Dust 514 the "biggest multiplayer FPS"
"Thousands" of in-game items included.
Upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive Dust 514 is the biggest multiplayer first-person shooter on the market, developer CCP has insisted.
The downloadable FPS, which connects with CCP's space MMO Eve Online, implements "thousands" of micro-transactions into the PlayStation Network, executive producer Brandon Laurino told the European PlayStation Blog.
"Right off the bat, we have literally thousands of in-game items built into the system; likewise, in terms of scale, you're looking at a conflict taking place across thousands of planets, so we're not just talking a dozen maps - we're talking an entire universe of planets and areas of engagement within them," he said.
"That's the difference in scale we're looking at here, and taking our experience with Eve Online and also, some inspiration found in the best microtransaction based MMOs, social and mobile games, and we've set up our workflow so that we can iterate and add new content very quickly.
"In terms of scale, depth and volume of content, Dust 514 will easily be the biggest multiplayer FPS on the market - also by virtue of being an MMOFPS, not just an FPS."
Laurino said CCP chose the PS3 for Dust 514 because it was "attracted to the power and the feature set of PlayStation 3".
"But it really came down to Sony's willingness to work with us in bringing an MMO to the platform. There have been attempts to bring MMO games to consoles in the past but we believe we're now in a position to do it properly, using existing features on PS3 and the PlayStation Network, and collaboratively developing new features to support our vision."
CCP plans to launch Private Trials - its version of a beta - so that Dust 514 does not inundate Eve Online with new players overnight.
"With our Private Trials - we're not calling it a Beta, but Private Trials in both the real world and the EVE fiction - we're not taking the usual 'on/off' method of rolling out a build and then taking it back and tweaking it, then rolling it out again; when we roll out with those first few users we are introducing mercenary technology to Eve, our 'game as a service begins', and the story will continue from there as that technology develops, further empowering the Dust 514 mercenaries from test subjects in war games to ultimately allowing them to take hold of their own future," Laurino explained.
"It's what we call a thematic rollout."
With Dust 514, you'll have to pay a one-off fee of between $10 and $20 to play. This payment is then converted into in-game currency - what CCP calls a "cover charge".
What, exactly, you'll be able to spend your virtual money on is yet to be decided.