My feeling on the "shooter competition" matter is that DUST's appeal isn't ultimately going to be to quite the same demographic as the garden-variety shooter.
I think Hurs is right in thinking most shooter fans won't jump all over it. And that's fine. In fact, it's probably preferable. Even with as many players as Eve Online has, we'd have to produce a LOT of wars to keep, say, three million mercenaries busy. The "merc corp management" aspect, for one, will probably serve as quite the player filter, and it will need to.
One thing I'm curious about, and of which little has so far been said, is whether DUST will have an Eve-style skill progression system. If it doesn't, it'll resemble the "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." games insofar as it's a shooter with light RPG elements, but one in which the character's skill is exclusively that of the player.
If, on the other hand, it goes for more of the (original) Deus Ex model, making it so that weapon accuracy and damage are character skill-based, that will be something else again.
The former would seem to lend itself to getting a strong following right off the bat, but will have little other than merc corp finances to tie the player to the game. The latter is more likely to attract a cult following that gets much more attached and will likely stick around longer.
Considering CCP's approach to this, my guess is that they'll go for the latter: create a game that appeals to a niche market of consumers, in which they develop their characters extensively over time, and thereby construct a community of loyal players who'll pay the subscription fee and sign in to go to war on a regular basis, thus perhaps avoiding the standard FPS half-life (no pun intended).
If that's the way they take it, it will be right up my alley, and pretty graphics will take a back seat to depth. If they don't, the real risk is that even a successful release will produce a flash in the pan: lots of guys who come on, say, "Oo, that's pretty neat. Hey! The new Black Ops just came out!" .. and run off to indulge their next passion, leaving, perhaps, a loyal cult following.
... I do still play Far Cry 2, after all.
But it seems like CCP will want a good emotive "hook" to keep players around for the long term-- if not to acquire subscription fees, then at least to keep DUST relevant to the Eve universe.
