Dust 514 on the PS3 has an PS Vita counterpart called Neocom. The Neocom app lets you interact with various systems from the game directly from your handheld. New information about how the app works was revealed at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany last week.
CCP Marketing Director Cameron Payne explains:
“It’s a companion app to the PS3 game. It brings all the customisation, community and commerce features onto the Vita. There’s no direct gameplay but you can use pretty much all the features that the Neocom user interface offers in the main game.
“You can interact with battles, purchase items on the market, play around with your dropsuit or vehicle and then save it so you can use it on PS3.”
Players will have access to the complete Fittings system, allowing you to tinker with your weapon load-outs, armour and various vehicle configurations. On top of that, the game’s store is fully accessible from the Vita app, complete with daily deals and special offers, while the in-game mail and social features are also present and correct.
Users can also navigate around the Eve universe’s enormous galaxy map – a feature which CCP plans to build upon further down the road.
“There’s the galaxy of Eve in real time on your Vita,” says CCP Creative Director Atli Mars Sveinsson. “700 solar systems and you can drill down and look at the individual planets. Over time we’d like you to be able to tinker with those planets and manage their surface infrastructure.”
For those that don’t on a Vita, the same functionality can still be accessed on the PS3 game so you’re not missing out on anything. But the PS Vita does offer a great way to stay connected to the game even when you don’t have access to your PS3.
“There are so many parts of Dust 514 that you can take with you and don’t need a PS3 to enjoy, and this was the perfect way to exploit those features,” adds Sveinsson. “The whole PlayStation ecosystem works really well, allowing these systems to connect and be a nice cohesive experience. It’s MMO on the go.”