EVE Online‘s 10-year history of bucking gaming convention is about to get a new entry as the closed beta of CCP Games’ upcoming free-to-play Playstation 3 shooter DUST 514 is plugged into the main ‘Tranquility’ game server.
In a developer blog published earlier today, CCP Nullarbor gave details of this “massive technical and game design endeavour” which will see DUST 514 mercenaries on the Playstation 3 platform able to communicate with and accept contracts from the PC-based EVE Online‘s factional warfare community (see Exploring EVE Online #6: The Rise of Factional Warfare). The outcome of related DUST 514 battles will directly influence the ongoing territorial disputes of EVE Online.
The developers, CCP Games, are approaching the integration of the two titles cautiously. EVE Online has a delicately balanced player ecosystem and a well established economy. The potential disruption that could be caused by the introduction of a whole new ground war element to the universe of New Eden is something they will be monitoring carefully.
This next stage of the integration process will go live on 10th January 2013 and will give EVE subscribers the opportunity to provide orbital bombardment services to the embattled beta testers of the DUST 514 universe.
No date has been announced for the open beta of DUST 514 yet, but CCP Nullarbor did write, “For now we are remaining in closed beta from the DUST side of things but short of anything catastrophic occurring as we head towards open beta (knock on wood) this will be the last reset for DUST characters.”
[Edit: The Open Beta and the end of the Non-Disclosure Agreement was subsequently announced for the 22nd January 2013.]
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