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'Dark Souls 3' PC servers are finally back online, seven months later
Fixing a long-standing security issue may have proven as tough as beating a FromSoftware game.
FromSoftware's next game is ‘in the final stages’ of development
FromSoftware fans may not have to wait years before they get the chance to play the company’s next game.
FromSoftware is nearly ready to restore Dark Souls PC multiplayer features
FromSoftware says it’s one step closer to restoring the PC servers for its Dark Souls games, months after the discovery of a remote code execution exploit forced the studio to take them offline.
New ‘Elden Ring’ trailer offers one final look before its long-awaited release
Here's what awaits your character in the Lands Between.
Dark Souls multiplayer features won’t return until after the release of ‘Elden Ring’
Dark Souls fans on PC will have to wait until after the release of Elden Ring before developer FromSoftware reactivates player-versus-player servers.
'Dark Souls 3' security hole lets attackers hijack your PC
An exploit in 'Dark Souls 3' lets attackers hijack the PCs of online players, and the game's servers are down in response.
'Black Myth: Wu Kong' looks like a gorgeous Monkey King-inspired game
We don't usually see AAA-quality games from studios in China, which is why Black Myth: Wu Kong is so notable.
Sony discounts tons of PlayStation games in its latest flash sale
Hot on the heels of its major Days of Play E3 sale and adding a bunch of games to its PlayStation Hits lineup, Sony is back at it with a Flash Sale on a wealth of PS4, PS3 and Vita games. As you'd expect, PS4 gets the lion's share. Among the more notable deals are Dark Souls II ($10), Just Cause 3 ($6), the full season of Life is Strange ($4), all episodes of Life is Strange: Before the Storm ($5.09) and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 ($10).
Joystiq Presents: Dragon Age, Dark Souls and dominatrixes
Anthony John Agnello (@ajohnagnello) chats with BioWare Creative Director Mike Laidlaw about Dragon Age: Inquisition. They discuss the influence that From Software's Dark Souls series had on Laidlaw when crafting the developer's latest RPG. Listen to the MP3
Recruit Soulare of Andorhal for your garrison
How would you like a follower who will happily throw a beam of light on you if you /praise him, and hand over a toy for your Toy Box just to be nice? Soulare of Andorhal isn't your typical follower at all. He's a protection paladin with the usual array of good follower abilities, but it's the fun things this follower does that makes him appealing. There's also the fact that he's a thinly-veiled reference to the Dark Soul character Solaire of Astora, but that's just the icing on the cake. Getting this follower, however, is slightly more difficult than you'd think. He starts out at level 90, because you don't find him out in the wilds of Draenor -- you recruit him from your Inn. In order to get Soulare, you're going to need the right building, the right set of abilities, and a whopping dollop of luck on top of it. But it's all worth it in the end. And if you're not quite feeling up to the challenge ... well, there's some good news on that end, too.
Praise the Sun: Dark Souls Steamworks update now available
Following a short delay, developer From Software has issued an update for the PC's Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition that replaces its native Games for Windows Live functionality with a full suite of Steamworks components. Additionally, from now until February 16, 2015, players will be able to transfer and update their original Dark Souls saves and achievements from Games for Windows Live to the new Steamworks version of the game. A full walkthrough on how to transfer your existing data is available on Steam. After February 16, the Steamworks version of Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition will become the default version of the game and save transfers will no longer be possible. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Dark Souls' Steam migration delayed, prepare to die next month
Dark Souls PC owners can throw another log on the bonfire, because they have to wait until December for the game to transition over to Steam. Namco Bandai says it's finalizing the nuts and bolts of moving the action-RPG from Games for Windows Live to Steam, and more testing means the company's targeting the transition for next month rather than this one. In its original announcement, Namco said owners will be able to redeem Dark Souls on Steam by using their GFWL tokens at no extra cost. Saves and achievements can survive the journey during a short migration period, but GFWL rankings will be flattened by a figurative cannonball rolling down a metaphorical staircase.
Praise the sun: Dark Souls PC moving from GFWL to Steam next month
The Windows PC version of Dark Souls will transition from the moribund Games for Windows Live platform to Steam next month, publisher Bandai Namco Games announced this week. Starting in November, players who purchase Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition will be able to redeem their Games for Windows Live Tokens on Steam. Existing save data and achievements will also transfer over to user Steam accounts during a brief migration period next month, though Games for Windows Live Rankings will not survive the trip. Bandai Namco notes that Dark Souls' transition will kick off "sometime in November 2014 with more specific dates to come." [Image: Bandai Namco]
Steam Summer Sale, day 5: Dark Souls, Rogue Legacy, Saints Row 4
Twas' the fifth day of the Steam Summer Sale, with deals in droves. At just five dollars, prepare to die with Dark Souls. Fan-favorite Rogue Legacy is slashed by 75 percent ($3.74), You can play Arma 3 ($29.99) and keep half your rent. Phosphor Games' Nether is down to just three bucks, Yet it's Saints Row 4 to which we give all our [expletive] ($9.99). Surgeon Simulator 2013's been cut ($2.49), call the doctor, it's an emergency, Unless you'd sooner blast heads off with Insurgency ($6.74). The Lego Movie video game is 75 percent off too ($7.49), And at 60 percent off, FTL says it's still faster than you ($3.99). These deals are good for two days. [Image: Valve]
Games with Gold doles out Xbox One freebies in June
Microsoft's Games with Gold program will give away five games to Xbox Live Gold members in June, including its first free offerings for the Xbox One. Xbox One subscribers will receive free copies of Press Play's 2.5D platformer Max: The Curse of Brotherhood and 343 Industries and Vanguard Entertainment's twin-stick shooter Halo: Spartan Assault in June, marking the one-year anniversary of the Games with Gold program. Xbox 360 owners, meanwhile, can expect to see Ska Studios' co-op XBLA brawler Charlie Murder, From Software's Dark Souls, and Capcom's Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition throughout the month. Availability dates for next month's featured games have not been announced. [Image: Microsoft]
Demon's, Dark Souls director takes over as From Software president
From Software employees are pledging their souls to Hidetaka Miyazaki, the director of the first two Souls games and now the studio's new president. Miyazaki, who only acted as a supervisor on Dark Souls 2, takes over from industry veteran Naotoshi Zin who in turn is taking on a new advisory role. While the exact reasoning for the reshuffle is unclear, it's probably tied to From Software's acquisition by Kadokawa Corporation last month, especially since the transfer was formally concluded today. Kadokawa's known in Japan for its extensive manga library but in recent years it's dipped further into the gaming market, publishing Suda51's Killer is Dead and Lollipop Chainsaw and developing games like Natural Doctrine and Demon Gaze. [Image: Bandai Namco]
Play It On A Mac: Dark Souls - Prepare To Die Edition
In this weekly series I'll show you how to get your favorite Windows-exclusive PC games running on OS X. For more information on the programs used, check out the Play It On A Mac explainer. For suggestions and/or questions about any game, feel free to contact me on Twitter. Even though the game is the harsh, evil, despicable spawn of Satan himself, I love Dark Souls. The game, and it's newly-released sequel, are big hits on home consoles, but the Windows-exclusive version of Dark Souls, called Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition is a giant pain in demon ass even for those with Windows gaming PCs, so how are we going to get it running on a Mac? Let's see... CrossOver I kind of had a feeling that Dark Souls was going to be a problem with CrossOver, and I was right. Despite the game holding a seemingly incorrect Silver ranking on the official CrossOver compatibility list, you won't be able to get the game running on your Mac using this method. The problem here isn't so much with the game itself or CrossOver, but with the game's requirement of Games For Windows LIVE connectivity. Games For Windows LIVE has huge issues connecting to the internet through CrossOver and the game outright crashes before you even get started. On to the next option! Parallels After a trying install and several Games For Windows LIVE sign-ins and sign-outs, the game boots up and runs. On my decidedly modest test machine, the game is what I would consider to be unplayable, which is a huge bummer. No matter what settings I tweaked in Parallels, the game tops out at around 15 frames per second, which just isn't workable for a game that requires quick reflexes to avoid untimely deaths. This isn't necessarily the fault of Parallels, however, as Dark Souls on PC is notorious for being one of the most poorly optimized games in recent memory. If you have a more powerful Mac on your hands, Parallels may very well work for your Dark Souls excursion, but it didn't work out that way for me. At this point I considered it a bit of a personal challenge to get this game running on my lowly Mac mini, so we moved on to our last and final option. Boot Camp As in Parallels, the obnoxious install and update process eventually gave way to actual gameplay. As in Parallels, the game was running below my playability standards, but unlike in Parallels, I would occasionally see a glimpse of the coveted 30fps mark that I was searching for. You see, the way Dark Souls was coded forces the game to commit to a certain framerate depending on the resources available. If your PC has ample power to display what is needed, you are locked in at 30fps by default. If not, the game attempts to halve that speed and locks you at 15fps. During my Boot Camp play time I was constantly jumping back and forth between 15fps and 30fps, which made combat and exploration difficult. There is a tool used by Dark Souls PC diehards that is made to allow super powerful rigs the chance to run the game at 60fps with maxed out graphics and texture swaps. It's called DSfix (Dark Souls fix), and while there was zero chance I was going to be running the game at 60fps, I was able to use it to help me out a bit in my Boot Camp Dark Souls adventure. Here's how: First, download DSfix 22 and unzip it. Now, find the folder containing your Dark Souls executable file and copy the contents of your DSfix folder into it. Once this is done, open the DSfix configuration settings file using a text editing program. Here you'll be able to tweak the individual settings for DSfix. Find the Unlock Framerate option and change it from a "0" to a "1" and change the Frame Rate Limiter from "60" to "30." Make sure both antialiasing and motion blur are disabled. Now save and exit. Upon restarting Dark Souls, I found that rather than pushing me all the way down to 15fps when the game sensed it couldn't maintain a steady 30fps, the framerate only dipped down to 25fps occasionally before jumping back up to 30fps, which was the new limit I had set. The dip from 30fps to 25fps isn't nearly as noticeable as a plummet all the way to 15fps, and I found the game to be absolutely playable with these new settings in effect. Keep in mind, this is fast-paced action RPG in 1080p, and I'm running it on a Mac mini with Intel integrated graphics. That's a hell of an achievement if I do say so myself. Verdict After an unusually intense install and testing process, I found a way to make it work, and I'm extremely happy with the results. Some diehard PC gamers (which I consider myself to be, as well) might roll their eyes at the middle-of-the-road framerate mark, but for those dedicated to the Mac, and who have never had a chance to play this fantastic game, it's a perfectly adequate way to experience it.
Below is a link between Dark Souls and Zelda
Below makes you feel small. Wonderfully, wonderfully small. Capybara Games' new adventure, a lush marriage of Dark Souls and the original Legend of Zelda, is a game of contrasts, encroaching dark and tiny lights with a wee character in a big, echoing world. "The idea of scale was the first thing we landed on. Ever since 1080p monitors came out I've had this dream of taking advantage of that technology in a different way," explained Kris Piotrowski, Below's creative director. "You've got this view you've never seen before, a character on a scale you've never seen before, and it gives the world a feeling of vastness and mystery." The muted, thick colors and heavy rain surrounding the Wanderer, Below's fragile star, in the game's beach side opening are as oppressive as they are beautiful. Wanderer is tiny on the beach and rocky path leading up into the hills in the background, taking up almost no screen real estate and moving slowly. Even holding the run button, he only moves at a trot. Unsheathing your sword and shield takes a good beat as well, leaving you vulnerable. Climbing up a trail toward the monolithic cave first seen in Below's E3 2013 debut is immediately tense and alluring. Those feelings of vastness and mystery sweep you up so much that you're not expecting it the first time spikes shoot out of a grey splotch of cave-floor, cutting your life short. When you start again as a brand new Wanderer, a little wiser and a little more ready with a sword, that's when this chilly game warms up, inviting you into its artful, challenging exploration one dark cave at a time.
Joystiq Tiny Streams: Returning to the nasty roots of Dark Souls
Three years is plenty of time to heal most wounds, but Dark Souls cuts deep. With Dark Souls 2 finally in our hands, our memories loom large. Was the first Souls joint from Bandai Namco and From Software really that demanding? Did it really punish us so much that difficulty defined it in our minds? Have our skills dulled in the months since? Joystiq's Sinan Kubba, in preparation for his review of Dark Souls 2, waded back into those murky waters and found that his experiences had stuck with him. As evidenced by this Tiny Stream, Sinan's senses are still keenly attuned to Souls' mean tricks. Even when he's prepared, though, the game still manages to get in some licks. [Images: Bandai Namco]
Dark Souls 2 mortality counter tallies 4.3 million deaths
More than fantasy tropes, gloomy yet attractive graphics or an overarching sense of despair, the hallmark of Dark Souls 2 is repeated, oft-frustrating character death, so it just makes sense to have a website keeping track of all of this suffering. Officially dubbed the "Dark Souls 2 Player's Site," the webpage is less a celebration of player triumphs and more a monument to their endless willingness to throw themselves against the same foes that killed them moments before. As of now, two days after Dark Souls 2 made its retail debut, the Xbox 360 side of the site claims 1,311,973 total deaths, while the PlayStation 3 side reports 2,991,976. While these numbers are probably not entirely accurate - it seems unlikely that 1,657 Xbox 360 players have finished the game while a mere three PlayStation 3 owners have done the same - the site's functionality should improve as the game's post-launch hiccups subside. In the meantime, try to figure out what the rest of the site means. Those scales are self-explanatory, but the red and white candles remain a waxy enigma. [Image: Bandai Namco]
