Dark Souls Originally Named With Juvenile, Racist Slang

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
14,499
0
0
Dark Souls Originally Named With Juvenile, Racist Slang



From Software struggled with finding a title for Dark Souls that wasn't insulting in some way.

As the spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls [http://www.amazon.com/Demons-Souls-Greatest-Hits-Playstation-3/dp/B002AB7TX8], you would think Dark Souls' title came naturally to From Software. In reality, the company had to go through many different final names, with its early choices having unfortunate connotations slang-wise.

In an interview with 4Gamer (translated by Andriasang), Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about some very creepy action-RPG [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107575-Campfires-Brighten-Dark-Souls-Cold-Morbid-World], in addition to revealing that the game will feature 60 hours of gameplay compared to Demon's Souls 30 to 40. During the interview, he also talked about the trouble From had with finding a name that worked.

Miyazaki said that just before From planned to unveil Dark Souls at the Tokyo Game Show in 2010, the game's name was "Dark Race." The reason behind the title was the player's role as a member of a cursed race of people. I don't think you have to know about the Resident Evil 5 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/89242-Resident-Evil-5-Coverage-Reignites-Racism-Debate] to see how calling the game "Dark Race" could have been a problem.

At the end of 2010, From had two more titles in mind: "Dark Lord" and "Dark Ring." From couldn't get a trademark on "Dark Lord," so it went with "Dark Ring." In the game, a dark ring actually comes out of the player as a sign of his curse, giving the title its meaning. Unfortunately, in England "dark ring" is also slang for "anus," so From had to go back to the drawing board again.

It seems like From basically said "screw it," and went with Dark Souls. I think the final title fits the game better anyway, and lets consumers know that it's spiritually in the Demon's Souls franchise. Miyazaki's comments are a look into the challenging task of naming a product in the face of so many worldwide sensitivities.

Source: Andriasang [http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/02/09/miyazaki_dark_souls/]

Permalink
 

WrongSprite

Resident Morrowind Fanboy
Aug 10, 2008
4,503
0
0
I don't think I've ever heard the phrase 'dark ring' used in that way...
 

Scrythe

Premium Gasoline
Jun 23, 2009
2,367
0
0
WrongSprite said:
I don't think I've ever heard the phrase 'dark ring' used in that way...
I feel now is the time we should correct that.
 

thenumberthirteen

Unlucky for some
Dec 19, 2007
4,794
0
0
WrongSprite said:
I don't think I've ever heard the phrase 'dark ring' used in that way...
Neither have I, but I can see how it could mean Anus.

Demon Souls is a game that I missed out on, but this, sort of, sequel sounds quite good.
 

MatsVS

Tea & Grief
Nov 9, 2009
423
0
0
I am glad they went through the trouble of being inclusive and sensitive in their choosing of title. Not only is that a very positive general philosophy, it would also be very unfortunate if controversy in any way hampered the sales of this game, seeing as this promises to be a very deep and rewarding experience, and ought reach as many people as possible with nothing political colouring their impressions of it.
 

gibboss28

New member
Feb 2, 2008
1,715
0
0
Never heard of dark ring.. I know of ring being used as slang, but dark ring? News to me.
 

kurupt87

Fuhuhzucking hellcocks I'm good
Mar 17, 2010
1,438
0
0
I've heard "dark ring", although to be fair anything with ring in it is fair game; Halo is mind blowing.

What? Juvenile humour is fun too.

But yeah, Dark Race would have been hilariously inappropriate.

captcha - (piscariae iferef
Eh? Words, use your words.
 

Owlslayer

New member
Nov 26, 2009
1,954
0
0
Well i have to agree that "Dark Souls" suits the new game well. It's easier to see the connection to the other game.
Wait, "Demon's Souls" means "souls of a demon" or "demons"? Gah, i remember Yahtzee saying something about this...i hate my shitty memory.
 

MGlBlaze

New member
Oct 28, 2009
1,079
0
0
WrongSprite said:
I don't think I've ever heard the phrase 'dark ring' used in that way...
Me either, honestly.

As the article says though, I think Dark Souls works better anyway. A name doesn't necessarily have to be super original or fresh to be good.
 

Assassin Xaero

New member
Jul 23, 2008
5,392
0
0
For some reason, I want to blame Fox News for this... Well, not only them, but the other part of the blame could possibly get me banned... so... yeah... Damn you Fox News! *shakes fist*
 

NezumiiroKitsune

New member
Mar 29, 2008
979
0
0
This made my head hurt, so childish, and a tad hypersensitive, dark race has been used before to described evil races in fantasy, it just wasn't the title of the game. Reasonable people don't get offended as easily as they seem to believe. He says while listening to spasticus autisticus, how approproiate.
 

icyneesan

New member
Feb 28, 2010
1,881
0
0
Does it have to start with 'Dark' why cant it be something like 'Fantasm of Darkness' :p
 

Mcface

New member
Aug 30, 2009
2,266
0
0
Assassin Xaero said:
For some reason, I want to blame Fox News for this... Well, not only them, but the other part of the blame could possibly get me banned... so... yeah... Damn you Fox News! *shakes fist*
This has absolutely nothing to do with fox news.
It's about the PC bullshit of modern society.

actually its pretty much the exact opposite of FOX news.
 

xXDeMoNiCXx

New member
Mar 10, 2010
312
0
0
If people had actually started controversy if they had named it Dark Race I would seriously smack them. Like do you not have anything else to live for? Dark Ring sounds like the best though besides Dark Souls.
 

ImperialSunlight

New member
Nov 18, 2009
1,269
0
0
Owlslayer said:
Well i have to agree that "Dark Souls" suits the new game well. It's easier to see the connection to the other game.
Wait, "Demon's Souls" means "souls of a demon" or "demons"? Gah, i remember Yahtzee saying something about this...i hate my shitty memory.
In Demon's Souls you get multiple souls when killing a single demon (likely from victims of this demon). Hence Deom's Souls. It is proven that these are the souls of other people becase you can use them to add these people's strength to your own.
 
Feb 13, 2008
19,430
0
0
Tom Goldman said:
in England "dark ring" is also slang for "anus,"
uhh....no it's not. Honest. I've been here all my life. "Brown Eye" possibly. "Juvenile, Racist Slang" is going a bit far as well.

Edit: Just checked, Urbandictionary doesn't have it, Profanisaurus doesn't have it, who came up with this ridiculous idea, as it's all across the media.



Edit 2: Ah, Hidetaka Miyazaki called it. And he'd know. Being not English?

Edit 3: Because it's Engrish...translated/paraphrased from 4gamer. Ah the wonder of...if you'll pardon the pun...Chinese Whispers.
 

Assassin Xaero

New member
Jul 23, 2008
5,392
0
0
Mcface said:
Assassin Xaero said:
For some reason, I want to blame Fox News for this... Well, not only them, but the other part of the blame could possibly get me banned... so... yeah... Damn you Fox News! *shakes fist*
This has absolutely nothing to do with fox news.
It's about the PC bullshit of modern society.

actually its pretty much the exact opposite of FOX news.
Fox News doesn't help... pretty sure they were the same people that went after L4D2 because "a large number of the zombies were black". They just look for ways to take down things that aren't them...

And seriously, what the fuck captcha? It's one thing to load an image I can't even read, but now you don't even load the damn image?
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
3,716
0
0
o lordy i have to use that on my british pals on Teamspeak now!

Dark Ring is slang for anus, now that is a hoot XD