Dust 514 Open Beta to Begin Next Week
Dust 514, the forthcoming free-to-play, premium massively multiplayer first-person shooter which is set within the Eve Online universe, is inching closer to its full release. The developers of the title, CCP Games, have announced that Dust 514 will enter its Open Beta stage on January 22.
In order to get the Open Beta up and running, CCP Games have managed to host Dust 514 on the same Tranquility server on which Eve Online runs, making this the first time that two different genres of game – in this case a space combat simulator and a first-person shooter – have been hosted together as one persistent gaming Universe.
The game is currently still in a Closed Beta, which fans can access by purchasing the Mercenary Pack in the PlayStation Store for $19.99, which gives them 40,000 Aurum and a host of in-game items – which will also be valid in the Open Beta. Fans who play a match in the Closed Beta before the Open one launches will also receive a 100,000 Skill Point bonus to take with them into the Open Beta.
Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP states that “The launch of the DUST 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and EVE… But this is just the beginning. As we have done with EVE Online, in the coming weeks, and for years to come, we will continually improve upon and add to the DUST 514 experience, as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities.”
See a selection of new screenshots for the title below:
[nggallery id=1210]
DUST 514 is currently in closed beta, exclusively on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It is planned for a full release in 2013.
Robin Parker
If I'm not playing on a good Adventure Game - still longing for the long-past Golden Age of the genre, when Lucasarts and Sierra ruled supreme - you might find me searching for a local arcade, in the hopes that it still houses titles such as Sunset Riders or WindJammers.
