Dark Souls

[OL]

The video

http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/04/10/dar ... inute-demo

Dear lord, that looks phenomenal. Everything that was appealing about the previous games seems to be returning, and the presentation and atmosphere have been stepped up immensely.
The oppressive tone seems to be in full swing. That first descent down the ladder, with the moans and roaring in the background and torchlight painting the walls... just excellent. And the bridge area with all the wyverns flying in the background looked amazing. Having experienced the scenes with dragons in the previous games, you see a shot like that and you just know you're fucked.
Not like I wasn't expecting it, but this looks amazing.

[Who Really Cares?]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLoMmueIQ6c[/youtube]

[Tuffty]

Analysis of the possible story/gameplay of DSII from EpicNameBro, the best source to find out DS information from.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY_r8T6Es54[/youtube]

[OL]

So just a quick, random question to anyone who's played Dark Souls:
How did you initially pronounce the name "Smough"?

I watched a video where a guy was talking about the game and he kept pronouncing it like "Smo" (rhymes with snow). Someone asked about it in the comments, and he was ultra-confident (to the point of being pushy) that that was the correct pronunciation. Apparently the Japanese kanji for it translates roughly as "sumou," so technically the guy was right (despite being a dick about it).
I, on the other hand, first read the name and imagined it sounding almost more like "Smoff" (with the "gh" behaving as it does in the word "enough").
And I can easily imagine it being interpreted in other ways as well.

So, which did you think it was at first?

[Tuffty]

I pronounced it like "Smo" but it's a hard one to interpret. It was only after hearing other commentators pronounce it as Smo that I took it as the correct answer.

Not sure if this is official or not, but even so I approve of the box art

[Who Really Cares?]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YirjEXSJjTI[/youtube]

[ys]

So just a quick, random question to anyone who's played Dark Souls:
How did you initially pronounce the name "Smough"?

I read it spontaneously as Tolkien's Smaug at first glance. Probably due to my language where this spelling sounds close to Smawg. Pronouncing every letter in "aw" almost like the sound in "pout". The -gh at the end was also very common in our languages during the Middle Ages which automatically makes us think of mythology/ancient tales etc.

[ThyDarkAngel]

phpBB [video]

[OL]

I thought this was pretty cool. From Software held a contest to let fans design shields for Dark Souls 2. They divided it up by region, so the US, Europe, and Asia will each have two designs chosen from them to end up in the final game. They put the finalists up on Facebook (30 from each region), and I figured I'd post my favorites from each region.
In spoiler tags, just because the images are kind of big.

Asia/Japan:

US:

Europe:

[Who Really Cares?]

March 2014
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/06/02/dark- ... arch-2014/

First is just £8.99 on XBL at the moment.

[Henry Spencer]

Director interview with new footage of Dark Souls II (including glimpse multiplayer footage)

phpBB [video]

[Henry Spencer]

Double post, but I signed up for the EU beta. Hopefully I get in. I am prepared to die.

[Henry Spencer]

Dark Souls II will be arriving in North America on March 11, 2014, with a European release date three days later on March 14.

The two dates reflect the launch of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, with PC release to come “shortly after the console versions.”

phpBB [video]

[OL]

I want that cloth map.
Hopefully this won't be another bullshit $150 LE like with Armored Core: Verdict Day. Still pissed I couldn't get that.

[Henry Spencer]

Daaaamn, I hope we get that too. On that note, I've actually pre-ordered the "Dark Souls: Design Works" book. It's got artwork, interviews, behind the scenes stuff, all that jazz.