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PlayStation Plus members invited to DUST 514's 'precursor' release
If you're a DUST 514 fan and a PlayStation Plus member, we've got good news for you. CCP is hosting an exclusive closed beta event for subscribers from August 21st through September 4th. This latest testing phase marks what CCP is calling the "precursor" release for its sci-fi shooter sandbox. It features the first live server integration of DUST and its sister MMO EVE Online, and players will get to see CCP's orbital strike framework, instant battle matchmaking, and new environments. Those of you who prefer your shooters with a keyboard and mouse should be happy to note that the latest testing phase offers you the option to put down the PS3 controller and use your favorite peripherals. Finally, if you're not a PlayStation Plus member and you've yet to get a closed beta invite for DUST 514, fear not! You can purchase CCP's Mercenary Pack and receive unlimited testing access, in-game currency, skill boosts, and exclusive gear. [Source: CCP press release]
CCP secures $20 million in funding for DUST 514
With DUST 514's closed beta just around the corner and an anticipated 2012 release, folks are sure to be hearing more about the shooter that's a ground companion to EVE Online's space game. And to help get the word out, CCP has secured $20 million in funding in the form of convertible bonds raised from Icelandic institutional investors. Chief Marketing Officer David Reid noted funding will go toward marketing the game's launch. That doesn't mean players will see a one-time blitz of promotional advertising; Reid pointed out CCP is able to focus on a more long-term marketing campaign. The funds will also go toward preparing for an IPO. Although the company does not have immediate plans to go public, Reid states that the money allows the company to lay some of the preparatory groundwork so it would be ready if and when the time was right to actually go public.
DUST 514 connects to EVE Online in upcoming closed beta test
CCP Games Executive Producer Brandon Laurino opened up on the features coming to DUST 514's closed beta "precursor" release, which begins August 21st. It will be during this closed beta that DUST 514 and EVE Online will finally meet and shake hands (or try to strangle each other for profit). The team will put DUST 514 on EVE's test server Singularity to see how the games interact in a live environment for the first time. Best part? All EVE Online subscribers now get access to DUST's beta. "We can't wait to see what happens when these games collide in the same shared universe," Laurino wrote. With this move, the team will also be testing out orbital strikes on the battlefield. Players will be able to call down powerful attacks from space onto the heads of their enemies. For right now, the orbital strikes will come from computer-controlled barges, but eventually EVE players will be able to fill the role. Another future feature will be the ability for groundpounders to use orbital artillery to fire on ships in return. The August 21st build of the game will also include new matchmaking features, plenty of additional environments, keyboard and mouse implementation for PlayStation 3 users, and lots of polish. The team says that its Vita companion app, DUST 514: Neocom, is going live at the same time. [Source: CCP Games press release]
EVE Evolved: Adapt or die
When EVE Online was first released in 2003, it sold mostly based on its future potential. Everyone I played with in those early years got into EVE in order to be on the ground floor of an awesome space game that was getting more awesome by the month. Features were undergoing continual revision, and new content was released regularly, making EVE a radically different game every six months. Players met this design strategy of continual iteration head on with an "adapt or die" attitude, and it kept the game interesting for years on end. Fast-forward to 2011 and the story looked very different. The Dominion, Tyrannis and Incursion expansions introduced new gameplay but didn't heavily iterate on any other features. By the time Incarna released, most of EVE's gameplay and content had been the same for two years and players had nothing new to adapt to. For the Crucible and Inferno expansions, CCP finally iterated on hundreds of small features and even introduced new modules to reboot EVE's "adapt or die" PvP ship design metagame. With a lot of the small things now covered, I think some of the game's big features are due for iteration. In this week's EVE Evolved opinion piece, I look at how EVE players adapt to new challenges and explore several areas of stale gameplay that are in dire need of iteration.
The majority of DC Universe Online users play from the PS3
It's been reported that 70% of DCUO users play on the PlayStation 3, so Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley believes the free-to-play console market is more than merely "viable." In a recent interview with Eurogamer, he states, "There's a lot of people that go through that store and it's so easy to find and download these games that it's a great business model. A lot of people have already stored their credit card information so it's very frictionless if they do want to buy something. It's a business model of the future." Currently, one other SOE title, Free Realms, uses this business model, and CCP is also utilizing it for DUST 514.
CCP wins Best Indie Studio award at Develop
CCP took home some hardware at last night's Develop 2012 awards ceremony. The indie outfit responsible for EVE Online and DUST 514 was recognized as the best independent studio in the biz. CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson accepted the award on behalf of the company and thanked Develop and his industry peers in the process. He also hinted at CCP's full plate, which includes the launch of DUST on the PlayStation 3, the 10th anniversary of EVE, and a World of Darkness event scheduled for September in Atlanta. [Source: CCP press release]
Get DUST 514 beta access with CCP's new Mercenary Pack
If you're on the fence about DUST 514, CCP has just announced a new early adopter package that may push you over the edge. It's called the Mercenary Pack, and it features in-game gear, currency, a booster, and some exclusive armor and weapons. Oh, there's an all-access closed beta pass included too. The game's first official beta event starts this Thursday, June 28th. CCP plans to run beta events every other weekend, but Mercenary Pack customers can jump into New Eden on off-weekends as well. The pack will set you back $19.99; it's available via the PlayStation Network. Click past the cut for a full listing of goodies as well as an image of the exclusive Dragonfly scout dropsuit. [Source: CCP press release]
EVE Evolved: The great ship overhaul
One of EVE Online's most important features is that the game is constantly updated to avoid falling behind the development curve and being overtaken by new titles. The EVE we have today bears little resemblance to the primitive sandbox released in 2003 thanks to major graphical overhauls every few years and iteration on gameplay systems. I think that's a big part of why people start playing EVE; they know that the game will still be alive and kicking years from now and will look as good as anything else on the market. EVE remained largely unchanged from March 2009's Apocrypha expansion until Crucible at the end of 2011, but since then, CCP has made huge leaps in iterating on ship graphics and gameplay. This week we saw an impressive new video of the revamped Drake model, and CCP announced details of a complete mining barge and frigate revamp due to hit the servers before this year's winter expansion. These changes seem set to put a sizeable dent in EVE's notoriously steep learning curve. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the recent graphical updates to EVE's ships and explore the upcoming ship overhauls in more detail.
Win a DUST 514 beta key in the Event Horizon competition
If you've been dying to get into the closed beta for upcoming PS3 exclusive MMOFPS DUST 514, your chance to win a key has arrived. The beta is currently underway for this revolutionary MMO that will link a persistent console FPS to popular space MMO EVE Online. DUST 514 players will take on the role of ground troops in real wars fought across the EVE universe and can even join EVE corporations. Developer CCP Games announced its Event Horizon special event today, offering fans the chance to win a DUST 514 closed beta key by playing matches of its new multiplayer strategy game, Slay. To be in for a chance to win, log in PlayStation Home on your PS3 and navigate to the DUST 514 Home space. Once there, play a game of Slay and watch the intro videos for each of the four races to be entered into the beta key draw. If you're already in the beta, you'll receive a free piece of gear on completing a game of Slay. For full details of the event and a helpful guide to playing Slay, head over to the official DUST 514 blog.
E3 2012: DUST 514 hands-on
Well, my first E3 is in the books, and though I got a good look at pretty much everything, I spent most of the time looking at shooters. MMO shooters came first, of course, and there was plenty of PlanetSide 2, Defiance, and even an 8v8 lobby title called Arctic Combat to be had (more on this last in an upcoming The Firing Line). There was also CCP's DUST 514. This is a title that I'm rooting for both because of my affinity for EVE Online and because the design document is outrageously ambitious. While my first hands-on with the game featured its share of warm fuzzy moments, it also exposed a few concerns about CCP's grab for the casuals.
Open-mesh PC case keeps heat, dust bunnies at bay
If you haven't done it in a while, opening your PC case can be like a slasher flick -- you know you'll see something disgusting, but you're never sure what. Taiwan's YoungYear Electronics claims to stop the horror with its Green Mesh case, which has neither fans to suck dust, nor filters, and keeps your components cool with a "chimney effect" instead. It's this same action that repels dust out the top, so that only one quarter the usual amount of filth is drawn in -- according to the company. The only downside is that with poor heat dissipation, the maximum power supply unit size is 300 watts -- which probably scratches it off the list for most modders or power-users. For the rest, if you don't mind your computer's innards blowing in the breeze, at least you'd have no nasty case-opening frights.
E3 2012: CCP says it wants 'EVE to be around in 10, 20, 30 years'
CCP's E3 2012 setup was dark, infused with Jon Hallur's soothing sci-fi synth tones, and entirely appropriate for huddling conspiratorially in a corner booth with producer Jon Lander and creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson. The three of us chatted for about 30 minutes, covering a wide range of topics including EVE Online and its new Inferno expansion, DUST 514, and game money for real goods. In a nutshell, Inferno has been more of what the doctor ordered for the MMO genre's elder sandbox statesman. "We are on the cusp of breaking our all-time subscriber record right now," Olafsson told me, and that's no small feat for a polarizing title in a genre over which burnout and next-new-thing syndrome reign supreme.
E3 2012: DUST 514 announces Home Space, Vita companion app
The firefight's only begun between DUST 514 and the competition, as CCP Games is showing off the many subsidiary features of its upcoming PlayStation 3 MMOFPS at E3 this week. The studio used the Expo as a platform to announce that DUST 514 will have its own dedicated Home Space on the console as well as a tie-in app with the portable PlayStation Vita. DUST 514's Home Space is intended to be a hangout for up-and-coming mercenaries, and CCP invites all interested players to check out the thematic virtual place over the summer. It will also be one of the best places to snag a beta key: CCP is kicking off DUST 514's Home Space by giving away 10,000 all access keys to the first people who visit. The studio's also developed a companion app for the PlayStation Vita called DUST 514: Neocom. While the app does not let players fight in the game, it does allow them to experiment with loadouts, customization, market exchanges, and social features. The premiere beta weekend event for DUST 514 will kick off on June 29th. CCP's released a new trailer for E3 that showcases the game in action, including several in-game shots of tanks, ships, and soldiers blowing stuff up -- check it out after the jump! [Source: CCP Games press release]
The Firing Line: Zomg it's almost time for PlanetSide 2 edition
It's taking all of my willpower to avoid reducing this week's column down to four words: PlanetSide 2 hands-on. I guess technically that might be three words, or even two, depending on how you classify numbers and hyphens. The point, though, is that this time next week, I will have gotten my grubby little paws on Sony Online Entertainment's MMOFPS, and I'm so excited that little else matters. OK, some stuff still matters, namely the interesting shooter news that happened this past week. Join me after the jump for a recap.
New DUST 514 dev diary talks fittings, lore
If you're unfamiliar with the new PlayStation 3 shooter DUST 514 and the PC MMO EVE Online on which it's based, the latest CCP video dev diary is for you. See, DUST mercenaries inhabit the same universe (and the same server) as EVE capsuleers, and like their EVE counterparts, DUST mercs are immortal. The new video is the second part of CCP's Welcome to New Eden series, and while the lore stuff will probably seem somewhat fluffy to the EVE-newb target audience, there is a bit of gameplay info to be had. It centers around DUST's fitting system, which differentiates the game from traditional role-based shooters by allowing extreme flexibility when it comes to kitting out a character and adjusting to a dynamic battlefield. See for yourself after the break.
CCP releases Welcome to New Eden video for DUST 514
CCP has released a new DUST 514-focused developer video. The clip is titled Welcome to New Eden, so if you're looking for any new tidbits about the upcoming sci-fi MMOFPS, you probably won't find them here. If you're a DUST newb, on the other hand, this one's for you, as it gives you a rundown on what sets the game apart from its legions of FPS competitors. In a nutshell, the difference-maker is EVE Online and the way that DUST integrates with a pre-existing game, economy, and playerbase on a scale that is basically unheard of. As producer Thomas Farrer puts it, "DUST is different pretty much by virtue of what it really is. DUST is a persistent FPS on PlayStation 3. Not only is it directly linked to EVE Online, a PC MMO, it's set directly within the EVE Online universe." Warp past the cut for a look at the full clip.
DUST 514 handing out first beta keys tomorrow [Updated]
Did you drop your name into CCP Games' hat as a potential tester for DUST 514? Then tomorrow might be a lovely day for you, as the studio is emailing out the first round of closed beta keys for registered participants after a short delay from its original key-handing-out schedule. It is unknown how many keys will be sent out and to whom. Last month, CCP told Fanfest attendees that they would be among the first to test the anticipated MMOFPS. The DUST 514 website states that the studio is sending out Fanfest keys first and keys to standard registered players "soon after." To celebrate the release of the closed beta keys, CCP is holding a "special event" over the weekend. The details of this event are forthcoming. [Update: CCP has confirmed that beta registration has begun today and that EVE players and Fanfest attendees will get first pick.]
EVE Evolved: Nine years of EVE Online
Last week I celebrated the fourth anniversary of the EVE Evolved column with a competition to win one of two 30-day pilot's licenses. Congratulations to winners Dong Yi and Atrameides Denard, whose prizes have been contracted in-game. Today EVE Online itself turns nine years old, and so this week's EVE Evolved column takes a look back at the top EVE stories of the year. It's been a rollercoaster of a year for CCP, with the infamous monoclegate scandal hitting subscriptions hard during the summer and only recently starting to recover. The drama kicked off as the much-touted Incarna expansion drew close and CCP revealed that it would contain no multiplayer elements and would introduce a microtransaction store for vanity items. Players didn't seem to mind the cash shop as long as it contained only vanity items, and CCP had previously promised that microtransactions would be limited to those types of items. When the Incarna expansion finally launched and players got a first-hand look at the cash shop, however, it became apparent that something was fundamentally wrong. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the top EVE stories of the year, from the incredible videos and scams to the story of how CCP brought EVE Online back from the brink of disaster.
EVE producer: F2P converts were 'failing,' subs still viable
The death of the subscription model has been greatly exaggerated, according to CCP. This view isn't terribly surprising if you consider the fact that the company's fortunes ebb and flow with sub-based EVE Online. What is somewhat surprising is the frankness with which EVE producer Jon Lander talks about the free-to-play mania that's gripped western dev studios in recent years. "You look at the companies who did go free-to-play. They retrofitted it on, and that was because their games were failing. They didn't care about the tiny nugget of players who were still playing, because they knew they would get a huge number of other players and it would be more profitable," Lander told PC Gamer, before going on to explain how such a retrofit would kill EVE's essence. Overall quality and the desire for long-term play also factor into a title's business model, Lander says. "If you have a really good game [...] and people want to spend a long time playing it, not like a month or two but like EVE players for years at a time, they're prepared to pay a subscription fee for a good quality gaming experience." He also mentions EVE's PLEX system, which allows for real-world money to be injected into the EVE economy sans shady third-party brokers. And of course, CCP is experimenting with free-to-play via its new DUST 514 shooter, which Lander says was built from the ground up for the new business model. It's not necessarily the future, though. "People say the subscription MMO is dead. I fundamentally disagree with that. It's simply not the case," he says. Hit the jump for video excerpts from the interview.
New CCP interview recaps recent EVE turmoil, looks forward
"It's not our game," says CCP's Jon Lander. He's talking about EVE Online, and he makes no bones about the firm's role in the ongoing internet spaceship drama that is New Eden. "We're the janitors of it; we sweep up and make sure the power's still running and whatever, but it's their game. EVE is the sum history of their personal interactions, and we don't own that. We just look after it." The "their" Lander refers to is the game's playerbase, of course, and he tells GamesIndustry.biz that despite the turmoil of the last 12 months, the EVE property is none the worse for wear (and in fact it may be getting stronger due to a design re-focus and the imminent arrival of DUST 514). Ultimately the interview brings no new information to the table, but it does serve as a handy recap of recent EVE events. It also offers up more than a few juicy quotes from both Lander and lead game designer Kristoffer "CCP Soundwave" Touborg.
