Dust 514 Message Board

EVE Valkyrie has caught enough eyes to populate the world’s weirdest, most Halloween-friendly gumball machine, but let’s be honest here: we don’t actually know all that much about it. Yes, it’s glittering, glorious dogfighting with a thing that sounds amusingly similar to “Octopus” strapped to your face, but EVE is more than just a series of battles. Much, much more. It’s a universe of politics, corporations, and player-powered intrigue. The spaceships are nice, yes, but they’re only one piece of the highly fractured intergalactic puzzle – pawns in a game of blood and money. So where does Valkyrie fit into all of that? How will it integrate with EVE as is? Will we eventually be able to explore in first-person, or just exist in the universe as we please? And what about Dust 514? Where does it end up? I asked CCP’s David Reid, and he returned fire with the most potent space laser of all: answers.

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CCP has tapped Jean-Charles Gaudechon to be the new executive producer on Dust 514. Gaudechon will oversee all ongoing development of the free-to-play PS3 shooter from CCP's Shanghai studio.

Gaudechon has a strong background in free-to-play. Previously, he led development on and launched Need for Speed World, but most recently Gaudechon wrapped up a stint at EA Stockholm where he worked on Battlefield: Play4Free and Battlefield Heroes.

Dust 514 is CCP's free-to-play shooter, available exclusively on PS3, set within the EVE universe. A new update called "Uprising" was outlined earlier this month, which will aim to streamline tutorials and better introduce players to Dust 514's mechanics and customization options.

This October, PlayStation Store DUST 514 offerings and intense organized play events are hitting harder than a perfectly placed Orbital Bombardment. Below is a timeline of what is coming, when it is coming and how it can shape your war. It all kicks off October 8, the day of the DUST 514 Uprising 1.5 update deployment.

DUST 514 Tactical Edition – 10.8.13 ($19.99)
The DUST 514 war machine fires the first shot of the skirmish with the release of the DUST 514 Tactical Edition. This custom version will include the DUST 514 client, Active Skill Boosters, Aurum, and a host of Packaged Fits for both dropsuits and vehicles to sharpen your edge in battle.

DUST 514 Tactical Edition contains:

• DUST 514 Client
• 7-Day Active Skill Booster
• 50 x CreoDron Breach Heavy Assault Vehicle Featured Fit
• 50 x Kaalakiota Recon Dropship Featured Fit
• 100 x Hunter Scout Dropsuit Featured Fit
• 100 x Mauler Heavy Dropsuit Featured Fit
• 100 x Shock Assault Dropsuit Featured Fit
• 50 x ‘LC-217’ Saga Light Assault Vehicles
• 2,500 Aurum

Factional Warfare Challenge – 10.8.13 through 10.15.13
The empires of New Eden are battling each other in Factional Warfare and pushing harder than ever for galactic dominance. For a full week in October the four factions of the EVE Universe are calling all mercenaries to prove their loyalty by fighting in their name. Your allegiance will not go unacknowledged and you will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts. Whether you are in a DUST 514 corporation or a lone gun for hire, the Factional Warfare Challenge will put you in the front lines of the larger conflicts of New Eden and in line for the bounties of war.

During the event players will be asked to meeting the following criteria:

• Play and complete 20 Factional Warfare matches and win 55% of those matches for a specific faction to win Tier I rewards– 100 prototype equipment items of your chosen faction
• Play and complete 30 matches and win 50% of those matches for a specific faction to win Tier II rewards– 75 prototype weapons of your chosen faction
• Play and complete 40 matches or more and win 45% of those matches for a specific faction to Tier III rewards– 50 prototype dropsuits of your faction

DUST 514 Reactivation Event 10.9-10.23
Have you been inactive in DUST 514 since August 8? DUST 514 is offering a strong incentive to bring that immortal clone mercenary out of stasis and back into the action. Log into DUST 514 and compete in 5 matches or more October 9-23 to receive 100 Black Eagle Packaged Fits and 100 Quafe dropsuits for revisiting the game.

Note: Only DUST 514 accounts that have been inactive since August 8 are eligible.

Weaponized and Ready (W.A.R.) Kits – 10.22
The playing field has just been leveled and the battlefield has been forever altered with the arrival of the DUST 514 W.A.R. (Weaponized and Ready) Kits. From the minds of the DUST 514 development team come a series of lethal, customized Packaged Fits designed to inspire fear in your opponents and victory over them.

Three levels of W.A.R. Kits are available to deploy, each containing Packaged Fits inspired by key members of the DUST 514 Dev Team.

W.A.R. Kit ‘Hoplon’ $19.99
Over 400 fully-equipped, battle-ready dropsuits and vehicles are contained in the W.A.R. Kit ‘Hoplon’. Each suit ensures you’re prepared for anything the battle throws your way. Included in this kit is the PlayStation Network exclusive ‘Flying Scotsman’ Assault ck.0 dropsuit; a shield-fortified, prototype-grade beast of the battlefield.

W.A.R. Kit ‘Hoplon’ contents:

• 45 x ‘FoxFour’ Assault G-I
• 45 x ‘Logicloop’ Scout M-I
• 45 x ‘Tigris’ Sentinel A-I
• 45 x ‘Rattati’ Assault G/1
• 45 x ‘Wolfman’ Assault A/1
• 45 x ‘Nullarbor’ Myron Dropship
• 45 x ‘Grayscale’ Saga Light Assault Vehicle
• 45 x ‘Remnant IX’ Logistics mk.0
• 45 x ‘Flying Scotsman’ Assault ck.0 (PSN Exclusive!)
• 1x 3-Day Active Skill Point Booster

W.A.R. Kit ‘Hetairos’ $49.99
900 fully-equipped, battle-ready dropsuits and vehicles for the perfect offensive or most impenetrable defense! W.A.R. Kit ‘Hetairos’ includes the PlayStation Network exclusive ‘Praetorian VII’ Madrugar, a triple-blaster heavily assault vehicle for team-based domination.

W.A.R. Kit ‘Hetairos’ contents:

• 100 x ‘FoxFour’ Assault G-I
• 100 x ‘Logicloop’ Scout M-I
• 100 x ‘Tigris’ Sentinel A-I
• 100 x ‘Rattati’ Assault G/1
• 100 x ‘Wolfman’ Assault A/1
• 100 x ‘Nullarbor’ Myron Dropship
• 100 x ‘Grayscale’ Saga Light Assault Vehicle
• 100 x ‘Remnant IX’ Logistics mk.0
• 100 x ‘Praetorian VII’ Madrugar HAV (PSN Exclusive!)
• 1x 3-Day Active Skill Point Booster

W.A.R. Kit ‘Sparta’ $99.99
The ultimate W.A.R. Kit!
Offered are 2,700 fully-equipped, battle-ready dropsuits and vehicles for ultimate assault and counterstrike! Weaponized and Ready (W.A.R.) Kit ‘Sparta’ will dominate all who oppose you and includes the PlayStation Network exclusive ‘Hellmar’ Sentinel ak.0, the ultimate crowd control fit, built to serve the glory of the Empire.

W.A.R. Kit ‘Sparta’ contents:

• 300 x ‘FoxFour’ Assault G-I
• 300 x ‘Logicloop’ Scout M-I
• 300 x ‘Tigris’ Sentinel A-I
• 300 x ‘Rattati’ Assault G/1
• 300 x ‘Wolfman’ Assault A/1
• 300 x ‘Nullarbor’ Myron Dropship
• 300 x ‘Grayscale’ Saga Light Assault Vehicle
• 300 x ‘Remnant IX’ Logistics mk.0
• 300 x ‘Hellmar’ Sentinel ak.0 (PSN Exclusive!)
• 1x 3-Day Active Skill Point Booster

An update coming to CCP's PS3-exclusive, free-to-play shooter Dust 514 is expected to completely revamp the game's tutorials, offering players a more focused breakdown on how to be successful in the game. As stated in our original preview of Dust 514 when it went into beta in 2012, the shooter's systems can be daunting. The new objective-based tutorial system aims to streamline the game's mechanics for new players.

"Our target audience is, for the most part, gamers who are familiar with other console first-person shooters and want to try something a little more interesting. This led us to focus primarily on teaching the differences between Dust and other FPS games, rather than trying to teach people, for example, what a gun is and how to move around," CCP Senior Game Designer Matthew Woodward explained in a post on the European PlayStation Blog. The tutorials will focus on how to join battles, proper outfitting of gear (dropsuits) and training skills.

The new tutorial system will arrive in an update dubbed Uprising, scheduled for release in "early October." The update also includes the ability to find and join squads and the new corporation roles that allow for better delegation from corp (somewhat like clans) bosses.

Greetings, Mercenaries.

Our motivation for the release of Uprising 1.5 was to do whatever we felt necessary to improve the chances of new players making it past Day One of playing DUST 514. The first step was to consider what sort of players we were aiming at, and decide which teaching approach to take.

Our target audience is, for the most part, gamers who are familiar with other console first-person shooters and want to try something a little more interesting. This led us to focus primarily on teaching the differences between DUST and other FPS games, rather than trying to teach people, for example, what a gun is and how to move around.

To accomplish this, we considered two major approaches: instruction-driven and objective-driven. An instruction-driven approach ensures that players are clearly shown what to do at each point along the way. Commonly this means highlighting every interaction, locking out everything else, and ensuring that every single step is explained. An objective-driven approach, by contrast, tends towards giving players goals to complete, and telling them just enough to let them figure out how to complete it.

Ultimately, we decided to go with an objective-driven approach. With the assumption that our players are mostly familiar with the genre, we can be more confident that they’ll be able to complete the objectives. DUST is also a fairly dense and free-form game, so people who are likely to stick with it in the long term are assumed to be more likely to find an objective-driven approach a good fit. And objective-driven tutorials are a safer long-term investment in a continually-changing game like DUST, since they’re much less sensitive to changes in UI, mechanics, etc.

With the approach decided, we discussed what we wanted to teach, and settled on three core things for this release:

Joining a battle. This is not rocket science, obviously, but we need to be sure that players can do this before anything else. While working out the best experience, we decided that it’s better having the Neocom open by default, rather than closed, since this makes the available options more obvious for new players and reduces button-presses for everyone. You’ll still be able to cancel into the MQ from the Neocom, but wherever we used to default to the plain MQ view, we now show the Neocom instead. Creating a new fitting. This is one of the big things that sets DUST apart from other games, but in order to be effective it needs to be understood at an early stage. We teach the very basics: open Dropsuit Fitting, create a new fit, and make the fit valid by adding a weapon. Again, we’ve made some usability enhancements to the UI here, such as adding tips in the blank panes, to smooth out the experience. Training a skill. Again, in DUST this is fairly different from most other games, and really needs to be understood early on. Here we’re just prompting people to open Skills, pick any skill, buy it, and train it to level 1. We didn’t find much to fix with the UI here, beyond changing the “Train” button to read “Purchase” when you don’t own the skill.

The biggest thing that we’re not teaching is how to use the Market. It’s obviously pretty important, and something we want to address in a future release, but we didn’t feel confident that we could deliver an effective tutorial for this release in the time available and with the current UI.

Beyond deciding on the specific instructions, we also needed to produce the surrounding systems to support it, and a good UI to convey it to players.

When your new character logs in for the first time (don’t worry, this won’t run on existing characters), you’ll be greeted by an introductory pop-up, and then shown the “New Objective” screen for the first task.

Here you can see pretty much what you need to know: what the goal is, what the individual suggested steps are, and what you’ll get for completing it. The rewards for this release are mostly militia gear, intended to get the players into the groove rather than give them a big power boost; the most expensive thing we’re handing out is probably the 1-day active booster in the final stage.

Once you’ve digested that, pressing “Continue” will animate the screen down to the bottom corner, where it’ll settle as an always-on-top reminder of your overall goal and your next step.

This location was picked as it has the fewest conflicts with existing UI, so it shouldn’t ever get in the way of anything. It’s persistent and on-top but it’s not restrictive in any way, so you’re free to ignore it for as long as you like.

As you follow the steps, they’ll complete, scroll off the UI, and be replaced by the next step. Steps where you’re doing something permanent (such as creating a fitting or buying a skill) are saved on the server, while steps that involve opening a UI element are not. This should ensure that anyone interrupted by accidental disconnect or the like picks up again on their next login in a sensible way.

Once you complete your objective, you’ll be shown the “Objective Complete” screen at the next sensible opportunity (e.g., not in the middle of a battle). This nicely-animated screen lets you know that you’ve successfully completed your objective, and been given your reward.

Selecting “Continue” will then load the “New Objective” screen for the next objective, and so on until you’ve completed the whole tutorial. There’s one final pop-up to wrap up, and then you’re done.

That’s pretty much it. Simple and straightforward and — hopefully! — comprehensible. The system’s designed to be extensible (it’s actually using the same back-end system as the daily bonus), so we’re well positioned to add to it in future, but for now we’re pretty happy with what we’re shipping.

Feedback in the comments as usual!

In DUST 514, a massively multiplayer free-to-play first-person shooter exclusive to PlayStation 3, you can build an empire, wage war on a galactic scale and change the notorious sci-fi universe of EVE Online forever. But you can’t do it without the right gear.

As an immortal mercenary, you’ll want to outfit your battle clones with the best dropsuits, weapons, enhancements and equipment to suit your fighting style. The customization options are nearly endless and with a galactic battlefield that’s constantly shifting, you’ll need to experiment with the latest military tech to maximize your performance.

One of the best ways to test out new gear in DUST 514 is with a newly offered Featured Fit. These fully-fitted dropsuit and vehicle setups are custom-made by our designers to showcase the combat advantages of individual races, weapons, defensive strategies and more. Featured Fits are ready to go and don’t require any skill training to equip, so Mercs can use them without burning through hard-earned Skill Points. Just slot them onto your character of choice, and hop into battle.

This week we have two Featured Fits available on the PlayStation Store in the form of the DUST 514 Battle Kit, which bundles 15 deadly Amarr dropsuit fits and 5 ultra-efficient Saga-II Light Assault Vehicles fits, for a deadly combination of shield-enhanced destruction.

In typical Amarr fashion, the Harbinger bristles with laser weapons, but this fit is also armed with augmented shields, allowing you to lay down the burn for longer as you take enemy fire. The LC-225 Saga-II Militia Light Assault Vehicle gets you into battle quicker, and its enhanced shielding helps you stay there.

The DUST 514 Battle Kit hits the PlayStation Store tomorrow for just $0.99. And if you want to make the most of your time with the Harbinger and Saga, pick up the DUST 514 Battle Kit with Active Booster ($1.99) to increase the rate of your skill point gain during combat.

If you’re not already building your own empire in New Eden, download and play DUST 514 today, completely free, and find out why it’s the deepest, most meaningful FPS you’ve ever played. And if you agree that the best empires are built with lasers and LAVs, start your mercenary career with the DUST 514 Battle Kit.

See you on the battlefield.

Since DUST 514 launched as the first free-to-play massively multiplayer first-person shooter on PlayStation 3 in May, the battlefields of New Eden have been exploding with activity. If you haven’t jumped in and created your immortal DUST character yet, our latest in-game event is the perfect time to start your mercenary career.

On Thursday, July 11th, we are issuing Mordu’s Challenge, which throws down the gauntlet to players to rack up kills, achieve hacks and cause massive destruction to win lethal in-game gear. Are you the speedy Scout who dives in, hacks objectives, and then gets out? Or are you a Heavy-suited Forge Gunner who can blow apart installations with a few shots? No matter what your play style is, there is an objective for you to reach and earn some excellent gear.

From Thursday, July 11th until Thursday, July 18th, you can take part in any public match to show Mordu’s Legion your skills! The event offers four separate challenges to take on. Go for the goals that most suit your play style or take down all the objectives and earn a special bonus reward!

• 100x Enemy Kills – Assault C/1-Series Dropsuit + C15-A Tactical Sniper Rifle (all equipment Caldari themed) x50
• 100x Installations Destroyed – Logistics M/1-Series Dropsuit + BDR-8 Triage Repair Tool (all equipment is Minmatar themed) x50
• 100x Objective Hacks – Scout G/1 Series Dropsuit + GLU-5 Tactical Assault Rifle (all equipment Gallente themed) x50
• 100x Enemy Kill Assists – Prometheus class dropship x25
• Achieve all of the above – Falchion class HAV + 80GJ Stabilized Neutron Blaster + HT Linear Flux Stabilizer x100

In the universe of DUST 514, Mordu’s Legion is one of the oldest, most respected, and powerful mercenary outfits in existence. When the first cloned soldier, code-named Templar One, went rogue and broke away from his Amarr overlords, the Legion gave him sanctuary. Mordu’s Legion was the first to embrace the cloned soldier not merely as a weapon, but as a human being.

Yet since those early days, millions of these cloned soldiers have emerged and set up mercenary companies of their own. Faced with scores of independents who are willing and able to die and die again, the Legion’s place in the cluster is at risk. Now their eccentric founder, Muriya Mordu, has decided to issue a challenge to every cloned mercenary to prove their worth. And he’s backing up his words with weapons, dropsuits, and equipment for anyone who can show off the power of the new order.

No official entry is required for this event. Simply play DUST 514 and your statistics will be tracked and recorded. More information on this and future DUST 514 events planned for the summer can be found in the official DUST 514 July Events Developer Blog.

And don’t forget to join the conversation about Mordu’s Challenge on the PlayStation forums! DUST players who share their thoughts about the event will receive free copies of the Militia Light Damage Modifier to use in-game.

See you on the battlefield!

As compensation for its "longest downtime in quite a while," EVE Online is giving active accounts 50,000 unallocated skill points. Trial accounts got an extra week. "If you hear of someone doing or planning something bad, even if it’s your friend, we do have the PLEX for snitches program," publisher CCP said.

EVE Online publisher CCP said in a statement that "at no time was customer data compromised or accessible," during a DDoS attack that brought down EVE and Dust 514 this weekend. "We will be looking at ways to compensate players in both EVE and DUST for the outage," CCP added.

EVE Online says it has taken down its Tranquility server cluster—housing the MMO itself and companion game Dust 514—because of "a significant and sustained distributed denial-of-service attack." Tranquility has been down for 16 hours. At this time, not even EVE's web site is reachable. Follow EVE's Twitter for more.

Jeff Miller is a 3D artist who works for CCP, the developers behind EVE Online and its FPS spinoff, Dust 514. Previous to that, he's worked at places like Lucasarts and Ensemble, the Age of Empires and Halo Wars studio closed by Microsoft a few years back. Jeff has also done freelance work for stuff like magazine covers and promo shots. You can see more of his work at his personal site and CGHub page. To see the larger pics in all their glory (or, if they’re big enough, so you can save them as wallpaper), click on the “expand” button in the bottom-right corner. Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists, showcasing the best of both their professional and personal portfolios. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment, promotional or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!

Nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky. That, and Iceland's aptitude for making crazy space games.

Pre-Order GRID 2 ($59.99) Be fast, be first and be famous as you join the elite in ‘World Series Racing’ where the greatest cars, drivers and events come together in the search for a new motorsport icon. Find your limit, then go beyond it. Welcome back to racing. Resident Evil Revelations ($49.99) The story is set at a time before the Kijuju and Lanshiang bioterror incidents when the BSAA was still a young organization. Join Jill Valentine aboard a ghost ship in the Mediterranean Sea searching for her old partner, Chris Redfield. Learn the hidden truth behind the destruction of a floating city. Or play in Raid Mode for a co-op killing-spree with friends over the Internet. PS3 Full Game Metro: Last Light ($59.99) Beneath the ruins of post-apocalyptic Moscow, in the tunnels of the Metro, civil war rages for control of a doomsday device that threatens to erase humanity forever. As Artyom, burdened by guilt but driven by hope, you hold the key to our survival – the last light in our darkest hour… Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny ($29.99) Aden and Sonja, two lifelong friends, were living a tranquil life on Fenith Island. Then, one day, they were struck by a mysterious curse! They awoke to find both of their souls were trapped in the same body! On top of this unusual calamity, the Fenith Island they knew was gone, replaced by an island populated with unfamiliar faces. Solving this mystery will require adventure, strategy, and plenty of new friends! PSN DUST 514 (Free) DUST 514 brings intense infantry combat, large scale warfare and rich character advancement to PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system in a system exclusive free-to-play persistent shooter set in, and integrated with, the massive universe of EVE Online. Wage war in the next generation of first person shooters, where your next victory could prove the crushing blow to a galactic empire of thousands of online gamers. Star Wars Pinball ($9.99) Star Wars Pinball features trials for each table, advanced ball physics, robust social features, stereoscopic 3D, with the new Star Wars Pinball pack and more DLC releases to follow. Feel the power of the Force in Star Wars Pinball! Tiny Token Empires ($9.99) Tiny Token Empires is an amazing mix between a ‘Match 3′ game and turn-based strategy game. The player plays one of the five major ancient empires: Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia, or Carthage. By annexing new territories, the player gradually expands his power over the world! PS Vita Jacob Jones and the Bigfoot Mystery ($2.99) Jacob Jones is just a normal, shy nine-year-old schoolboy. But that all changes the day he befriends a giant hairy Bigfoot while at summer camp! Something strange is going on at Camp Eagle Feather, so it’s up to Jacob and Biggie to get to the bottom of it all. Explore a 3D world full of twists, turns and ingenious puzzles as you meet a cast of weird and wonderful characters in a truly original and unforgettable tale. Star Wars Pinball ($9.99) Star Wars Pinball features trials for each table, advanced ball physics, robust social features, stereoscopic 3D, with the new Star Wars Pinball pack and more DLC releases to follow. Feel the power of the Force in Star Wars Pinball! PS2 Classics Manhunt ($9.99) They just killed Cash. Now, they want to kill him again. America is full of run down, broken rust-belt towns where nobody cares and anything goes. In Carcer City, nothing matters anymore and all that’s left are cheap thrills. The ultimate rush is the power to grant life and take it away, for sport. This time James Earl Cash, you are the sport. They gave you your life back. Now, they are going to hunt you down. PlayStation Store Highlights

Between the pre-orders for GRID 2 and Resident Evil Revelations and the release of DUST 514, Metro: Last Light and Star Wars Pinball it’s a busy week on the PlayStation Store. There are even more goodies as Rockstar’s Manhunt joins the PS2 Classics library and Call of Duty: Black Ops II gets more maps with Uprising, while Sound Shapes gets additional music packs.

PlayStation Plus members that already downloaded Sleeping Dogs last week might be interested in the fact that the title’s add-on content is now on sale, so you can get some great deals.

If you’d like to peruse all the new items on the store at your own leisure, feel free to check out the web storefront. As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. You can also chat about this update in the PlayStation Community Forums.

PlayStation Plus

Learn more and purchase online or go to the PlayStation Store to activate instantly. To learn more about this week’s Plus offerings, check out this week’s PS Plus post.

Instant Game Collection

Knytt Underground (PS3 & PS Vita)

Discounts

GRID 2 Pre-Order – PS Plus Price: $53.99
Metro: Last Light – PS Plus Price: $47.99

PS3 Demos Resident Evil Revelations Survive a ghost ship and rediscover survival-horror. Play as Jill in this demo. Star Wars Pinball Star Wars Pinball features trials for each table, advanced ball physics, robust social features, stereoscopic 3D, with the new Star Wars Pinball pack and more DLC releases to follow. Feel the power of the Force in Star Wars Pinball! Tiny Token Empires Tiny Token Empires is an amazing mix between a ‘Match 3′ game and turn-based strategy game. The player plays one of the five major ancient empires: Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia, or Carthage. By annexing new territories, the player gradually expands his power over the world! This Trial version contains 5 complete missions to discover the Roman Empire! PS Vita Demos Star Wars Pinball Star Wars Pinball features trials for each table, advanced ball physics, robust social features, stereoscopic 3D, with the new Star Wars Pinball pack and more DLC releases to follow. Feel the power of the Force in Star Wars Pinball! Price Change

• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Pigsy’s Perfect 10 (now: $4.99 original price: $9.99)

Sales

• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 – PS2 Classic (now: $4.99 original price: $9.99)

Sleeping Dogs Add-On Sale

• Nightmare in Northpoint – PS3 Add-on (now: $3.49 original price: $6.99)
• Chinese New Year Pack – PS3 Add-on (now: $3.49 original price: $6.99)
• Deep Undercover Pre-Order Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• GSP Pre-Order Pack– PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Law Enforcer Pack– PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Martial Arts Pre-Order Pack– PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Monkey King Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Movie Masters Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Police Protection Pre-Order Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Retro Triad Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• The High Roller Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• The Red Envelope Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Top Dog Gold Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Top Dog Silver Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Wheels of Fury Pack (PS3) – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.99 Original Price: $3.99)
• Drunken Boxer – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Screen Legends Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Street Racer – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.99 Original Price: $3.99)
• Tactical Soldier Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• The Dragon Master Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $3.99 Original Price: $7.99)
• The Swat Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.99 Original Price: $3.99)
• Triad Enforcer Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $1.49 Original Price: $3.99)
• Square Character Pack – PS3 Add-On (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)
• Zodiac Tournament – PS3 Add-On (Now: $2.49 Original Price: $4.99)
• Gangland Style Pack – PS3 Add-on (Now: $0.99 Original Price: $1.99)

PS Vita Add-ons Sound Shapes

• 80s Sound Pack ($0.99)
• Dubstep Sound Pack ($0.99)

PS3 Add-ons Call of Duty: Black Ops II

• Uprising ($14.99, Free with Season Pass)

Borderlands 2

• Psycho Pack ($9.99)

DC Universe Online

• Origin Crisis ($9.99)

Dishonored

• Dishonored Packs ($3.99)

DUST 514

• Mercenary Pack 2 ($19.99)
• Veteran Pack ($49.99)

Dynasty Warriors 7 Empires

• Academy School Set ($3.99)
• Edit Costume Set 12 ($1.99)
• Edit Costume Set 13 ($1.99)
• Edit Costume Set 14 ($1.99)

God of War: Ascension

• Armor of Typhoon Multiplayer Armor ($2.99)
• Mercernary Sword Multiplayer Weapon ($2.99)

Guardians of Middle Earth

• Mouth of Sauron ($1.99)

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory

• Centennial Processor ($0.99)
• Madness and CPU Memories (Free)
• National Entrance Exams ($0.99)
• Spectral Processor ($0.99)

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

• Blade Wolf Story ($6.99)

Metro: Last Light

• Ranger Mode ($4.99)

Rocksmith

• Harder to Breathe ($2.99) – Maroon 5
• Misery ($2.99) – Maroon 5
• She Will Be Loved ($2.99) – Maroon 5
• Maroon 5 Song Pack ($7.99)

Sound Shapes

• 80s Sound Pack ($0.99)
• Dubstep Sound Pack ($0.99)

Skullgirls

• Cerebella Color Pack ($0.99)
• Character Color Pack ($4.99)
• Double Color Pack ($0.99)
• Filia Color Pack ($0.99)
• Ms. Fortune Color Pack ($0.99)
• Painwheel Color Pack ($0.99)
• Parasoul Color Pack ($0.99)
• Peacock Color Pack ($0.99)
• Valentine Color Pack($0.99)

PS3 Themes

• Flirty Girl Dynamic Theme – $2.99
• Boston Celtics Theme Bundle – $5.99
• Chicago Bulls Theme Bundle – $5.99
• Dallas Mavericks Theme Bundle – $4.99
• LA Clippers Theme Bundle – $4.99
• LA Lakers Theme Bundle – $5.99
• Miami Heat Theme Bundle – $5.99
• OKC Thunder Theme Bundle – $4.99
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Greeting DUST Mercs! Ten years ago EVE Online launched on PC, and during that time it evolved with its players into the incredibly successful, critically acclaimed sci-fi game that players know today. It grew organically beyond the original vision of the designers and into the player-driven galactic sandbox game where immortal starship pilots take the power to dictate their own destiny.

About a year ago we began a similar journey with DUST 514.

We set out to create something so ambitious and so crazy that we as gung-ho Vikings, had no choice but to make work. We sought to expand the EVE Universe from the stars to the planetary surfaces by creating an intense FPS on console and linking it to the largest single-shard PC-based MMO in history. Not only did we want to link DUST 514 to EVE, we wanted a ramped-up level of interaction where DUST mercs communicated with EVE pilots and cooperated in space and on the ground to generate galactic conflict of amazing scale.

Mission accomplished. We are humbled and proud to be with you here on launch day to deliver on that original vision. Now that DUST 514 has launched, a new door has opened for the EVE Universe. And while there are two separate games, it will always be about “One Universe, One War” in New Eden.

We are excited to take the beta label away from DUST 514, and now that we have launched, we look forward to the stories that our players will create as they jump headfirst into the massive galactic conflicts that await them.

This is only the beginning of the road for DUST 514 we turn it over into the hands of our players to mold and shape. We, the development team, will always be updating the game so that it grows with its players. And the ways they interact with DUST 514 are always evolving. At CCP, we think of launch as just that: the beginning of an endless upward climb. Today begins a truly exceptional gaming experience where the ramifications of every laser blast will be felt across the galaxy.

It takes a team of developers, designers, artists, testers and producers to create a game, but it takes the players to transform it into something truly fantastic. So a final thank you to the teams of developers I work with and to what I can only call the most honest, vocal and best community of players in the world. We could not have done it without you guys.

See you on the battlefield!

Atli Már Sveinsson
Creative Director, DUST 514
CCP Praetorian

EVE Online is getting a television series, thanks to a partnership between the MMO's publisher and an Icelandic filmmaker, and it will take its inspiration from the stories EVE players left on a website honoring the game's first decade. Baltasar Kormákur, the director, was behind 2012's Contraband and is currently working on 2 Guns, which stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg, due for release in August. A news release from CCP, EVE's publisher, says the television series will be distributed worldwide and will tell the store of the EVE Universe, "a future history of rival societies trapped beyond a wormhole in a dystopian sci-fi world." “The EVE universe is full of astounding stories of epic battles, daring heists, and gripping political intrigue, all of which will make for an amazing television series,” Kormákur said in a statement, and boy did he get the heists part right. No distributor or network for the series was named in the announcement, nor was any expected premiere window.

Hi all – I am writing this in the midst CCP’s annual EVE convention in Iceland, our biggest FanFest yet. By now you have probably heard news of the upcoming launch date for DUST 514, where DUST 514 concludes its Open Beta phase, set for the very appropriate date of 5.14.2013 upon which we fully release the first and only full “Free-to-Play” shooter ever on console.

We could not be more excited to truly begin the uprising of our DUST Immortal Soldiers into the EVE Universe of New Eden. We could not ask for a better partner in PlayStation to release DUST 514 on PS3 and we could not have achieved all of the groundbreaking work without the support, feedback and passion of our Beta testers and fans.

Being surrounded by the enthusiasm of our community – both online and at FanFest in person – is an incredible experience for a developer. We spend countless hours working on the game, finally meeting and brainstorming with our users face to face is an incredible pay off, as we celebrate with literally thousands of fans here in Reykjavik in and those that are following us online.

Entering the second decade for EVE Online (May 6th is the 10 year anniversary), announcing the launch of DUST 514 and experiencing the excitement of our loyal fans, CCP could not ask for a better weekend.

Even though DUST 514 is concluding its Beta phase with the phenomenal Uprising update – which includes tons of new stuff, from the major graphics update, to huge new features like player controlled Planetary Conquest – this is just the beginning. We have more major updates throughout 2013 and for years to come, just like we have done with EVE Online for the past 10 years. We are honored to have you on this journey with us.

Get your Fittings ready, with the Uprising on 5.14, the EVE Universe wars on the Planets of New Eden now truly begin.

Dust 514, CCP's console companion to EVE Online, will cease its open beta operations and begin life as an officially released PlayStation 3 game on Wednesday, May 14, according to the game's official Twitter account. Get it? May 14? A date that could be written as 5/14 if one were so inclined?

See, because the game is called Dust 514, and ... You know what? Never mind. Dust 514 will be free-to-play when it launches, so curious folk can become a tiny, infinitesimal speck in EVE Online's vast shared universe without having to open their wallets.

Each spring for almost a decade, legions of gamers flock to Reykjavik, Iceland, to join CCP for Fanfest. This year, we’re celebrating the DUST 514 open beta and the 10th anniversary of EVE Online with our grandest party yet. And you can watch all the action via livestream on your PS3.

There will be panels, presentations, huge reveals, and answers to many of your DUST 514 questions. Worldwide leaders in science and industry will be on hand to show you how the science fiction tech of New Eden is quickly becoming science fact in our world. CCP staff will mingle with the players, and we’ll bring down the house (and maybe the Arctic Circle) in the epic Party at the Top of the World on Saturday night.

At the DUST 514 keynote address on Thursday, we’ll let you in on what’s next for the planetary warfare already raging on the open beta. Peek at the improvements, additions, and eye-on-the-horizon plans for this revolutionary shooter that shares a universe with hit MMORPG EVE Online.

And since DUST 514 and EVE Online share a universe, this year, for the first time ever, we’re hosting a combined PvP tournament featuring both games, with big prizes for the winners. We’ll also be announcing the 8th Council of Stellar Management, the only democratically elected, developer-endorsed player council in gaming.

Fanfest sold out completely in record time this year, with over 1,500 players flying in from around the world. If you’re not among them, never fear, since you can still catch Fanfest streaming through your PS3. Watch all the festivities, hosted by our awesome EVE TV team, from the comfort of your own homes.

Fanfest is happening April 25th through 27th, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM ET (3:00 AM to 3:00 PM PT). You can find the livestream on the “What’s New” section of the XMB.

Read the full Fanfest schedule, and don’t miss out.

With the help of our players, we at CCP have learned a great deal throughout last year of DUST 514‘s beta period, especially with regard to the system at the core of your character’s advancement and progression: the skill system. Most importantly, we’ve gained an understanding of how you are using the items to advance through the game. This is all thanks to the terrific amount of player feedback we’ve received during the beta period.

As we started work on re-aligning the progression tree for the new Uprising build of DUST 514, set for release on May 6th, we realized that trying to map the new skills, bonuses and requirements to your existing items was not only complicated on the technical side, but also likely unfair to you. You may have committed to a certain play style, and with an overhauled layout and collection of skills, you may find yourself regretting some of your prior choices. We have thus decided that it is far better to re-spec not only the skills but items as well. In short, you will get your skill points (SP) back and the ISK and AUR (in-game currencies) value of any item that is removed from your inventory. Below are more details on how this works.

First, we have removed the secondary and tertiary requirement from all skills. This means that while skills may have multiple parent skills in a linear succession, they will not have multiple direct prerequisite skills. We are also introducing a brand new node-based view of the skill tree, and you are able to upgrade a skill multiple levels at a time provided you have the skill points to do so. This is a major improvement from the old list approach. We are retaining the list view in another section of the menu, for the nostalgia and for those that simply like lists (you know who you are).

When the upcoming Uprising build is released on May 6th, your character(s) will be reimbursed all the skill points that they have earned and used to date, for redistribution under the new schema. Note that this re-spec only applies to your current skills, and items that you have in your inventory. The refund value of ISK and AUR items will be based on the market value at the time of the re-spec.

Details on the specifics of the changes will be covered in a separate dev blog (coming soon) and will contain a list of changes expected, as well as additional info about the revamped tech tree and a full list of in-game items for the Uprising update.

Along with the skill tree layout changes, we are constantly balancing items based on your feedback and our own findings from our captures and databases. You will notice that some items have changed attributes, including removal or change in color schemes of certain drop-suits and other items.

In addition to this skill system evolution, the Uprising release will bring many more upgrades, advances and balances. In short, you can expect a lot more new content to play with. We are very excited and proud of the Uprising release and we couldn’t have done it without our dedicated beta testers. With all the improvements and new things coming with our next release, there is no better time than now to join DUST 514 and experience the immersive world of New Eden.

If you’re not a regular Eve Online player, and it if you don’t own Sony’s LittleBigUncharted emulator, the PS3, you might not be aware that the PC players of Eve Online can now drop orbital strikes into the free-to-player shooter, Dust 514. CCP have decided it’s time to trailerise such an event, so for 2m51s there will be some footage of a console game on RPS. Don’t worry, though. I got your back.(more…)

Success on the battlegrounds of DUST 514 is about far more than who has the biggest gun. Equipment plays a vital part in defining the role you play on the battlefield. Fit a nanite injector to your assault type II dropsuit and you’re a front line medic, resurrecting your fallen team mates. Fit a repair tool and you become a combat engineer, repairing damaged dropsuits and vehicles as well as giving your squad active armour repair during a firefight.

The fondly nicknamed ‘logibro’ logistics dropsuits are of course the kings of battlefield equipment usage. With more equipment slots than any other dropsuit class they can carry multiple equipment types making them incredible useful squad mates. A Logistics A-Series can for example, resupply his squad with nanohives, provide tactical spawn locations with drop uplinks and keep them fighting fit with a repair tool.

It’s been really interesting to see what types of equipment have been the most popular during the Beta so far. In first place we have the ever-popular Nano Hive with an epic 106,537,393 units purchased for ISK! Following this we then have repair tools, remote explosives and lastly drop uplinks, but even together they couldn’t topple the mighty Nano Hive having collectively sold 104,913,684 units. If you check out the graph below you can see the relative popularity as well as the massive spike when we opened up the Beta floodgates.

So you know that there are a bunch of new weapons rolling off the New Eden production lines in the next update, but what about equipment? Well, we’re planning on reintroducing the Active Scanner. Some of the veteran Beta players may remember it’s rather buggy first appearance (followed by rapid disappearance) last year during the closed testing. We’ve taken some time to retool its functionality, add new HUD elements and feedback mechanisms so soon it will be back, new and improved! The scanner is a powerful squad support tool, your enemies will have nowhere to hide as you scan and transmit their positions to your squad mates. I expect to see a rise in the popularity of profile dampener modules once the new scanners roll out as people try to mask their signals.

A-45 Linear Active Scanner

Sending out a triggered pulse of high-frequency magnetometric waves and interpreting the results with an uplinked onboard computer, the Active Scanner gives ground units a snapshot of enemy positions. Projection nodes set at specific angles on the handheld device, generate a vectored impulse capable of extracting objects from high-noise environments. Feedback from the pulse is filtered to reduce ambient clutter and pinpoint targets lacking IFF signals.

Though the amount of energy required to produce the blast is much greater than its on-board power source can readily generate, the Active Scanner makes use of redundant J-24 micro-capacitors to circulate and build the charge up to the required output. The resulting delay between activations is a small price to pay for the enormous tactical advantage the device provides its user, even considering that the amount of sensor backscatter generated reveals the user to all nearby enemies at the same time it is detecting their positions.

• Layered hybrid steel casing prevents atmospheric matter and hostile electronic effects from hampering functionality
• Recursive capacitors rapidly transition a small amount of initial charge into the much larger pulse required for scanning
• Wireless uplink sends feedback data directly to the TACNET, instantly updating the heads-up-display with enemy positions

So that’s what you can expect in the next update, but what about beyond that? There are two equipment items on the top of our list that we want to get into the game as soon as we can. The first is a Shield Generator. Ever wished for some cover where there isn’t any? Wish no more: With the Shield Generator you’ll be able to deploy your own personal static shield bubble. Handy when a ship is dropping bombs on your head from orbit or you’ve been caught in the open by an enemy trying to melt you with a laser rifle.

The second item is a Cloaking Field. This sneaky bit of kit will not only make you (almost) invisible to other combatants, it will also blind turret AI targeting systems. It isn’t perfect invisibility, mind you — scanners will still pick you up if you haven’t masked your signal well enough, motion will disrupt the field to some extent, and weapon fire will cause the field to shut down. This means it will take some skill to use to its maximum potential. This item is going to be a real game changer, particularly for Scout dropsuits which have been screaming for stealth gear.

There are quite a few more items on our list as always (one begins with a ‘w’) but I think that’s all we’ll be revealing for now.

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Amid the fanfare of today’s long-awaited Sony Entertainment Network Online Store launch, we humbly serve up the 60th installment of PlayStation Blogcast for your listening pleasure. On today’s slightly slimmer-than-usual show, DUST 514 Executive Producer Brandon Laurino dishes on the latest dirt from the free-to-play MMO shooter’s new PSN open beta, which implements a host of sweeping graphical and gameplay enhancements (as well as those EVE Online orbital strikes you’ve been hearing so much about). Then we serve up next week’s PlayStation Store releases, tackle some new Player Tips for DmC Devil May Cry and Far Cry 3, reminisce about the 2002 launch of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and listen to your latest voicemails. Dig in and, as usual, let us know what you think!

Stuff We Talked About

• Sony Entertainment Network online store (now live!)
• DUST 514
• DmC Devil May Cry
• Far Cry 3
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Super Rub ‘a’ Dub

Send us questions, tips, and comments: blogcast@playstation.sony.com

The Cast

• Sid Shuman – PlayStation Social Media Manager
• Nick Suttner – PlayStation Account Support Manager
• Justin Massongill – PlayStation Social Media Specialist

[Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.]

• Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. Special thanks to Astro Gaming headsets for providing audio gear.

#dust514 I've been looking forward to getting my hands on CCP Game's upcoming MMOFPS, Dust 514, for a long while. Why? Well, it connects to EVE: Online in exciting ways, creating a persistent universe. The actions of one game can influence the other game, for instance. The potential for space drama is huge! More »

Pioneering PlayStation community! We’ve reached an exciting milestone in our development of DUST 514: the open beta. Some of you may already be familiar with the concept after having followed our dev blogs or news articles, or perhaps you have been helping us in the closed beta. But some may be hearing about this for the first time. I would like to give you guys a quick overview on the game, and the new phase of development, the open beta.

What is DUST 514?

DUST is a PS3-exclusive triple-A free-to-play MMOFPS (massively multiplayer online first person shooter), directly set in and connected in real time with the science fiction universe of EVE Online.

What that means is that not only is DUST a full-fledged MMOFPS in its own right, with unrivaled persistence and customization, it also coexists on the same servers as its older PC sibling, EVE Online. DUST and EVE share several game systems such as mail, text and voice chat, corporations, the in-game market and more.

Not only are the players of the two games able to communicate with each other and belong to the same social institutions, they can also interact in real time. Spaceship captains of EVE Online are able to provide real-time support in the form of orbital bombardments to the boots on the ground, the DUST 514 mercenaries, all while coordinating in a shared voice chat.

Mercenary? Empire Builder?

In DUST, you are an immortal clone soldier. Initially you are a mercenary, and at any point in the game you are free to choose your own path.

You accept contracts issued by warring corporations, in the process earning both ISK (Interstellar Kredits, the in-game currency) and skill points. With these earnings you purchase and upgrade skills that affect your in-game abilities, in addition to unlocking advanced equipment such as dropsuits, weapons, vehicles, modules and more.

The game features an in-depth dropsuit and vehicle customisation system that allows you to define your role on the battlefield to respond to whatever tactical situation you may encounter. Battles are fought in districts located on planets in the EVE Universe (we have about 7,000 temperate planets out of a total of 50,000). Districts are generated with modular components where the type and location of the planet are taken into consideration, the goal being to make every battle experience unique (there are literally billions of combinations).

Now, in the beginning you may limit yourself to accepting contracts from warring NPC corporations, but over time you may find like-minded individuals to group up with and form a Corporation, which is our version of a clan or guild.

As an organised corporation, you and your colleagues may decide to venture out into the great unknown and claim your own piece of territory, thereby affecting the political landscape of the New Eden universe. You might even find yourself forging alliances with EVE players, and through a combined effort, performing coordinated strikes upon your enemies.

Free to Play

DUST is completely free-to-play for anyone with a PS3 and can be downloaded directly from the PSN store. There are no restrictions. All features, maps, game modes, skills, dropsuits, vehicles and module groups are fully accessible, and since it’s a massive multiplayer game you’ll never run out of content; the war never ends.

While DUST 514 does offer exclusive items that must be bought with AUR credits (our microtransaction currency, purchased through the PSN store), it’s important to note that these items do not provide players with an unfair in-game advantage. Unlike most other console games, our expansions are free to download. While you can purchase AUR items for real money, in the game, you will never need to pay for a map pack. DUST is a free to play MMO that will be maintained and evolved for years to come.

Always Evolving

DUST has been in closed beta for about a year now, with a small group of dedicated players that have given us invaluable support and assistance with their feedback and suggestions. The game has gone through an amazing transformation this past year. We’ve released multiple patches and expansions, each bringing performance improvements, new features and bug fixes. We have gone from our own small development servers to the much larger shared EVE / DUST test server (Singularity), and we’ve done countless character wipes and inventory resets along the way.

These last few weeks have seen tests of core DUST / EVE link features such as the corporation system and orbital bombardment, and a major migration of DUST from its closed test servers onto Tranquility (EVE Online’s global server).

We are now ready to open the game up to a wider audience by moving to an Open Beta. There will be no more character wipes or inventory resets. We will lift all access restrictions to our servers. Anyone with a PS3 and a PSN account can download the game, create a character and join in on the fun. We will be updating the game regularly, soliciting feedback from you on our forums, balancing and tuning, replacing and polishing.

This is a first of its kind in gaming, a merging of two communities from two very different game genres, in real time in the same setting and on the same server. Already players in both games have formed corporations and alliances. Emergent tactics are cropping up all over the galaxy. This would not be possible if it hadn’t been for the amazing support we have had from our friends at Sony, our shared vision for the future of online gaming, and the openness of the free PlayStation Network.

We couldn’t be more excited to be part of this and we hope you join us on this journey.

Yep, as CCP have detailed in this dev blog, after downtime tomorrow their console team shooter Dust 514 and their space MMO Eve will be a hybrid game, with players from both inhabiting the same world. CCP Nullabor explains: “…you will begin to see unfamiliar faces in local. They may look a little funny and talk about bizarre concepts such as tanks, grenades and “running around” but I promise they are as friendly as New Eden citizens can be and want to learn everything they can about this world you now both share.” Moreover, corporations are going to be able to employ Dust folk as mercenaries to fight over planets in factional warfare, and then reap the benefits. It’s a fascinating experiment, and I will fascinated to see whether it blossoms in the coming months. CCP still seem to be making a big gamble.

Lovely Dust trailer below.(more…)

The mercenary life is grand, but how do you put the “profit” into intergalactic warfare for fun and profit? I mean, we all love to see new places (and blow them up) and meet new people (and blow them up), but you’re not just doing this for your health. So let’s talk about how DUST 514 rewards your effort.

There are three things you can come away with from a battle: money, skill points, and salvage, and here’s how you get them:

Money

ISK is the primary currency in the EVE Universe and a necessity for fighting wars. You will earn ISK from each battle you fight. The size of the reward depends on your contribution and the cost of the battle. Those who contribute more are rewarded handsomely, but all mercs are guaranteed a solid income.

A portion of the reward pool for each battle depends on the value of items destroyed in the battle. If the battle saw countless vehicles and expensive prototype gear destroyed, everyone is in for bigger rewards. ISK rewards are calculated as follows for each participant:

Base rewards: Every mercenary receives basic compensation for each battle they fight. The size of the reward depends on the time you spent fighting, so joining a battle late will net you lower earnings. Value of objects destroyed in battle has no bearing on this part of the reward.

Team rewards: The total rewards calculated from the value destroyed are split between the participating teams, with the winning team earning a larger share. Then, each participant earns a cut of the total rewards that their team received based on the time they spent in the battle. If you’re late to the party, you’ll earn a smaller cut.

Individual rewards: Finally, every participant receives a reward based on their individual contribution on the battlefield. Mercs earn war points based on their actions in the course of each battle, and the more war points you score, the higher your cut of the total payout.

Having a solid income is necessary, as you will be using the ISK you earn to buy upgrades, and to resupply any gear you lose during combat. Everything you take into battle in DUST 514 can get destroyed. Luckily, most items are in ready supply should you have the cash.

Joining a player-run corporation might make your life more comfortable and earn you reliable funding, but you will have to rely on your personal earnings until you find a corporation to take you in.

Skill points

Aside from fattening up your wallet, every battle helps improve your clone through Skill Points. At the end of each battle, the war points you earned will be totaled and converted to SP. The better you perform, the higher the number of skill points you will receive.

Currently, skill points gained in battle have diminishing returns, meaning that if you play a lot in the course of a week, you will earn fewer points towards the end. These diminishing returns currently reset every at downtime on Tuesdays. This is temporary, and we are working on a more flexible iteration of the skill system that will not hinder dedicated players or be exploitable by players looking for easy SP.

Salvage

Salvage is your final reward for battles fought. How you currently receive salvage is straightforward: Everyone who participates in a battle receives an equal opportunity to receive items from a single master loot table, regardless of their performance. This system is temporary, and serves as a stepping stone towards final implementation, which should prove far more robust and enjoyable.

Once complete, the full system will allow players to influence the quality and quantity of the salvage they receive. Play in a battle with more players and more destruction, and there will more to salvage, and victory earns you the lion’s share of the spoils. Equip modules that assist you in finding better salvage, and you will become much more likely to receive higher quality items, such as the rare Officer-tier weapons. Quality and type of salvage will also potentially differ based upon the planet you fight on, with rare gear most likely found on nullsec planets.

Self-evaluation

As a mercenary, your battle history defines you, so knowing how you performed and in what areas you can improve is vital. Going forward, the end of battle screen will provide a comprehensive breakdown of your battle stats, allowing you to compare your performance with friends and rivals.

We know interplanetary violence is its own reward, but we’re always striving to reward your destructive tendencies in other ways. ISK, SP, and Salvage are just three of the ways your time pays off. Every victory, every kill, every clone, brings you one step closer toward being the scourge of the stars.

Enter the EVE Universe, where intergalactic conflict among immortal spaceship pilots has spilled from the vast, empty expanse of space onto the surfaces of the planets themselves. These ground conflicts are waged in the battle zones of DUST 514, where you, the boots on the ground, are empowered to take the war effort to a whole new level. As a mercenary in DUST 514, you are the frontline against other intrepid soldiers of fortune. At your disposal you have a large arsenal of weaponry and a range of vehicle classes, from ground-based light attack vehicles and heavy attack vehicles, to imposing aerial-based dropships.

In this video, you’ll see how vehicle classes provide a rock-solid foundation for exploring specialized roles. As your persona in DUST 514 progresses, you have the choice of unlocking advanced vehicle variants that fill unique roles on the battlefield. Some of these include Logistical Dropships to provide a support presence on the battlefield, and Marauder HAVs, which are well-rounded armored units that pack a punch while maintaining a fair amount of damage protection.

These vehicle roles all have benefits that favor a particular fashion of gameplay. However, each vehicle, regardless of its level of advancement, has its own strengths and weaknesses. Even with the most standard vehicle models, you can tip the balance of power by utilizing the customization options available to you through fitting unique weapons and modules to your vehicle’s chassis. This level of customization allows you to carve out your own personalized contribution as part of any vehicle fleet.

The great thing about all of this is that DUST 514 is an ongoing, ever-evolving, free-to-play battleground where we’re continually expanding and improving upon your experience. Armed with feedback from our awesome online community during our ongoing closed beta, we’re able to identify and act upon what matters most to your experience as part of this great cross-platform massive multiplayer online adventure. Come join us and be part of something that’s never been done before by signing up for the beta at http://www.dust514.com/beta.

Be sure to take part in our Server Swarm Saturday event this Saturday (December 1st) — we’d love for you to be in on the action. We’re excited to be a PS3 exclusive, and we hope you’ll come play DUST 514 and give some of our vehicles a try!

There is no road map for taking a first-person shooter and injecting it into an existing MMO universe, so developer CCP Games is attempting to draw one. Combining the worlds of the (extraordinarily intimidating) cult hit EVE Online and its upcoming, self-published free-to-play console shooter Dust 514 isn't as easy as tying a narrative thread between both games, there's a sensitive balance the developer has to consider.

"If there's anything about EVE that's particularly notorious, it's the fidelity of its virtual economy. You can equate the loss of a giant ship in EVE to some real world amount of money, just based on the time and effort it takes to build," CCP Chief Marketing Officer David Reid tells Joystiq.

Reid says that because EVE's in-game economy is so unique, it's essential for the developer to introduce changing aspects - like a completely different game's economy - gradually. Currently in closed beta, Dust 514 is testing its in-game links to EVE Online, but it's a careful play of checks and balances and minuscule tweaks that will make the games work well in tandem.

Dust 514 isn't in open beta just yet - that happens early next year - but it's open to you. Joystiq readers can jump into the closed beta on PS3 right now, simply by clicking the link below and getting a code for beta entry.

There just happens to be a Double Skill Point event going on right now, so you can catch up in terms of skill points while you're catching up in ... actual skill.

Get your beta code (North America only)

During an online multiplayer session pitting CCP against media, the developer's Chief Marketing Officer David Reid noted that the Dust 514 closed beta will continue throughout 2012.

"We'll be in closed beta for the rest of the year," Reid reiteratted to Joystiq following sessions of the free-to-play, PS3-exclusive shooter. "While determining the precise date for commencing open beta definitely will depend on player feedback, we're feeling confident that it won't be much longer after year end."

Reid wouldn't tell us precisely how many users have participated in the closed beta, which is available to download to all PlayStation Plus members; however, he said the team has welcomed "hundreds of thousands of people" into the game since launching in August.

CCP seems intent to take its time with the game, with Reid citing the team's desire to run what they "think of as a 'real beta,'" a point expanded upon in our August preview of the game.

"Given the technical complexity of being the first developer to ever connect a console game to a live running PC MMO [EVE Online]. This takes time to ensure we're meeting the quality bar we've set for ourselves and our players expect, and we're committed to doing this right."

To keep Dust 514 closed beta participants locked into the game's large-scale battles, CCP is holding a 'Double Skill Point' event from now until November 8. Servers are online each day of the week at almost 24 hours a day, save for a regular daily maintenance window.