That's going to kill me, isn't it?

I call him Arty for short.

Also probably going to kill me.

No no no no no no no no no.

So I saw Dark Souls running on PC. I'm not going to go in depth describing it, because PC gamers know what it is well enough that 100,000 of us urged Namco Bandai and From Software to put their famously punishing roleplaying game on PC for us. To their credit, that's exactly what they're doing -- Dark Souls will be out on PC on August 24th, something that wouldn't have ever happened if they didn't listen to the PC gaming public. I'm excited to play after countless recommendations from my console-playing friends, but I won't lie: I came away concerned that Dark Souls may not be an entirely smooth PC experience.Don't get me wrong: in a lot of ways we're getting some very special treatment. "At this moment, I kind of feel sorry for console gamers," From Software's Lead Director Hidetaka Miyazaki said through his translator as he explained that the roughly three new areas, four new bosses, a few more NPCs, all their equipment, and a basic PvP area wouldn't likely come to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 anytime soon. Miyazaki says that his design philosophy hasn't changed a bit since the original, and the new areas of the Prepare to Die Edition will be every bit as difficult as the main game -- exactly what I wanted to hear. Not much was actually shown other than a new character, the knight Artorius, who'd been mentioned in the original game but never appeared. He's now playable, along with his ornate black armor.On the other hand, while there will be new, PC-exclusive content, Miyazaki went on to say that this version is "mainly a port," and "in terms of visual quality, there will be no difference between the console version and the PC version." He's also strongly recommending that we play it with a gamepad and not mouse and keyboard (though bothwork). From Software has little experience in the PC realm, so I'm expecting this effort to be playable, but certainly not flawless.But the big ugly elephant in the room during the demo was Games for Windows Live, which had been announced shortly before by way of a box shot bearing the logo. I sat down with Namco Bandai's Head of Marketing and VP Carlson Choi to do my best to convince him that GFWL would do his game mor harm than good.I'm excited myself. Oh, it's cool!Totally understand. Like you heard Miyazaki-san say, the [PC version] was made for the fans.What you have seen at the keynote presentation is a physical retail pack art from Europe. As we've stated, we'll be looking at options for digital distribution partners. We have not confirmed at all, and at a later date there will be a lot more details.I will tell you that as an avid gamer, who has a PC rig that sits in my garage where I can hide away, let's just say from my secure home with the family. But what's important is that we're definitely hearing the PC gamers. The gamers are important to us. What we have confirmed today is the Games for Windows, and there will be a lot more news in the coming months leading up to the launch of the game.Yes, for today.Yes, I also saw the petition that just started now, about three hours ago, as soon as the announcement was made.Can't really answer that question, but look: ultimately what we have done is that we've answered the question by saying that we want to bring content to the fans. Definitely technology implementation, different ways of making sure the consumer has the best experience possible, those are all things that we will look at, and are in the process of. I would say there's a lot of evaluation being done. The great thing about marketing is that you don't necessarily announce everything at once. There's a lot leading up from now to a small event called E3, to the actual release date of the game in August. There's more to come, I can assure you of that.Discussion is still going on with the From Software team. The team is very much listening to the fans. It's a great opportunity -- the fans always need a voice and opinion. We're making games for them, not for ourselves, so that's something that we're going to be committed to as a company, as an ongoing focus on that. We heard everybody. As soon as we were done, someone said "Um, a petition just got started," and I was like "Yup, I knew that was going to happen," but at the same time we needed to make sure we're pacing ourselves leading up to the launch of the game.: It's certainly not ideal, but even a not-so-great port of a great game with Games for Windows Live is better than no port at all. I'm glad I had the chance to play Batman: Arkham City on PC, for example, and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. What's the best poor port you've ever played?