Who are The Last Of Us?

When GameTrailers' Geoff Keighley promised an unbelievable PlayStation 3 exclusive would debut at this year's VGAs, speculation automatically pointed towards the heavily rumoured Sony Smash Bros. But a brand new teaser trailer has proved us all wrong.

The Last Of Us is the name of Sony's next PlayStation 3 exclusive. The teaser trailer shows a montage of riots and quarantine zones, with a narrator reflecting on old times. It points to an official website, which includes an additional video of ants. The page source teases "Who are The Last Of Us?" and promises more information on December 7th.

Putting on our best super-sleuth hat, we checked the domain's properties. Interestingly the website is capitalised as "Las Tofus" on the registration screen, suggesting some kind of alternate meaning. We did a quick translation check but didn't come up with anything. If anyone has any more information on that front, let us know in the comments.

Of course, the name could have a different, non-linguistic meaning. Judging by the extremely American themes raised by the narrator in the trailer, we're wondering if the "The Last Of Us" actually means "The Last Of the United States". It would certainly fit in with the imagery of the trailer. Other — less exciting — office observations point to some kind of sequel to The Last Guy; Sony Japan's bonkers downloadable PSN title.

The ant video itself is pulled from an episode of the BBC's Planet Earth. The video discusses ophiocordyceps unilateralis, a parasitic fungus that infects ants. The fungus is designed to alter the behaviour of its host in order to "ensure the widespread distribution of its spores". Such an infection would connect to the quarantine zones shown in the teaser trailer.

But the best best rumour at the moment hints that The Last Of Us is actually the final version of the ill-fated PlayStation Move horror game that appeared as far back as 2009. Shuhei Yoshida wouldn't rule out the game's development when questioned on Twitter earlier in the year, and PSM3 magazine also teased the game's continued production in a recent issue. Back then it said that SCEA was working on the title — believed to be named Until Dawn at the time — which would corroborate with the ant video being hosted on SCEA's servers.

We're clutching at straws at the moment, but we're very excited. For years we've discussed the potential of a PlayStation Move horror game, and common sense is suggesting that's exactly what this is. We'll learn more next week. Feel free to share any speculation in the comments.

[Thanks The Last Of Us / YouTube / BBC / Wikipedia / TheSixthAxis / NeoGAF / Geoff Keighley]