Today, CCP pulls the shrink-wrap off its latest game. After running in open beta since January 22, DUST 514 is ready for prime time. Developed in Shanghai exclusively for the PlayStation 3, the MMOFPS represents a new window on EVE Online’s universe of New Eden.

More importantly, the Icelandic developer sees DUST 514 as the start of a new deal for console-bound FPS gamers. As Chief Marketing Officer David Reid put it, there are tens of millions of Battlefield and Call of Duty players waiting to be liberated from a prison that they don’t know they’re in.

CCP has posted a new video Dev Diary on the Dust 514 site giving us some more information on drop suits and fittings in the upcoming MMO shooter. Game designer Gavin Frankle explains some of the different dropsuits currently available and the wide array of customization available through fittings.

You fought the good fight in New Eden on EVE Online but now its time to sign-up and go planetside with CCP Games' Playstation exclusive MMOFPS Dust 514. Effective immediately, Dust 514 has entered Open Beta status enabling anybody with Playstation Network access to join in. 

With Open Beta comes the Dust 514: Gathering Forces Trailer. As we've come to expect from CCP the trailer perfectly emphasizes the MMO aspect of the game, the video and description follow. 

With DUST 514 already linked up and interacting fully with the Tranquility server for EVE Online, CCP has announced that everyone who wants to join in the warfare and general backstabbing won't have to wait much longer.

On January 22, all PlayStation 3 owners can access DUST 514 for free as part of Open Beta, which should increase the pool of players dramatically. It's a big milestone for both EVE and DUST 514 as stated by CCP CEO -- acronym overload -- Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, in today's press release:

“The launch of the DUST 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and EVE. But this is just the beginning. As we have done with EVE Online, in the coming weeks, and for years to come, we will continually improve upon and add to the DUST 514 experience, as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities.”

The official DUST 514 launch is almost here (we think), and CCP has just taken a major step in bringing New Eden to a whole new audience. As of today, all DUST 514 beta players have been migrated to Tranquility, the single sever that powers the live EVE Online universe.

"For the first time in history, two games unfold in a single universe, and now DUST 514 and EVE Online also occupy a single server: Tranquility. Find out what this historic connection means for your DUST 514 career in our latest developer blog: "Welcome to New Eden."

Capsuleers are about to get some new resources to utilize and people to manipulate as just minutes ago, CCP Nullabor was confirmed that DUST 514 will be entering EVE Online's Tranquility server in just a couple of days.

"On Thursday the 10th of January, following a slightly longer than usual scheduled downtime, we will be migrating over players currently participating in the DUST 514 closed beta from Singularity to Tranquility. This is a particularly special day here at CCP as this brings to life an ambitious and incredibly exciting vision of a single cross platform universe, the likes of which have never been undertaken before."

Not only will DUST players be battling in the same universe, the vaunted cross game interaction will begin as EVE corps will be able to consider prospective ground troops as new members. Contracts will be drawn up, battles will commence and the kind of skullduggery that we adore about EVE will spread to new frontiers.

Will you be joining in the clinically executed mayhem?

Scott "Jarimor" Hawkes, Editor in Chief

It's funny... We were *just* talking about this the other day in the ZAM Newsroom, then BLAM! All of a sudden, today CCP throws us a bone - and a meaty one at that.

As we careen toward the unknown release date of DUST 514, CCP keeps trickling out information to tease us about their upcoming free-to-play shooter for the PlayStation 3. This time around, producer Thomas Ferrer, otherwise known as CCP Wolfman talks weapons, with a new developer diary video detailing everything you might need to know to get started. 

It's time to become a mercenary in DUST 514, and CCP has this video showing you how, including in-depth looks at the UI and how you prep for each mission. It also conveys how communication between corporations - in DUST and out to EVE Online - works. 

If that's not enough for you, CCP also has unveiled new changes to the EVE Online Buddy System, adding open invites, along the lines of League of Legends' invite-a-friend system. Now to invite someone to the game, you just hand them a URL that gets them signed up and rewards you for your efforts. However, they have also removed the PLEX-for-PLEX reward option, to refrain from abuse.

For now, enjoy the following image that comes directly from CCP, reminding us that CCP is full of hilarious people:

Julian "Mirai" Williams

There's not a whole lot of pay-to-win here in Dust 514 land, and what's here is kind of odd - in a conversation with Eurogamer, the VP of CCP Games Morgan Godat explains that, though you will be able to buy high-end gear, it'll cost "about $0.24 cents in real money", but you lose it every time you die.

"We're still tuning prices," he said. "The costs will change according to the feedback we get on the [still going] beta, but I believe when I calculated it last, at its most high end, if you assume someone came in and had to buy with real world money, the best gear for a serious throw down, it was like a 24 cent thing." This is, of course, top-tier gear, and that's after actually earning all of the skills to use that gear too.