Dark Souls Interview

To expand upon what we learned in Namco Bandai's Dark Souls announcement, the PlayStation Blog has conjured up this interview with director Hidetaka Miyazaki. A little something to start you off:
Sid Shuman: Would you describe Dark Souls as a sequel to Demon's Souls, or a spiritual successor? Does Dark Souls reside in the same universe as Demon's Souls?

Hidetaka Miyazaki, director, Dark Souls: Dark Souls is not a sequel to Demon's Souls by any means. However, it's created by the same producers and director and so the ideologies, concepts, and themes have carried over and are similar. It's a totally new game with similar concepts.

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SS: What's the single addition to Dark Souls that you're most excited by?

HM: Probably the Beacon Fire. It stands for a lot of things. It serves as a recovery point; when the player's health is low, the Beacon Fire helps you recover. It serves as a respawn point as well. So it's powerful from a gameplay perspective. Secondly, the Beacon Fire will be used to share experiences with other players. It's a place where players can gather together and communicate not verbally communicate, but emotionally communicate. Third, it's probably the one place in Dark Souls where users can relax just for an instant. In this cold, dark world, the Beacon Fire is a place of warmth. It's one of the few locations in the game that is heartwarming. It expresses this dark fantasy world I'm trying to create.