The official DUST 514 launch is almost here (we think), and CCP has just taken a major step in bringing New Eden to a whole new audience. As of today, all DUST 514 beta players have been migrated to Tranquility, the single sever that powers the live EVE Online universe.

"For the first time in history, two games unfold in a single universe, and now DUST 514 and EVE Online also occupy a single server: Tranquility. Find out what this historic connection means for your DUST 514 career in our latest developer blog: "Welcome to New Eden."

Capsuleers are about to get some new resources to utilize and people to manipulate as just minutes ago, CCP Nullabor was confirmed that DUST 514 will be entering EVE Online's Tranquility server in just a couple of days.

"On Thursday the 10th of January, following a slightly longer than usual scheduled downtime, we will be migrating over players currently participating in the DUST 514 closed beta from Singularity to Tranquility. This is a particularly special day here at CCP as this brings to life an ambitious and incredibly exciting vision of a single cross platform universe, the likes of which have never been undertaken before."

Not only will DUST players be battling in the same universe, the vaunted cross game interaction will begin as EVE corps will be able to consider prospective ground troops as new members. Contracts will be drawn up, battles will commence and the kind of skullduggery that we adore about EVE will spread to new frontiers.

Will you be joining in the clinically executed mayhem?

Scott "Jarimor" Hawkes, Editor in Chief

It's funny... We were *just* talking about this the other day in the ZAM Newsroom, then BLAM! All of a sudden, today CCP throws us a bone - and a meaty one at that.

As we careen toward the unknown release date of DUST 514, CCP keeps trickling out information to tease us about their upcoming free-to-play shooter for the PlayStation 3. This time around, producer Thomas Ferrer, otherwise known as CCP Wolfman talks weapons, with a new developer diary video detailing everything you might need to know to get started. 

It's time to become a mercenary in DUST 514, and CCP has this video showing you how, including in-depth looks at the UI and how you prep for each mission. It also conveys how communication between corporations - in DUST and out to EVE Online - works. 

If that's not enough for you, CCP also has unveiled new changes to the EVE Online Buddy System, adding open invites, along the lines of League of Legends' invite-a-friend system. Now to invite someone to the game, you just hand them a URL that gets them signed up and rewards you for your efforts. However, they have also removed the PLEX-for-PLEX reward option, to refrain from abuse.

For now, enjoy the following image that comes directly from CCP, reminding us that CCP is full of hilarious people:

Julian "Mirai" Williams

There's not a whole lot of pay-to-win here in Dust 514 land, and what's here is kind of odd - in a conversation with Eurogamer, the VP of CCP Games Morgan Godat explains that, though you will be able to buy high-end gear, it'll cost "about $0.24 cents in real money", but you lose it every time you die.

"We're still tuning prices," he said. "The costs will change according to the feedback we get on the [still going] beta, but I believe when I calculated it last, at its most high end, if you assume someone came in and had to buy with real world money, the best gear for a serious throw down, it was like a 24 cent thing." This is, of course, top-tier gear, and that's after actually earning all of the skills to use that gear too. 

DUST 514 is not just a sibling-game to big brother EVE Online, it's also getting its own little brother - a Vita app dubbed Neocom. Think of it like your own builder app for the game, allowing you to customize your game character as well as access social features. Also planned is a Home Space for the game, and even if PS Home isn't your thing, you might want to try anyway, as CCP is giving out 10,000 beta keys to the first people who log on. For now, wet your appetite on this awesome E3 gameplay trailer. 

Dust 514 has always been important because it merges two levels of MMO conflict - the macro and the micro, which is to say EVE Online and the foot-soldier shooter. This video, released by Machinima, pretty much explains it all, including how it is the games interact, and what Dust is all about, namely "more than just shooting the other guy in the face." 

It's beginning. At last, CCP's ambitious shooter sister-MMO to their flagship EVE Online has entered into closed beta. Right now, the game is accessible only to those who went to Fanfest, but the registration page is up and ready if you want to try your luck. Good luck to all. 

Most FPS games, even the MMO ones, usually just have map rotation with stock levels. Dust 514 looks to change that up. The idea is that the landscape of the areas remains the same, as it should. But what happens if the structures and buildings are altered regularly? They have yet to talk about how this will play out, but promise it in a blog post in the future. 

This is pretty critical to Dust 514's unique approach. Changing the levels on a regular basis will make the playing field completely impossible to predict, changing small details based on what the corporation, that's probably in EVE Online, does. That alone makes me want to play it.