Icelandicdeveloper CCP has dished out more details on how its recently announced shooter for the PS3, Dust 514, will integrate with nearly every aspect of its long running PC MMO, EVE Online. According to CCP community manager James Egan, the so-called EVE-Dust Link will represent something of a first for the industry, allowing players of the PS3 exclusive unfettered access to EVE Online's virtual economy, interplanetary resources and established community.
“'Persistence' is the key word here,” wrote Egan on theUS PlayStation Blog, explaining, “The world of Dust 514 doesn’t spawn when you fire up your PlayStation 3 — it’s always there and always being experienced and influenced by other players in the EVE universe. When you take part in events in the EVE universe through combat in Dust 514, you’re taking part in something greater than your own individual experience of that world.”
According to Egan, players' actions in Dust 514 will have immediate repercussions in EVE Online, shaping economies and entire systems with every hostile take-over and intergalactic conflict.
“Your actions have significance. The EVE universe is made up of thousands of solar systems, each with a number of planets within those systems. Those same planets seen in EVE Online, where the MMO players create various planetary structures and colonies, are the potential battlegrounds of Dust 514,” he added.
As for community integration, Egan noted Dust 514 will be able to link up with their EVE Online counterparts through the game's social networking portal, EVE Gate. That said, Egan admitted CCP integrating a whole new player base into an existing 8-year old hierarchy won't necessarily be a cake-walk, adding, “There are definitely challenges ahead, with a unified console and PC gamer community each influencing a shared setting through their respective types of gameplay. Rivalries, alliances and, dare I say, even some drama. Interesting times.”
Dust 514 has been taggedfor a Spring 2012 release. Expect further details (and inevitablebitching from the EVE Online PC crowd) as that date approaches. You can also read all of Egan's early rundown of the EVE-Dust Link at theUS PlayStation Blog.
June 7, 2011
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