Star Trek Online ‘Coming Soon’…Again

In January we reported that P2 Entertainment was looking to transfer the license for the MMORPG “Star Trek Online” after failing to secure new funding. Since then P2 shut down entirely (as their blank website indicates). In February both the official STO site as well as the largest fan site also shut down. However, in the last couple of days the official site has suddenly reappeared with the same old logo, but a new message “COMING SOON.”

Cryptic STO?
The obvious question is: where is STO being developed now? When TrekMovie.com first reported on the change of license, we broke the news that Cryptic Studios (the makers of the award-winning “City of Heroes”) was hiring laid off members of the STO team. Just a few weeks later it was officially announced that Cryptic cancelled work on the previously announced “Marvel Online.” A couple of weeks after that, the Trek gaming site Hailing Frequency reported Cryptic discussed a “secret sci-fi project” at a gaming conference (and the guy talking about it was wearing a Starfleet Academy sweatshirt). However, Cryptic remains tight-lipped and will still not confirm if they are the new STO licensee.

TrekMovie.com has been looking into this situation, but since January information about “Star Trek Online” has become harder to get than info on the ultra-secret Star Trek film. What we have gathered is that the game is still alive in some form and that there is a new licensee and that this licensee is very likely to be Cryptic. So apparently STO will not end up as another ‘might have been’ game like “Secrets of Vulcan Fury.” However, until there is some kind of announcement, the only thing that is official is that “Star Trek Online” (a game announced in 2004) is “COMING SOON.”

STO Preview
This preview for “Star Trek Online” was on the on the November 2007 release of Star Trek Remastered on DVD HD DVD combo. It isn’t known how many changes will be made for the ‘new’ “Star Trek Online” but it gives you a general idea.

 

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Well, let’s just hope that the Trek gamers won’t be getting their hopes up for nothing… again…

I’ve never dabbles in MMORPGs because I know my personality and I know that I would become obsessed and wind up spending a lot of time/money engrossed in one. In a way, I was slightly relieved when I read that STO was down, because I feared that if ever I was gonna MMO-it, this would be the one.

If, indeed, it is coming back, well, I feel as if Resistance is Futile. I’ll have to look into it. I trust that it will be too much fun to ignore.

Oh – and, OT, I know – but was at the Con across the river in New Jersey & had a swell time. Armin Shimerman is the bomb.

Interesting it sounds like they took a page from the World of War Craft. It looks quite good, the proof though will be in the gameplay.

I initially had a lot of excitement about ST:O. IT’s pretty much gone. This changing of hands junk doesn’t bode well for the quality of the game. I suspect we’ll get half finished garbage that they’ll dump on the market hoping unsuspecting trekkies will go and play just because it has “Star Trek” in the title. Sad thing is, it will work on far too many of us. They’ll take advantage of fan loyalty. Maybe CBS and Paramount need to start doing what Lucasarts does with their games by exercising some controls, in this case, quality controls. Bad games do NOT strengthen the franchise.

Star Trek is a franchise with so much imagination and fantastic things to work with, and yet for the last 15 years, 90% of the games that have been released have been poor at best. I’d say it’s because of stuff like this, and because few of the games have stayed true to the subject and most lack decent enough gameplay to make them enduring or even interesting.

Worse, the followups on the few good games have either been crappy, or been canceled. Star Trek is like video games are in the movie industry. If you make a movie out of a game, it’s probably going to suck. Likewise, if you make a game about Star Trek, it’s likely going to do the same.

Why do you tease me so? You keep getting my hopes up just to crush them later on! I’m going to take this “Coming Soon” as bullshit for now and just go back to playing my SNES emulator.

I am of the opnion that this change of hands is actually a very good thing for STO. Cryptic, if they are the developer, has a proven track-record of quality titles in the genre with a lot of experience they can build on. Frankly the fact that Perpetual was a brand new studio made me very skeptical about the eventual quality of STO.

I’m hoping that the new management will offer some tweaks to the existing STO concept. It never made sense to me to let human players serve together as science, helm, botany, etc. on a ship. When I watched an episode of Star Trek I never wanted to play Lt. Baker the exobiologist. I wanted to be the captain every time!

The winning formual for an STO would have each player get their own ship and crew; you’d play primarily as the captain but on an away mission you could pick out the crew and play as the first officer, security chief, whatever.

I think in STO the player shouldn’t think of themselves as being represented by a single avatar but as their ship, that each crew member is a tool used to develop the reputation and ability of the ship.

Of course, if new races opened up perhaps someone playing as a Ferengi or Orion pirate might find themselves faced with a very different style of play where your captain is a direct avatar for the player… But I digress.

I think the bottom line here is that letting a player control one character and one character only seems way too limited in scope for a true ‘Trek adventure.

Rumor is that the assets sold off didn’t include the code. P2 apparently intended to stay in the business in some form, and had further use for the engine.

Nice! A Star Trek and Star Wars MMO coming out at roughly the same time would be great, I may never leave my house again. I just hope KOTOR is better than galaxies…

Just something of note. The fan site mentioned above, startrek-online.net, was registered/created by an individual at the University of Salford in Great Britain. According to the WhoIs database, startrekonline.com is owned by CBS Studios and the entry was updated on the 5th of March. The present status of the domain is “clientDeleteProhibited/transferprohibited/etc.” Essentially, my best guess, it has just been “assumed” by CBS.

Cryptic’s Main project right now is Champions Online. I’d love it if they did STO too, but I’m not holding my breath on that.

Actually there is an ‘Enterprise’-themed game being made as a modification for Half-Life 2 that looks quite good… of course, that’s probably because it’s being made by fans and not a stand-alone studio project :)

In somewhat-related news, I just saw a History Channel program on the career of the carrier USS Enterprise in the Pacific theatre WWII… interesting stuff.

A video game magazine at the end of last year did a story on this game.

They had shots of several new Starfleet vessels. Does anyone know if these pictures are posted anywhere online?

Sxottlan, You can find lots of pictures and information at the Star Trek Games website:

http://StarTrek-Games.com

Star Trek Legacy- Worth it only for the chance to see all the Trek ships close up in high def glory!

– What about a new tv trek show produced by this team..they think like real trekkies…

#14 – Areed man, love it on my 46″ HD LCD… it’s so purty!

In all seriousness though, I do hope that STO is done, and done well.

Bridge Commander is my game of choice, I am so looking forward to the Autumn (Fall) … BC Mod fans will understand why ;)

However, this game does look ace… im not a geek, or a big “gamer” as such, but i can see myself becoming one!!

I wish the Gorn looked a little more like the original costume, just in CGI.

And is it just me…..or did the Klingons (maybe they weren’t) look a lot like the Predator aliens complete with sharp insectoid mandibles? They actually reminded me of Worf’s primitive devolved Klingon form. I forget which episode of TNG that was where the crew devolved.

by the way, in my earlier post, i am not stating that all gamers are geeks, just take my comments with a pinch of salt.

Sorry to keep banging on about Bridge Commander, but is that new mod, the one slated for Fall ’08 still happening???

#18 Genesis, 19th Episode of Season 7 – Just looked it up!

The one fly the ointment is that the gaming legacy of Star trek is a bit of a mixed bag.

#20 I think you are talking about ST: Excalibur, a MOD for Bridge Commander.

Here is the official forum: http://www.bc-central.com/forums/index.php?board=28.0

And its going to use a new engine : http://www.nanofx.org/phpBB2/

Its going to be awsome and cool ;)

Believe it when I see it….

#22 thanks dude, tried to look for the promo vid on youtube, couldnt find it :S thought the worst HAHA

#14 and 16
I have mentioned this before……………………….
There is a mod called Ultimate Universe for Legacy and it increases the races and ships for the game. you can also play historic battles.
(wolf 359)
Juicy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

did they make the planets bigger..it was the biggest insult to “bounce” into starship sized planets..guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuughhhh:-S

#15: “- What about a new tv trek show produced by this team..they think like real trekkies…”

Which is probably the biggest reason that they can’t get anything off the ground and interest enough people in it to turn a profit.

I’m not going to hold my breath with regard to ST:O, thanks.

When the canceled the Game… I was extremely upset. I was really looking forward to this game. I’m a Mac user but I was all set to purchase components to build a PC when it was released. I agree with some of the post here… that I hope they don’t dash my hopes again.

There does seem to be something different about the comming soon page since i last seen it a few months ago. the last one was a little more high-res as well as animated. Hopefully this means that the project ia still in the works. However, from what point are they having to start from is any ones guess. I was also extreamly upset at the prospect that my few years of waiting on the game was quickly crashing to out of existance and that a favorite past time icon was slowly fading away.
I think that the idea of a monthly membership is reasonable (as long as the price is reasonable). If not charging monthly, then the new idea of a more relaxed aproach and charging for ‘in game’ items and accessories and such will also be acceptable. I Do Not think that charging monthly and for ‘in game’ material and such would be reasonable. Nor, do i think that charging an outragious rate for either would be reasonable. So that in it’s self is going to put this new company (who ever it is) in somewhat a narrow path. At this point, it’s best to see how intuitive they can really be as far as how far the HUGE startrek fan base is really willing to go. Hopefully they like the ‘culture’ as much as we do and really want to see the game succeed.
Other than that, i am really, really (times 10) glad that the game may be showing renewd signs of life. I waited on this for so, so, long.

D.Lee
http://www.my-ezine.com
yes i know i havent updated the sight in a while. I’m trying to secure some free servers for the more loyal viewers :o)

If/when this game does come out it will be super exciting for me. I don’t have time for video games anymore with my busy schedule, but I would have to MAKE time for this one. There’s where it starts to get dangerous, though… after my 8th grandmother died I think my boss would start to get suspicious of why I was missing work…

Cryptic have announced another Superhero MMO – Champions On-line based on the old RPG paper&pencil game from the 80s. It doesn’t seem to be a bright move to me. Champions never had a fraction of the audience that D&D had; their competition is their own old game City of Heroes; and somebody else will be doing a Marvel game too. So it’s lose/lose/lose on Champions and their going to take on STO too? I’m not hopeful.

#26
no but still…… WOLF 359!!!!!

no i heard it was bioware