July 30^th, 2005 (4:46pm) - At the Square Enix Party, Square Enix announced that Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation 2 will have online gameplay via its PlayOnline network service. Players can take on the role of a soldier that’s a member of Deep Ground, which is the organization that appears as the enemy in the game’s main storyline. The online mode is said to be fully featured, and will allow multiple players to take on various missions together. It will also have a versus mode for players to take on each other.

Square Enix hasn’t announced any release date for Dirge of Cerberus yet, but the company will begin accepting beta testers via the game’s official Web site starting August 1. Accepted applicants will be sent a beta kit to try out the online mode. The actual testing is planned for fall.

Applicants will be required to own a PS2, a broadband adapter, a working e-mail address (that’s not free-mail or from a mobile phone), and a Web-enabled PC with Internet Explorer 5.5 or above. Square Enix also notes that applicants will be required to have an Internet setup that allows for peer-to-peer connection. The game, at least during its current beta stage in development, will use a P2P connection system on top of the usual client-to-server connection used in FFXI and other traditional PlayOnline titles.

Those interested in signing up for the beta test can download a tool currently available at the Dirge of Cerberus official site to check if their online connection is enough for the game’s online mode.