Free-to-play Dust 514 Out May 14

After four years of waiting, it has been officially announced that Dust 514, the much anticipated free-to-play first person shooter from CCP Games, will be released on May 14, exclusively for PlayStation 3. A PlayStation Vita version will be available this summer.

The game was first announced in 2009 and has been in development ever since. An open beta version of this game was released in January. This is the first new title for CCP Games since the 2003 release of widely popular EVE Online, a science fiction MMORPG set in an intriguing space setting. But although it is a new title, Dust 514 will not be separated from EVE Online, as it is set in the same world and features the same classes of characters.

Both games take place in a fictional universe, 21,000 years into the future, centuries after humankind has started colonizing other worlds. The games are set in one of these worlds, a galaxy that was separated from the original Earth by a collapsing worm hole and eventually developed its own different cultures and technologies.

Combat in Dust 514 is set on the same planets found in EVE. Battles taking place in Dust will impact the political ecosystem on EVE Online and vice versa. Moreover, Dust 514 PlayStation 3 players engaged in multiplayer battles will be able to collaborate with and get help from EVE PC users.

Dust is a first person shooter with significant elements of massively multiplayer online games. It will not feature a single player mode, but will however include a survival campaign in which the players will be able to fight rogue drones controlled by the game’s A.I. An update called Uprising will also be released on May 14, to improve various aspects, including character progression and graphics.

Unlike EVE, Dust 514 can be played without a monthly subscription. It will be free-to-play, with the option of purchasing upgrades or equipment with one of the game’s two fictional currencies: Aurum, which can be bought with real money, and ISK, the same currency used in EVE, which can be earned while playing.

We expect Dust 154 to be immensely popular, given its groundbreaking connection to EVE Online and its contribution to a constantly expanding universe already so popular among MMORPG players. CCP Games has recently announced plans to further enhance the EVE universe with a comic book and TV series.

[Image via Digital trends]