Demon's Souls and Dark Souls inspired PS4's design, says Shuhei Yoshida

From Software's dark action role-playing games Demon's Souls and Dark Souls and their online multiplayer features had an influence on the PlayStation 4's design, according to Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios.

Speaking on the PlayStation Blog podcast today, Yoshida recounted this ten favorite games of the PlayStation 3 generation, saying Demon's Souls and Dark Souls were tied for second place. He estimated that he'd spent more than 100 hours playing the titles at work and at home.

"Lots of things these games, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, did, like leaving the message to other people asynchronously, so if you were connected — but not connected at the same time, all these things inspired us when we were designing the system features for PS4," Yoshida said. "The sharing features, I enjoy so much watching people playing Dark Souls on YouTube. These games still have special place in my memory."

Yoshida said he enjoyed watching other players play the game on streams because "this game is perfect to learn from other players how to attack the same situations with very different strategy."

Sony Computer Entertainment integrated streaming and sharing features into the PS4, and plans to add a feature that will let players remotely take control of a friend's game over the internet.

Near the end of the podcast, Yoshida explains why his favorite game of the generation, thatgamecompany's Journey, was his number one pick in a very personal and emotional discussion.