Project Dark Message Board older than one year ago

According to Japanese gaming blog Esuteru, folks who managed to grab illicit, pre-launch copies of Dark Souls are being punished by developer From Software. The site says that members of the dev team are dropping horrifically overpowered, maximum level Black Phantoms into the environments of players who grabbed their copy of the game through a street date-breaking retailer.

We're having a hard time corroborating the story, but it certainly sounds like something which the characteristically cruel From Software would do. In fact, we'd be surprised if those players even picked up on the retribution. They probably assumed their constant, repeated murderings were just par for the course.

Namco Bandai has broken up Dark Souls' prologue into chunks, we're guessing, because taken all at once it would be too much drama. In this excerpt, we see a war between impressive, powerful beings -- which helps to explain why the game world becomes so inhospitable to regular knight types later.

What's missing from this profile of From Software, developer of Dark Souls, is that we figured the studio culture would involve randomly unplugging equipment to redo hours of work. You know, get the team in touch with Demon's Souls players.

Continuing the series of prologue videos for Dark Souls is today's extra creepy, lyrical reading of Part 2. It seems that at least one more entry awaits, wherein all will be explained (presumably). We'll start steadying our shields now in anticipation.

Demon's Souls is a depressing game, not only because of its occasionally crushing difficulty, but because it's always just so damned grim. Based on this new prologue video, it appears Dark Souls intends to keep up the trend. It's hard to imagine it being much darker but, hey, this is only part one.

Look, Dark Souls is super hard. We played it, we know. You might watch this trailer, listen to its rockin' music and think, "Hey, this looks like a cool, hip new game." Now, that thought isn't wrong per se ... just make sure you're fully informed. Take a moment to slow the video down and see what you're getting into.

Take the frame above, for example. You see that giant wolf? It has a giant sword in its mouth. As if a giant wolf weren't enough of a challenge, said giant wolf is also a trained swordsman. Or swordswolf. Whatever. Just look before you leap, that's all we're saying.

Man, even the trailers for Dark Souls are difficult. The latest, from Gamescom, is a veritable buffet of player death. You say dragons are too easy to slay? How about we give them a torso made of teeth? Steely-nerved readers can watch the trailer above. Find a gallery of slightly less stressful images below.

If you're anything like us, the thought of a red phantom invading your world in Dark Souls is a little unnerving. It was certainly disconcerting in Demon's Souls. Just knowing that at any moment, some schmuck could jump out from ... what's that behind you?!

We can't tell you the number of times we turned off Demon's Souls (after dying for the 100th time), whipped our controllers across the room and wished that everyone who'd worked on the game would be tortured in the fiery pits of Satan's hell for all eternity. Now, with upcoming sequel Dark Souls, some lucky players will have the chance to sneak into the credits and join the damnation.

Fans can Like the title's Facebook page and submit up to three designs for a shield to be included in the game. Ten of those finalists will win a copy of the game signed by director Hidetaka Miyazaki, but three will get the big prize: A signed, limited edition copy of the game, and a slot in the credits.

To any Joystiq readers who might receive the honor: Know that we'll be wishing you be forever banished to only the very nicest chunk of brimstone that's only barely, scaldingly, fatally hot.

We can't tell you the number of times we turned off Demon's Souls after dying for the 100th time, whipped our controllers across the room and wished that everyone who'd worked on the game would be tortured in the fiery pits of Satan's hell for all eternity. Now, with upcoming sequel Dark Souls, some lucky players will have the chance to sneak into the credits and join the damnation.

Fans can Like the title's Facebook page and submit up to three designs for a shield to be included in the game. Ten of those finalists will win a copy of the game signed by director Hidetaka Miyazaki, but three will get the big prize: A signed, limited edition copy of the game, and a slot in the credits.

To any Joystiq readers who might receive the honor: Know that we'll be wishing you be forever banished to only the very nicest chunk of brimstone that's only barely, scaldingly, fatally hot.

You see that giant metal warthog up there? He's a real bastard. That son of a mother-grabber must have killed me ten times during my E3 session of Dark Souls. Foolishly, I swore to take him down, proclaiming that I wasn't leaving until the pig was dead -- shouting it really, to the Namco PR representative and anyone who would listen.

Alas, it was not to be. I was foiled again and again, regardless of what weapons were equipped or what cunning strategies were applied. Finally, I decided to avoid the beast altogether, hoping to find some more material to fill this preview. My grudge against the creature still burns in my chest, but it serves to make a valuable point: This is definitely a Demon's Souls sequel, despite claims you may have heard to the contrary.

Namco Bandai has revealed exactly when it'll release Dark Souls, the next game to make you curse, cry, and glare at your cat like it's his fault you died. Yes, we know you do that.

From Software's Demon's Souls follow-up will officially hit North America on October 4, and Europe on October 7. Just in time for Halloween ... to pass you by as you chip away at the super-difficult RPG, completely alone except for your cat, to whom you'll have already apologized profusely. Before that happens, watch the new trailer (after the break) together!

Well, here's another wrinkle in the PSN outage we hadn't considered. In addition to keeping developers from offering their games to PSN users, it looks like the downtime is also affecting development of online-capable titles. Specifically, Kei Horono, producer of Dark Souls, has told CVG that the outage has cause "some problems" for his project's development. Despite those issues, Horono says the team is "in contact with Sony and [is] aiming to meet a street date of October 11." His comments make it clear that the PSN outage is causing more widespread complications than many may realize.

Also, it's worth pointing out that, in discussing the issue, it appears Horono may have given away the planned Dark Souls launch date, which was only recently revealed as simply "October."

These new screenshots of Dark Souls are all fun and moody dark games until you see "it." You'll know when you gaze upon the picture in question and its ... toothiness.

Dark Souls (the closest thing to Demon's Souls 2) isn't scheduled to have a demo when it launches this year on consoles. That little nugget is just one of many found in an extensive interview 4Gamer (translated by Andriasang) had with From Software's Hidetaka Miyazaki, who is charged with directing what will likely be another impressive, masochistic gaming experience.

Miyazaki noted the game is expected to last about 60 hours and will have about 100 enemy types. In contrast, he estimated Demon's Souls took about 30-40 hours and had about 30 enemies.

He also mentioned that two potential names for the game were scrapped due to international concerns. The title of Dark Ring was flushed because of an association with dirty slang in England (remember Elebits?). The original title was going to be Dark Race, but that ran the risk of being interpreted as racist -- the working title was changed to Project Dark two days before the Tokyo Game Show reveal.

Now that Dark Souls has emerged from its evil, melancholy hiding place, we're starting to hear some initial details about its gameplay. GameSpot has posted an interview with Namco chief publishing producer Daisuke Uchiyama and (regular?) publishing producer Kei Hirono. First, Uchiyama made it clear that Dark Souls is not a direct sequel to Demon's Souls ... but it will share new iterations of almost all its concepts and systems.

The game is being created by the same team that created Demon's Souls, and will have the same basic concept, though it will include many new features as well. Combat has been improved, allowing for a higher degree of customization. Furthermore, the new open world of Dark Souls places a larger emphasis on exploration.

The unique online system will be returning, though Hirono states it has been "highly enhanced" to allow users to "share the experience and grow up together." Hopefully, this means friends will actually be able to join one another's worlds intentionally (the Demon's Souls multiplayer system essentially pairs players together randomly). Finally, rest assured that Dark Souls will be at least as difficult as its predecessor, if not even more so.

Watch the interview after the break.

The lid has officially been blown off of Dark Souls, with developer From Software releasing a dark, moody flood of media. First and foremost is the reveal trailer, which should comfort fans hoping that the multiplayer game would look an awful lot like its predecessor Demon's Souls (a PS3 exclusive) -- it does! (Oh, and don't tell the new Xbox players -- they have no idea what they're in for!) The trailer is replete with gloomy environments, armor-clad knights, terrifying monsters and oppressive music. Sharp-eyed observers will also notice what appear to be player spirit forms, another Demon's Souls staple.

The first Dark Souls screenshots and concept art are equally grim, including even more gloomy environments and this ... thing. Check out the screens in the gallery below and find the trailer and concept after the break.

Project Dark, the multiplatform RPG from the Demon's Souls team revealed at last year's Tokyo Game Show, has received a new name: Dark Souls. The latest Famitsu magazine provided new details about the RPG, which Siliconera translated and summarized.

From Software is planning to make Dark Souls as difficult as its predecessor, and similar in style. Players still create their own characters, though there are no longer different job classes. There are tweaks to the world design, as well: the world is no longer divided into levels, instead being one large area.

Other players will be able to inhabit that world in some way, in both cooperative and competitive play. According to Siliconera, you'll be able to feel the "gentle presence" of other players through interactions like notes left for other players at the place of death.

The followup to From Software's critically acclaimed action RPG has been named Dark Souls.