Naughty Dog has revealed that double Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla is composing the music for upcoming PS3-exclusive The Last Of Us.

The news came during a presentation at the studio's Santa Monica HQ on Monday, where the full version of the game's main theme - a section of which features at the end of the reveal trailer - was played to press.

"He's awesome," said Neil Druckmann, creative director and writer on The Last Of Us. "He picks and chooses what he works on; he could work on all these big movies. We brought him in here, showed him the game, walked him through the whole story and what we're trying to do, and he said 'I want to be a part of this'."

The Argentine composer won back-to-back Academy Awards for Best Score for his work on Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Babel (2006).

The main theme is acoustic guitar-led, an arpeggiated figure in a minor key over tribal percussion, building to a dissonant climax of fiercely-strummed chords.

"With this music we're trying to get emotion. We're not going for horror," Druckmann explained.

 "There's going to be horrific things happening in this game, but that's not the focus of it. The monsters aren't the focus of it, it's the relationship between Joel and Ellie."

Source:  http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-12-13-the-last-of-us-scored-by-oscar-winner-gustavo-santaolalla

the game has also been demoed to the press yesterday, there should be more details about it soon.

I wish they could leave filmmaking to Hollywood.

I hate what's happening to HD gaming. If I buy a game I want to play a good video game, not being forced to artificially press some buttons to be allowed to watch scenes from a movie.

i guess it's just not for you then. i like story driven games, and i am very excited for this.

there must be other games out there you can be excited for.

can't wait!
although from 'some' things I'm reading I'm getting a Heavy Rain 2 sorta feel

The vast majority of video games focus on gameplay rather than story. Can't you play one of those games, and stop complaining about diversity in gaming?

It's not diversity when all big games in this generation go for this ultra-directed cinematic presentation and simplistic gameplay. Games becoming interactive movies without people even realising it.

Even Skyrim is polluted by this phenomenon.

You can always buy a Wii.

Personally ever since I started gaming I've always wanted gaming to evolve to include interactive cinematic games. I like gamey games and I like story driven games, and all points in between. But the games I like best are the ones with characters I care about, whose story I feel a part of. Uncharted, Valkyria Chronicles and Heavy Rain deliver, and others besides. And if The Last of Us can go one better then bring it on!

I like what I'm hearing , I'm officially hyped now, it seems to be my kind of game, perhaps something between Heavy Rain and ICO !
The industry is in need for more masterpieces that focus more on the depth of things in the story , not just a series of events happening ( 97% of games ? ).

Yes, it's one reason why I'm looking at the Wii (and 3DS).

I often want games with strong story too, with characters I care about but there are ways to make them without dumbing down gameplay and turning them into interactive movies. Half-Life 2 instead of Call of Duty.

For once, Slimebeast, I totally get what you're saying.

Games with lore (Dragon Age, Metroid, etc. ) allow you to become totally absorbed in the story if you choose to do so. In Half-Life the story progresses without taking away anything from the gameplay. It happens naturally and doesn't make you think, ''Oh, probably there will be another cut scene around the corner''.

The question is whether the gameplay experience will be jeopordized or not. I think Uncharted suffers a little bit in that department - it feels a little on rails, and I for one don't like that.

If the gameplay contains enough degrees of freedom (an openly explorable city would do it) then I'd be a convert. Unfortunately we don't know anything about the gameplay yet, yet we are supposed to get excited about this 'relationship' between the two main characters. Makes me roll my eyes a little bit, but it's ok I guess.

Coming from Naughty Dog though, this one deserves our faith.