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N Dark Souls and Armored Core V headed to North America and Europe

Jason Venter Profile _ Twitter _ E-mail _ Homepage

Demon's Souls was a terrific game, one of the best action-RPG titles that gamers had ever seen (and one of the least forgiving). Atlus really scored a home run when it chose to localize the brutal game in 2009. Now, 2011 is here and some are wondering who (if anyone) will localize its spiritual successor. Today, Namco Bandai announced that it would do the honors... and that it also would be localizing Armored Core V. "FromSoftware has an excellent pedigree of producing remarkable fan-favorite games that have made a huge impact and invigorated their respective categories," said Kenji Hisatsune, president and CEO of Namco Bandai Games America Inc. "The two upcoming games will exemplify this heritage while yet again introducing exciting new ways for gamers to experience these genres." "Combining the development power of FromSoftware with Namco Bandai Games' global publishing expertise will greatly benefit our upcoming projects," said Eiichi Nakajima, studio head, FromSoftware, Inc. "We look forward to a successful partnership and delivering new revolutionary titles for gamers around the world." For me at least, Dark Souls is the more interesting of the two titles covered in the announcement. Today's press release describes it as a brand new action RPG set in a rich, dark fantasy universe. "Tense dungeon crawling, fearsome enemy encounters and groundbreaking online features" (sound familiar) combine for what the press release describes as "a truly unique RPG experience." It doesn't sound so unique to me. It sounds like Demon's Souls. The press release continues: "Dark Souls breaks down barriers with a seamless world design that encourages exploration and fosters an adaptable gameplay experience. As players encounter terrifying enemies and discover new areas, the unerring foundation of challenge and reward permeates to offer an unparalleled sense of achievement." Almost as an afterthought, the same press release spared a moment to outline the experience that gamers can expect from Armored Core V. The newest installment in the long-running series apparently contains more content than the previous titles (which already were packed full of it), a completely new atmosphere and a robust offline mode. The online mode is where it's at, though, and FromSoftware has updated its design to focus on huge, team-based battles on a global scale. The focus now is placed more heavily on tactics and effectively utilizing the geography of a level rather than relying simply on attacks. That sounds promising. Dark Souls will arrive in North America and Europe sometime in 2011, while Armored Core V is scheduled for release in 2012. You can find out more about the two games on Facebook at facebook.com/DarkSouls and at facebook.com/ArmoredCore, if you're the sort of person that uses the face book.

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