By now you've heard several of us talking about how cool DUST 514 is. It's time for you to see for yourself. CCP has just released the official trailer debuted at GDC Europe. Check it out and make sure to read our First Look Preview and Interview with CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson and Creative Director at CCP Asia, Atli Már Sveinsson.

During a special press conference at the 2009 EVE Fanfest we were able to see a live gameplay demonstration of DUST 514, which is an FPS and strategy game set within the EVE universe. The game is set in the same universe as EVE Online but the two are fundamentally different in that DUST 514 takes place on individual planets. Players can expect a persistent universe where every battle is significant and every player will make meaningful decisions that helps to determine the outcome of the individual battles and the state of both games overall.

CCP expects that the two online experiences will compliment each other and that players will have plenty of reason to work together between games. EVE and DUST 514 will be linked using phased implementation strategies at specific stages during the development lifecycle of the two products. To clarify, EVE Online will in no way be dependant on the success of DUST 514 at launch, but as the games evolve, CCP will continue to build the two products so that players will work together even more.

And now for something completely different. When you think of CCP, you probably picture ships flying through space in EVE Online, or maybe even wonder what you'll see in DUST 514. Whatever images pop into your head, I doubt a rap group was one of them. Well, say hello to Permaband.

Members of the CCP team formed the group and posted their video for the song "HTFU" on YouTube. According to the link on the EVEOnline Facebook page, the song was performed and produced in house. Oh, and they "spit hot fire." It's true. Here's a taste of their rhymes: "Every day is a fight, there's no room for bloopers. Bugs coming at us like in Starship Troopers. We help when we can, every child, every man. Treat the boogie man to a permanent ban!"

Check out the video if you don't believe me. Actually, wait a minute. If you're at work, don't watch the video yet. Wait until you're home. As CCP puts it, the video's "not safe for YOUR work, sorry--so quit and join us so you can watch it."

Even though DUST 514 was officially announced at GDC Europe / GamesCom in August, CCP was reluctant to share anymore information until they could do so before the fans at the 2009 EVE Fanfest in Iceland. After the special presentation, we sat down with CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson and Creative Director at CCP Asia, Atli Már Sveinsson to talk about DUST 514, EVE Online and how they'll compliment each other. Check it out!

ZAM: Dust 514 is a persistent universe where the characters and the world will be persistent and every battle will be significant and all of the outcomes will affect both worlds. Can you go into some detail as to how persistent some of those features are going to be, and how they will affect both EVE Online and Dust 514?

Atli Már Sveinsson: Obviously the character progression is quite persistent. Your wealth is persistent, or not. But in terms of conquests or control of planets, this is, I think, the main thing that is certainly persistent.

Hilmar Veigar Pétursson: The fundamental communication between the games is that players can contract Dust mining rings to fight over territories on the planet. Where we go beyond that initial standpoint is something where we sort of go with the flow, as we've always done with our game design ideas, where we see where people take the ideas, and we follow the track. So we're very much thinking about the link and Dust alone as a model and DUST together with EVE. So it's really starting there and leading from there.

Last week CCP announced the 11th expansion for Eve Online, Dominion will be making its way into players hands this winter. Of course, inquiring minds wanted to know more so we caught up with Lead Content Designer, Scott Holden at PAX to do just that.

ZAM: What is Dominion all about and where is it taking EVE Online?

Scott Holden: Well, we have changes to sovereignty coming in; the first stage of a series of introduced steps on sovereignty should probably happen over the course of the next year and half—it's a long-term project. We [also] have some new balancing for capital ships, more epic mission content coming and the cosmos, which is essentially a new communications platform inside the game. It's basically taking the email system the way it is now—chat channels will still exist, as far as I know at this point—but basically making it much easier for people inside the game to communicate with other people. You can kind of think of it like Facebook inside EVE.

ZAM: What about some of the pirate epic mission arcs, can you tell us about those?

EVE Fanfest 2009 is scheduled to be held from Oct. 1-3 in Iceland, but CCP is using the convention season as a way to prepare for the big event. To that end, EVE Online will have a presence at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle from Sept. 4-6, Dragon*Con in Atlanta from Sept. 4-7, and the Game Developers Conference Austin from Sept. 15-18.

If you can't make it to Iceland in October, you still have a chance to get your EVE convention fix this year. According to the announcement by CCP Manifest, PAX is "one of our favorite shows each year, bringing the unbridled enthusiasm of video games to the downtown area." So if you plan on attending, make sure you stop by the CCP booth and enjoy some PvP at the stations.

UPDATE: The official press release can now be found after the jump. Also, check out two screenshots of DUST 514 in our gallery.

Our very own Andrew "Tamat" Beegle is currently at the Game Developers Conference Europe in Cologne, Germany, and CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson just announced the company's new project is DUST 514, a hybrid MMO FPS/RTS set in the EVE Online universe.

The primary features of DUST 514 include real ground combat on the surface of planets. Tamat was able to watch a trailer of the new game during the announcement, and he said it looks like a stunningly beautiful, adrenaline-fueled experience with amazing physics.

Perhaps the most exciting news surrounding DUST 514 is that gameplay on the planets in the MMOFPS can actually affect EVE Online.  This will truly give the sense that you're playing in one massive universe.

Dust 514 is being developed at the Shanghai CCP studio. Peterrsson made mention that some EVE players will understand the meaning of the 514 in the name. We'll continue to bring more DUST 514 news to you as it develops, so stay tuned.