Stranded: Part 6

Part 6 of DUST 514's Stranded series is in the open. Part Six gives us more insight to how Berlin Ansacre becomes Balac. Hit the link below for the continuation of the Stranded Series.

Stranded Part 6

GameSpot DUST 514 Preview

"With all due respect to Bill Murray, CCP Games wants to move away from the "Groundhog Day scenario" of online shooters--that feeling that you're just replaying the same maps over and over without any sense of overall progress outside of a few unlockable weapon attachments."

GameSpot recently released their DUST 514 Preview from the Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany. Use the link below for the preview.

DUST 514 Preview

DUST Internal BETA has begun

CCP_Shadow announced the Dust514 beta begun on twitter yesterday, when individuals asked how to get involved they were told “It’s just an internal playtest” and even though we're not in on the beta it’s a great sign that shows the game is on track. An earlier devblog revealed a few details about some of the features in the game such as Mic chat between EVE Online players and Dust514 players will be possible as well as dropships above the battlefield to drop aircraft and tanks etc.

Dust514  Looks set to change gaming in a whole new way as it merges the almost ten-year old subscription based EVE Online community with over 400,000 players with a brand new experience exclusively for PS3.

Stranded: Part 5

Part 5 of DUST 514's Stranded series has been released. These short fiction stories do a great job of drawing us in and giving us some history to the EVE Universe. Hit the link below for the continuation of the Stranded Series.  Part 5

DUST 514: Most Ambitious Game of Show?

"Of the many games I've seen here at Gamescom 2011, Dust 514 may be the most ambitious."--IGN's Daemon Hatfield

 am·bi·tiousAdjective/amˈbiSHəs/ 1. Having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed. 2. (of a plan or piece of work) Intended to satisfy high aspirations and therefore difficult to achieve. 

CONFIRMED: 3rd Person Social Areas

 Make no mistake about it, we're excited. In their newest devblog the minds behind DUST 514 have confirmed that they have 3rd person social areas. Why is this great news? In a game as deep as DUST we know the ability to upgrade and customize our characters will be extensive, but in an FPS we usually don't get to appreciate how our characters "look" per se. With the addition of these Social Areas we'll not only have the ability to appreciate the look of our characters, but also the ability to interact with 31 other people in the War Room as well. Think about it as an FPS with the beauty of third person at times. If you'll remember we thought that a PS Home/PMC HQ mechanic in MAG would have given us a great space to be social/plan/strategize when we weren't shooting people. Here's what we wrote a few months ago:

PMC HQ -What could add more to the game's social aspect than a non-combat area that we can explore via our avatars and interact with others like a smaller version of Playstation Home? The ability to tour the Barracks/Clan Areas, recruit players, purchase weapons and gear, share screenshots, talk to others via proximity or group chat, test new weapons, interact via an in-game PMC message board and shoot on practice ranges? a PMC area that expands the game and provides a great place to frequent before we deploy would be epic.

The other thing that excites us is the mention of other "Social Spaces" (The War Room is the first) because this could be truly game-changing if done well. Deep and Immersive gameplay is about more than just shooting people, gloating and looking at leaderboards. We can only imagine how much a well-done Bar-Style area, Casino-Style resort or Neutral Marketplace would add to gameplay. We look forward to it.

MAG Interviews: VC's znignflo72

The first participant of our new forum interviews was none other than Headshot Extraordinaire znignflo72 of Valor Coalition. Read our interview with him for  how VC was formed, who he'd like to match up with one-on-one and why he supports limiting Alts even though he's used them extensively.

MAG 2: Pass Costs Onto Advertisers

This thread really got us to thinking. http://tinyurl.com/3vbwy3l we couldn't agree more. We've officially recanted on our suggestion to add subscription fees to MAG.

Zipper Interviews: Jeremy Dunham

Because you asked for it! Zipper's Senior Community Manager chats it up regarding all things MAG! He chimes in on MAG's best clan, the possibility of a MAG 2 and his honest opinion on training and other elements MAG could have done better. Don't miss it!

6/19/11: MAG Community Day

Recently a SOCOM 4 Easter Egg has hinted about an event that is MAG-related on June 19th, 2011. Everyone from community long-timers like Fleinn and PhoenixArcher have thrown their opinions around relating to what it could be. Now it's the expert's turn: on 6/19/11, eighteen lucky players will be lucky enough to attend MAG Community Day in Redmond, Washington in preparation for contributing their opinions on MAG 2 gameplay.

SOCOM 4: A Paradigm Shift

In the time-worn tradition of providing solutions when you don't like everything you see instead of simply whining, The Fan Blog presents, SOCOM: A Paradigm Shift. So let's make it clear: Nearly ALL of us think DEMOLITION is necessary, want better accuracy on hip-firing, want grenade arc, D-pad Lean and True Lobbies, DO NOT support dual primaries and like the FOUR grenades idea, that's basic stuff and not even up for debate. Some of our writers have decided to compile a list of the ideas we think would help S4 and in future versions of the series.

Is SOCOM Obsolete?

Flashback to 2002/2003, on the heels of the releases of SOCOM I and II, Zipper was sitting on top of the world as a revolutionary developer that could do no wrong.

SOCOM, is quite simply, the reason many people play online. Zipper revolutionized online gaming. At one time their PS2 titles had more active accounts than all of Xbox Live. When studies showed that more of the demographic that advertisers love (males ages 18-35) were playing video games online than watching TV during primetime, online gaming was no longer a fad--it was a potential cash cow.