Lead Artist Nate Wells Leaves Naughty Dog for Giant Sparrow

In another departure from Naughty Dog, lead artist Nate Wells announced on Twitter that he had left the developer for the team behind The Unfinished Swan, Giant Sparrow. The news comes after former lead writer Amy Henning and game director Justin Richmond left the The Last of Us dev for other avenues. It's been confirmed that Hennig acquired a gig at EA for Visceral Games' upcoming Star Wars game, while Richmond landed at League of Legends team Riot Games.

Wells joined up with Naughty Dog back in August 2012, after a 13-year stint at Irrational Games. Within those two years were ten months working on The Last of Us. It's a strong possibility that Wells will assist in Giant Sparrow's latest project, first announced as Edith Finch, but then re-announced as "Unfinished Giant Sparrow Project." To quote the developers, "it's not a sequel to the Unfinished Swan, but it's not a million miles away either."

Until we hear from Naughty Dog on the matter, all I can say is - What the hell's going on over there?

Sources -- Wells' Twitter, Joystiq

 

MountieGamesCast Episodes 3 - 4: Rifting Threats and Skeleton School

Above unrelated, I just like Log Horizon

We're back to fill your little earholes with random gaming crap once more, and joining us in whatever it is we're doing is Sabrina Hernandez, fellow gamer, Leaguer, and all around awesome character. You'll find Eps 1 and 2 on our Spreaker page soon, meantime, here's the latest:

Recorded April 1st, 2014

We welcome newcomer Sabrina Hernandez to the Cast this week, and find that she can more than handle mine and Julian's shenanigans.

This week - Sabrina gets excited about Mercenary Kings on the PS4, Julian gets his mitts on Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag, and I lose my sh*t for a bit over death-threat-sending morons over the Oculus Rift/Facebook deal. 

We also dive into gaming's April Fool's jokes, give love to the free-to-play games doing it right, and Julian and Sabrina talk DEEP about League of Legends while I nod aimlessly.




Recorded April 8th, 2014

Finally in our proper home in the newsroom, Sabrina joins us again on a day lackin with news coming from the past week.

We still find stuff to talk about though, as Sabrina dives into Mercenary Kings on the PS4, Julian talks about the new FTL: Advanced Edition and Lu Bu's insane swag (read: douchebaginess), and I talk/don't talk about South Park: The Stick of Truth's gnome section.

Elsewhere, Titanfall's 360 version finally gets media...from a stream on Twitch.tv, the Smash Bros Direct brings the release dates, and Julian and Sabrina get into their favorite League players.

Transistor Hits PS4 and PC Next Month

Since Bastion hit digital shelves a few years back, I've been a big fan of Supergiant Games' work. When the trailers and gameplay videos for their new title, Transistor, were released I was more than happy to delve in. Bastion had presented a great balance between gameplay and storytelling, and Transistor seemed to be doing the same with more than just a new environment. The wait, however, has been excruciating.

Thankfully, Supergiant has announced today that Transistor will arrive on the PlayStation 4 and PC on May 20, for $19.99. To recap, the game follows the same overhead style as Bastion, with the ability to stop time and plan moves that immediately execute in real time. Even sweeter is Logan Cunningham's return as the voice inside the titular sword - he voiced Rucks the narrator in Bastion.

Here's some gameplay footage from TotalBiscuit.




-- Supergiant Games