This undated publicity photo provided by Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America shows a scene from the video game, "The Last of Us." (AP Photo/Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America)
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This undated publicity photo provided by Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America shows a scene from the video game, "The Last of Us." (AP Photo/Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America)
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Clouds roil over the White House in Washington on the morning of Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, as Washington has less than 48 hours to avert the “fiscal cliff,” a series of tax increases and spending cuts set to take hold on Jan. 1. Republican and Democratic negotiators in the Senate were hoping to reach a deal to avoid going over the cliff on Sunday. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
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FILE - This Dec. 3, 2012 file photo shows Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry stands tall as President Barack Obama's good soldier. The lawmaker from Massachusetts has quietly jetted off to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times to tamp down diplomatic disputes that threatened to explode in the administration's face, spending hours on tea and walks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai or delicate negotiations in Islamabad. It's a highly unusual role for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman: envoy without a specific portfolio. Kerry has pushed the White House's national security agenda in the Senate, with mixed results. He successfully ensured ratification of a nuclear arms reduction treaty in 2010 and most recently failed to convince Republicans to back a U.N. pact on the rights of persons with disabilities. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012 file photo, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks during Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's annual birthday fundraiser in Altoona, Iowa. Rubio and other prominent Republicans are calling for a sweeping review of how to prevent tragedies like the Newtown, Conn., massacre. For years, Republicans have adhered fiercely to their bedrock conservative principles, resisting Democratic calls for tax hikes, comprehensive immigration reform and gun control. Now, seven weeks after an electoral drubbing, some party leaders and rank-and-file alike are signaling a willingness to bend on all three issues. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
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People watch early election results displayed on a utility lift suspended from the front of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center New York, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
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President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden acknowledge the crowd at his election night party Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Chicago. President Obama defeated Republican challenger former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney delivers his concession speech at his election night rally in Boston, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
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A news dealer sells copies of his papers on New York's Upper West Side, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. President Barack Obama won Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, Iowa, New Hampshire, Colorado and Nevada, seven of the nine battleground states. Romney captured only North Carolina. The final swing state ó Florida ó remained too close to call. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
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FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2012 file photo, House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio meets with reporter on Capitol Hill in Washington. A barrage of negative ads, more than $2 billion in spending and months of campaign stops come down to this reality: Americans will wake up Wednesday with likely the same divided Congress it had that past two years. Republicans are poised to keep their hold on the House, Democrats are most likely to narrowly hold the Senate. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2012 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. A barrage of negative ads, more than $2 billion in spending and months of campaign stops come down to this reality: Americans will wake up Wednesday with likely the same divided Congress it had that past two years. Republicans are poised to keep their hold on the House, Democrats are most likely to narrowly hold the Senate. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
'Last of Us' video game undeterred by violence
LOS ANGELES (
AP) — The creators of "
The Last of Us" aren't planning to tone down the post-apocalyptic video game's violent content, including a young, knife- and gun-wielding girl.
Neil Druckmann, the game's creative director, said the developers at Naughty Dog in Santa Monica, Calif., won't alter "The Last of Us," which features 14-year-old Ellie as one of the protagonists, in light of recent real-world violence, including the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The PlayStation 3 survival-adventure game casts players such as Joel, a gruff middle-aged survivor of a worldwide outbreak, who's tasked with protecting Ellie. Throughout "The Last of Us," the girl serves as a shrewd accomplice who guides Joel through abandoned buildings, gathers supplies and assists him in thwarting enemies.
"For us, everything in the game is necessary for the story," said Druckmann in a recent interview. "The reason Ellie is that age and the violence is that brutal is because of what we're saying with the story. You have to buy into the conflict and desperation these characters live under. If you remove any of those elements, the story suffers, and that's why we would never do it."
Some critics argued "The Last of Us" was glorifying violence after early footage of the game showed Ellie stabbing a hostile human survivor in the back, followed by Joel shooting him in the face with a shotgun. The cover for "The Last of Us," which is scheduled for release May 7, features both Ellie and Joel armed with guns.
"For someone like Ellie, because this is the only world she's ever known, things we would find horrific and that would probably scar us for life are just everyday occurrences for her," said Druckmann. "She can still, in a way, keep some of her innocence because of that. She pulls the humanity out of Joel, and this is really a coming-of-age story for Ellie."
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Online:
http://thelastofus.com/
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.
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