Eve Online and Dust 514 merging servers tomorrow

It's been a long time coming, but CCP has announced that on Thursday January 10, it will begin merging servers of the PS3 title Dust 514 and the PC MMO Eve Online to create a single cross-platform universe between both games. Dust 514 is the second major game in development in the Eve universe. Players are mercenaries fighting ground wars on planets that you have been visiting in Eve Online.

They will be migrating players currently participating in the Dust 514 closed beta from Singularity server to Tranquility server. How will the two games interact with one another? Mercenaries in Dust can join existing Eve corporations if their applications are accepted. Also, corporations will be started by Dust mercenaries recruiting Eve pilots to join up with them. Players also share corporation voice chat with custom channels or private conversations. Faction Warfare, the first component of higher level gameplay, will be introduced, too. Dust mercenaries can accept contracts from the NPC Faction Warfare militias to attack or defend them in the form of corporation battles.

To keep the economy of the 10-year-old Eve Online balanced, CCP will be blocking in-game money transfer between Eve and Dust characters. There will be a taxable transfer system put in later, like many other features that will be implemented as the games balance out and mature.

Dust 514 has no release date yet, but the game is currently in closed beta.

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com