PC users petition Namco Bandai for Dark Souls

defiant007

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http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/06/the-quest-for-dark-souls-on-pc/

Quite a few people have sent me this link to a forum post in which a Namco employee suggests that has to be “demand” for a PC version of acclaimed console RPG Dark Souls, if it is to show up on the one true format. It seems to me that Namco decided there wasn’t demand, of course, because the game has so far only turned up on the TV boxes. That strikes me as a little strange, especially when you consider that historically-speaking PC gamers are VERY interested in making armoured men hit fantasy enemies with swords and sharp sticks. Underpin that with unforgiving RPG mechanics and that DOES sound like our kind of game. But I suppose there are only thirty million or so Steam accounts, and hundreds of millions of better-than-360-spec PCs worldwide… What possible market could there be for such a game on the age old Windows machine? Eh?

UPDATE: Namco have said that this is nothing more than a “rumor” stemming from the link (obviously) and offer no comment on whether they are likely to produce a PC version of the game.

Update 2: Here’s a petition to sign for Dark Souls PC, if you like signing petitions. Over 9000 signatures so far. Let’s hope it makes the right executives pay attention.
 
It's up to nearly 15k now and TotalBiscuit put up a video in support of it.
 
Demon's Souls was my primary reason for buying a PS3, and Dark Souls was just the icing on the cake. They are two of the best games of this generation and From Software's dedication to sticking to their vision instead of dumbing down for the mainstream is admirable. It would be awesome if the Souls games were on PC, but I'm not surprised as it's made by a Japanese dev and PC Gaming is pretty much nonexistent in Japan.
 
Capcom is supporting PC gaming again by releasing its next batch of multiplatform big-name titles on PC as well. There is no reason why other Japanese developers and publishers can't produce for the platform since those companies sell to Western gamers.

Dark Souls really would be perfect on PC, and I think a lot of PC gamers would eat up the difficulty with torture-induced smiles.
 
I'm always surprised that some of these underfunded developers dont let PC gamers do a Pre-order for something let this. Obviously there would be like a timeframe where they say "ok we're not gonna be able to do this" and start refunding the preorders.
 
I'm always surprised that some of these underfunded developers dont let PC gamers do a Pre-order for something let this. Obviously there would be like a timeframe where they say "ok we're not gonna be able to do this" and start refunding the preorders.

PC gamers bitch and moan enough as it is. Can you imagine the epic shit storm that would occur if they started taking money for a game and then did nothing with it?

Also Dark Souls would make it about 24 hours on the market before people start whining and saying the game needs mod support... People would cheat like hell in the online play, then everyone would be more pissed that FROM wasn't releasing patch after patch to address things. XBox players already cheat like crazy by editing the same files and FROM can't keep that under control.
 
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PC gamers bitch and moan enough as it is. Can you imagine the epic shit storm that would occur if they started taking money for a game and then did nothing with it?

Also Dark Souls would make it about 24 hours on the market before people start whining and saying the game needs mod support... People would cheat like hell in the online play, then everyone would be more pissed that FROM wasn't releasing patch after patch to address things.

I think thats kind of a negative attitude. I definitely includes myself among the group that would rather rave about how good a game is despite it's flaws.
 
Console gamers are just as whiney as PC gamers. Just take a look at any Gears of War 3 community page or the GeoW3 facebook and observe the pandemic of terminal butthurt.
 
It costs money to process orders as well as refund them.

I would also say the minority of people would bother to preorder a product that may or may not be released 6 months or from now (I'm assuming you mean to port over an already released title). This would make it unlikely that any initial preorder amount would be of significant quantity to justify the costs necessary to port the game over.

Also regarding porting over a game, I brought this point up before about Dark Souls, would people accept it if it is a basic job? It seems like fans of the game think it is good or great already, so what if it is brought up with only the functional basics (higher resolution support, functional kb/m, and the game functions)? It seemed like people would not accept that, and want other extras. But if you want those extras, that adds additional cost to bringing it over.
 
It costs money to process orders as well as refund them.

I would also say the minority of people would bother to preorder a product that may or may not be released 6 months or from now (I'm assuming you mean to port over an already released title). This would make it unlikely that any initial preorder amount would be of significant quantity to justify the costs necessary to port the game over.

Also regarding porting over a game, I brought this point up before about Dark Souls, would people accept it if it is a basic job? It seems like fans of the game think it is good or great already, so what if it is brought up with only the functional basics (higher resolution support, functional kb/m, and the game functions)? It seemed like people would not accept that, and want other extras. But if you want those extras, that adds additional cost to bringing it over.

I think people have lower expectations of ports from games that were originally console-exclusive. It's the titles that PC gamers think should be designed for the PC first (like FPS, RTS and RPGs) that usually get crucified for being "consolised".
 
millions of accounts on steam
less than 100k of sales
they won't port it
 
millions of accounts on steam
less than 100k of sales
they won't port it

100K of sales for what? VGAChartz had Dark Souls selling a million copies by mid November and they had shipped 1.5 million copies across the globe.
 
Can you imagine the epic shit storm that would occur if they started taking money for a game and then did nothing with it?
If they took the money with that understanding. You have to spend a little money to get a return on your investment. They could add the Visa charges as a cost of doing business, like market research. Or maybe cut a deal with Valve to set something up for them.
 
9k unfortunately is nothing it would cost more than the sales.

It's nearing 20k now. I doubt the petition will matter much, but maybe NamcoBandai and From Software will see that there is enough interest to at least consider the port. The two companies just need to realize that they might not make a profit during the first day, week, or even during the first month but unlike console titles new copies of it will still be sold years down the road as long as it's a good port.
 
The Phyre engine is cross platform. I would guess they could do a quick and dirty port without too much added cost or effort if they felt like it.
Then again, it seems quick and dirty generally nets you more ire from the PC community than sales.
 
Dark Souls is better than a lot of games that have come out this year as far as I'm concerned.

I own it and Demon Souls for my PS3 and I spent more time in both games than I did on Skyrim.

Fus Ro Dah! would have more umph if it wasn't heavily consolized.
 
The Phyre engine is cross platform. I would guess they could do a quick and dirty port without too much added cost or effort if they felt like it.
Then again, it seems quick and dirty generally nets you more ire from the PC community than sales.

Right on. If they released a crappy port, they would get crapped on and people would use that as an excuse to just not buy the game or pirate it.

Not to mention the game has P2P multiplayer, no friends list, and you can't even pick the people you play with (by design)... Nothing makes a group of PC games flip out like restricted online features.
 
Darksiders was received fairly well despite resolution being the only PC-exclusive variable feature.
 
But wouldn't you say the lack of negativity for that is also in a large part because the game did not receive comparatively much attention at all?

Personally I'd rather have a basic port as opposed to none at all, even if the game hypothetically comes with only fixed console resolution and controller only support. Realistically though, something like this is highly unlikely since even the most basic port will likely still have the advantages of higher resolutions (even if aspect ratio limited to 16:9), the ability to adjust AA/AF (through drivers at least), and better performance (simply due to the hardware performance difference). I don't agree with raging against the idea of games coming over as basic ports to the PC, the more choice there is for PC platform the better it is for the PC gamer. At the end you can and should still judge the game as a whole against other games that you can play on the PC.
 
But wouldn't you say the lack of negativity for that is also in a large part because the game did not receive comparatively much attention at all?

Personally I'd rather have a basic port as opposed to none at all, even if the game hypothetically comes with only fixed console resolution and controller only support. Realistically though, something like this is highly unlikely since even the most basic port will likely still have the advantages of higher resolutions (even if aspect ratio limited to 16:9), the ability to adjust AA/AF (through drivers at least), and better performance (simply due to the hardware performance difference). I don't agree with raging against the idea of games coming over as basic ports to the PC, the more choice there is for PC platform the better it is for the PC gamer. At the end you can and should still judge the game as a whole against other games that you can play on the PC.

Well I hated the guts out of Darksiders for reasons I've banged on about before, but none of them have anything to do with the PC version.

Games like these appearing on PC as basic ports is fine with me, since they are clearly designed for consoles. It's games that started on PC or should be PC-first like big-name FPS games and turn out to be consolised to hell and back that bothers me.

I'd most likely use a gamepad for this game so as long as the game works I'd be satisfied. Of course, I could just get the game now for the 360 but I'd prefer to help the PC side of sales.
 
2nkury8.jpg


I'm waiting.
 
fake screenshot? i don't see it on steam, dammit, way to get my hopes up.
 
Someone has way too much time on their hands (re: that Photoshopped Steam store page).
 
Definitely fake, its not even planned for a PC release, which is the whole purpose of this petition, to get it to PC platform

Anyway, done my part too.
 
Another console port? YAY!

Funny how people support console ports now. (that is all it would be)
 
Another console port? YAY!

Funny how people support console ports now. (that is all it would be)

I just roll my eyes at people who are too elitist to accept good games no matter where they come from. As long as it's a good port does it really fucking matter?
 
Signed.
Ridge Racer can't be the only PC game coming from Namco Bandai. Make it happen!

EDIT: 27,000 now
This thing is picking up, only been up for 1 day. Here's hoping....
 
I just roll my eyes at people who are too elitist to accept good games no matter where they come from. As long as it's a good port does it really fucking matter?

It's not a good game though...

Inb4 complete nerd rage
 
The thing that makes this game "so omg awesome" is because a stupid AI(the ai isn't smarter than in other games) gets a massive advantage over you and seems smart because of this and that it is in small spaces. Sorry, I don't see much fun in that.
 
The thing that makes this game "so omg awesome" is because a stupid AI(the ai isn't smarter than in other games) gets a massive advantage over you and seems smart because of this and that it is in small spaces. Sorry, I don't see much fun in that.

I guess you sucked at it. Booya :D
 
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