Naughty Dog Confirms The Last of Us Will Have Multiplayer

Now that The Last of Us has a release date, which was revealed at the VGAs along with the brand new trailer, Naughty Dog wants to make sure fans are aware of the various bonuses that are available to those who pre-order the game. Both the U.S. and EU PlayStation blogs give details of two kinds of pre-order bonus: the Sights and Sounds Pack, and the Survival Pack.

The Sights and Sounds Pack is available from “participating retailers” in both regions, and includes:

The official soundtrack of the game

A PS3 dynamic theme featuring the cover art

Two avatars for your PSN profile – Winter Joel and Winter Ellie

U.S. customers who pre-order through GameStop will receive the Survival Pack as well as the Sights and Sounds Pack, but it looks as if it's just one or the other in the EU. This pack includes:

Bonus experience points for multiplayer

A multiplayer melee attack booster

Some extra starting in-game cash

Special customizable character items for multiplayer

Two special bonus skins for Joel and Ellie which will be unlocked after your complete the single player campaign

And there's the big surprise, an outright confirmation of a multiplayer section to the game. Naughty Dog says the team isn't ready to talk about it yet, but will reveal more details before the launch of the game in May next year. Not much can be gleaned from the content listed above, either, other than that you'll be able to use melee attacks and will build up experience points.

Is the announcement of multiplayer – albeit one with few details – enough to offset the disappointment of yet another lame retailer-exclusive pre-order offer? Or do you think multiplayer is a poor fit for a game like The Last of Us, and is likely to be tacked on and poorly done?