DUST 514 Base

Wait a moment. Bots? In my DUST 514?

2012-03-10T14:49:00.000+01:00

Yes, you actually read that one right. According to an article by Gameinformer, AI controlled players will be making an appearance somewhere in DUST 514. To quote:

Teamwork-minded gamers can also upgrade their characters and hone their skills by engaging in horde mode-like battles against AI-controlled enemies.

So what exactly have CCP in store for us on this front? Maybe they decided to formalise the zombie mode they discussed in CAST 514 Ep 1 as part of training. I guess we will find out at Fanfest.

GDC DUST 514 Video Interview Dissection (Image Heavy)

2012-03-09T18:40:00.000+01:00

As many of you would have heard by now, Gametrailers have released an interview with Hilmar Pétursson (CEO of CCP Games) and David Reid (CMO of CCP Games). And to make things better, it's packed full of snippets of combat from DUST 514. So let's do what we always do here at DUST514base and take a look inside shall we?

First off, we open with a Heavy dropsuit mowing down some other guys with an Autocannon that I'm sure you've all seen before.

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A couple of things we've seen before. The shield/armour gauge, the ammo counter and map all look similar to our earlier analysis from the PS Pulse video. Of course the weapon itself is new to us in action, so it's nice to see it tear through some enemy shields before they run away.

However, there are a few differences. One thing to note is that the map is slightly different now. Previously it only listed a number for the attackers. However, here it lists a value for the attackers, defenders and a timer. I'm guessing it's a different game mode to the previous one. Also, there seem to be a lot more on screen markers, including markers for enemies. Considering that we didn't have these in the last one, I'm going to put these down to some sort of scanner being around or equipped. Might even be just for the video's sake. Either way, I don't think it's going to be standard.

Now for the gun itself. If you watch the video, you can see the ammo counter go from about 109 to 39 in the space of about 3 seconds. That's about 23-24 rounds a second, though I might call it 25 as that's a nice round number. You'll also notice that the crosshair gets tighter the longer it's been firing - if you remember this is described behaviour from the dev blog CCP put out a little while back that included this gun. One last thing you can see is there is a heat gauge. It gets to about a third of the way before they stop firing.

Next we have our old friend, the dropship!


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This time though, we have a HUD that clearly shows the dropship having 7 seats, and having passenger operated guns. Again if you watch the video (starting at 0:23) you can see it is a VTOL craft, very similar to a helicopter. You can also see by the lack of a gauge in the lower right corner, it appears our intrepid pilot has no weapons of his own. Whether that is a fitting option or not is ye to be seen (I know I for one hope to see some sort of gun available to the pilot, even if it is some terribly weak one).

Next we have our good old friend the assault rifle, trying to knock off some bag guys on the other side of the road. Starts at (0:43)

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Nothing particularly new, we've seen the assault rifle in action from the PS Pulse video. However, we haven't seen the ***SCANED*** bit on the left in the middle. Still not exactly sure what that's for, but I'm guessing it's something to do with battlefield scanners. Might be what's responsible for all the markers all over the map you can see in all the screenshots.

Now back to our friend the Autocannon (starting at 1:07)


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You can see here that the number of rounds remaining is 228. Going by that count, I'm going to guess that a full clip for the Autocannon has about 300 rounds. And at 25 rounds a second, that's a straight 12 seconds of fire before it runs dry (though chances are the gun will overheat before then).

Now in the next bit, we can see someone getting an assist.


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Seems that an assist will net you 25 points vs the 50 for a kill. As a bonus, if you look at the kill feed, you can see that None other than CCP CmdrWang (the DUST 514 community manager) just got killed. He pops up a few more times over the course of the video. See if you can spot them all.

Next we move onto someone throwing some grenades. (2:18)

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As you can see, the grenade explodes very quickly. I'm not sure if this is because it has a quick or contact fuse or because it was cooked. Unfortunately, we don't really get to see the second one go off.

However, what happens next is more interesting.

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A death screen! Basically everything goes grey, and our intrepid mercenary falls to the ground. And then that's as far as we see.

Next we jump to 2:44 and we see no gun on screen. What's happened here?

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It's a multiple missile launcher! I'm guessing they're just working on the crosshair for when you're scoped still. It appears to have 4 missiles a shot, with four shots a clip for a total of 16 missiles a clip. They don't appear to be guided either and have a reasonably fast rate of fire. And for a bonus, here's what it looks like unscoped:

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Next we have what appears to be the same player running around with a pistol while getting shot by another multiple missile launcher. Have a look (3:03)

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If you look at the full version, you can see some detailing on the gun. It also takes about 5 shots to kill the other player when he starts shooting them. Though if you look closely, this isn't called a CAR-9 Scrambler Pistol as you would expect. It's called a "Singetear" Core Specialist Scrambler Pistol. I'm guessing it's a meta variant, possibly one of the side grades they were talking about available for AUR.

Now remember earlier where we pointed out the *SCANNED* text on the left side? Well here's something more on that.

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This time it says "***SCAN WAS BEAT***". So I'm guessing that this player doesn't show up on the scanner any more. Exactly how you beat the scanner though is another question entirely, one I can't see how to do quite yet. But I'm sure we will get details soon.

Next we return to our old friend the Autocannon. They really seem to like showing him off. (3:59)

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Well, the dev blog did mention that it is effective against light vehicles, so I guess this means it can do some damage to dropships. Also, take note of the weapon in the kill feed: "Bedlam" M512-A Submachine Gun. I'm sure there are many players that would like to see it in action.

Next we get to see some knifing action (4:25)

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If you watch the video, you can see that the player doesn't switch to the knife - instead, it's just a button to melee. You might also notice that the enemy player dies in one hit. But you would be mistaken. Look carefully at the kill feed. Someone else manages to steal his kill from right out under them! This is isn't that surprising, as the enemy dropsuit is a scout one (meaning it's fragile). I guess we will have to wait to see how powerful it is.

Now there are a couple more snippets of battle, but for the most part they don't have anything else new. However, if we skip to 5:09, we get this:

Click to.. oh you know already!

Ladies, Gentlemen and officers of the Royal Navy, I give you the grenade launcher! It appears to have 4 shots per clip. Crosshair looks like your standard FPS grenade launcher one. But hold on, what's he shooting? We'll come back to that in a moment. Another thing you will notice is the red text at the top: "Enemy is hacking Clone Reserve Unit". I guess that means you are able able to hack enemy CRUs (basically, deployable spawn points) to either destroy them (possibly removing the extra clones inside from their remaining stockpile) or even use them for your own team (adding them to your own stockpile). But wait, there's more!

Why do I even write these captions?

Yes, it's the Inertia Canceler that we pointed out in the pulse video. It's back. And here it is activated.

You know, I don't think anyone reads these.

Now back to the structure the player was shooting. We can see now it's called a "defensive relay", and it seems the player got 40 points for shooting it with their grenade launcher. Exactly what a defensive relay does is unknown, but I guess we will find out soon. Also, if you look closely, you will see that the read out underneath the minimap has changed back to what it was in the PS Pulse video where it didn't have a timer. The left side in red appears to still read defender, but it also seems to have a dash instead of a number. Does this mean that defenders have unlimited tickets when defending? Again, this is something else we shall see.

We now skip to 6:20 where we are greeted by this:

Wait, you're reading this! Hey listen!

It's not easy to see in the small version, but if you look at the larger version you can see that one of the objects behind the rock is a "Small Blaster Installation" I'm guessing that's a turret, possibly an automated one. Observant EVE players will also recognise the icon as that of a sentry gun in missions and complexes. The one on it's right is a "Clone Reserve Unit", basically a mobile spawn point. The last one (the one the player is aiming straight at) is a Supply Depot, for resupplying ammo and other supplies.

If you also look on the minimap, you can also see that the object in the upper right side of the picture also has the same icon as the Small Blaster Installation.

People don't read me much. I feel lonely all the time.

If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that's one too.

Now, we get something a little different at 7:06

Hey where are you going? I thought you were reading me!

Why it's just a bit more of the fitting screen we saw the other day. Only this time, we're selecting what weapons we want.

While we've seen some of them, there are three we haven't seen, and two that appear to be WIP. First we have the "Spitfire" Boundless Specialist S-. Thanks to the cut off, this one is a bit of an enigma. But what ever it is, I'm guessing it's Minmatar, as it's a "Boundless" weapon, in reference to a Minmatar corporation named Boundless Creation. It could actually just be the Autocannon, but I doubt it, considering that it's been coming up on the kill feeds as "Heavy Machine Gun" and we're fitting a scout suit which can't use it anyway. I guess we will have to wait and see.

The second new one we can see is the "Horizon" Kaalakiota Sniper Rifle. Obviously, it's a sniper rifle, and a Caldari one at that (for those that don't know, Kaalakiota is one of the Caldari mega-corps) Which means if it's Caldari and it's not a missile, it's a railgun.

Third is the Wiyrkomi Swarm Launcher. This again, is a Caldari weapon, as Wiyrkomi is another of the Caldari mega-corps. However, unlike the other two we do get to see this demonstrated in the snippets of gameplay we saw earlier. Remember that multiple missile launcher? I'm guessing this is it.

And then we have the two WIP weapons. first the Laser Rifle. Obviously this is a laser weapon, likely an Assault rifle. And if it's a laser weapon, it's Amarr. Sadly, I don't think we have any examples from any pictures yet, so you will have to wait for more info.

Second is the Mass Driver. We do actually see this pop up several times in the video, and I'm guessing this is a railgun assault rifle. As such, it will likely have higher range/accuracy than it's blaster counterpart but lower damage.

And then we get this:

Don't leave me. I don't want to be alone again.

Ladies, Gentlemen and Officers of the Royal Navy, I give you the spawn screen. Now this battlefield looks quite small, so I'm guessing we're back to the "deathmatch" quick play one. ~~You can also see that the teams are very unbalanced with 30vs 17. But that's besides the point.~~ EDIT: Someone suggested that this is actually the remaining tickets for each team. This is actually more likely come to think of it...

Also of note is just below the minimap. That number there? That's your war points. Those are the things you spend to get vehicles, installations and other support.

However, if you thought that was good, wait till you see what we get next.

Fine. Leave me. I didn't want your attention anyway. Plus you smell.

May I present, the Killboard. It's not quite the same as they are in EVE, with this one looking more like a traditional scoreboard. But there are a number of interesting points here to note.

The planet that is being fought on is E-RPGP I. This is a Barren planet and is located in Jove space (though this is likely for testing purposes).
The contractors are "Ministry of War" and "Republic Security Services". Both are NPC corps in EVE, and are part of the Amarr Empire and Minmatar Republic respectively, factions that are both at war with each other.
Mercenaries are all from the four main races: Amarr, Minmatar, Caldari and Gallente. However, there seems to be a lot more Caldari than there are any other races.
All of the mercenaries in this picture are members of various NPC corps. These include Deep Core Mining Inc. (Caldari), Mordu's Legion (Mordu's Legion), Blood Raiders (Blood Raiders), Archangels (Angel Cartel)

And lastly we have this little snippet at 7:40

No wait, don't go! I didn't mean that. :(

Remember that turret from before? Well this looks like one. However, this one has two barrels, and a different icon on the minimap - a missile. So I'm guessing this a missile launcher turret, but it's hard to say for certain, especially with the rounds that come out when it later fires (@ 8:18). The fact that someone is controlling it does seem make it less likely that there are auto turrets, but it could be a different type of turret, or it could be that they function like POS guns (auto fire when no one operates them, allow for manual control). I guess we will have to wait and see.

So what do you think? Did we miss something? Leave your thoughts in the comments below

DUST 514 Vehicle Dev Blog: Part Deux

2012-03-09T17:23:00.000+01:00

CCP has just unveiled more vehicle details on their site!. And it's not just some vehicle stats and types. There's even some vehicle warfare mechanics in there! Read on:

Since DUST 514 traces its lineage to EVE Online, we wanted to give it the same rich combat environment that EVE Online has when it comes to vehicle classes and roles. For example, in EVE Online there are ships that share the same hull (and thus the same look) but have very different performance envelopes. This will be true in DUST 514 as well with vehicles that will share the same chassis or hull class but depending on their roles and level of technology, offer very different battlefield characteristics.

Another key aspect that is similar between ships and vehicles is the capacitor. A good way to grasp this concept is to think of capacitors as the energy source that powers everything in a vehicle. From weapon turrets to repair modules, almost everything that you fit on to your vehicle in DUST 514 will need to draw capacitor points in order to function. Because of the fusion technology that the capacitor is based on, you will never “run out” of capacitors in the long run, since it will always replenish itself over time. However, as you activate weapons, scanners, ECM and other modules over the course of a battle it is very likely that your vehicle will deplete its stock of capacitors in short order.

Much like ships in EVE Online, this means that when you customize your vehicles in DUST 514 you will need to pay heed to how much capacitor your vehicle has and how fast the modules on your vehicle will drain it. Therefore, along with combat and repair modules, a discerning player will also need to consider fitting modules that will act as a reserve “fuel tank” that can replenish depleted capacitors on vehicles, and this will certainly add an extra dimension to vehicular gameplay that is unique to the EVE universe.

Also similar to EVE Online is the skilling system for vehicles available to players. Each class of vehicles will require a player to have trained the necessary skill before he or she can pilot it. This will allow players to explore and specialize in vehicles that are more suitable to their own style of game play, and the variety of vehicle specialization is every bit as deep and wide ranging as EVE Online. So, let’s take a look at a couple of advanced vehicle roles that you, as a player, can look forward to specialize in.
Marauder HAV

The heavy attack vehicle (HAV) was conceived as a breakthrough weapon and as such is meant to be used as the armored fist by many mercenary forces. However, when the situation on a battlefield changes something even more powerful may be required. This is where the Marauder class HAV comes in. With more powerful armaments and heavier armor, the Marauder can be used to deal with the enemy’s “lesser” HAVs.

Name: Surya

Hull: Madrugar
Race: Gallente
Class: Marauder
Module Slots: 6H/4L
Crew: 3
PG: 2540
CPU: 235

Combat / Special Abilities:
Can fit siege module

Bonuses:
10% bonus to resistance per level
20% bonus to racial turret damage per level

As you can see from the stats above, the Gallente Marauder offers more module slots giving the player more customization options than the regular HAV. It also has special abilities not available on regular HAVs in that it can fit a siege module, which is a very powerful upgrade that will allow the Marauder to go into “siege” mode thereby granting it even more powerful combat capability. The Marauder also offers role bonuses that give it tougher resistance to enemy fire as well as higher damage dealing bonuses to ensure the death of your enemies.

Of course, all that extra performance doesn’t come cheap and the Marauder is by no means invincible… provided that your enemies know its weakness. As you will see in the next vehicle class, we have created a new vehicle role to counter the beast that is the Marauder.

The in-game maps in DUST 514 are designed to utilize varying terrain features to give players more tactical choices on the battlefield. That means there are plenty of places to conceal and set up ambushes. The fog of war system will also shroud enemies until scouted by friendly forces. So, how can players counter such an array of concealment in order to quickly reveal and assess the battlefield? The solution is the Force Recon dropship.

Force Recon (Dropship)

With its unique combination of speed, stealth, ECM and sight bonuses, the Force Recon dropship will be the mainstay of any mercenary army that wishes to maintain a strong ECM/ECCM presence on the battlefields of New Eden. Worried about what’s hiding in that embankment just around the corner? How many cloaked enemies are waiting in ambush near that upcoming objective? Or, maybe that EW LAV on your team needs a little ECM support? Well, send in the Force Recon dropship to get the job done!

Name: Eryx

Hull: Myron
Race: Gallente
Class: Force Recon
Module Slots: 8
Crew: 6
PG: 300
CPU: 500

Combat / Special Abilities:
Can use special cloak modules

Bonuses:
20% bonus to sensor dampener range
20% bonus to sight range per level
More customizations with Modules

Now that you’ve gotten a taste of advanced roles for vehicles, let’s examine some of the vehicle modules that we have in store for DUST 514 and how they will work in game.

The cap booster works by replenishing a fixed amount of capacitor points instantly when activated. Each vehicle can only carry a limited amount of capacitor charges, and an empty capacitor booster cannot replenish capacitor points on its own.

Sometimes the best way to knock out a tough opponent is to drain its capacitor bank and like EVE Online, the maxim: “no cap equals death” is just as true in DUST 514. Energy neutralizers work by remotely depleting a targeted vehicle’s capacitor bank. It does require a lot of capacitor points to activate it, however, so a capacitor booster module will most likely be required in order to feed the cap guzzling energy neutralizer.

There’s an old adage that states “an enemy can’t attack what the enemy can’t see.” and this is certainly the case when we add electronic warfare to the battlefield. Advanced combat vehicles like the HAV require a host of electronic gadgets in order to identify, acquire, and dispatch threats effectively. Electronic counter-measures on the other hand, can leave your enemies blind and helpless on the field and often during critical moments.

So, how can a sly player utilize the modules mentioned above to fit his or her vehicle and maximize its effectiveness? Imagine a battle in progress on a distant planet somewhere within the EVE universe. The attacking mercenary forces send in their Marauder in a gambit to break through the defender’s fortifications. As the Marauder smashes its way through barriers and choke points in its mad blitz to the objective, a Force Recon dropship suddenly de-cloaks in midair and begins to drain the Marauder’s capacitor. As the capacitor banks on both vehicles plummet each pilot is hammering the cap booster activation button in a desperate attempt to keep their vehicles supplied with enough power.

The Marauder pilot sees his capacitor bank emptied and has just run out of cap booster charges. He calls for help on the squad channel asking, no, pleading for someone to come and rescue him from his predicament. As the dropship batters away the last bit of armor off the Marauder, a friendly LAV jumps off a cliff and simultaneously lands next to the Marauder and activates its ECM module to break the dropship’s lock on the Marauder. The Marauder pilot gratefully thanks the LAV pilot and quickly limps off to the rear for urgent repairs.

The info above shows just a fraction of the inter-connected dynamics in DUST 514’s vehicle gameplay and the diversity of vehicle fits that will be available to players in the near future. We hope you are as excited about it as we are.

P.S. The retreating Marauder was later destroyed at a choke point by an ambush party before it could be repaired.

DUST 514 beta starts in April!

2012-03-09T08:34:00.000+01:00

Yes, you heard that right. According to the recent game trailers interview from GDC 2012, The beta will be starting in April.

You can see Hilmar mention the date after the 8:04 mark.

Yes, that's right, April. After Fanfest.

Stay tuned for more analysis and dissection for this video though. There's more to come.

Want some DUST 514 gameplay? Gametrailers have you covered.

2012-03-09T08:17:00.002+01:00

So we've all been asking about some video of DUST 514 gameplay. Luckily for us, Gametrailers somehow got their hands on some and have put snippets if it throughout an interview of theirs from GDC 2012.

Have a look for yourself.

So hang onto your hats. ~~We'll have a dissection soon.~~ UPDATE: Dissection is up

What's this talk about DUST 514 is coming to PC? No way!

2012-03-08T16:59:00.000+01:00

Grideris: Over the last day or so, I've been been bombard by people talking about how CCP said there might be a potential for a PC version. From time to time, you get people talking about how there should be a PC version (and sometimes even a Xbox 360 version). So why all of the chatter all of a sudden?

This is why. Basically, Massively says there is a bit of wink-wink nudge-nudge from the CCP devs when asked if there is there is a PC version still on the cards. To quote:

As the devs note, mouse and keyboard controls are already supported in the PS3 version of the title. "I wonder why we did that," Hilmar joked during the interview.

People have started jumping over this big time saying that this means there seriously could be a PC version in the works. But what do I think?

I think we are exactly where we were before the interview. That is, I do not believe that there will be a PC version of DUST 514 in the near future.

There is a theoretical possibility that CCP could release DUST 514 for PC. But I don't think they will. Not for a while yet or unless DUST 514 tanks on the PS3. Heck, even the comment about Mouse and Keyboard support can easily be construed to be in regards to making it easier for PC players to adapt to playing DUST 514 on the PS3, not making it easier to port over if the time comes. So unless Massively is holding something else more substantial from the interview, I wouldn't be getting excited if the only thing holding you back from DUST 514 is the lack of PC support. Sorry guys.

Broadcastorm: CCP always planned DUST 514 to be a console game. If they ever do PC version it will be long long time from PS3 release and it will probably be completely optimized for PC and not just "port". That is rather far from us though. We may touch on this subject as well on CAST 514 Episode 3, but there is nothing much else to add, really. Game will be for a long time PS3 exclusive and if you really want to get into it straight away - fetch yourself a PS3 and come play with us straight from release!

Dev Blog on Friday, CAST 514 #3 on Monday

2012-03-08T05:02:00.000+01:00

New dev blog on vehicles should be out this Friday.
— CCP_CmdrWang (@CCP_CmdrWang) March 8, 2012

Oh yes, you read that right. Brand new dev blog will drop on Friday, and after examining it we will drop Episode 3 of CAST 514 - because you know, episode 3 of anything should be something you wait for a long long time...

Half-Life joke aside, we are planning a long episode. Hopefully there will be a lot of focus on Free to Play model, dev blog, fanfest preparations, Vita, and your questions and some of our answers again and maybe even something else. Who knows!

DUST 514 on PS Vita: Companion app

2012-03-05T14:54:00.001+01:00

It seems that Vita version of DUST 514 will be "companion app" as eurogamer finds out. Here are some further details:

Dust 514 won't be the same experience on PS3 as it is on Vita, detective Eurogamer has discovered.

On Vita, at least to begin with, Dust 514 will be a companion app for the PS3 game.

"On Vita we will have a companion app," clarified Dust 514 executive producer Brandon Laurino in an interview with Eurogamer.

"At the most basic level, you can do transactions on the market; equip and customise your character, your vehicles; set up strategies with your friends and Corporation members - all of these sort of companion functions on the go."

"We're also exploring all of the super fun exciting stuff - interesting gameplay opportunities and things like that. But we're not ready to talk about that."

Dust 514 on Vita will be continually updated post-launch, just as Dust 514 will be on PS3.

"As we continue to explore what the possibilities are, between Vita and PS3, of which there are many, we'll keep updating the app with stuff like that over time."

But, no, you definitely won't be running around shooting people in Dust 514 Vita when the companion app launches.

When Dust 514 will launch on PS3 isn't set in stone yet. There's still testing to be done. But it will be a 2012 launch, Laurino confirmed.

Will Dust 514 appear on Vita at the same time? "We haven't decided that yet."

DUST 514 is going to be free to play!

2012-03-05T06:07:00.000+01:00

It seems that CCP has decided that DUST 514 will be free to play. No cover charge, no minimum buy in, just free to play. Forever. You can see the details over at eurogamer, but I'll give you the short version.

There was going to be a $10 to $20 cover charge for the game on PSN, but that has now been scrapped.
"It was a relatively confusing proposition," executive producer Brandon Laurino explained to Eurogamer, "and we wanted to make it unambiguously that this is a free-to-play game."

We've also got some juicy details on what types of microtransactions we can expect to see.

Items available include vanity goods to customise appearances with; boosters that save time, such as double skill point (SP) boosters; variants of weapons that aren't necessarily more powerful - "side-grades" that look or play differently; services like character respecs; and lucky dip treasure boxes. "It's what has emerged as best practice," Laurino said.

And for those worried they will be missing out on important game content if they don't pay out, don't be.

"There won't be some section of the universe that's blocked off. It's really about what you build on those planets - some of those will be earned, some of those will be paid. Again, none will give an unfair advantage, but may have a unique look, or a certain tweak or side-grade."

So all in all, a good turn of events for seeing more people give DUST 514 a try. Make sure you check out all the details at Eurogamer.

What do you think of this turn of events? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Update: Here is official PlayStation Blog post by Brandon as well.
Update #2: Press release on ccpgames.com!

I see you Favour a Shield Extender on your Dropsuit.

2012-03-03T14:11:00.000+01:00

Recently CCP revealed some details about a few more details in DUST 514's arsenal. However, what we haven't seen yet is the nitty gritty technical details of the dropsuits, and the many modules that you can fit them with. Well, that is until now.

May I present to you, the dropsuit fitting screen, courtesy of an Autodesk games show reel.

Click to see at full size

First off let's take a look at the left.

Here you can see a list of pre-made fittings that the play has created, as well as the option to make a new one. There looks to be a favourite column which looks to be handy considering you could have dozens of fittings and finding that special one could prove to be a chore. Other than that, it looks straight forward. (If you're wondering what's with the "Anti-Zombie" fitting, go check out CAST 514 Episode 1- it will explain what it's for).

Next, we move to the centre

Astute readers will notice the similarity to the vehicle fitting screen that was covered in another earlier post here on DUST514Base. It has a CPU and a Powergrid allowance (the left and right orange bars on the inside of the circle respectively). These are very important as every module fitted consumes both CPU and Powergrid with some modules taking more resources than others. It also features discrete slots. Every module will only fit in one particular type of slot. Think round peg in a square hole.

But it's not all quite the same. While it does have High, Low and Weapon slots, it also has Equipment slots and a Grenade slot. For many EVE Veterans most of the equipped modules will be familiar. For everyone else, this particular fit appears to have; a G75-VLB Assault Rifle and a CAR-9 Scrambler Pistol in the weapon slots (lower left); a pair of Shield Extenders (the shield icons with a plus super imposed) and a Weapon Damage upgrade (likely a Magnetic Field Stabiliser, usually referred to as a "Mag Stab") in the High slots (upper left); a Power Diagnostics System (increases available power grid, may also provide small shield bonus) and a pair of CPU Upgrades (increase the available CPU) in the low slots (upper right); and a grenade of some kind in the grenade slot (bottom left). Unfortunately, I'm not able to accurately guess what the last two modules are. Might be one for you guys to work out in the comments.

Finally let's take a look at the right.

This area lists the suit you're fitting and it's stats with the modules equipped. This is actually exactly the same as the one seen on the vehicle fitting screen (minus the second column, but that's because they're in the process of fitting modules) . As you can see, we have:

CPU and Powergrid at the top
Shield and armour. These are very important as they are what helps keep you alive when you're taking plasma to the face. You can see that thanks to the shield extenders fitted to the dropsuit, there is more than twice as much shield capacity as there is armour.
Shield Recharge and Armour recharge. This is the amount of time (in seconds) it takes for your shields or armour to fully recharge. In this instance it appears to be 40 seconds, meaning that our mercenary here will be recharging about 6 shield points every second. However in EVE, shields do not recharge at a constant rate - they charge slower when they're nearly full, and faster as they are near the 30% mark. This might be carried over to DUST 514, but it's too early to tell. In this instance there doesn't appear to be any armour recharge, but this is also similar to EVE. In EVE, the only ways to regain lost armour points is to use a Armour Repairer. If you remember back, CCP Praetorian stated that his favoured fit so far includes an Armour repairer, so we can be pretty sure it will be an option.
Damage multiplier. Usually, this would be a flat 1.00 but thanks to the Damage Module, our intrepid mercenary's damage is increased by 10%.
Movement speed, which is 6m/s or 21.4km/h (or 13.4 mph for those of you still using imperial units). Don't forget, this is a scout suit, so the other suits are likely to be slower, especially the heavy dropsuit. Don't forget, this appears to be their walking speed, not their running speed (which would be a fair bit higher)

Also, as a bonus, here's a picture of what appears to be the DUST 514 NeoCom, with what appears to be the war room or personal quarters in the background.

Click to see at full size

Win a trip to play DUST 514 on Fanfest!

2012-03-01T16:40:00.000+01:00

PSN (Europe) just got new competition! All you need is PSN account and you can sign up. Mind that this is UK playstation site - US version of the competition may be coming soon as well.

You and a friend could be jetting off to Iceland for Fanfest 2012.

Fanfest is the annual celebration of EVE Online and takes place in the magnificent city of Reykjavík, Iceland.

We've teamed up with CCP to offer you the chance to bag two tickets to the event, along with travel and accommodation for four nights. You'll have the chance to meet some of the CCP development team in person, discover more about Dust 514 - their incredible upcoming first-person shooter for PlayStation 3 and join the party at the top of the world.

To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize, just sign in below using your PlayStation Network Sign-In ID and you will be automatically entered into the competition.

Please note you will need a Sony Entertainment Network account to enter this competition. You can create an account by visiting eu.playstation.com/registration on a PC or alternatively, you can create a Sony Entertainment Network account on a PlayStation 3 system, a Wi-Fi enabled PSP system or a PS Vita system.

Entrants must be aged 18 or over and a resident in a participating country.

Please make sure that you have read and understood the terms and conditions before entering this competition.

Start date: 29/02/2012 (Midnight GMT)
End date: 12/03/2012 (Midnight GMT)

Make sure to read the rules as well. Good luck everyone!

Also FYI, only the following countries are eligible for entry: France, Spain, Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland, UK, and Ireland.

CAST 514 Episode 2 - MCC Barrel Roll

2012-02-26T20:52:00.000+01:00

Downloads: Dropbox - mp3, iTunes - CAST 514, Zune - coming eventually (as soon as Microsoft decides to validate the podcast...), and CAST 514 RSS Feed

CAST 514 Episode 2 focuses on "recent" dev blog about knives, autocannons, shotguns and all sort of crazy weapons, fanfest tournament, answering your questions, and also talk about MCC and War Barge. We hope you will enjoy this cast as much as we did, and if you did, you may want to follow Base on Twitter or on facebook or Google+ to be up-to-date with all the recent news.

We mentioned: DUST 514 E3 Trailer, Fanfest 2009 gameplay Part 1 and 2. Also, CAST 514 Episode 1 - CCP Grand Opening.

Huge thanks to HaZaR (creator of EVE Online: Crucible trailer music) for making CAST 514 intro music! You should definitely check his work on his dedicated Soundcloud page as well!

Rock Paper Shotgun: CCP and Eve

2012-02-26T16:52:00.000+01:00

Today, Rock, Paper Shotgun brought us huge interview with David Reid (CMO) and Hilmar Pétursson (CEO) of CCP. We will take all the Dust related parts but you can read the whole thing over here as well! Enjoy!

RPS: The way that Dust connects into the Eve universe, through that space elevator – will PS3 players be able to wander around the inside of stations then?

Pétursson: Not initially. The two experiences are going to be more and more crafted over time. It starts with really meaningful connectivity in the beginning and built on that, like most games in the Eve universe, we’ve taken feedback from customers, what people are excited about, and followed that along.

RPS: How do the Dust players communicate with Eve players?

Pétursson: Already, we’re up and running with text chat between the two games. There will also be Evegate, a social networking tool in the universe, and we’re looking at allowing them to voice chat. We haven’t completed this yet.

RPS: And that shared tech, is that the shared backend you’re using for World of Darkness too?

Pétursson: Basically the supercomputer that runs Eve Online has increased quite a lot in size, technically it’s running a lot of the Dust aspect as well but then of course the FPS has a massive market share that’s distributed around the world. We’ll be running it on the Tranquility cluster in London. When it comes to World of Darkness, we’ll instance all that know-how and tech into a separate world onto its own separate supercomputer.

RPS: Most MMO guys don’t have one supercomputer and you want two? Fine.

Reid: It does speak to what’s unique here, right? Whether it’s Eve plus World of Darkness and Dust, and how they expand over time… it’s easy to forget, against everything else that’s out there, with everything being sharded, how shallow those experiences tend to be and how meaningful action in Eve is compared to another game. It takes a supercomputer to run a universe, right? It’s not simply sharding a bunch of zones, it’s very different.

RPS: I started playing SW:TOR recently, as everyone else you ever talk to will have done; I joined late, so asked my Twitter friends which server should I join? I got 20 different replies. They’re all different servers and different levels, so I can’t play with my friends. That’s broken.

Pétursson: People have often forget how much these different levels segregate the play experience. That’s something we’ve always tried to maintain in Eve, that all different players add to each other’s experience. Instead of gating people from each other through levels segregation, if you start playing Eve with a friend who’s been a veteran for many years. You immediately add value to each other’s experience; that’s something which was a huge focus for us in the beginning and was part of the reason why the game has had these long legs. It’s a way in which its social networking extends across countries, play styles, languages and cultures.

Reid: and frankly, it’s about to extend again, in terms of genres and platforms. If you choose to play Dust as a standard, first-person shooter experience, you’ll have the opportunity to do that and just buddy up with friends and take on other players; but the true depth in the tapestry is that you’ll be able to do in Eve what you’ve done for eight years now and have infantry troops on the ground on these planets doing work alongside you to propel the efforts of your corporations forward, by hiring mercenaries or whatever. Groups of crackshot snipers are going to build their gangs in Dust, they’re going to sell their services to the highest bidders amongst the Eve starfleet captains. It comes back to what Hilmar was saying, that everyone’s actions and contributions matter. You don’t have to have been playing this game for five years to make a difference. Certainly if you know the game better and progress further, you’ll make a bigger impact, but from the very beginning every ripple you throw into the pond does impact every other individual that’s out there.

RPS: It’s a model that’s very liberal / egalitarian and speaks to specialisation, like Planetside; everyone is valuable, every extra body is an advantage.

Pétursson: That’s hard for new players when they start; if you specialise early on, they can actually catch up with the veterns. As you become older, you become more diversified. The gap is not that big, despite it being out for years. We’ve seen many examples of players rushing to the top of the Eve Online social-political sphere by just being very methodical and specialised about it. That’s really where this comes from, new players are able to fashion and impact the world, through specialisation they’re able to impact it faster.

RPS: Can you link Eve accounts with Dust accounts? Can you take your Eve character to the battlefield?

Pétursson: Right now, we’re focused on play-testing, so the new users can jump into a fantastic AAA shooter. We try to not complicate that too much, so certainly convenience features like you suggest will happen further down the pipeline. We’re also rolling out to have feedback from the Eve players about how they want that to go; that’s one of the things we’ll be talking to the Fanfest this year, through roundtables and panels, and present how the Eve aspect of Dust is going to add value and gameplay for Eve players, and convenience features like you suggest, what the priority is. The Council of Stellar Management, our elected player body, will also guide us and help us align with what players want.

RPS: It’s probably changed a lot since you refined the starting user experience, but you used to have a very steep drop-off rate in the number of new people persisting after the free trial. Do you think Dust 514 will partially act as a marketing tool to get people to try Eve?

Pétursson: I certainly wouldn’t think about it as a marketing tool. Eve is a very particular type of experience, made for people who want to commit a lot of energy to have a game experience like that. Over the years we’ve seen a lot of people interested in the Eve universe, the single shard and the political drama, but might not be particularly looking for an experience like the game itself. We see Dust as a way to allow people to participate in this universe by offering them a more intuitive, familiar, speedier, quicker, shorter time-commitment type of experience. It’s more about addressing that need, of letting them play the game as they want to, while still adding to the shared experience.

Reid: At some level, it wasn’t deliberately designed to be a marketing vehicle for Eve, but if you release a shooter of this quality on the Playstation network with its tens of millions of people who are very familiar with Battlefield and Call of Duty and other great shooters, and you put it out there as a free-to-play game then you will get a huge response, which will generate huge excitement for the Eve universe. So, yes, I fully expect that one of the ancillary benefits of launching of Dust will be tremendous “Marketing-esque”, I’ll put that in quotes, exposure. A reminder that, if you took a break from Eve or even if you’ve been continually playing it, you’re going to need to experience what this new facet is. It’s such a groundbreaking thing, to combine a FPS with this Sci-Fi MMORPG … it wasn’t intended to be a marketing moment, but it absolutely will be.

RPS: Do you think that this cross-platform element of MMOs is the future? Many developers have experimented with applications for phones and tablets, but you’re the only one that’s gone out to a console and gone “we’re going to integrate our universe with this.”

Pétursson: I made the point at the Cloud Gaming Conference that you can almost think of Eve as a cloud, with things linked up to it by multiple approach vectors. I’ve taken inspiration from the Eve community, which has made an amazing amount of applications, for wiring in mobile devices and additional PC clients, through the little gateway we’ve provided in the form of the Eve API. One of the high points of adding Dust 514 to the Eve universe is that we’ve thoroughly extended what used to be the Eve API, which will have its own product name once we’ve released it, but the technology base really allows for much richer interactivity through various devices, which we at CCP provide, or the grassroots developer community around Eve Online provide. Just to show the desire to access Eve through multiple devices, the Android applications have as many as 500,000 downloads on the Android app store.

Reid: At the Cloud Gaming Conference, we did hear a lot about how gaming equals distribution. And, sure, there is a piece of that. But what really is exciting here is that building content that exploits that technology isn’t just using another distribution model. When I first met the guys at CCP, I was at Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta; there’s an interesting example of a company that was born in one of these technology shifts, where suddenly cable TV became a big deal. There were companies using cable to distribute their existing content and Turner was one of the first to say “well, there’s new kinds of content to make because of cable as a distribution option.” I do not know that there is another company that could claim to be as far along in using cloud computing as way to design new types of content, new types of experience, new windows into this unique universe and not just as a way to distribute and stream games. I mean, sure, that’s important hat’s going to help change the business to make it better for consumers, but that’s a far cry from making content that explicitly exploits and harnesses the power of cloud computing. Not a lot of companies are doing that in the way that CCP are.

DUST 514 Fanfest Tournament Details

2012-02-25T03:30:00.000+01:00

Here we will try to keep you informed about everything we know so far about the tournament that will happen on EVE Fanfest 2012. So far we know (confirmed either on twitter or in-game or on forums by CCP) these things:

Players will be able to sign up for the tournament on the event itself, not before
Prizes will be PS3's and full entertainment system for first place
Matches will be attendees vs attendees, no developers or "external participants" involved
Currently it is planned to be 24 vs 24 battle
100+ people will get to play the game on Fanfest
It is planned to cover matches on the live stream

That's it for now and we are working on finding out more about the event constantly. This post will be updated once we get more info and posted again on twitter and facebook page. Stay tuned!

EVE Online Dev Blog: Backwards then Forwards

2012-02-22T18:24:00.000+01:00

Today it seems that we're lucky enough to get a dev blog from CCP for EVE. Basically it confirms that CCP will be working towards making all things war related better for EVE. However, it also states that they will be working on the DUST 514 - EVE link within this expansion, revealing the details of how that will exactly work. Read on to see for yourself.

“The future influences the present just as much as the past.”

-Friedrich Nietzsche

Hello again everyone. It’s time to to look back at the last few months and then take a quick peak into the near future for the pilots of EVE Online. Last November’s release of Crucible was a key moment for us. Not only did it herald a shift in focus in what types of releases we were going to deliver to you, it also coincided with significant changes in how we, CCP, go about making the game we all love. There is plenty of detail about all of this in this dev Blog from CCP Zulu and in the December CSM minutes. In short, we are focusing the majority of our efforts on the “core” game of EVE whilst taking some time to give some TLC to our own internal structure, processes and tools.

The good thing is that the first big mountain of work on our reorganization has been completed, although there will be more change for us ahead. After the initial disruption that an effort like this always creates, all our developers are back in the serious business of making EVE better and better. You have already seen some of the results of this with January’s 1.1 point release for Crucible which brought balancing changes for Assault Frigates, Neocom improvements, Factional Warfare increments and a host of other changes all designed around making it a better experience to play EVE. Time Dilation has brought a level playing field in super-populated server situations and Team Gridlock have now turned their attention to performance improvements for the client, having recently released some of their work in Crucible 1.2.

A picture from a recent Time Dilated fleet fight courtesy of Deathcrow (click to enlarge)

You will also have noticed an increase in the pace of small targeted patches and hotfixes, many in response to the reports we are getting in from new back-end systems we put in place to help us react to issues faster.

In addition to the many small fixes and improvements we’ve deployed, we have also released a completely revamped eveonline.com website, designed to lead new pilots into the wonders that await them in the game. Poke around with it if you haven’t yet. It’s complemented by a simultaneous release of an ever improving community website for those who have been in the game for a while longer.

That’s actually quite a bit when you consider it has only been two and a half months since Crucible launched. However, it is time to look to the future and see what it brings.

EVE’s developers are really getting into their stride for our upcoming releases. I recently emerged from many demos where the teams have been showing off their progress from their second sprint (short development cycle). I have to say that even at this early stage I think we have some great features, content and improvements for you coming up over the next 4-5 months. We are hoping to have a number of small releases as we go through February, March and April culminating in our major, war-themed release coming just before the summer, EVE Online: Inferno

The next few months will be spent reinvigorating Concord-sanctioned warfare, giving tools and a framework to groups who wish to take advantage of these conflicts both directly and indirectly. We are also looking to introduce many new things which will mix up all forms of combat in a way not seen for a long time. Factional Warfare will also be seeing changes to make it much more relevant and fun by giving real reasons to fight for your faction.

As we continue development there will also be smaller changes, improvements and usability fixes, and we will not forsake our game performance focus. We will be making some changes and additions to our avatar technology and many other parts of the game. The websites will continue their metamorphoses and there may even be sight of more developer events on TQ.

Finally, we will revealing more concrete steps in the link between EVE and DUST 514, bringing an unprecedented level of collaboration, conflict and purpose to both games living in the same EVE Universe.

Am I playing my cards close to my chest? Of course. I’m keeping details light right now as it is still early on in the development process. I’d also much rather let the people putting all the hard work into making these features a reality have the chance to unveil things. Expect dev blogs, forum posts, interviews and video blogs packed full of information in the coming weeks and months.

Of course, if you want to witness the next big reveal of plans for EVE Online: Inferno, then you can hear it in person by coming to Fanfest in March. There you will be able to get quite cozy with your favorite devs and find out the real lowdown on EVE. This year Fanfest will be at a bigger, better venue right in the social epicenter of downtown Reykjavik, allowing us to bring MOAR EVE to Fanfest than ever before as well as some sneak previews of DUST 514, including the first-ever hands-on demo.. I can’t wait for the event and I hope to talk spaceships with a lot of you in person.

Time to sum up what has become a giant tease of a blog. A lot of work was put into YourEVE by everyone at CCP over the last few months and we all hope to continue momentum into what is shaping up to be the best year ever for EVE Online. The changes we painfully undertook appear to already be paying dividends via the Crucible releases.. More importantly though, I hope each one of you is experiencing benefits from our recent releases and that our plan going forward will bring even more of the same. I thank you for being here with us as we co-develop EVE with you, the greatest gaming community ever assembled. I trust that, come EVE Online: Inferno, you will be having the grandest time blowing each other up and/or profiting from it.

CCP Unifex
Jonathan Lander
Senior Producer of EVE Online

DUST 514 logo in Minecraft - Sandboxception!

2012-02-20T00:44:00.003+01:00

I call it de_dust_514 (texture pack: soartex fanver)

Sometimes I make crazy things in Minecraft - in both creative, hardcore and normal. That's my hobby and I enjoy it. Well, since I love DUST that much as well, I figured it would be cool to merge two together. Both are sandbox games where you do what you want, and I did this. Below are two different angles (without texture pack) and process of creating the logo. I also was aiming specifically for desert because it feels like it's made for dust-like atmosphere. Ironically - I spawned in snow area which I was hunting for ages.

I used pattern in Photoshop that was 16 x 16px square with white edges (1px), and applied it to the logo. Afterwards I colored squares a little different so I can count a bit easier - and then just followed my pattern. It was really fun and I plan on not stopping here.

More things will come - soon‌™!

Lend me your questions!

2012-02-19T04:45:00.000+01:00

There seems to be a lot of you guys out there, all asking millions of different questions, all at the same time. So to help with collating such a massive number of queries, I've decided to enlist the help of Google Docs.

"I have a really good question that will knock your socks off. How do I submit it?" you may ask. Luckily for you, it's really quite simple.

First, check to see if someone else has asked the same question before you. You can check the current list here, and I'll add answers to individual questions when I can.

Second, if your question isn't in the list already, use this form to add it. Please add questions one at a time (I know it may be tedious, but it will save a lot of headache down the road trying to separate them.)

Dev Blog: The Future of War: Building DUST 514’s Arsenal

2012-02-17T16:20:00.002+01:00

Looks like CCP has delivered the goods after saying that there was going to be a new dev blog in the next few days. And here it is, discussing some new armoury additions.

In the last PlayStation.Blog post I introduced you to the three weapon classes in DUST 514: Heavy, Light and Sidearm. In this post, I wanted to pick a few weapons that changed the way that the development team played when we added them to the game.

Gamers don’t always realize how long it can take for a weapon to make the leap from the drawing board to being fully functional and kicking ass in the game. It needs to be concepted, built, textured, animated, weapon logic needs to be engineered, sounds created, various values set up, tested, debugged, and tweaked. As you can imagine, all this takes quite a while, which means you spend a lot of time playing your game with a limited set of gear. Over time, we add new weapons to the game and they can radically alter the balance of play because they open up new possibilities in combat. Below are some examples.

Heavy Weapons for Heavy Armor…

Let’s start with the Minmatar MH82-BCR Personal Autocannon. This is a heavy weapon and, as such, restricted to the heavy dropsuit. As well as being simply devastating in its own right, this weapon really opened up the heavy dropsuit class once we added it to the game. For some time, the heavy dropsuit wasn’t very popular with our internal dev team. It may have had a ton of hitpoints and access to the deadly Forge gun, but it was slow and easy to outmaneuver. This saw it primarily being used in specialist anti-vehicle roles (where it excelled) but not much else.

This came abruptly to an end when the autocannon made it in to the game. Suddenly you didn’t have to fight the other dropsuit classes on their own terms with weapons ill-suited to the heavy’s slower movement. Now you could outlast any other class in a head-on firefight (though smart players can still outmaneuver the slower heavies), you had more armor and a lot more firepower; enough to destroy light vehicles as well as infantry. The introduction of this weapon unlocked the full potential of the dropsuit and gave us one of the game’s most satisfying weapons to fire. The camera shake, visual effects and rate of fire make this weapon incredibly visceral. You feel unstoppable, like you could take on just about anything, and sometimes — for just a few bright moments — you can.

Minmitar MH82-BCR Personal Autocannon

A multi-barrel, rotary drive machine gun, the autocannon is a singularly devastating anti-infantry weapon. Eschewing the advantages of a lighter frame in favor of stopping power, the exponentially increased heat and vibration produced by this Boundless Creation-developed weapon makes it almost unbearable to fire. Yet despite this fact, its above average hit ratio and extreme rate of fire has earned it the nickname “Death’s Engine.”

Unlike earlier models, the weapon requires no spool up time; rounds are expelled the instant the trigger is pressed. This comes at the cost of initially reduced accuracy as the counter-rotating drives slowly align. Once fully aligned, however, the autocannon produces a pinpoint stream of gunfire with unmatched killing potential.

Specifications

Designation: MH82-BCR
Variant: Standard
Length: 70.2cm
Barrel length: 48.9cm
Weight (loaded): 60kg
Weight (unloaded): 47.4kg
Max. effective range: 1,000m
Muzzle velocity: 3,450 ft/sec (1,050 m/s)
Ammunition: Titanium Sabot

Filling the Short-Range Gap…

Next up is the Gallente CRG-3 Plasma Shotgun. When we added it to the game, the shotgun filled a gaping hole in our weapons line up. At the time most of the weapons we had in were semi- to full-automatic with mid to long ranges, but the shotgun gave us a very powerful, very short-range weapon. It was actually one of our most eagerly awaited weapons on the team, to quote one of the designers, “shotguns are born fun.”

What happened when we put it in the game, though? As a light weapon, it can be fitted to any dropsuit which makes it very versatile. However, it was those players using Scout dropsuits that really gravitated towards it. Having such a powerful weapon helped them offset their relatively weak armor and shields. They began to use their high speed and maneuverability to get as close as possible as fast as possible with the shotgun and blow their enemy away! Of course, any potential victim in a more heavily armored dropsuit class could potentially fit themselves to soak a portion of the damage done and retaliate with a fistful of death of their own so Scouts still had to stay on their toes!

Gallente CRG-3 Plasma Shotgun

Designed for close-range combat, the shotgun is a spread weapon with tremendous stopping power. Unlike traditional cyclotron designs, a walled centrifugal well is used to simultaneously shunt dozens of plasma charges, generating a wide-pattern ‘kill spread’ that is lethal over short distances. The excessive recoil produced by each discharge is absorbed by the pneumatic armature, allowing the weapon to be fired repeatedly without significant injury to the user. The operator controlled crank-action flushes coolant through the interior well before cycling additional rounds into the chamber.

Specifications

Designation: CRG-3
Variant: Standard
Length: 94.5cm
Weight (loaded): 4.35kg
Weight (unloaded): 3.6kg
Max. effective range: 30m
Muzzle velocity: 1,325 ft/sec (403 m/s)
Ammunition: Lead charge

Up Close and Personal…

Last on the list for this blog post is the humble knife. Imagine you’re in a desperate gun fight, you’re closing in on your opponent, he’s almost dead, you run out of ammo, but you’re close enough to use melee to finish him off… but melee hasn’t been implemented yet and he shoots you in the face! This was a situation many of us experienced before the Nova Knife went in to the game and it was incredibly frustrating. As you can imagine it was a very welcome addition and now it’s hard to imagine how we could have played without it.

Every dropsuit comes equipped with a blade so it doesn’t need to be fitted. For most players the Nova Knife is a weapon of last resort, but for a crazed few it is used as a primary. They train skills in knife handling and fit their dropsuits with Myofibril Stimulant modules to make the knife as deadly as possible. There is of course no more embarrassing way to be killed than with the knife. And no more frightening sight than a module-enhanced fast-moving Scout dropsuit that is bearing down on you as you try to pick them off before they get too close.

Caldari ZN-28 Nova Knife

A close-quarters melee weapon, the Nova Knife is as deadly a weapon as anything on the battlefield. Its name derives from the heated plasma edge of the blade – formed by a thermic igniter and linear gravity condenser – that, in skilled hands, can be used to carve through even the thickest dropsuit armor.

Specifications

Designation: ZN-28
Variant: Standard
Blade Length: 20cm
Weight: 0.5kg
Max. effective range: 0.5m
Ammunition: Fuel cell

One of the most exciting things about game development is watching and experiencing the game as various pieces of gameplay fall into place. Every new weapon we add to the game opens up the gameplay in ways we predicted and ways we didn’t. One of the things that excites me the most about DUST 514 is that the continuous development post-launch means that developers and players alike will get to see the gameplay evolve over time as new content is introduced into the game.

The pot of gold at the end of the DUST 514 tournament

2012-02-15T13:45:00.000+01:00

Seems that there's going to be a little pot of gold at the end of the DUST 514 tournament at Fanfest. Specifically an entertainment system and a PS3 to the tournament winners. Announced moments ago by CCP CmdrWang in game.

So if you're going to Fanfest, make sure you enter. It could all be yours.

Update #1 on the EVE Online forums from Cmdr Wang:

The current plan is to have players register for the tournament and play against each other. We will have tutorials so people can quickly learn how the game is played. There are no plans for a player vs. dev tourney, but I suspect that if we did it would be the players who will be kicking butts. :)

Update #2 It seems that you will be able to sign up for the tournament on fanfest itself, not before, and that only attendees will participate - meaning that MPT may not start before fanfest:

The registration for the tournament will be at Fanfest.

Afraid this will be just for Fanfest for now.

CAST 514 Episode 1 - CCP Grand Opening

2012-02-13T18:29:00.000+01:00

Downloads: Dropbox - mp3, iTunes - CAST 514, Zune - coming soon, and CAST 514 RSS Feed

Here we are! CAST 514 grand opening and as we promised, we brought CCP friends to open it up! Together with us were CCP CmdrWang (Community Manager for DUST 514) and CCP Praetorian (Creative Director for DUST 514)! They talked to us about some things you never heard about, and those are going to be revealed in this episode. Further, we will highlight all of them as we go - in both upcoming blog posts and here, but for now - just listen! Also, I would like to give huge thanks to HaZaR (creator of EVE Online: Crucible trailer music as well) for making intro music! You should definitely check his work on his dedicated Soundcloud page as well!

@CCP CmdrWang - DUST 514 Community Manager
@CCP_Praetorian - DUST 514 Creative Director
HaZaR's Soundcloud - CAST 514 Music

Transcript:

Broadcastorm: Hello everyone and welcome to the first official episode of CAST 514. My name is Vladislav Perge, also known as Broadcastorm, and together with me is my co-host that likes to spam CCP every twelve hours on twitter, Ben Gruber, also known as Grideris. What's up Grideris?

Grideris: Not much and it's not always every twelve hours. Sometimes I give them a little bit longer. 22, 23, sometimes 18, but never over 24.

Broadcastorm: Well now we have mentioned in Episode 0 that we will bring some CCP friends to talk with us a little bit about that game called DUST, so gentlemen, welcome to CAST 514 Episode 1

CCP Praetorian: Thank you

CCP CmdrWang: Thank you

Broadcastorm: Could you guys please introduce yourselves to the listeners, who are you and what's your job in CCP generally

CCP Cmdr Wang: Sure, my name is Phil Wang. I'm the DUST 514 community manager.

CCP Praetorian: My name is Alti Mar. I'm the creative director on DUST 514. Also known as CCP Praetorian.

Broadcastorm: Awesome. So as community manager what is your main role in CCP and DUST 514 when it launches and before it launches.

CCP CmdrWang: One of my main responsibilities would be to cooperate and help with our marketing department and reaching out to as many fan base and player groups as possible for the launch of the game DUST 514. And also, as the game progresses, maintaining relationships with our fan base and player base.

Broadcastorm: Sounds awesome. And Praetorian, what's your job directly for DUST 514?

CCP Praetorian Well as the creative director I maintain the game's vision and I set goals for each of our releases or milestones together with the product management group and just overall make it a really good game and make it fit nicely with the EVE universe.

Grideris: If I might ask, do you keep your office dusty to keep yourself immersed in the proper vision for DUST?

CCP Praetorian: Yea, precisely. No no no we have a very clean office. Pretty cool actually. Have we released any images?

Grideris: No you haven't. I don't think.

CCP CmdrWang: I think we a few years ago we did an interview with Edge

CCP Praetorian: Oh yea yea yea the Edge interview there were some pictures of our office there but I'm sure Phil can sneak a couple of photos for you guys to see our work.

Grideris: Do you have a fish tank?

CCP Praetorian: Yes we do.

Grideris: Oh good, we need to see some photos of that

CCP Praetorian: It's not as big as Hilmar's in Reykjavik

Grideris: Size doesn't matter, it's what you put in it.

CCP Praetorian: Tell that to Hilmar

CCP CmdrWang: Actually if I remember there was a hole in the ground that I fell into one time.

CCP Praetorian: Yea that's right we have two. We have a fish tank that is lovingly taken care of by our level director and a couple of the IEs that work with us, and there's the Japanese pond in the lobby.

CCP CmdrWang: The death trap.

CCP Praetorian: The death trap.

Grideris: Is this going to be providing some level inspiration for DUST?

CCP Praetorian: Yea exactly; kill volumes

Broadcastorm: Well we should really go on with the interview right now. So Grideris, what's your first question and the official statement from CCP about the thing that people don't still believe us.

Grideris: Yes yes yes. Gentlemen, can you please for once and for all settle it: DUST will support the mouse and keyboard in-game when you're shooting. Can you please settle this for once and for all?

CCP Praetorian: Yes

CCP CmdrWang: Yes we can. Yes we will support the mouse and keyboard for DUST514 including in-game shooting. And I just want to add that you know we are aware of how critical this is to get it right because we've seen other games try to attempt this and there were some problems. But we are dedicated considerable amount of resources into this particular feature because we want to do it right and we want to make sure that our players when they use the mouse and keyboard they will have a very good experience comparable to what they're used to on the PC.

Grideris: Now another question that his revelation has brought up is what is the balance between the mouse and the keyboard versus the controller and by extension, against Playstation Move going to be like? Are you going to make sure that it's all balanced. Because we've had a lot of concern over this. Yes?

CCP Praetorian: We're learning a lot the difference between the three styles of control. And I mean obviously we're still developing it, still balancing, and our commitment is very high. It's supposed to be perfect. But we'll go into more detail on that later once we've you know, kind of hammered in all of the details.

Grideris: Sounds good.

Broadcastorm: So from your experience what's your favourite equipment combination on foot? What dropsuit, gun, modules, other sorts of gear?

CCP Praetorian: Well, in EVE I am a Gallente ship pilot and I use blasters so I think that reflects a little bit in my gear in DUST. I use the prototype assault dropsuit and the Killswitch GK-38 assault rifle.

Grideris: That's the one in the trailer, isn't it?

CCP Praetorian: No not this one. It's a bit better. But yea because my character has oblivious progressed a little bit and stuff, so I've skilled up to these items. I fit damage mods and like a small armour rep. it's a pretty weak fit in terms of defence, you know hit points? But it does awesome damage.

Grideris: So basically it's a Brutix with feet

CCP Praetorian: Or a Taranis more

CCP CmdrWang: Well for me, I'm more of an Amarr pilot in EVE. Always have been. So for me obviously the obvious choice is the heavy Amarr suit which I'm sure you would have seen in one of our previous dev blogs. I've also fitted it with a BFG which I think you've also seen-

CCP Praetorian: Our equivalent of

CCP CmdrWang: Yea, our equivalent of the BFG. So with a fit like that it's a very good anti-vehicle fit. And as you know that DUST will have lots of vehicle fighting in-game as well, this particular fit with the heavy dropsuit and the anti-vehicle forge gun is a very effective way and economically speaking as well of dealing with pesky Gallente LAVs zooming around trying to do bad things.

CCP Praetorian: Or my Marauder. Well it's also like the heavy asset/vehicle killing machine. It's really effective if you work with other people using electronic warfare or the stasis stuff. If you pit yourself against my Marauder I'll win [by yourself]. Well, unless your on an elevated position behind a rock or something. On the rope though I'll win.

Grideris: I don't think we've heard anything about the Marauder specifically. is that another racial heavy attack vehicle? Because we've only seen the Caldari and the Gallente ones.

CCP Praetorian: The marauder is my favourite vehicle in the game. It's a type of HAV. It's called Surya is the name of that. It's a heavy damage dealer. It's a very advanced vehicle. And I fit it with a blaster obviously. And crap load of damage mods.

Grideris: So basically, this is instead your Hyperion with tracks.

CCP Praetorian: Yea, exactly. And just like my assault suit, my dropsuit, it's pretty weak on the defence side so it's good to have a friend that remote armour reps. You know, spider tanking.

CCP CmdrWang: Bit of a glass cannon.

Grideris: And how long have you two been playing EVE for actually if I might ask?

CCP Praetorian: Woah. Beta

Grideris: Beta?

CCP CmdrWang: For me since 2006 which is when I first joined CCP.

Grideris: So we have some serious veterans here. Now, another thing from EVE we've had a lot of people asking, a lot of people hinting at the wonderful skill training system in EVE which sets it apart from pretty much everything else. Is it going to be making a return to DUST 514?

CCP Praetorian: Yes. But with a twist.

Grideris: With a twist?

CCP Praetorian: Yes. We share EVE's passive skilling or the overall concept of passive skilling. And then that is modified with active skilling, or success in battles and other PvP can speed up your skill point accrual. There's a lot of nuance that I don't think is possible to dive into right now but we have a dev blog very soon explaining this properly.

Grideris: I look forward to this with bated breath.

CCP CmdrWang: I just want to add is that breadth and the progress length of these skill progressions for DUST will be just as expansive and long and as encompassing as EVE's.

Grideris: I like the sound of that.

Broadcastorm: So you're pretty much going to combine the fight with the passive skilling in EVE and you can pretty much boost your character in solo way as you play the more you're going to get skills and if don't play you're not going to progress that fast versus that guy that plays constantly.

CCP Praetorian: Yea. That's basically how it works. Obviously there's you know, we can't have too much disparity between the two so we have some mechanics in there to balance that out.

Broadcastorm: Yea, obviously.

CCP CmdrWang: One of the things that was brought up was that in a passive learning progression system that EVE has one of the things that players point out is that newer players will never have the chance of catching up to the older players so we've kinda taken that feedback and sort of considered that. DUST is a good chance for us to implement a system where you know, a new player, if he or she trys really hard and plays quite a bit has a chance of catching up to older plays

CCP Praetorian: He or she is a good trooper. But of course we rely on specialisations as a big mechanic to allow newer players to meaningfully contribute to corporation warfare in 0.0 and stuff like that. And there's a new player just like in EVE you want to be able to skill fairly quickly into, you know, in EVE it's the interceptor pilot or for us it's the scout , the dude that scans shit and stuff. Very similar.

Broadcastorm: Sounds awesome. Well we've seen at one stage from a fitting screen that the ability to use certain meta-level items are tied to services for particular factions. What's the deal with that?

CCP Praetorian: Can you articulate that a little bit? Explain it in more detail?

Grideris: Basically from one of the fitting screens that you released as a screenshot, there was a particular module that was a Minmatar faction module. But it also had imposed on the screen saying that there was a particular achievement or level you had to get in service for the Minmatar Republic to be able to use the module. What was the deal with that?

CCP Praetorian: Ah, we can't talk about that right now.

Grideris: Can't talk about that right now?

CCP Praetorian: No.

Grideris: Super secret something?

CCP Praetorian: Super secret something.

CCP CmdrWang: You'll like it. You will like it.

Grideris: Alright, we'll keep an eye for that

CCP Praetorian: Soon

Grideris: Soon. Soon™ or Soon?

CCP Praetorian: Soon™.

Grideris: OK. And which one of your, I know you elaborated on this a bit for dropsuits, but which of the vehicles is your absolute favourite so far?

CCP Praetorian: Well like I said before, mine is the Marauder. But what's yours?

CCP CmdrWang: Well for me it's the dropship.

Grideris: The dropship?

CCP CmdrWang: Oh yea. Actually no, a lot of people don't give it the credit it's due because people like Atli they always like to come in with big guns and heavy tanks come in and go RAAWR. The dropship is a very tactically flexible kind of a vehicle. probably one of the most flexible vehicles we have.

CCP Praetorian: It's great for healing, one of it's variants is great for healing

CCP CmdrWang: I mean you can use it for a variety of different roles depending on the fit. You can use it for scouting, you can use it for transport or you can use it for remote repair like Atli said. And also if you wanted to you could put out a fair amount of damage.

CCP Praetorian: You can fit it into a proper aerial damage dealer.

Grideris: If I'm not mistaken I remember with the dropship actually from the dev blog for vehicles it said you can actually give it a cloak and there's also a Clone Reanimation Unit which basically allows people to just straight into battle in your dropship which must make it pretty insane. Especially if, I don't know about fitting mechanics yet, but if you can combine the two that's pretty insane.

CCP Praetorian: Yes, you can. And it's the mobile CRU it's pretty fun. It's neat. Our spawns are mostly dynamic, we prefer players to be in control of spawn points. So this is just one of the mechanics that ties into that.

Grideris: I for one, being a victim of spawn camping on occasion, thank you very much.

CCP Praetorian: We've democratised spawn camping.

Broadcastorm: What's actually the best moment you've had in the internal beta recently that you can describe in a rough sense, you don't have to go into specifics, but what was your favourite moment recently from the game.

CCP Praetorian: Well we had plenty of really cool moments but I guess one of the more memorable moments was the kill Eino tournament. It's not a part of the game play, it's after one of our release demos, we had a release party the week before Christmas. And Eino, our economist, and a few others set up a mock zombie mode where Eino was alone against a bunch of NOVA knife wielding players pretending to be zombies. And it was just hilarious.

CCP CmdrWang: Actually the funny thing about the zombie mode was something we kinda just stumbled upon by sorta by accident where we were doing a play test and then we expected some people to show up but some people didn't so we were kind of short on players and we said well what can we do to salvage this play test and someone said "Hey why don't we have 7 guys just run around with knives and have them try to kill Eino by himself". So we said "OK, let's give it a shot" and it turned out to be pretty fun. Alone against against a bunch of knife wielding guys.

CCP Praetorian: Ejyo is really good by the way,

CCP CmdrWang: He's one of our top players

CCP Praetorian: You want him on your team, or you want to hunt him down if he's not

CCP CmdrWang: But going back to that kill Eino tournament that Atli mentioned. The best moment within that tournament was when Eino was surrounded by some of these zombies coming after him and then he throws a very well timed grenade and it blew up four zombies in one go and we're all like "WOAH!"

CCP Praetorian: Yea he was running off, he was in one of the outposts, he ran off a I don't know what object, probably some containers or whatever, and turned around in the air, threw the grenade it bounced off like two walls and then landed and then they all exploded. Then the kill messages came and it was like "Holy Shit!" It some skill. It was really cool.

CCP CmdrWang: It was amazing

Grideris: So are we going to get zombie mode?

CCP Praetorian: Well, you know...

Grideris: Actually I know a lot of people asked about a training mode. If we get a training we would probably be able to do that ourselves.

CCP Praetorian: We have areas for players to train and test fits and stuff.

Grideris: And with that you just made a million players very very happy people. Potentially. And actually on that note, is there any particular feature that you've put out to the public that everyone has pretty much missed that you think we should be all excited and jumping up and down in our chairs about?

CCP Praetorian: Good question. I think you guys have pretty much caught on all of them. Of course there are features that we haven't introduced.

Grideris: We can't be excited about those yet because we don't even know they exist

CCP Praetorian: You can extrapolate. I don't know.

Grideris: We can speculate. We've done a lot of that.

CCP CmdrWang: I just want to mention that for the in-game voice chat system. I know players have brought questions about that and I wanted to make sure that asking if we're going to provide that in DUST. And the answer is definitely yes, we will have in-game voice support for DUST 514.

Grideris: So you'll be able to stand on the ground in your dropsuit and basically talk to the guy in the Dreadnought up in orbit shooting at the other guys. Directly?

CCP Praetorian: Yep

Grideris: And with that you've also made many other millions of players happy

Well that pretty much concludes our interview, mostly. The questions were really really kind of general stuff obviously CCP fans are not really allowed to talk about details still. But hopefully with the upcoming content that we will consume really soon I think that CmdrWang mentioned that we should expect not one video but perhaps more videos.

CCP CmdrWang: I've been seeing a lot on twitter and other social media places where people are asking when are we going to have for example, a dev video blog and new trailers and things like that. So I just want to let you guys let everyone know that we're actually currently working on several videos at once which would include tutorial videos, more in-game reveal videos or trailers and also the dev blog video as well. We've kinda stretched out on resources right now for video production. But we're are tying to do all of these at the same time because we have a very tight schedule where we're going to be releasing these to the public. So just bear with us for a little while longer and you will see pretty very awesome videos.

Grideris: So this means I can stop asking you every day when the next dev blog is coming out on twitter?

CCP CmdrWang: Please. Yes.

Grideris: Actually CCP Jian, Brandon, basically said as well that the actual MPT, Mordu's Private Trials will be starting a few weeks after that. And you mentioned a tutorial video. Is that for the release of the MPT as well?

CCP Praetorian: It's related

Grideris: It's related?

CCP CmdrWang: It's going to be in conjunction with the MPT.

Grideris: So we're going to be seeing this all soon, but not Soon™?

CCP Praetorian: Soon, not soon™

Broadcastorm: Well without ™ is definitely good for me, or at least good enough. Well thank you gentlemen so much for this interview. Hopefully some people got their questions answered and those that didn't get answers will hopefully have another interview later on when the game launches or it reaches beta

Grideris: And before you guys go I have to do this or they'll kill me. The DUST514 channel in-game, they wanted to have a shout out to you guys and just say hi to you guys. And that they love you and they want you to come talk to them in-game one day because they feel unloved.

CCP CmdrWang: Oh absolutely

Broadcastorm: Well I would also like to thank DJ HaZar the guy that is from Iceland and did the intro music for CAST 514. You might remember him from the trailer for EVE Online Crucible. The stuff on that trailer? That's him. I also do hope you enjoyed this episode of CAST 514. This is Broadcastorm and Grideris, signing off.

Grideris: We will see you gentlemen next time.

DUST 514 Fanfest Tournament Confirmed

2012-02-13T14:29:00.001+01:00

CCP CmdrWang confirmed today on EVE Forums that they are planning DUST 514 tournament on Fanfest! Now, that could also mean that 15.3.2012 is looking more and more appealing for us not attending the event itself, so we can participate in this from our homes in an epic battle... but who knows!

Hello there DUST 514 fans,

We know that many of you are hungry for more details and wanting to get more sneak peeks at what’s under the hood. We are busily working on many features (some of which were suggested by the player and fan base) that will go a long ways towards making the game great, and we will be more forthcoming on details in the coming weeks.

We are also making preparations for Fanfest in March this year and will be demonstrating DUST 514 as well as hosting a DUST 514 tournament during Fanfest. And, more importantly, that is also when we will be revealing more information regarding the MPT beta keys, so keep an eye out for what will be happening during this year’s Fanfest.

Lastly, we would like to thank you for your comments on the forum. Your comments both encouraging and critical have been instrumental during the development process for DUST 514 and we will continue to listen earnestly to your feedback. Thank you.

CCP_CmdrWang

And the DUST 514 Team

UPDATE: A few more details from the forums

The current plan is to have players register for the tournament and play against each other. We will have tutorials so people can quickly learn how the game is played. There are no plans for a player vs. dev tourney, but I suspect that if we did it would be the players who will be kicking butts. :)

And the Gears of Industry Keep Turning...

2012-02-12T16:53:00.001+01:00

In the majority of games these days, death is really quite cheap. In World of Warcraft, you simply run back to your corpse and have a small repair bill on your armour and weapons. You can't lose your gear unless you throw it out. Heck, enemies can't even pry it out of your cold dead hands! FPS games are even worse. After a quick respawn timer (usually), you're back in the fight with exactly the same gear as before. The only cost involved is either loss of a ticket for your team or points for the other team. And in the end, win or lose, it doesn't really have any effect on you in-game.

However EVE Online is completely different. In EVE, if something is blown up, it's gone for good. That ship you're flying? The modules it's using? All gone when someone blows up your ship. So what then? You acquire a replacement. But where from? Another player of course. Almost every module (excluding some module drops by hostile NPCs) and every ship in EVE is built by players. From minerals that someone else mined. It's all one big player run circle of life, full of destruction and creation.

And it's a big circle. To give you an idea of just how big, last year (2011) just under 62 billion missiles were built by players. 62 billion. That's just missiles. In the same time period 13.2 million ships were built. That's just over 1500 ships built every hour by players. That's not even taking into account the modules each of those ships are fitted with (which could range from 6 to 24 on each ship!). But what about the other end of the cycle? Well in the same time period, 5.3 million ships were destroyed. That's just under one explosion every 6 seconds. But what does this have to do with DUST 514, an FPS game?

You see, the thing is CCP is planning to carry over this industrial model to DUST 514. You see those guns you're using? Tangible assets in game. You don't get to resupply from an infinite armoury that exists off the battlefield. You actually have to build or buy every single gun (and possibly every bullet!) that you use. Kill a guy? You didn't just reduce the number of clones they have by one (which will likely to cost money as well), you just caused them to lose all the gear they're using. And it would go doubly so for vehicles. Lose a tank? That's going to cost you. Dropship? Even more. Losing your MCC would be a serious hit on your wallet. And don't even get me started on losing a war barge. That alone could set back corporations weeks.

"But wait!", you say, "You said that you would have to buy or build all my stuff. This is an FPS game, I'm not going to sit around and build guns while I fight!" And you would be right. In EVE, manufacturing is a fairly passive pastime. You buy the Blueprint original (expensive, allows for unlimited uses, a.k.a BPO) or Blueprint copy (cheaper but limited number of runs, a.k.a BPC), get the required materials (all listed on the BPO/BPC), take it all to a manufacturing facility (found in outposts and stations), install the job and wait a few hours/days/weeks depending on the item manufactured and the quantity (e.g. ammo is produced really quickly in large batches per run while ships are produced one per run much slower, with titans taking nearly two months each for just the hull assembly from components). I can see exactly the same thing happening in DUST 514.

"But I don't want to waste my time running around gathering minerals! I just want to make explosions!" you reply. Luckily for you, you someone else can build all that stuff for you and then sell it on the open market. In fact, that's what most people do in EVE - they buy stuff off people who just do manufacturing. There's good ISK to be made in it too. I can see people easily going through DUST 514 without ever touching a Blueprint and some other taking a lot of ISK without ever stepping on the battlefield.

But wait, there's more! Since EVE and DUST are connected, there's a very good chance that EVE players will be able to build items for DUST and DUST players will be able to build items for EVE. Who knows, there may even be exclusive items that can only be manufactured in one game for the other or items that require resources that are found only in the other game. Though if CCP chose to include items such as these, they need to be careful that the loss of these items wouldn't cripple some part of the other game.

"But all this industry and market mumbo jumbo is making my head hurt. Why do we need it?" That's a good question. The reason we have this is that it gives items value. This is a truly persistent world that CCP is building after all. Everything you own in the real world has (or originally had) value. Why shouldn't DUST be the same? You spent time and effort creating these items. When you're dominating someone you're not just killing them over and over. You're actually taking away from them. You may not have played a game like this yet, but trust me, the experience is oh so much sweeter when you know the damage you inflict with every kill has a permanent effect.

It also serves to give more value to planets. If planets are the foundation of the mining and industry that fuels DUST 514, you can bet that people will fight over them for that reason alone. Want to cripple a particularly nasty opponent that's been thrashing you lately? Go blow up their manufacturing base and any stockpiles of equipment they have. In the short term, it might cripple their ability to fight efficiently. In the long term, it would cost them more ISK to buy off the open market or to rebuild their manufacturing base and rebuild their stockpiles.

So in short, why is industry going to be important in DUST 514? Because it's going to be the machine that allows you to feed bullets into someone's head. That's why.

By the way, if you want more EVE Statistics, try here

Interview With Executive Producer - CCP Jian

2012-02-09T20:00:00.000+01:00

Here at DUST 514 Base, we've talked with Brandon Laurino, Executive Producer at CCP, and Grideris asked him a few things about his game. Follow @CCP_Jian on twitter for more updates on the game, but keep in mind that he is a very busy man making that cool game that you will get to play on your PS3!

// COMMENCING INTERVIEW...

Q: Will there be a free flow of ISK and AUR between EVE and DUST 514? If there is, will there be anything to stop massive alliances bankrolling their own DUST players?

A: Yes, there will be free flow between EVE and DUST 514, though only with ISK. We have measures in place to protect against exploits, but we definitely want cooperation between EVE and DUST 514 players.

Q: Is DUST 514 going to tie into sov (sovereignty)? How will it tie in? Are you going to include this at launch, or will you let the game get on its legs before opening that can of worms?

A: It’s too early for us to share the details on this, but I can say that DUST 514 is about control over thousands of planets, so as you suggested we intend to get the game on its legs first and then iterate on this with the community.

Q: We've seen that there are three different levels of gear - standard, advanced and prototype. Is it simply that each tier has better stats or it more like in EVE with Tech 2 ships where they are specialised in certain roles.

A: Both, actually. Stats improve along with gear levels, and there will also be role specializations available.

Q: What's with the new AUR Add-on seen recently in the PSN store? Are these the confirmed prices for launch?

A: No, those are not the confirmed prices for launch. Those AUR add-ons went live alongside DUST 514’s private beta on PSN, but they shouldn’t have been visible. That has now been corrected.

Q: Can we look forward to more chronicles in the Stranded series?

A: The Stranded series will continue.

Q: What limitations do you have preventing EVE players from just nuking the entire planet? We've heard about planetary shielding, and the requirement to designate targets. What else is there to level the playing field?

A: There will be a planetary attack / defense game mechanics that take this into account, but we’ll share in-depth information on this topic soon.

Q: So far for vehicles, we have the LAV, the HAV, the dropship and the fighter. What other vehicle classes can we expect to see? Will there be MTACs?

A: We are going to have a lot more vehicles and I assure you that you won’t be disappointed. :)

Q: When can we expect to see some ingame footage?

A: Check out the new episode of Sony PULSE, it went live a few days ago on PSN and on the PlayStation Blog. It has about half a minute of hardcore DUST 514 in-game footage. A new trailer is due in early February.

Q: What kind of visual customisation is going to be available for our dropsuits and vehicles? Will we be able to put our corp logo on the MCC and Warbarge?

A: DUST 514 will have a ton of customization options for dropsuits and vehicles, which will be continually expanded upon. Exactly what will or won’t be available day one is still being decided.

Q: Can an EVE player talk to a DUST 514 player while in a match? Or is this just restricted to out of matches

A: Absolutely, we will have ways to do this.

Q: Signups for the beta have opened for EVE players. When can we expect the beta to start? Any plans on when you will expand to more people?

A: Private trials have begun and we're letting people in little by little for the time being. There are no exact dates announced as to when access expands widely, but things will start picking up very soon.

We would also like to clarify that "trials have already begun" is referred to MPT signups and that beta did not start outside of CCP offices. Nobody still has access to the game except CCP and just some external testing partners and a few selected Friends and Family of CCP.

Brand new EVEOnline.com is up and running!

2012-02-07T15:50:00.001+01:00

Welcome to a brand new eveonline.com! The site looks amazing, but aside from that, it has incredible amount of features built in itself. You can now get good picture of:

One Universe: the section that is going to tell you everything you need to know about economy, politics, science, war, spaceships. You should really check World of EVE section that shows entire star map of New Eden, and get the feeling how big the universe actually is. If you feel lost - pan the camera way up and you will get "2D" version which is a bit "friendlier" in terms of overall viewing pleasure. Oh, spaceships too! Although there are quite a bit of them missing still.
Sandbox section shows you almost everything that you can be in EVE. Click on anything and read on! there will be the choice that is definitely suited for you.
Creations is art section of the website. It contains wallpapers, screenshots, concept art, and everything beautiful from EVE Online universe.
And of course - Capsuleers. Community that makes EVE running and what it is until this day. There you can see how crazy and dedicated people are to this game, and also how brilliant at the same time. Also make sure to check entire new community.eveonline.com!

Of course, you have all important links also on the top right - "EVE Website" where you can access EVElopedia, Store, Forums, Account Management and more.

Give it a go! You will not be disappointed!

Incoming new gameplay footage, MPT afterwards

2012-02-07T05:44:00.002+01:00

CCP Jian has been active today on his twitter account and did some clarifications on mouse and keyboard support (for those that didn't believe our news in the first place), but more importantly, he tweeted that brand new gameplay footage is imminent, and I'd bet it will come this week:

...one more... Game play video goodness: imminent. Big waves of MPT entry: a couple of weeks beyond that. That's all I can say for now :-)
— Brandon Laurino (@CCP_Jian) February 7, 2012

Stay tuned - the moment it drops we will have it here, and MPT? Who knows. But maybe we will find out more about that in CAST 514 Episode 1 that is coming this week!