Dust 514 and EVE Online are taking a major step into a cross-platform universe this week, as the Dust beta servers will migrate into EVE's. This Thursday, EVE players will start noticing Dust mercenaries occupying the Tranquility server, finally bringing the two games together as intended.

An EVE blog post describes the impending singularity. EVE corporations can accept Dust mercenaries, and similarly corporations started by Dust mercenaries can start hiring on EVE pilots. The two can voice chat and add mail boxes, just like one big happy family. The groups can't exchange ISK yet, as CCP is taking the transition slowly to make sure it doesn't wreck either game's economy.

This will also kick off cross-platform faction warfare. Dust mercs can fight in corporation battles for NPC factions, and likewise EVE players can hire them to fight their battles and take back districts. The EVE players can even call in a Tactical Strike, the first of the new Orbital Bombardment escapades, to create some havoc on the battlefield in conjunction with the mercenary battle plans.

The bad news for Dust players is that this will mean character skills and corporations will be reset again. CCP has produced a FAQ to ease the transition for players, but it does note that this will (hopefully) be the last skill point reset.