2023, but Ubisoft says it’s now simply slated to come sometime between now and early 2024.
The move comes amid a turbulent period for the French publishing giant. In a press release, Ubisoft acknowledged that it’s facing “major challenges,” including the cancellation of three unannounced games on top of the four it had axed last year.
The company also noted that its 2022 games — an unusually soft lineup that lacked new releases from such big franchises as Assassin’s Creed or Far Cry — “have not performed as well as expected.” Specifically, it points to the commercial underperformance of last fall’s otherwise well-received Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023, the latter of which being the latest entry in a historically popular annualized franchise.
As a result, the company is projecting a $537 million USD (about $721 million CAD) loss for the fiscal year ending in March 2023. This has led it to cut around $215 million USD (about $289 million CAD) in costs. According to Kotaku, these cost-cutting efforts include layoffs and renewing fewer contracts at some of the company’s U.S. locations. It’s unclear how this might affect any of the publisher’s many Canadian studios, including Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto.
Ubisoft’s rough patch, in part, stems from its ever-evolving production pipeline. Over the past few years, the company has been pivoting towards live service titles that continue to bring in players over long periods. One of its older games, 2015’s Rainbow Six: Siege, has been one of the most popular multiplayer games on the market, with over 70 million registered players.
While the company has still released some big-budget single-player games in the form of 2018’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, 2020’s Watch Dogs: Legion and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and 2021’s Far Cry 6, it’s been putting more of an emphasis on live service titles. This includes Assassin’s Creed Infinity, a future live service platform for multiple Assassin’s Creed games. Ubisoft even says it will be “the single entry point for fans into the Assassin’s Creed franchise in the future.”
Other Ubisoft live service games in the works include the arena shooter XDefiant and The Division Heartland. Meanwhile, it’s cancelled other online titles like Hyperscape and Ghost Recon Frontline.
For now, though, the company said in an emergency investor call, via Kotaku, that its release plans for the fiscal year beginning in April 2023 include Skull and Bones, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Assassin’s Creed Mirage and at least one more big unannounced title.
Each month, PlayStation offers a handful of games at no additional cost to its PlayStation Plus subscribers.
Now, PlayStation has revealed what’s coming to the Extra and Premium tiers of its PS Plus service in January. (This month’s list of Essential games can be found here.)
The following games are joining the Extra catalogue (which is also included with a Premium membership):
Back 4 Blood (PS4/PS5)
Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition (PS5)
Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS4)
Erica (PS4)
Jett: The Far Shore (PS4/PS5) [Canadian title — co-developed by Quebec’s Superbrothers]
Life is Strange (PS4)
Life is Strange: Before the Storm (PS4)
Just Cause 4 (PS4)
Just Cause 4: Reloaded (PS4/PS5)
Omno (PS4)
Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4)
Additionally, PlayStation Premium members can snag the following original PlayStation games:
Hot Shots Golf 2
Star Wars Demolition
Syphon Filter
All of these games will become available through PS Plus on January 17th.
PlayStation Plus Essential costs $11.99/month, Extra costs $17.99/month and Premium costs $21.99/month.
Microsoft says Xbox is now the first “carbon aware” console brand.
In a broader blog post about its sustainability efforts in gaming, the company revealed a new console update that will schedule game, app and OS updates at specific times during the maintenance window to reduce carbon emissions. This means your console will awaken when it can use the most renewable energy in your local energy grid, which, in turn, can save you money.
This functionality is now available to Xbox Insiders across Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S and will roll out to everyone in the future.
Additionally, Xbox consoles now automatically update to the energy-saving Shutdown power option, which reduces power consumption when your console is turned off. This adjustable setting cuts power use by up to 20 times versus when a console is in ‘Sleep’ mode. Citing calculations sourced from the U.S. government’s Environmental Protection Agency, Xbox says that for every two consoles that switch to Shutdown for one year, they’ll save the equivalent amount of carbon removed by one tree planted and grown for a decade.
Meanwhile, Xbox Insiders will also see a new ‘Active hours’ setting. If you opt to continue using the ‘Sleep’ option, you can adjust your console’s active hours so it will only be available for remote wake during this time. During the inactive periods, it will only consume 0.5 W, vs. the 10-15 W it uses while awake.
You can view your console’s full range of energy consumption features by visiting Settings > General > Power options.
All of these features are part of Microsoft’s larger efforts to become a carbon-negative, water-positive, and zero-waste company by 2030.
Xbox has announced that it will be holding its first games showcase on Wednesday, January 25th at 3pm ET/12pm PT.
Under a new format called ‘Developer_Direct,’ Xbox developers will offer deep dives into a small handful of games, rather than the sorts of E3-style events featuring dozens of titles. Windows Central first reported on the show earlier this week.
Specifically, Xbox is promising looks at:
The Elder Scrolls Online (ZeniMax Online Studios) — an unveiling of the 2023 Chapter Update (an ‘ESO Chapter Reveal Event’ will also take place immediately after Developer_Direct)
Forza Motorsport (Turn 10) — we’ll learn more about the next Forza game built from the ground up for Xbox Series X/S
Minecraft Legends (Mojang and Vancouver’s Blackbird Interactive) — an “insider’s look” into the PvP experience
Redfall (Arkane) — “several minutes” of gameplay from this vampire FPS will be shown
The Developer_Direct will be streamed to Xbox’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Additionally, Xbox confirmed that Starfield, the next game from Todd Howard’s The Elder Scrolls and Fallout team, will get its own standalone show in the future. All of the aforementioned games are set to release within the first half of 2023. Presumably, Xbox will keep with tradition and hold a major showcase in the summer (perhaps at E3) to outline what’s coming later this year and beyond.
The cloud-based handheld gaming device war is heating up.
First, there was Logitech’s G Cloud, and now, there’s Razer’s Edge cloud-based gaming handheld. At CES 2023, Razer confirmed the portable runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 platform, and that it will release on January 26th for $399.99 USD (roughly $537 CAD).
A 5G-compatible Verizon-exclusive version of the device will be available for $600 USD (about $806 CAD), but we likely won’t see it in Canada unless Razer forges a partnership with a carrier, alongside a ‘Founder’s Edition’ that costs $499 USD (approximately $672 CAD) that includes Razer’s Hammerhead wireless earbuds.
The gaming device itself looks a lot like a Razer Kishi V2 Pro controller with an Android 12-powered tablet attached to it (the tablet portion even detaches, just like if you were using the Kishi V2 Pro with a smartphone).
Other notable specs include a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate and a 2,400 x 1080 pixel resolution, 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage. The Edge also features a 5,000mAh battery, two mics and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.
While the tablet streams games from the cloud via Xbox Cloud Gaming, Epic Games and Nvidia GeForce Now, it can also run Android games and apps locally because it’s Android 12-based.
The Razer Edge is available to pre-order now with a $5 USD (about $6.72 CAD) deposit.
At CES, Razer also revealed its Leviathan V2 Pro soundbar with head-tracking AI technology. You can find all of our coverage from CES 2023 here.
The prestige TV network has invested a Game of Thrones-esque budget of at least $100 million USD (about $135.9 million CAD) into the show, signifying its interest in the PlayStation video game adaptation. It also hails from award-winning creators Neil Druckmann (one of the game’s original lead developers) and Craig Mazin (the mind behind Chernobyl).
That’s all been covered quite extensively, but what you might not know is that the entire series was shot in Alberta over the course of a year. In fact, it’s that Canadian filming location that star Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, is saying was “essential” to the whole production.
“The Canadian crew that we had was so wonderful. They were so consistently passionate throughout the whole year. There was never a moment where it felt like no one wanted to be there. Even on the really hard, long nights we spent shooting, everyone was so pleased to be there and passionate about the work we were collectively creating.”
“I feel like being there was essential to the experience — that we couldn’t have done it anywhere else,” adds Pascal. “Physically, one, but also for our crew and the warmth and the dedication and everybody really in it together and caring as much. There wasn’t a fraction of apathy in the entire experience, and honestly, it felt Canadian to me.”
The Last of Us follows Joel, a grizzled survivor who’s tasked with transporting Ellie across a post-pandemic U.S. on a critical mission. The story spans all four seasons, making Alberta the perfect setting to capture all types of weather.
For more from Pascal and Ramsey, as well as Druckmann, Mazin and actors Gabriel Luna and Merle Dandridge, check out our full feature.
HBO’s The Last of Us will premiere in Canada exclusively on Crave on January 15th.
