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Story by Matt Williams

Thu, Jun 07, 2012 | 04:50 BST

From Software underestimated the difficulty in porting Dark Souls to PC, new DLC details revealed

Dark Souls developer From Software has expressed unforeseen difficulty in porting the title to PC, and has conceded that the PC version will be a straight console port, without any optimisation, as a result.

“To be completely honest, we’re having a tough time doing it due to our lack of experience and knowledge in terms of porting to PC,” Producer Daisuke Uchiyama told Eurogamer. “First we thought it would be a breeze, but it’s turned out not to be the case. We’re still developing right now – we’re crunching right now. ”

When questioned as to whether the PC version would address the frame rate issues that plague section of the console version, Uchiyama regrettably announced that they would still be prevalent in the port.

“In terms of the PC version, the quick answer is no, [we won't be fixing the frame rate problems]. Because we wanted to get the PC version out as soon as possible, it’s more strictly a port from the console version. We haven’t been able to step up into doing any specific optimisation for PC.”

Uchiyama sincerely apologised for the presence of such issues in the game, but went on to announce that “in exchange” the development team have prioritised adding “new content for both original players and new players”. The new content in question is the recently revealed DLC known as Artorias of the Abyssboth, coming PC and consoles later this year.

The DLC, which Uchiyama estimates should take a reasonably skilled player around 10 hours to get through, will feature “three new venues, four new bosses and additional weapons” and will be fully integrated with the main game. As such, players must be at a certain point in the storyline to access the new content, a process that Uchiyama described as “a little bit complicated.”

“There will be a certain point in the game that you’ll have to surpass to access the new content. It won’t be right from the beginning – the new content will be accessible more in the later half of the game.”

Artorias of the Abyssboth revolves around the often mentioned, but never seen, character of Artorias with a story based in the past. “The player will be dragged into the past, 300 years back when Artorias was not a legend but actually existed.”

Speaking of future development plans, Uchiyama stated that the company is “fully concentrating on delivering the PC version and DLC”, and, as such, has “nothing in the works right now”.

“Speaking from the developer’s perspective, even considering the new Wii U features or the Vita, because they are so specific to those platforms, if we were able to do something on those systems the game would be designed to fit those platforms rather than just be a port from the PS3 or 360.”

Artorias of the Abyssboth will come packaged with the Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition, due to release on August 24 for PC. Current Dark Souls owners will be able to purchase the new content from the same day for 1200 MS points on 360 or $14.99 on PS3. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition will release for console later in the year.