Sign-ups for the beta have been ongoing on the DUST 514 website for a series of weeks now, but with such high demand you can bet that tons of players are still wondering if their code is going to arrive in time for the weekend. All is not lost failing that though, as you can now purchase the DUST 514 Mercenary Pack which will give you an ‘all access’ beta pass, among other juicy goodies.

For the price of £13.99 or $19.99, you’ll also get a series of exclusive extras, including a few items that regular players won’t be able to access. For example, the pack also includes the “Dragonfly” Scout dropsuit and the “Toxin” ICD-9 Submachine Gun, both of which are permanent items to your inventory.

You’ll also get HK4M Shotgun x 50, Hacked Drop Uplink x 50, Fused Locus Grenade x 50, 1.5dn Myofibril Stimulant x 50 and a 30-day Active Skill Booster which increases all your skill points by 50%. That sounds like great value alone doesn’t it, since you get this plus the beta pass – but there’s more.

The Mercenary Pack also serves as a great introductory add-on to get you used to the way micro-transactions work in the game. As you know, DUST 514 is a free to play game, but most of your equipment and weaponry can be bought using the in game currency Aurum and ISK. The Mercenary Pack also includes a generous 4,000 Aurum allowing you to start buying items and the actual value of this Aurum in USD is 20, so really a great deal here – you’re basically getting all the goodies for free if you invest in this.

Don’t forget that the beta all access key allows you to get into every single beta taking place after June. The game isn’t releasing until later on in the year so there’s bound to be a few more tests to come. We haven’t even had a chance to try out the Mercenary Pack ourselves yet, but it looks like the perfect starter kit for your DUST 514 adventure.

The question is though – do you already have your beta key for the game? Will you be buying this pack or not?

Let’s get the important news out of the way. After previously announcing a special closed beta for EVE Online players and attendees of EVE Fanfest, CCP has now announced details on when everyone else will have an opportunity to test the game.

A closed beta is going live on Friday June 29th and if you haven’t already signed up on the beta page, you can leave your email address to be in with a chance here. Players will be chosen at random, but we’re hearing there will be 10,000 beta keys up for grabs via PlayStation Home, so there should be plenty of opportunity to get into the beta this time around.

We’ll also be trying to get some keys for you, so stay tuned throughout the month for more details. Aside from the beta details, CCP also revealed that their PS Vita DUST 514 ‘app’ will now be known as DUST 514: Neocom. Neocom will be a free download and will serve PS Vita owners with three main areas of the DUST 514 universe – customization, communication and trade. You can purchase items straight from the PS Vita, communicate with your team via friends list and also set up strategies in advance with other Neocom users before you head into battle on PS3.

CCP has said that Neocom will be available ‘alongside’ DUST 514, so we’re presuming that the app will be available at the exact moment the game launches on PS3 – there’s still no confirmed release date yet other than later on this year. Finally, CCP has also treated fans to some brand new gameplay as part of E3 2012 and you can check that out below.

The gameplay has been taken directly from the beta, so it’s also a great preview of what is to come if you manage to get in on June 29th. If you are an EVE Online player and have already played DUST 514, give us your initial impressions of the game.

Fans who attended Fanfest should have already received their beta codes via email according to CCP, however we understand that some of you are having difficulties getting codes to work properly in the redeem section of the PlayStation Store. Just like the recent Ghost Recon beta, it looks like codes are specific to region, so that could be a reason why many of you are getting invalid errors.

For those of you who are looking to get into the closed beta once CCP opens up availability, you’ll be pleased to now that registrations are now open. Head to the sign up page here, input your email address and hang on tight in the hope of receiving a code. We’ll try and get our hands on some codes as well when the beta is open to more users, so stay tuned for that as well.

Being the first mainstream ‘free to play’ MMO on the PS3, you can imagine that there is a great buzz surrounding DUST 514. Players who haven’t experienced EVE Online are probably unaware on the sheer scope of the game, as don’t forget we previously told you that DUST 514 will be featuring thousands of maps for you to get stuck in to.

If you are having problems getting in to the beta, CCP has advised users to send an email to support@dust514.com, providing the code you were given, as well as the region that your PSN account is linked to. They also said that many of the codes still need to be tested, so they are working on improving the situation.

We look forward to providing a little hands-on impressions of the beta, once we have a working code ready to go. Hopefully we’ll see some of our readers on the battlefield.

The news was revealed by Creative director Atli Mar during the EVE Fanfest event, which also contained a healthy segment on DUST 514. Around 30 minutes of new footage was unveiled for the game and after informing PS3 owners that the game would be going free to play, we now have our second bombshell announcement.

Seven years is a long time for sure. That alone confirms that the unlock progression in DUST 514 will be very similar to that in EVE Online, which is basically a never-ending experience. Players will obviously be focusing on just one player class in DUST 514, but if you want to max out every class possible, be prepared for an extremely long journey.

We wouldn’t want it any different though. Time and time again we’re treated to games which don’t offer value for money. Skyrim is the obvious game that most recently brought an end to this unwanted trend, and now it looks like PS3 owners have a game which they can honestly say they will still be frequently playing by the time the PlayStation 4 arrives. We love to see companies introduce this future-proof style of development into their games, so let’s hope that DUST 514 turns out to be a major success and sets the benchmark for future console MMO games.

If you want to check out the brand new gameplay, or what we like to call Starhawk on steroids, we’ve included the entire keynote video from EVE Fanfest below. Don’t forget that the public beta will be starting in April. All attendees of EVE Fanfest should have picked up their free beta codes already – we were not there sadly, but we’ll try and get hold of some for you from CCP.

How impressed are you with DUST 514 so far – are you amazed that the unlocks will take seven years to complete? It will be amazing to think that this will be a future-proof PS3 to PS4 online game – we need to see more games like this quite frankly.

For those of you that don’t know already, DUST 514 is an upcoming PS3 shooter from EVE Online developers CCP. The game has attracted a big following thanks to the confirmation of cross-platform features alongside the EVE Online universe on PC, as well as the upcoming interaction with a PS Vita companion app as well.

The game has been given its latest showing at the Game Developers Conference, which means some brand new gameplay footage for you to enjoy. More importantly though, we have confirmation from CCP that the public beta will be starting sometime in April, although no solid date has been revealed yet unfortunately.

At the moment, there is no easy way to enter the beta, but if you are fortunate enough to be attending the upcoming EVE Fanfest event from March 22-24 later this month in Iceland, we’re hearing that all attendees will be given an invitation into the beta. Further details on this can be seen at the official website here.

News of the beta has come just after the welcome announcement that DUST 514 will be going free-to-play on PS3, with micro transactions available similar in the way that EVE Online operates. We’ve said that this game has the potential to be one of the standout performers on the PS3 this year, but hopefully the beta will give gamers an exact look at how CCP has monetized the game and if really does cripple those who decide to play the game for free – CCP needs to make money from this at the end of the day, so we don’t think it is as plain sailing as it seems.

Are you pumped up for DUST 514? Given that this is a free download from the PS Store, there’s no reason why everyone cannot give this a go when the game is out. Removing that download fee could prove to be a smart move by CCP.

Previously, there were plans to introduce a cover charge since the game won’t be coming on disc and will release on the PlayStation Network instead later this year. That cover charge was thought to be around $10 to $20, but CCP has now confirmed that they have scrapped the idea – much to our delight.

Like Eve Online though, DUST 514 will still be supported by micro transactions. EVE Online players will be familiar with purchasing ISK for in-game transactions, but we can also tell you that ISK won’t be compatible with DUST 514 purchases. This is because the upcoming PS3 shooter will use a different currency instead, known as Aurum and will be available in $10 – $100 quantities.

There’s another little gem which we uncovered from executive producer Brandon Laurino in a recent interview with Eurogamer – DUST 514 will feature THOUSANDS of maps and they will be accessible to all players from the start as long as they can discover them.

For those of you who are worried about the paid element towards the game, CCP has also stated that items won’t give paid players an unfair advantage over those that choose to play the game without paying. It also looks like those paid items can be earned in the game after a period of time, which is always a great option to have.

As previously stated by CCP, there will also be a PS Vita version on the way as well and we now have some additional information for you. The Vita version of DUST 514 will come in the form of an app, which will allow you to set up various aspects of your character and make transactions on the go while you are not on the PS3. These are only basic features we understand, with more cross-platform features to be announced prior to release.

We’ve always felt that since DUST 514 was announced, it could well end up being Sony’s secret weapon this year on the PS3. Now that the game is going free to play, CCP has probably put themselves in the bracket for one of the games of 2012. They could have easily put that $20 cover charge for the PSN download if they wanted to and people would have still bought it, especially those with EVE Online experience. So well done to them for making this decision which is sure to go down well with PS3 owners.

Are you interested in playing DUST 514? If you have a Vita as well, let us know what kind of cross platform features you would like to see.

Yes, the rare feature that once scared the living daylights out of Sony, but not anymore it seems. At E3, Sony gave gamers an insight into their future steps on making cross-platform functionality a regular feature on their future hardware and software, and also sent out a strong message to Microsoft who are less-keen on opening up their hardware for such use.

Sony demonstrated their plans by first dropping a bombshell to those who are familar with the MMO game EVE Online. Sony, along with developers CCP announced that upcoming FPSMMO DUST 514 will be coming to the PS3 as an exclusive title, and aside from being free-to-play, it will also feature cross-platform online play with EVE Online players on the PC since the two universes are closely linked together.

If you thought that was good, Sony later unveiled a game for the PS Vita portable which will feature cross-platform play with the PS3. That game is called Ruin, a hack and slash type game and a video we’ve included below shows how you can switch gameplay from PS Vita to PS3 in an instant and transfer save files from one platform to another.

If this is an indiction that Sony plans to open up their PlayStation Network further to allow titles to support cross-platform play, we can’t wait to see what they come up with next. A big thanks probably has to go to Gabe Newell of Valve, as Portal 2 is the most recent PS3 title to support cross-platform play with PC and Mac, and it looks like it’s now opened the floodgates for bigger and better things to come.

Newell has also been quite critical on the way Microsoft locks down their Xbox Live and stated in the past that it was difficult to deliver patches and new content to players, whereas he feels Sony is now more open to this – resulting in the PS3 copy of Portal 2 coming with a version of Steam.

Our predictions is that DUST 514 will probably end up being a huge player for Sony and the PS3 next year, just the average gamer doesn’t realise it yet. It’s a well known fact that gamers love cross-platform play, and the fact that Microsoft doesn’t appear keen to support it will be frustrating for Xbox 360 users – although the average 360 user will still be satisfied with Modern Warfare 3.

If you are intrigued about Sony’s u-turn on cross-platform gaming on the PS3, let us know your thoughts on this. Are you excited about trying out DUST 514 next year? What PS3-PC games would you like to see in the future, we’re throwing Counter-Strike out there for starters.

Firstly, for those of you who aren’t aware, Dust 514 is an upcoming game developed by CCP who you may be familiar with for developing the EVE Online MMO. Dust 514 however, is an FPSMMO and it was announced much to PC gamer’s surprise that it will be an exclusive title on the PlayStation 3.

The major bombshell is that the game will feature cross-platform play with PC gamers on EVE Online, but other than that details were pretty scarse on the unveiling itself. However, a supplementary report we’ve read over at GamePro reveals that the game will come in downloadable format and it will be free to play, with CCP making their revenue via Microtransactions, much similar to the way EVE Online operates.

CCP announced at E3 that the game will be releasing in Spring 2012 with PlayStation Move support and also with some kind of PS Vita functionality as well, pretty impressive we agree.

Look forward to much more detailed information on the game soon, including how Dust 514′s release on the PS3 affects PC gamers and their EVE Online experience. For now, enjoy the first PS3 trailer below and give us your reaction to the news.