Dark Souls helped inspire the PlayStation 4's design, says Yoshida

Sony worldwide studios president Shuhei Yoshida has said that some aspects of the PlayStation 4's design were influenced by From Software's cult hits Demon's Souls and Dark Souls.

Yoshida said the feeling of community fostered by the game's asynchronous messaging in From Software's Dark Souls, which Yoshida says is his second-favourite game of the last generation behind Thatgamecompany's Journey, inspired the PlayStation 4's design.

Speaking on the PlayStation Blog podcast: "Lots of things these games--Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls--did, like leaving the message to other people asynchronously, so you feel connected but not really connected at the same time, all of these things inspired us when we were designing the system features for PS4," said Yoshida.

"The sharing features...I enjoy so much watching people playing Dark Souls on YouTube. These games still have a special place in my memory."

Social integration is a key area of interest for Sony with the PlayStation, with the new Dual Shock 4 button featuring its own dedicated Share button.

Elsewhere in the podcast, Yoshida also recounts playing one of From Software's brutal adventures in the office, and leaving the console to take a work call, only to come back and find that somebody had invaded his game and killed his character.

Namco Bandai will release Dark Souls II for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 11, 2014.