Dust 514 Message Board older than one year ago

As an immortal mercenary in DUST 514, Skill Points are your dearest friends. They’re your path to better gear, faster movement, deeper customization and even social standing. And on the war-torn planetary battlefields of New Eden, they don’t come cheap.

For an extended weekend, we’re doubling the number of Skill Points our bullet-scarred beta testers will gain in every battle, from 1 November through 8 November. That means every headshot, NULL Cannon hack, dropship takedown – everything you do on the battlefield – will get you twice as close to your goal of galactic dominance.

Whether you’re working toward building the ultimate tank commander, striving to become a megacorporation CEO or simply trying to piece together your own unique hybrid warrior class, every single Skill Point helps.

If you’re already playing the beta, you won’t want to miss the DUST 514 Double Skill Point Weekend. Our latest build, Codex, introduced new environments, weapons, avatars, equipment and a lot more. And if you haven’t given the beta a shot yet, now is the perfect time to step onto into New Eden.

DUST 514 is a free-to-play first-person shooter set in the persistent, notorious sci-fi universe of EVE Online. It’s only available on the PlayStation 3, and it’s home to one of the best communities in gaming. Our beta testers have been working behind the scenes to help CCP do something that’s never been done on a game console. Together, we’re taking shooters somewhere completely new, and we hope you’ll come along for the ride.

We’ll be giving away thousands of beta codes over the next few days, so keep an eye on your favorite gaming sites for a chance to pick up a beta code. You’ll also want to watch our official Twitter and Facebook feeds – we’ll be giving away codes there as well.

You can find out more at the official DUST 514 site, and sign up for the beta at the link below:

http://www.dust514.com/beta

Thanks for playing. See you in New Eden.

Anything related to EVE Online requires some serious study and preparation. Luckily, we can get you started on your education for the connected PS3 shooter, Dust 514. Just click here to get a key for access to the beta!

These keys are specific to the North American PSN, so only users with accounts in that region should apply. If you meet that condition, grab your code and have fun! Have fun and learn.

Get your beta code (North America only)

It is known that in New Eden only the strongest corporations survive. Others just perish in their wake, or join them. The EVE Online universe – where demigods operate vast numbers of ships and immortal mercenaries fight for planetary dominance – will be cruel to anyone that dares to venture deep enough into it. Do you believe that you can form a corporation and lead the merchants of death? Are you ready to put money, your pride, and your eternal life on the line for a group of people that you can trust for the eternal glory of New Eden? You better be, because Corporations are what holds this universe together, and should you choose to either lead or follow, this is what you should know before you begin your immortal journey in DUST 514…

New Eden is a single shard universe, hosting hundreds of thousands of EVE Online players for more than nine years, and everyone plays together at the same time. Now, you have the opportunity to be part of it. It is only suitable that DUST 514 (exclusively available on PlayStation 3) goes together with EVE Online (on PC/Mac), so you and your friends can form unstoppable corporations and dominate the battlefield together. We know you’ve been patiently waiting to find out more about Corporation management in DUST 514, and now, we are ready to give you all the info!

For this to happen, we needed a system that allows players to form and join an organization in the same way players join Corporations in EVE Online. This is similar to guilds or clans that are available in other MMO games and shooters. However, in DUST 514, we will take this concept a bit further and allow players from both EVE Online and DUST 514 to join the same Corporations. People will be able to be part of these Corporations regardless of which gaming platform they happen to be playing on – EVE Online on PC/Mac or DUST 514 on PS3 – and whoever created the corporation will become its CEO.

Starting with our next major update, DUST 514 players will be entering a universe populated with established social groups as well as ongoing politics associated with these groups and are welcome to become part of that social dynamic. This means that overnight, a DUST 514 player can go from being in an NPC newbie corporation to joining a 7,000-player strong empire that owns a sizeable chunk of the known space in the EVE Online universe.

For the intrepid souls who aspire to create their own future empires within EVE Online, that will soon be a reality, because Corporations created in DUST 514 will be no different than those in EVE Online. Although all aspects of Corporation management related to EVE Online in DUST 514 will not be available initially, you will be able to appoint a player from EVE Online as a director for your corporation in DUST 514 who can then act as your right-hand man and be able to utilize all aspects of the Corporation feature for the EVE Online players.

So, to recap, the following features are just a part of what’s in store for this major update to DUST 514:

• You can join any Corporation in EVE Online or DUST 514
• There will be a dedicated Corporation chat channel
• You can be a CEO or director of any Corporation in EVE Online or DUST 514
• You can create a corporation, design its logo, assign roles, accept and take part in corporation battles (there will be another dev blog about this topic)
• You can accept members from both EVE Online and DUST 514
• You can now create social bonds (or vendettas) that last
• You will see EVE Online players’ character names and portraits and vice versa
• Strategize and fight together in real-time

And this is just the beginning. In time, we hope to see the already vast canvas of the human drama within EVE Online expand and include those of you, that merry band of mercenaries, from DUST 514.

Part of the excitement lobbed at Dust 514 is its connectivity with the complex, massively-multiplayer beast known as EVE Online. Linked physically by servers in the real world and otherwise by a thin story thread, Dust 514 has escaped close examination as we fawn over its ambitious moving parts. Developer CCP has swatted the magnifying glasses away so far, showing it off at industry trade shows for us to marvel at its potential.

As of yesterday for PlayStation Plus users - and earlier for some, including press - the secrets of Dust 514 have become (mostly) public, with the widening of a closed beta for the free-to-play PS3 exclusive. Though Dust 514 is a console game, it features a complexity usually reserved for cult-hit, hardcore PC shooters. Like its MMORPG sibling, Dust 514 can be daunting.

CCP's Dust 514 closed beta is accessible to PlayStation Plus member right now in North America, with Europe joining the fight on Wednesday.

PlayStation Plus members also receive a 50 percent discount on the "Mercenary Pack," dropping the price to $10. The pack includes items and 4,000 AUR, which is roughly $20 of in-game currency.

Greetings from Shanghai and the DUST 514 development team! I’m Brandon Laurino, Executive Producer for DUST 514, here to let you know what’s going on in development, and bring you a sneak preview of the improvements coming to the DUST 514 Closed Beta with our “Precursor” release on August 21st. Whether you’re a hardcore beta tester or just casually interested in the game, next week’s update marks another significant milestone as the game moves towards Open Beta.

The first live DUST 514 / EVE Online integration

Linking the intense front-line combat of DUST 514 with the galactic ship warfare of EVE Online has always been our keystone to building a vibrant community, and now that keystone is coming into place. With the Precursor release, we move DUST 514 from its standalone testing server over to the long-standing EVE Online test server, Singularity (aka “Sisi”). This means DUST 514 on PlayStation 3 and EVE Online on PC/Mac will be officially running on the same server.

When the Precursor Closed Beta build goes live, players on the Sisi server in DUST 514 and EVE Online can chat in real time and send in-game mail between games. We can’t wait to see what happens when these games collide in the same shared universe, and we’ll bring you more info on additional interconnectivity features as we move towards our next releases.

Orbital Strike Framework

The first framework for Orbital Strikes goes live in the Precursor build. These powerful, space-based attacks help link DUST 514 and EVE Online, letting squad leaders call in Orbital Strikes from the War Barge flying overhead when their squad achieves certain conditions in battle.

This is just the first level of Orbital Strike capability. In the near future, players on the ground in DUST 514 will be able to request strikes from ships piloted by EVE Online players. These strikes have the potential to do far more damage than the War Barge, their accuracy and power determined by factors like your DUST 514 Merc’s skills and what turrets the EVE Online pilots have trained and fit to their spaceships.

But Mercs on the ground won’t be helpless. We’ll soon add the Orbital Artillery outpost on the ground, which they can use to attack EVE Online ships in space.

Instant Battle Matchmaking

The Precursor update also implements several matchmaking features. Players will be able to find their friends, form squads and jump quickly into battles together using “Instant Battle.” In addition, the matchmaking system has been implemented to intelligently place solo players and squads into matches based on skill, creating a more inviting shooter experience, especially for new players.

New Environments

We couldn’t put out a major new release without adding tons of new game content. Precursor brings our Galaxy system online, which assembles maps from components based on planetary attributes and what is built on the planet, for tons of potential combinations. Closed Beta users will be able to help us test out a substantial array of new environments to battle in utilizing this new system.

Keyboard and Mouse Implementation

That’s right, with the Precursor release, you can use a USB keyboard and mouse to play DUST 514. We’re looking forward to seeing how this impacts play styles, and will be watching closely to see how keyboard/mouse players match up against Dual Shock and Move gamers. We are also working to add controller-based filters into Instant Battle/Matchmaking for a following update.

Tons of Other Great Stuff (including lots of polish, graphical enhancements, and bug fixes)

Everything mentioned above is just a small subset of what we’re adding to DUST 514 next week. All of these features are just the latest improvements to an awesome massively-multiplayer first-person shooter that will be free to play for every PlayStation 3 owner.

In addition, we’re launching a free companion app on the Vita, DUST 514: Neocom, to augment your gameplay experience and let you customize your fittings, train skills, use the market, browse the starmap, and much more, on the go anytime and anywhere.

Log In and Check it Out

The DUST 514 Closed Beta update launches on August 21! We’ll be announcing new events very soon that will give more PlayStation 3 owners a chance to test DUST 514, but if you’ve already gotten a beta key, you can check it out as soon as Precursor goes live.

If you’d like to sign up for a chance to test DUST 514, head over to the beta site.

We invite you to log in, check out the Closed Beta, and let us know what you think. We’ve made a ton of improvements to DUST 514 since Closed Beta testing started. CCP is committed to making this revolutionary game and service a success, just as we’ve done with EVE Online, and we will continue to improve your experience constantly for years to come.

I hope you enjoy the Precursor update to DUST 514, and I’ll see you on the battlefield!

Later this year, there will be an unprecedented level of combat in gaming raging across the entire EVE Universe, from the mighty capsuleers far above in Eve Online, to the relentless onslaught you and your squad will bring to bear against your enemies on countless planets in DUST 514.

The first, harrowing drumbeats of war started not long ago and have been increasing ever since during our beta tests. Until today, this has been of very limited scope while we’ve introduced some of the EVE Universe’s most faithful players to planetary warfare and trickled in some of the earliest of adopters who have picked up their rifles and laid low the opposition.
But that all changes this weekend when we’ll be opening the doors to thousands of new combatants through our beta events. There’s still time to sign up over at our official beta website to participate in this important, and early, testing period for the game.

Signing up for the beta and playing DUST 514 is completely free! But for those who want to try an assortment of the pay-for items, get guaranteed access to beta weekends, and score a discount we’ve created the Mercenary Pack. The Mercenary Pack offers a $50 value for a price of $19.99 and will be available later today on PlayStation Store.

The Mercenary Pack contains an all-access beta pass, which will guarantee entry into every beta event — starting this Thursday, June 28th and then repeating every other weekend. Not only that, but Mercenary Pack owners will get exclusive access to DUST 514 during off weekends in-between beta events as well.

The Mercenary Pack also contains a bundle of goods and items designed to help both rookies and veterans alike, including a customized ‘Dragonfly’ Scout dropsuit that has a unique stealthy look and lowered skill requirements for usage. This dropsuit is a good all-around infantry armor that is versatile in most combat situations and is only available with the Mercenary Pack.

Another useful item included the package is the 30-day Active Skill Booster, also only available in the Mercenary Pack, which will grant the user a 50% boost in skill points earned during in-game matches so you can quickly progress your character to be on par with veteran players.
But what good is a mercenary soldier without weapons to ply his chosen trade? To remedy that, we have also included a spread of armaments to add teeth to any mercenary about to start his career on the battlefields of New Eden.

For starters, there’s the ‘Toxin’ ICD-9 Submachine Gun, which is a multipurpose weapon good for close and medium range fire fights. And for those who like to fight up close, you’ll find the HK4M Shotgun, designed to sweep a room clear of enemy combatants. For those times when you absolutely, positively must blow a group of enemies to bits, there’s the Fused Locus Grenade. Finally, the 1.5dn Myofibril Stimulant module gives damage bonuses for knife attacks.

It is said that endless money funds the sinews of war, and throughout history this has remained so. In DUST 514 there are two types of currencies: ISK (which is earned in-game) and Aurum (which is purchased). To help fund your plans for planetary conquest, the Mercenary Pack also comes with 4,000 Aurum so that you can finance your military campaigns and furnish your band of warriors with modern war gear.

Good luck to all our future Mercenaries! May your victories be sweet, and the spoils of war be bountiful.

#dust514 The first beta event for CCP's free-to-play EVE Online tie-in for the PlayStation 3 kicks off this weekend. Players can enter for a chance to play in the beta event at the game's official website, or they can just drop $20 in the PlayStation Store. More »

Legions of you turned out last week for the virtual E3 booth in PlayStation Home, and one of the biggest showcases was the introduction of DUST 514, a PS3-exclusive PSN multiplayer shooter from CCP. As the excitement around DUST 514 is growing each day, I wanted to let everyone know that there are still some DUST 514 beta codes available.

Log into PlayStation Home today and make your way to the DUST 514 space, called The Event Horizon Lounge. It is found directly on the Navigator (once in Home, hit Start > Navigator > New and Recommended > The Event Horizon Lounge). Once in the Lounge, talk to the bartender. She’ll give you a little info on Mercenaries, and direct you to the Recruiter who can help you get a beta code. Once you’ve learned more about the EVE universe and secured your code, make your way down the corridor on the left and play the addictive game of Slay—a tabletop style game of world domination.

Lastly, of course there are rewards in the Event Horizon Lounge:

• Dropsuit Challenge – If a user plays a game of Slay and wins, they get a free DUST 514 Merc Dropsuit outfit for their avatar. There will be new Dropsuits released every week (total of 4)
• Also, if a user downloads the DUST 514 client, released later this year, they will also be rewarded a free Companion Drone

We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

Patrick has a chat with Atli Sveinsson of CCP about their upcoming PS3 F2P FPS. Acronyms OVER.

Take a walkthrough of DUST 514's War Room/Game Lobby, narrated by CCP's David Reid.

Take a walkthrough of DUST 514's F2P marketplace, narrated by CCP's David Reid.

Take a walkthrough of DUST 514's F2P combat, narrated by CCP's David Reid.

Complete the objectives to take control of the map in DUST 514.

Bring out the big guns in this free to play online shooter coming to PS3.

Hear how Dust 514 will set itself apart from other shooters.

Hello from E3! We know you’re excited and following all of the great stories coming out of the show this year, we just want to briefly touch on some of the DUST 514 news that we’ve announced this week and we’ll be focusing on at the show.

First and foremost, we have details on our first Beta event of the summer. We know many of you are eagerly anticipating your chance to try out DUST 514, and we’re happy to announce that we’ll be doing a big wave of invites for our first summer Beta event on June 29, 2012, and will run throughout that weekend. This will coincide with an update to the Closed Beta containing what we’ve got on show at E3 and more, you can see it in action in our latest trailer (link below). If you haven’t already, you can register at www.DUST514.com/beta, and players will be chosen at random to participate. But don’t worry if you don’t make it into this first round; this is just the first of several Beta events scheduled for this summer, and we’re going to announce lots of info and chances to join the action in the coming weeks. If you are already in the DUST 514 Closed Beta as of today, you will have “All Access” to the Beta events over the summer.

Next, starting this week as a part of Sony’s Virtual E3 experience, DUST 514 will be fully integrated into PlayStation Home. Our DUST 514 Home Space is a great way for you to get up close and personal with the New Eden universe, and we’re really proud of how it’s turned out. Its a War Barge cantina in the EVE Universe, you can learn about the history of New Eden, hang out, earn awesome stuff like companions and armor for Home, play multiplayer Slay – the incredible strategic board game – and much more. In addition, we’re very excited to let you know that we are making available a wave of 10,000 “All Access” Closed Beta invites that visitors to the DUST 514 Home Space can earn by completing all the activities inside, with access to all the DUST 514 Beta events over the summer. So hurry and get yours before they’re gone! That said, the DUST 514 Space will remain live, and new content will be added, so Home users can definitely look forward to additional Beta keys to be distributed through the DUST 514 Home Space in the future.

Finally, we’re ready to talk a bit more about the DUST 514 companion app on the PlayStation Vita, DUST 514: Neocom. The app brings the feel and functionality from DUST 514 on PS3 to Vita, focusing on customization, communication and trade. Every character you use can be customized via DUST 514: Neocom, so you can create and edit customized fittings (load-outs) with a ton of different dropsuits, weapons, vehicles, items and more. You’ll also be able to use Neocom to access the in-game Mail system and Friends List, as well as use the Market to get new stuff for your character from the DUST 514 Marketplace using either ISK (in-game earned currency) or Aurum (purchased currency). DUST 514: Neocom is rolling out this year alongside DUST 514.

That’s it for now. Be sure to check out the new trailer we’ve released for E3 which features all new footage of Beta gameplay. Please watch for DUST 514 updates at and after E3!

Thanks! We look forward to seeing you on the battlefield!

Join the insanity that is Eve Online from a different perspective. And for FREE!

Get in on the action on PlayStation Network in this free-to-play beta!

Everything about this game seems complicated, but in like the best way possible.

The latest Dust 514 dev diary explains both how the game is tied into EVE's universe, and how you'll care about your gear, since you have to buy all of it with in-game currency. Let's be honest, though: If EVE's corp heads want us to fight for them, they should buy their own damn tanks.

Learn all about the planetary conflicts that encompass this persistent first-person shooter.

EVE FanFest attendees will receive early access to the Dust 514 Beta, according to CCP Games...

In traditional or mainstream FPS games, the mission area, i.e. the layout of objectives, structures, and spawn locations, are fairly static, thus making missions predictable after playing them a few times. This is not the case in DUST 514. Because of its sandbox nature, we want to give players the freedom to change the battlefield through choices and this is where the “dynamic” part of the battlefields will come from. This means that battlefields in DUST 514 could change based on the actions that players make – from innocuous actions such as changing one’s character fitting before a deployment, all the way up to decisions made light years away in a player owned corporate board room.

However, giving players a big sandbox to play in does not simply mean throwing a bunch of random choices at them and say, “go.” For players to experience the uniquely emergent gameplay offered by the EVE Online universe, the freedom that these choices offer must be handled in a meaningful manner. To illustrate this, we will be looking at how battlefields in DUST 514 are made dynamic in two major ways: at the macro and the micro scale.

At the Macro Scale

You might have read about EVE Online’s big player alliances fighting for control over regions of space containing dozens of solar systems spread across a hundred parsecs. You may have also heard about DUST 514’s distinctive gameplay which will allow players acting as immortal mercenaries to conquer planets within the EVE Online universe in a bid to wrestle territorial control from EVE capsuleers. All this, of course, is set to occur in a cross platform new genre between PC and PlayStation 3. And then you’ve probably wondered how it will all work.

Let’s begin by examining planetary conquest in DUST 514. As the leader of a DUST 514 corporation filled with immortal mercenaries, it would be natural for you to cast your hungry gaze at the planets floating within the wine dark space of the EVE universe. And these planets will be divided into separate districts – large territories that contain resources and infrastructures where players can extract materials or to defend it from enemies. When players deploy to fight for control of these districts they will notice that only one thing is static… the landscape. The hills, valleys, rivers and coasts of a district are unchanging from one deployment to the next. However, the placement of and the types of surface structures available will vary based on decisions made about what is needed for that district on a corporate level. And this will be covered in more detail in a later blog focused on Surface Infrastructure. For more context on that you can check out the CCP video on “Seeding the Universe” here.

Other factors can also affect the district from one battle to the next. For example, previous or existing battles may cause the destruction or creation of new infrastructures by orbital fleet bombardments or new deployments by the theater commander that may alter the shape and look of the battlefield.

Players who take part in the successful capture of a district could easily find that the layout of structures and positions of key strongholds are totally different when they return to that district to defend it. From one corporate owner to the next, the surface control center (SCC) or hub of the district could be changed or upgraded if it is present. The SCC’s outposts and the support centers around the SCC may be rearranged, upgraded, or even removed based on the decisions of the owning corporation, and this is only one of many key infrastructures that will be available to players.

At the Micro Scale

So now that you’ve seen how the capsuleer gods and immortal mercenary generals can shape the battlefield from a strategic, macro level, you might be thinking: how does all this play out for the grunts on the ground?

At the more personal level of the soldier on the ground, a key gameplay feature requires that the battlefield be reconnoitered during each new deployment. This is because the initial deployment positions for each mission will vary for each team based on the decisions by their commanders. Therefore, knowing exactly where the enemy is located and coming from will become top priority. Each team’s commander will also be responsible for the deployment of their team’s support systems. These commander deployed installations can consist of any number of component types that are deployed to suit the needs of the team in positions to maximize their effects. Each installation is centered on a Command Node component that provides power and processing (PG and CPU) needed to operate all deployed components throughout a battle. Once the Command Node is deployed a commander has a wide choice of installation components that he can position on the battlefield. The commander can choose from a large selection of Signals Warfare, Electronic Warfare, Installation Support, Player Support and Combat installation components.

All this translates into the very real possibility that if a player thinks he knows the battlefield simply because he fought there before, he might find that nice open short cut from the last battle now filled with enemy weapons, EW platforms and communication disruptors centered on an enemy Command Node. A deadly trap just waiting for him and others who think they know the map. In fact, it might not even be from the last battle… an enemy commander can deploy an installation into position within minutes during a battle. So unless your team has eyes on a position, what you find the next time you’re there could surprise you.

In addition, squad leaders can also have varying roles during each mission on the battlefield. For example, squad leaders have the ability to deploy small fixed gun emplacements to support the offensive or defensive actions of their squads. They will also have the ability to utilize the off-map support available to their squads and will be responsible for directing their squads’ movements on the battlefield.

Of course, this does not preclude individual players from making an impact on the battle. Individual players, squad members and leaders can also change the battlefield situation by the equipment they choose to carry into the fray. For example, let’s say that there is a squad of DUST mercs who got cutoff from friendly forces on the map. As the enemy closes in from all directions with HAVs and dropships, the squad is slowly reduced to its last man. His commander tells him that he must hold the ground at all cost and in desperation, the last squad member calls in a Black Ops HAV equipped with a mobile CRU. Now his entire team can respawn into that location fitted with anti-vehicle dropsuits and begin to beat back the enemy forces and eventually win the battle.

A Bigger Sandbox

As you can imagine, all the choices mentioned above are available to players in DUST 514. From high level strategic decisions of alliance formation (or termination), to mid-level theater command and control, and all the way down to fighting soldiers slugging it out in the muck and trenches of a forlorn battlefield. Each player will face different challenges and be offered a different set of choices whose effects are all interconnected, so that no one plays and make these decisions in a vacuum. Will you favor one alliance over another during a territorial dispute spanning multiple solar systems only to betray them when the time is ripe? Should you send in your mercenary forces to attack a particular district in a concerted effort with another mercenary army in lieu of relieving a besieged outpost in a gamble to alter the frontlines of an entire planet? Do you drop that Nanohive to resupply your squad mates now, or snipe that enemy scout to take out the enemy’s eyes and ears first? Each and every one of the players within the EVE universe will affect each other regardless of the size of their impact, thus bringing a truly emergent kind of gameplay shared by hundreds of thousands that is meaningful to the actors themselves.

#dust514 Dust 514 is a free-to-play first-person-shooter on the PlayStation 3 that will connect to the massively-multiplayer online game Eve Online. This much we've known for several months, but pardon me for still having trouble processing how it's going to work. E More »

EVE Online ain't just spreadsheets in space anymore!

I have never played an MMO and yet I’m going to be doing a lot of talking about DUST 514, a major collaboration between CCP Games and PlayStation to bring the first free-to-play console MMOFPS exclusively to PS3. Therefore, I took a trip to Iceland to attend the EVE Online Fanfest and start to get to know this fervent online community that PlayStation fans will soon be joining in New Eden and, of course, get the latest news on DUST 514.

Here are some of my learnings, although I’m sure there is one pressing question on your minds before we get into that – when can you play the game? Well, the closed beta is currently underway and Fanfest attendees were told that they would be able to access a more open beta in April, which will open in waves throughout the following months. Rest assured, we’ll be keeping you up to date with opportunities to join in here on PlayStation.Blog.

One Universe. One War

We’ve spoken before about how DUST 514 and EVE Online are ‘linked’ but, actually, that’s putting it lightly. The two games exist on the same single-shard server, they occupy the same universe and economy, and they share social tools such as voice and text chat; it’s more accurate to say that they co-exist, rather than point to one specific point of linkage.

At the DUST 514 keynote last week we saw perhaps the most tangible interaction so far, when an EVE Online Player unleashed an Orbital Bombardment from his spaceship, down on to the ground battle happening in DUST 514, all live on-stage. Afterwards, I caught up with DUST 514 Executive Producer Brandon Laurino to learn exactly how that happened. “So what you saw there uses all of the communication tools we’re making available,” he explained. “We were up on stage but, when you’re at home playing DUST 514, you’re going to be communicating via voice and text chat and saying ‘I need some help down here buddy’ to an ally playing EVE Online.”

“Then what you do is use your Cortex, which is kind of like your portable computer, to paint a target on the surface. That target will show up for the EVE Online player to make their way over to, ready their cannons and, if it all goes off successfully, that shot is going to come down from one game on the PC to another on the PS3, all in real time.”

PS Vita Companion App

We’ve know for some time that the team at CCP Games is working with PS Vita but, until now, we’ve not known what kind of form that is going to take. At the closing keynote on Sunday, Brandon Laurino took to the stage and revealed the first official details on a PS Vita companion app currently known as ‘DUST 514: Neocom’.

“It’s basically a way to stay connected to your game, on the go,” Laurino told us afterwards. “It’s a way for you to have certain features like mail, chat, the marketplace, character fitting and more with you at all times. As we’ve said, this game has a serious amount of depth so it’s useful to be able to sort all of this stuff out on the go so that, when you’re on your couch, you’re straight into the action.

“Above and beyond that, we’ve also got a lot of exciting ideas for how players can also use their PS Vita as a tool to help them when they’re actually in the middle of a battle.”

The Long and Winding Loadout

DUST 514 is an MMOFPS and, therefore, it has a wide array of customisation options and character-levelling opportunities – so many, it was claimed, that it could take players up to seven years to fully level up their characters, and that vehicles are “deeper than most characters in other games.”

To help you on that journey, you will be able to set it up so that your character can accrue skill points passively throughout their existence, so you can be progressing and developing new skills even when you aren’t playing the game.

Back to School

EVE Online fans are some of the most dedicated I have ever seen, but it’s not all aimed at earning profit and taking over galaxies. One group of players has set up the EVE University, which sets out to educate players and maintain an extensive library of wikis.

One group member told me that there are plans to extend the kindness to DUST 514 players, whether you’re looking to learn more about the vast history and politics of the universe, or are finding the aforementioned customisation and levelling systems a little hard to master.

The Future

It’s clear that, when DUST 514 launches fully, it will be the start of a seemingly endless project for the developer. Even at this early stage they offered a glimpse of what they have planned for the future, including giant mechs called MTACs (OPSM even managed to grab a picture); support for eSports and the ability to watch matches in EVE Online and bet on the outcome; and the possibility of extending the action to ‘non-temperate planets’, where fire, gas and other elements may necessitate the use of vehicles.

Perhaps the biggest statement of intent of the weekend was when CCP Games CEO Hilmar Pétursson declared their intent to make the EVE Online / DUST 514 universe the biggest gaming environment in the world. It’s certainly going to be one to watch over the coming years and, perhaps best of all for PS3 owners, it needn’t ever cost you a thing to experience.

Imagine you and a squad of friends are engaged in a Conquest-esque match on the surface of an alien planet, dropping onto the ground near a mining facility that you must capture under heavy resistance from the opposing team. You choose your loadout, pick a spawn point, and call in a couple of vehicl...

At the CCP keynote at this year's Eve Fanfest , Dust 514 producer Brandon Laurino has outlined plans for a 2013 expansion for the massively-multiplayer first-person shooter set inside the Eve universe, including eSports functionality...