Dark Souls II Design a Shield Contest

The critically-accalimed Dark Souls, which has now sold over two million copies, will be meeting its younger brother early next year. The series' second iteration looks to build on the success of both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. With the game making apperances at big events like the Video Game Awards and this year's upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo, it's easy to say that this could be the biggest iteration the franchise has seen yet.

All of that said, success is a routine, and the men and women at Namco Bandai know this all too well. With that in mind, they will be using one of the same marketing ploys they did in Dark Souls for the second game: a simple shield design contest. While the competition's entry phase ended yesterday in Japan, the likelihood an English contest will come to fruition is almost assured, considering this was the same order of events followed in the original game.

Now, contests are all well and good, but what does the winner attain?

According to Gpara, the chosen applicant will receive an actual, real-world recreation of his or her shield. In addition, the shield and the winner's name will be featured in the game.

This array of winnables mops the floor with most other contests held before a game's release, as the winner will receive both in-game and out-of-game honors. For many, the opportunity to be immortalized in a game of Dark Souls II's magnitude is akin to a dream, and you can bet that some amazing artists will be making their way out of the woodwork to pitch their entry.