Fans of EVE Online and the PS3 MMOFPS Dust 514 have something big to look forward to this weekend. On a conference call with the CCP Development teams handling both games, we learned that Friday marks the day both games come even closer than ever before to sharing the same universe, the same systems, but more importantly... also the same story and lore. Live Events Producer, Arnar Hrafn Gylfason (CCP Zulu) talked to MMORPG.com and other outlets about the forthcoming massive Uprising event which kicks off this Friday across both EVE and Dust and won’t stop until a winner is decided. Read on for more details.
Recently proud to announce that after ten years online EVE continues to grow in population with 500K plus subscribers, Arnar was pleased to let us know that the idea behind this coming weekend’s event is to help give EVE and Dust big meaningful persistent events that affect the world in lasting ways across both games.
Over the past four months, as Arnar explained, the teams at CCP have been striving hard to explore the storyline of the EVE Universe and bridging the gap between the two games. They’ve been hosting live events every week or so, posting blogs, news articles, and in general filling in the backstory of why the Dust Mercenaries are showing up now after all these years. For four months they’ve been hosting small, contained, less-publicized public events to get a handle on how they’re going to approach them. The player’s actions have driven the story, as the outcomes depend on the winning or losing sides, and there’s no predetermined outcome.
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This weekend, beginning in the afternoon on Friday, March 22nd, players will be invited to partake in a massive battle over Caldari Prime. What exactly will be involved in catalyzing this event remains to be seen, but the tensions between Caldari and Gallente will be coming to a head. All able-bodied citizens of both games will be invited to join the fight (that means trial players as well), but Anrar was quick to say that how many can actively participate depends on how much the servers can handle. If you end up not able to partake, but still want to be informed, be sure to tune into CCP’s brand new Twitch Channel, which will be broadcasting the event live both with official CCP streamers and possibly a few volunteers from the community.
When asked if the new Twitch channel would eventually unfold to include more day-to-day usage or 24/7 coverage of the war and the EVE community, Anrar said to stay tuned in the coming days and as FanFest nears because there are broad plans to for livestreaming from both Dust and EVE.
Overall, CCP Zulu said the goal of all these events, and the chief reason for holding them is to help foster the idea that EVE and Dust are one and the same in terms of lore, backstory, and universe. That in more than just a mechanical way, they’re both interconnected and reliant on each other. They have the same narrative, and both are working towards mutual goals (along with players working towards the same goals across both games).
Eventually, when asked if players will be able to help build the lore in the same way the CSM helps direct EVE in general, Arnar was cryptic and only said that FanFest and the coming weeks will hold the answers we seek.
Overall, Uprising sounds like a fantastic way to have a massive public event across two very different MMOs that really are connected in a way that no two games ever have been before. Look for more info on Uprising over at the official EVE and Dust sites, and more news to come out of CCP in the next few days.
Bill Murphy / Bill Murphy is the Managing Editor of MMORPG.com, RTSGuru.com, and lover of all things gaming. He's been playing and writing about MMOs and geekery since 2002, and you can harass him and his views on Twitter @thebillmurphy.
- Read more about Dust’s interconnection with EVE.
- See how EVE is still growing in subs, 10 years gone.
