Before 2012 rushes upon us we wanted to take a moment to say Happy Holidays from everyone here at the Naughty Dog kennel!

As you can see from our holiday card we’ve welcomed Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us into our cast of characters to play among with Drake, Sully, Elena, Chloe, and our UNCHARTED personalities. The year has brought about tremendous change as Naughty Dog has grown into a two team studio for the first time in our 25 year history. This shift is terrifically exciting as it signals an expanded talent pool in which we can share ideas, know-how, and techniques. As future projects evolve, we will continue to strive to maintain our high Naughty Dog standards and always endeavor to do whatever it takes to raise the bar for gaming.

2011 was a grand adventure as we shipped Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception in November to widespread critical acclaim. We are grateful of all the recognition we’ve received for the title, ramping up at E3, continuing throughout development and into post-launch with some pretty awesome accolades from numerous media sources. Currently we’re working on some fresh DLC for UNCHARTED 3 and we will be sharing complete details about what you’ll be getting and what’s in store for all members of the Fortune Hunters’ Club in the New Year. Be sure to check back on the PlayStation blog for details within the first few months of 2012.

The studio also has been teaming with high fives and buzzing with energy via the hype caused by the announcement of The Last of Us at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, be sure to check it out as every frame hints at the kind of gameplay features and atmosphere you can expect to see in the full game:

Apart from all the activities around our big new game reveal, some of the Dogs have been on well-deserved breaks for the past couple of weeks, either taking some personal time off or spending time with the friends and families who we didn’t see much of during the development of UNCHARTED 3.

Co-President Christophe Balestra is currently taking his first vacation in 10 years (!) while Co-President Evan Wells is heading up to Portland to spend time with family. Amy Hennig, Creative Director on UNCHARTED 3, is spending time with family as well. Bruce Straley, Game Director of The Last of Us, intends to catch up on Shadow of the Colossus, Skyrim, and Rage over the holiday break. Neil Druckmann, Creative Director on The Last of Us, has similar intentions as he’s looking forward to playing Skyrim and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Justin Richmond, Game Director on UNCHARTED 3, plans to play Skyrim, hang out with family and make a special trip to an awesome Pirate-themed restaurant. So if pirates crop up in the brand new UNCHARTED 3 DLC that’s coming out down the road, maybe we can all point at Justin’s pirate-themed restaurant visit as the wellspring for that content…or maybe not.

Over the holidays Arne Meyer will be trying to make a dent his gaming backlog. Me? I’ll be hanging with family, making homemade pasta, and will be consumed with trying to sneak away to watch recently released movies like Hugo, Sherlock Holmes 2, and Moneyball.

So what are your plans for the holidays?

All told the most important and critical part of our year is seeing, learning, and hearing how you are experiencing our games. Your responses and reactions are what keep us going and we can’t express how much your support helps to make our year fun and our work enjoyable. Thank you. We hope you feel our games do the same for you and your year.

Happy Holidays!