We could not be more excited to truly begin the uprising of our DUST Immortal Soldiers into the EVE Universe of New Eden. We could not ask for a better partner in PlayStation to release DUST 514 on PS3 and we could not have achieved all of the groundbreaking work without the support, feedback and passion of our Beta testers and fans.

Being surrounded by the enthusiasm of our community – both online and at FanFest in person – is an incredible experience for a developer. We spend countless hours working on the game, finally meeting and brainstorming with our users face to face is an incredible pay off, as we celebrate with literally thousands of fans here in Reykjavik in and those that are following us online.

Entering the second decade for EVE Online (May 6th is the 10 year anniversary), announcing the launch of DUST 514 and experiencing the excitement of our loyal fans, CCP could not ask for a better weekend.

Even though DUST 514 is concluding its Beta phase with the phenomenal Uprising update – which includes tons of new stuff, from the major graphics update, to huge new features like player controlled Planetary Conquest – this is just the beginning. We have more major updates throughout 2013 and for years to come, just like we have done with EVE Online for the past 10 years. We are honored to have you on this journey with us.

Get your Fittings ready, with the Uprising on 5.14, the EVE Universe wars on the Planets of New Eden now truly begin.

Each spring for almost a decade, legions of gamers flock to Reykjavik, Iceland, to join CCP for Fanfest. This year, we’re celebrating the DUST 514 open beta and the 10th anniversary of EVE Online with our grandest party yet. And you can watch all the action via livestream on your PS3.

There will be panels, presentations, huge reveals, and answers to many of your DUST 514 questions. Worldwide leaders in science and industry will be on hand to show you how the science fiction tech of New Eden is quickly becoming science fact in our world. CCP staff will mingle with the players, and we’ll bring down the house (and maybe the Arctic Circle) in the epic Party at the Top of the World on Saturday night.

At the DUST 514 keynote address on Thursday, we’ll let you in on what’s next for the planetary warfare already raging on the open beta. Peek at the improvements, additions, and eye-on-the-horizon plans for this revolutionary shooter that shares a universe with hit MMORPG EVE Online.

And since DUST 514 and EVE Online share a universe, this year, for the first time ever, we’re hosting a combined PvP tournament featuring both games, with big prizes for the winners. We’ll also be announcing the 8th Council of Stellar Management, the only democratically elected, developer-endorsed player council in gaming.

Fanfest sold out completely in record time this year, with over 1,500 players flying in from around the world. If you’re not among them, never fear, since you can still catch Fanfest streaming through your PS3. Watch all the festivities, hosted by our awesome EVE TV team, from the comfort of your own homes.

Fanfest is happening April 25th through 27th, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM ET (3:00 AM to 3:00 PM PT). You can find the livestream on the “What’s New” section of the XMB.

Read the full Fanfest schedule, and don’t miss out.

With the help of our players, we at CCP have learned a great deal throughout last year of DUST 514‘s beta period, especially with regard to the system at the core of your character’s advancement and progression: the skill system. Most importantly, we’ve gained an understanding of how you are using the items to advance through the game. This is all thanks to the terrific amount of player feedback we’ve received during the beta period.

As we started work on re-aligning the progression tree for the new Uprising build of DUST 514, set for release on May 6th, we realized that trying to map the new skills, bonuses and requirements to your existing items was not only complicated on the technical side, but also likely unfair to you. You may have committed to a certain play style, and with an overhauled layout and collection of skills, you may find yourself regretting some of your prior choices. We have thus decided that it is far better to re-spec not only the skills but items as well. In short, you will get your skill points (SP) back and the ISK and AUR (in-game currencies) value of any item that is removed from your inventory. Below are more details on how this works.

First, we have removed the secondary and tertiary requirement from all skills. This means that while skills may have multiple parent skills in a linear succession, they will not have multiple direct prerequisite skills. We are also introducing a brand new node-based view of the skill tree, and you are able to upgrade a skill multiple levels at a time provided you have the skill points to do so. This is a major improvement from the old list approach. We are retaining the list view in another section of the menu, for the nostalgia and for those that simply like lists (you know who you are).

When the upcoming Uprising build is released on May 6th, your character(s) will be reimbursed all the skill points that they have earned and used to date, for redistribution under the new schema. Note that this re-spec only applies to your current skills, and items that you have in your inventory. The refund value of ISK and AUR items will be based on the market value at the time of the re-spec.

Details on the specifics of the changes will be covered in a separate dev blog (coming soon) and will contain a list of changes expected, as well as additional info about the revamped tech tree and a full list of in-game items for the Uprising update.

Along with the skill tree layout changes, we are constantly balancing items based on your feedback and our own findings from our captures and databases. You will notice that some items have changed attributes, including removal or change in color schemes of certain drop-suits and other items.

In addition to this skill system evolution, the Uprising release will bring many more upgrades, advances and balances. In short, you can expect a lot more new content to play with. We are very excited and proud of the Uprising release and we couldn’t have done it without our dedicated beta testers. With all the improvements and new things coming with our next release, there is no better time than now to join DUST 514 and experience the immersive world of New Eden.

Success on the battlegrounds of DUST 514 is about far more than who has the biggest gun. Equipment plays a vital part in defining the role you play on the battlefield. Fit a nanite injector to your assault type II dropsuit and you’re a front line medic, resurrecting your fallen team mates. Fit a repair tool and you become a combat engineer, repairing damaged dropsuits and vehicles as well as giving your squad active armour repair during a firefight.

The fondly nicknamed ‘logibro’ logistics dropsuits are of course the kings of battlefield equipment usage. With more equipment slots than any other dropsuit class they can carry multiple equipment types making them incredible useful squad mates. A Logistics A-Series can for example, resupply his squad with nanohives, provide tactical spawn locations with drop uplinks and keep them fighting fit with a repair tool.

It’s been really interesting to see what types of equipment have been the most popular during the Beta so far. In first place we have the ever-popular Nano Hive with an epic 106,537,393 units purchased for ISK! Following this we then have repair tools, remote explosives and lastly drop uplinks, but even together they couldn’t topple the mighty Nano Hive having collectively sold 104,913,684 units. If you check out the graph below you can see the relative popularity as well as the massive spike when we opened up the Beta floodgates.

So you know that there are a bunch of new weapons rolling off the New Eden production lines in the next update, but what about equipment? Well, we’re planning on reintroducing the Active Scanner. Some of the veteran Beta players may remember it’s rather buggy first appearance (followed by rapid disappearance) last year during the closed testing. We’ve taken some time to retool its functionality, add new HUD elements and feedback mechanisms so soon it will be back, new and improved! The scanner is a powerful squad support tool, your enemies will have nowhere to hide as you scan and transmit their positions to your squad mates. I expect to see a rise in the popularity of profile dampener modules once the new scanners roll out as people try to mask their signals.

A-45 Linear Active Scanner

Sending out a triggered pulse of high-frequency magnetometric waves and interpreting the results with an uplinked onboard computer, the Active Scanner gives ground units a snapshot of enemy positions. Projection nodes set at specific angles on the handheld device, generate a vectored impulse capable of extracting objects from high-noise environments. Feedback from the pulse is filtered to reduce ambient clutter and pinpoint targets lacking IFF signals.

Though the amount of energy required to produce the blast is much greater than its on-board power source can readily generate, the Active Scanner makes use of redundant J-24 micro-capacitors to circulate and build the charge up to the required output. The resulting delay between activations is a small price to pay for the enormous tactical advantage the device provides its user, even considering that the amount of sensor backscatter generated reveals the user to all nearby enemies at the same time it is detecting their positions.

So that’s what you can expect in the next update, but what about beyond that? There are two equipment items on the top of our list that we want to get into the game as soon as we can. The first is a Shield Generator. Ever wished for some cover where there isn’t any? Wish no more: With the Shield Generator you’ll be able to deploy your own personal static shield bubble. Handy when a ship is dropping bombs on your head from orbit or you’ve been caught in the open by an enemy trying to melt you with a laser rifle.

The second item is a Cloaking Field. This sneaky bit of kit will not only make you (almost) invisible to other combatants, it will also blind turret AI targeting systems. It isn’t perfect invisibility, mind you — scanners will still pick you up if you haven’t masked your signal well enough, motion will disrupt the field to some extent, and weapon fire will cause the field to shut down. This means it will take some skill to use to its maximum potential. This item is going to be a real game changer, particularly for Scout dropsuits which have been screaming for stealth gear.

There are quite a few more items on our list as always (one begins with a ‘w’) but I think that’s all we’ll be revealing for now.

The mercenary life is grand, but how do you put the “profit” into intergalactic warfare for fun and profit? I mean, we all love to see new places (and blow them up) and meet new people (and blow them up), but you’re not just doing this for your health. So let’s talk about how DUST 514 rewards your effort.

There are three things you can come away with from a battle: money, skill points, and salvage, and here’s how you get them:

We know interplanetary violence is its own reward, but we’re always striving to reward your destructive tendencies in other ways. ISK, SP, and Salvage are just three of the ways your time pays off. Every victory, every kill, every clone, brings you one step closer toward being the scourge of the stars.

Enter the EVE Universe, where intergalactic conflict among immortal spaceship pilots has spilled from the vast, empty expanse of space onto the surfaces of the planets themselves. These ground conflicts are waged in the battle zones of DUST 514, where you, the boots on the ground, are empowered to take the war effort to a whole new level. As a mercenary in DUST 514, you are the frontline against other intrepid soldiers of fortune. At your disposal you have a large arsenal of weaponry and a range of vehicle classes, from ground-based light attack vehicles and heavy attack vehicles, to imposing aerial-based dropships.

In this video, you’ll see how vehicle classes provide a rock-solid foundation for exploring specialized roles. As your persona in DUST 514 progresses, you have the choice of unlocking advanced vehicle variants that fill unique roles on the battlefield. Some of these include Logistical Dropships to provide a support presence on the battlefield, and Marauder HAVs, which are well-rounded armored units that pack a punch while maintaining a fair amount of damage protection.

These vehicle roles all have benefits that favor a particular fashion of gameplay. However, each vehicle, regardless of its level of advancement, has its own strengths and weaknesses. Even with the most standard vehicle models, you can tip the balance of power by utilizing the customization options available to you through fitting unique weapons and modules to your vehicle’s chassis. This level of customization allows you to carve out your own personalized contribution as part of any vehicle fleet.

The great thing about all of this is that DUST 514 is an ongoing, ever-evolving, free-to-play battleground where we’re continually expanding and improving upon your experience. Armed with feedback from our awesome online community during our ongoing closed beta, we’re able to identify and act upon what matters most to your experience as part of this great cross-platform massive multiplayer online adventure. Come join us and be part of something that’s never been done before by signing up for the beta at http://www.dust514.com/beta.

And take part in our Server Swarm Saturday event this Saturday (December 1st) — we’d love for you to be in on the action. We’re excited to be a PS3 exclusive, and we hope you’ll come play Dust 514 and give some of our vehicles a try!

For an extended weekend, we’re doubling the number of Skill Points our bullet-scarred beta testers will gain in every battle, from 1 November through 8 November. That means every headshot, NULL Cannon hack, dropship takedown – everything you do on the battlefield – will get you twice as close to your goal of galactic dominance.

Whether you’re working toward building the ultimate tank commander, striving to become a megacorporation CEO or simply trying to piece together your own unique hybrid warrior class, every single Skill Point helps.

If you’re already playing the beta, you won’t want to miss the DUST 514 Double Skill Point Weekend. Our latest build, Codex, introduced new environments, weapons, avatars, equipment and a lot more. And if you haven’t given the beta a shot yet, now is the perfect time to step onto into New Eden.

DUST 514 is a free-to-play first-person shooter set in the persistent, notorious sci-fi universe of EVE Online. It’s only available on the PlayStation 3, and it’s home to one of the best communities in gaming. Our beta testers have been working behind the scenes to help CCP do something that’s never been done on a game console. Together, we’re taking shooters somewhere completely new, and we hope you’ll come along for the ride.

We’ll be giving away thousands of beta codes over the next few days, so keep an eye on your favorite gaming sites for a chance to pick up a beta code. You’ll also want to watch our official Twitter and Facebook feeds – we’ll be giving away codes there as well.

You can find out more at the official DUST 514 site, and sign up for the beta at the link below:

http://www.dust514.com/beta

Thanks for playing. See you in New Eden.

The third string to the whole intriguing project is Dust 514 Neocom – a companion PS Vita app that lets you interact with various systems from the PlayStation 3 game directly from your handheld. In search of a little more information on exactly how it works, we collared CCP Creative Director Atli Mars Sveinsson and Marketing Director Cameron Payne at last week’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany.

“It’s a companion app to the PS3 game,” explains Payne. “It brings all the customisation, community and commerce features onto the Vita. There’s no direct gameplay but you can use pretty much all the features that the Neocom user interface offers in the main game.

“You can interact with battles, purchase items on the market, play around with your dropsuit or vehicle and then save it so you can use it on PS3.”

A quick hands-on session with the app demostrated just how much functionality CCP has managed to squeeze in. Players will have access to the complete Fittings system – allowing you to tinker with your weapon load-outs, armour and various vehicle configurations. And as Eve afficionados will likely be well aware, this is almost a game unto itself, with thousands and thousands of different combinations available.

On top of that, the game’s store is fully accessible from the Vita app, complete with daily deals and special offers, while the in-game mail and social features are also present and correct. Not only that, but you can also navigate around the Eve universe’s enormous galaxy map – a feature which CCP plans to build upon further down the road.

“There’s the galaxy of Eve in real time on your Vita,” says Sveinsson proudly, zooming in and out by pinching the Vita’s touch screen. “700 solar systems and you can drill down and look at the individual planets. Over time we’d like you to be able to tinker with those planets and manage their surface infrastructure.”

Those who don’t own a Vita won’t be missing out on anything – all these features exist in the PS3 game – but, for a game as potentially as absorbing as Dust, it should offer a compelling way to stay connected to the game when you’re out and about.

“There are so many parts of Dust 514 that you can take with you and don’t need a PS3 to enjoy, and this was the perfect way to exploit those features,” adds Sveinsson. “The whole PlayStation ecosystem works really well, allowing these systems to connect and be a nice cohesive experience. It’s MMO on the go.”

Stay tuned to PlayStation Blog for more on Dust 514 ahead of the game’s launch later this year.

The first live DUST 514 / EVE Online integration

Linking the intense front-line combat of DUST 514 with the galactic ship warfare of EVE Online has always been our keystone to building a vibrant community, and now that keystone is coming into place. With the Precursor release, we move DUST 514 from its standalone testing server over to the long-standing EVE Online test server, Singularity (aka “Sisi”). This means DUST 514 on PlayStation 3 and EVE Online on PC/Mac will be officially running on the same server.

When the Precursor Closed Beta build goes live, players on the Sisi server in DUST 514 and EVE Online can chat in real time and send in-game mail between games. We can’t wait to see what happens when these games collide in the same shared universe, and we’ll bring you more info on additional interconnectivity features as we move towards our next releases.

Orbital Strike Framework

The first framework for Orbital Strikes goes live in the Precursor build. These powerful, space-based attacks help link DUST 514 and EVE Online, letting squad leaders call in Orbital Strikes from the War Barge flying overhead when their squad achieves certain conditions in battle.

This is just the first level of Orbital Strike capability. In the near future, players on the ground in DUST 514 will be able to request strikes from ships piloted by EVE Online players. These strikes have the potential to do far more damage than the War Barge, their accuracy and power determined by factors like your DUST 514 Merc’s skills and what turrets the EVE Online pilots have trained and fit to their spaceships.

But Mercs on the ground won’t be helpless. We’ll soon add the Orbital Artillery outpost on the ground, which they can use to attack EVE Online ships in space.

Instant Battle Matchmaking

The Precursor update also implements several matchmaking features. Players will be able to find their friends, form squads and jump quickly into battles together using “Instant Battle.” In addition, the matchmaking system has been implemented to intelligently place solo players and squads into matches based on skill, creating a more inviting shooter experience, especially for new players.

New Environments

We couldn’t put out a major new release without adding tons of new game content. Precursor brings our Galaxy system online, which assembles maps from components based on planetary attributes and what is built on the planet, for tons of potential combinations. Closed Beta users will be able to help us test out a substantial array of new environments to battle in utilizing this new system.

Keyboard and Mouse Implementation

That’s right, with the Precursor release, you can use a USB keyboard and mouse to play DUST 514. We’re looking forward to seeing how this impacts play styles, and will be watching closely to see how keyboard/mouse players match up against Dual Shock and Move gamers. We are also working to add controller-based filters into Instant Battle/Matchmaking for a following update.

Tons of Other Great Stuff (including lots of polish, graphical enhancements, and bug fixes)

Everything mentioned above is just a small subset of what we’re adding to DUST 514 next week. All of these features are just the latest improvements to an awesome massively-multiplayer first-person shooter that will be free to play for every PlayStation 3 owner.

In addition, we’re launching a free companion app on the Vita, DUST 514: Neocom, to augment your gameplay experience and let you customize your fittings, train skills, use the market, browse the starmap, and much more, on the go anytime and anywhere.

Log In and Check it Out

The DUST 514 Closed Beta update launches on August 21! We’ll be announcing new events very soon that will give more PlayStation 3 owners a chance to test DUST 514, but if you’ve already gotten a beta key, you can check it out as soon as Precursor goes live.

If you’d like to sign up for a chance to test DUST 514, head over to the beta site.

We invite you to log in, check out the Closed Beta, and let us know what you think. We’ve made a ton of improvements to DUST 514 since Closed Beta testing started. CCP is committed to making this revolutionary game and service a success, just as we’ve done with EVE Online, and we will continue to improve your experience constantly for years to come.

I hope you enjoy the Precursor update to DUST 514, and I’ll see you on the battlefield!

Later this year, there will be an unprecedented level of combat in gaming raging across the entire EVE Universe, from the mighty capsuleers far above in Eve Online, to the relentless onslaught you and your squad will bring to bear against your enemies on countless planets in DUST 514.

The first, harrowing drumbeats of war started not long ago and have been increasing ever since during our beta tests. Until today, this has been of very limited scope while we’ve introduced some of the EVE Universe’s most faithful players to planetary warfare and trickled in some of the earliest of adopters who have picked up their rifles and laid low the opposition.
But that all changes this weekend when we’ll be opening the doors to thousands of new combatants through our beta events. There’s still time to sign up over at our official beta website to participate in this important, and early, testing period for the game.

Signing up for the beta and playing DUST 514 is completely free! But for those who want to try an assortment of the pay-for items, get guaranteed access to beta weekends, and score a discount we’ve created the Mercenary Pack. The Mercenary Pack offers a $50 value for a price of $19.99 and will be available later today on PlayStation Store.

The Mercenary Pack contains an all-access beta pass, which will guarantee entry into every beta event — starting this Thursday, June 28th and then repeating every other weekend. Not only that, but Mercenary Pack owners will get exclusive access to DUST 514 during off weekends in-between beta events as well.

The Mercenary Pack also contains a bundle of goods and items designed to help both rookies and veterans alike, including a customized ‘Dragonfly’ Scout dropsuit that has a unique stealthy look and lowered skill requirements for usage. This dropsuit is a good all-around infantry armor that is versatile in most combat situations and is only available with the Mercenary Pack.

Another useful item included the package is the 30-day Active Skill Booster, also only available in the Mercenary Pack, which will grant the user a 50% boost in skill points earned during in-game matches so you can quickly progress your character to be on par with veteran players.
But what good is a mercenary soldier without weapons to ply his chosen trade? To remedy that, we have also included a spread of armaments to add teeth to any mercenary about to start his career on the battlefields of New Eden.

For starters, there’s the ‘Toxin’ ICD-9 Submachine Gun, which is a multipurpose weapon good for close and medium range fire fights. And for those who like to fight up close, you’ll find the HK4M Shotgun, designed to sweep a room clear of enemy combatants. For those times when you absolutely, positively must blow a group of enemies to bits, there’s the Fused Locus Grenade. Finally, the 1.5dn Myofibril Stimulant module gives damage bonuses for knife attacks.

It is said that endless money funds the sinews of war, and throughout history this has remained so. In DUST 514 there are two types of currencies: ISK (which is earned in-game) and Aurum (which is purchased). To help fund your plans for planetary conquest, the Mercenary Pack also comes with 4,000 Aurum so that you can finance your military campaigns and furnish your band of warriors with modern war gear.

Good luck to all our future Mercenaries! May your victories be sweet, and the spoils of war be bountiful.