Dust 514 and EVE Online merge, Open Beta begins 22nd January

<p>CCP Games has announced that <em>Dust 514<&sol;em>&comma; the PlayStation 3 free-to-play first-person shooter&comma; will move into Open Beta on 22nd January&comma; being free to download and play for anyone with a PS3 and an internet connection&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A milestone was already reached on 10th January when CCP Games merged <em>Dust 514<&sol;em> with the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game <em>EVE Online<&sol;em> on the Tranquility server that hosts the <em>EVE<&sol;em> universe&period; Both games take place in the same universe&comma; so events in one game can dictate and affect events in the other game online and in real-time&comma; despite <em>Dust 514<&sol;em> being on PS3 and <em>EVE Online<&sol;em> being on PC&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The press release states&comma; &&num;8220&semi;By uniting DUST 514 and EVE Online on the same single-shard server&comma; CCP has accomplished something unprecedented in videogame history&colon; a single persistent online universe of incredible depth and scale that bridges the PC and console platforms in real time&period; Furthermore&comma; this marks the first time two games from different genres&comma; a space combat simulator and a first-person shooter&comma; have been linked together into one&comma; massive online experience&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Hilmar Veigar Pétursson&comma; CEO of CCP&comma; said&comma; &&num;8220&semi;The launch of the DUST 514 Open Beta is another step towards our long-term vision for CCP and EVE&period; But this is just the beginning&period;  As we have done with EVE Online&comma; in the coming weeks&comma; and for years to come&comma; we will continually improve upon and add to the DUST 514 experience &comma; as well as add deeper integration between the two games and their communities&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Although <em>EVE Online<&sol;em> requires a monthly subscription&comma; <em>Dust 514<&sol;em> does not&comma; the game instead relying on a micro-transaction model&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;