Dust 514

[Badnik Mechanic]

Dust 514 is an exclusive title to the PS3. It was shown at Sony's E3 press conference and didn't make much impact other than "Oh it's a nice looking shooter."

Well... Maybe if they had explained the game a little more we would be a LOT more excited about it than we currently are. When it was shown off, the most people got from it was that "It was a first person shooter set in the Eve Online universe."

Thats not... entirely accurate, a more accurate description might be "It is a first person shooter, that influences the Eve Online universe."

To get an idea of what Dust 514 is like, we have to talk about another game called Eve Online. As it's most basic description, think World of Warcraft with space ships. You build an empire, have planets, raid other worlds, trade, form alliances, wars etc etc you know how it works.

Dust is set in this universe, but it's not only set in it, it impacts it.

Imagine you are playing Eve Online and you want to take over a planets resources, normally you would build a space elevator in Eve Online, deploy a few spaceshits to protect it etc etc...

However... now you can employ players from Dust to target and attack a specific location on a planet to increase your opportunity and success of your capture.

For you see, Dust 514 players will play on worlds created in Eve Online and encounter empires created in Eve Online.

Here is another example that the devs give.

Imagine you are in charge of one of the most powerful empires in Eve, usually the only thing you have to worry about is another empire in the top 10. But now, smaller empires that you could usually crush may now employ mercenaries from Dust who will fight/attack in Dust on YOUR planets and be able to attack and destroy your structures and most powerful star ships unless you yourself take measures to protect yourself.

To put it another way, a single shot/action from a player in Dust, could greatly change the balance of power in Eve Online.

The battles in Dust sound very much like the battles in MAG, players fight on a large battlefield in large multiplayer fights, theres an objective to do and players are rewarded as per your usual shooter. But, the ambition/difference is the whole Eve Online influence. A player in Eve can set goals and objectives and even offer a reward with currently from Eve, to a player in Dust.

Lately we've been getting excited about games like Portal 2 being able to do cross platform co-op, well this is the next step up from that, it's not only cross platform, it's cross game. What happens in Dust will impact what happens in Eve.

It's probably best if you read the article over at joystiq regarding this game, chances are you still won't fully grasp what it's about, but if it pulls off what the devs hope for, it could be one of the biggest games in history.

[Diogenes]

Not a game I'll ever play, but this whole cross-game interaction thing sounds very interesting.

[Candescence]

Releasing a console-exclusive online shooter that's linked with a PC-exclusive MMO is complete madness, if you ask me.

[Phos]

When I think of Eve Online, I think of a space mining game where all the planets are paper cut outs.

By that I mean if there's a planet between you and where you're going to, you just go right through the planet. For some reason, this has always ruined everything about Eve Online for me.

Edited June 14, 2011 by Phos

[Sami]

That's actually a really awesome idea. I probably won't play it regardless, but they at least get a nod of approval from me for creativity.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

As someone who's actually played and enjoyed EVE Online, I'd like to help explain this a bit better.

The EVE universe is a big place. There's the big four NPC empires with two pairs of allies squaring off, and then the player alliances so gigantic that they rival these empires with their equally gigantic control of space. There are smaller alliances with a more modest dominion. Then there's the other alliances that don't bother securing their own space at all, but use empire space and play the role of good citizens. There's also the neutral alliances who help and hinder all the empires in equal measure (the net effect being to be able to travel freely in all space). And then there's the pirates who piss everyone off, player and NPC alike.

Dust 514 will affect every single one of these vastly different playstyles should the player be interested personally. Where Dust 514 and EVE Online intersect is in the battle to dominate specific planets in specific systems for their resources.

Currently, EVE players can control entire star systems and mine moons for resources, although moon mining is only safe in space your corporation controls themselves. They can dominate their space and strip it bare for resources, yet planets have for a long time remained static and off-limits to capsuleers (players) according to galactic law. This was recently repealed a year ago and "Planetary Interaction" was implemented, finally allowing players to acquire unique resources from planets. Most planets aside from plot-critical NPC base planets and resource-void nightmare worlds are now open for business.

The significant problem with the existing PI system is that EVE is a game built around the very real possibility of serious loss. Entire alliances have folded in virtual political coups and had their entire resources stolen and split among the victorious infiltrators. Therefore, unlike literally everything else in EVE, so long as it stays planet-side your planet-farmed resources are immune from attack, piracy, and any possible contention from other players, and this is where Dust 514 will come in.

EVE-side, player's planet-bases will come under attack from other players seeking to steal their stuff for profit and plunder. They will hire mercenaries to keep their bases secure just as other mercenaries were hired to rip the base apart. These mercenaries are Dust 514 players. As the contractor, EVE players will call the shots on the ground, issuing tactical orders and even... "reprimanding" their own mercs if they feel they aren't getting what they paid for.

In other words, console FPS players will be at the mercy of the MMO playing PC master race, literally.

Here's the early trailer from the EVE Online side of the coin:

[Badnik Mechanic]

So Dust was at Gamescom, wasn't hyped that much, not in the Sony conference. Not many sites rushed to see it with Battlefield 3 and other big hyped titles there.

However... Joystiq did send someone to look at it... and they're written a very large preview of the game calling it.

"The biggest suprise at Gamescom"

What I mentioned previously is more or less whats in the article... but there are some new bits of information.

Players in Dust are 'employed' by players of Eve, they're tasked with performing various missions or goals... however... they are not told why.

"Why do I have to go and do that?" "Thats not for you to know, I'm playing Eve and I want you to do that, I'm paying you, do the job and don't ask me why"

We're in that kind of mentality. Whilst you're being 'paid' to do the mission, for all you know it could be a trap. That player might have paid for you to simply die. Or it could be a legitimate attempt at attacking/gaining an advantage on a planet/system.

Now... heres some really interesting news.

Say you are playing the game and theres something blocking your path, be it a tank or some kind of defensive structure. Try as you might you cannot get past it.

On your headset, you can contact someone (be it a friend or stranger) who is playing Eve (Yes in real time) talk to him, whilst he's playing on his PC version of Eve Online, and request say an orbital strike... instantly lasers will come down on the target you specify. But... that player who you call on... He can have nothing to do with the battle before hand! It can be absolutely anyone, so long as he agrees to help out and you sort out an agreement (money I assume) it'll happen.

A players actions in eve, directly affect the players in Dust, in real time.

The full preview is here. But this is slowly sounding like a game we should all be paying a lot more attention to than we currently are.

[turbojet]

That sounds kind of awesome.

[Badnik Mechanic]

BUMP!

Dust 514 has now entered public Beta, if you live in the US and have Playstation Plus, you can download the beta now and start playing. Those of us in the EU have to wait until Wednesday to play.

If you're thinking about downloading it, aparently there is a huge update you need to instal after the first file, it's around 2.5GB! Anyone here going to give this one a try? I'm quite tempted since I was quite interested in the original announcement and idea behind it, just want to see if there really is anything new here. Anyone else going to give it a bash?