One of the bigger PlayStation 3 game announcements at E3 that kind of flew under everyone’s radar was CCP’s DUST 514. DUST 514 is a massively multiplayer online first person shooter set in the same PC MMO EVE Online universe, one of the longest running MMO’s in history.

While EVE online is all about politics, economy and space battles, DUST highlights down and dirty ground battles deep in the planetary wars found in EVE Online. Battles won or lost in DUST 514 will affect events, politics, and economy of the EVE online universe. Sonyrumors staff writer Jan Hutchings recently had a chance to meet with Sveinn J. Kjarval, EVE Online’s Community Developer to talk about the state of EVE Online and it’s cross-platform play with DUST 514 on the PS3 and the PS Vita.

Hit the jump for the full Dust 514 developer interview and gameplay trailer.

SonyRumors (Jan): Could you tell us about how EVE Online and DUST 514 are going to play together as announced back in E3 2011?

Sveinn Kjarval: The two games will very much be intertwined; they’re going to be taking place in the same world, same time, everything is on the same server. The corporations – which are the equivalents of guilds in other MMO’s – can be joined by both EVE players and DUST players.

They’re going to share a lot of the insfrastructure for communication. It’s pretty much going to feel like one world, one universe.

SonyRumors (Jan): Many MMO developers are going making their games free-to-play or have a freemium system to it. Is DUST 514 going to be free-to-play?

Sveinn Kjarval: It’s not going to be a subscription-based game like EVE. It’s going to be more tailored to some sort of a micro-transaction model. It hasn’t been fleshed out exactly how it’s going to be, but you’re going to be able to earn stuff and make money (in-game credits) by playing the game.

You’re also going to be able to buy some items that can enhance your experience.

SonyRumors (Jan): When is DUST 514 going to be released?

Sveinn Kjarval:  DUST 514 is coming summer 2012 and open trials will start this winter.

The game is already really playable; it’s actually a lot of fun. We’ve been having an internal league in the company (CCP) and people are obsessing about tactics and really getting heavy into the meta-game spying on each other so it’s a lot of fun.

SonyRumors (Jan): How long is CCP planning on supporting the EVE Online/DUST 514 Universe?

Sveinn Kjarval: Forever! We’ve never thought about an end to it. We see it as a universe that exists for as long as people want to be in it and we will keep on developing it for as long as we can. As time passes and technologies allows us to do more things, we will add more dimensions to the whole EVE world with more things to see and do.

*End Interview*

From the gameplay videos I’ve seen and the deeply engaged hardcore players that EVE Online has, it looks like DUST 514 is going to be one hell of an experience. And, it will definitely open up the EVE universe to a lot more players who are intimidated by it’s deep economy, political systems, and massive space battles. Rather, they can join the corporations as mercenaries fighting the ground battles that actually have an effect on the game world and not just in the immediate surroundings.

DUST 514 is a game that everyone should definitely keep an eye on. In the meantime, in case you missed it, check out this gameplay trailer from E3 2011.