CCP creative producer Thomas Farrer has big plans for the marriage of PC space simulation MMO EVE Online with PlayStation 3 third-person shooter Dust 514, which will be a unique experience as players in Dust 514 can take on jobs from EVE Online corporations or even join them, with the reverse being true: players in Dust 514 can start their own corporations, with EVE Online players able to join them.
One of the ways that EVE Online and Dust 514 will be joined at the hip is at the game’s most base level: they’ll share the same servers. This will allow easier communication between PC and PS3 players. As Farrer states, ”You know, between the PC and PS3, right now, we already have chat up and running, so players can type and talk to each other. Obviously, we’re working on all of our communication options. EVE mail and Dust mail will be the same thing. You’ll be able to interact via (community portal) EVE Gate, and also VOiP implementation as well.”
Dust 514 will help correct some imbalance, as well. ”Say if, for example, you only have pilots in your corp, you can quite easily hire a mercenary-only corporation to fight for you,” notes Farrer, ”You want them to go and just destroy someone’s things on a planet or take control of them for you, you can do that. You can hire them; you can use them as mercenaries.
And just like EVE Online, the Dust 514 universe will be what the players make of it. ”We can’t be so arrogant that we’re going to know how players are going to play, or how they’re going to want to interact. I’m sure it’s going to surprise us, and we’re actually going to have to make adjustments because of that,” stated Farrer.
Dust 514 is due for release on the PlayStation 3 in Spring 2012.
