CCP Games announced that Dust 514 was merged with Eve Online's Tranquility servers last week, and this is paving the way for the final bit of testing - the open beta test of Dust 514 on Playstation 3. The free-to-play shooter is an interesting experiment in many ways, both in terms of the business model and the ambitious idea of marrying to different games and having them share the same universe/server.
"The launch of the DUST 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and EVE," said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP. "But this is just the beginning. As we have done with EVE Online, in the coming weeks, and for years to come, we will continually improve upon and add to the DUST 514 experience, as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities."
For people in the closed beta test there is also some good news as no further data wipes are planned, so if you're already in you can plow ahead to gain an advantage ahead of the masses expected to pour in on January 22. Those who participated in the closed beta test will also get some bonus experience.