First Details On Star Trek D.A.C. – Official Movie Tie-in Game March 24, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Games, Interview, Star Trek (2009 film) , trackback
A couple of weeks ago TrekMovie first showed off a promo sheet we found for something called ‘Star Trek D.A.C.’, which was the first hint there would be some kind of game related to the new Star Trek movie. At the time Paramount was not talking, but now they are. Today during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, TrekMovie got the lowdown on what D.A.C. is all about.
Have a blast blasting ships with Star Trek D.A.C.
While they were at the big game conference in San Francisco today, Benjamin Hoyt, (Senior Producer at Paramount Digital Entertainment) and Dave Baronoff (Associate Producer on the Star Trek movie) gave TrekMovie a call to finally come clean on D.A.C. The game is an arcade-style space shooter that, according to Hoyt, is "fast-paced" and "designed to be very accessible and ‘pick up and play.’" Players will be able to extend their Star Trek movie experience by engaging in Federation v. Romulan ship-to-ship combat in a multiplayer environment. The game is being developed by Naked Sky, whose previous game is the X-Box Arcade game "Roboblitz." "Star Trek D.A.C." will also be a download game on the X-Box Arcade, as well as the Playstation Network. Expect the game to be available around the release of the Star Trek film (May 8th), but Paramount is not confirming a specific date yet.
Baronoff, who works with JJ Abrams at Bad Robot, says that "all of us here are gamers and we have been very hands-on with the development of this game." Unlike traditional movie games, this one does not try to recreate the film but is designed to be "a fun way to extend the movie experience." Baronoff notes that most movie games disappoint because the development time and requirement for film assets does not accommodate making a good game, so they chose to take another route:
We went for a focused style of gameplay so we can ensure that the developer can knock this thing out of the park. Bad Robot is not putting something out there for the sake of putting it out there or promotion. We want a game that we believe in and can enjoy and have fun with.
To enhance the Star Trek movie experience, the game includes the new USS Enterprise from the film, and other ships ‘inspired’ by film designs. Star Trek D.A.C. also features actual sounds (designed by Oscar-winner Ben Burtt) and music from the Star Trek movie. Composer Michael Giacchino (a veteran of game music) and his team worked with developers to tailor the music to loop seamlessly in the game.
All of that sounds good, but what does DAC stand for? They would not reveal that, but Baronoff would say "it definitely stands for something and playing the game will give you clues as to what that is."
Star Trek D.A.C. promo sheet (click to enlarge)
Here are some quick bullets for more details
- Top-down arcade-style space shooter ship-combat game
- Download game: X-Box Live Arcade (around release of film in May) & Playstation Network (at a later date)
- Single player & Multiplayer (but focus on multiplayer)
- Team based combat up to 12 players (teams of 6)
- 3 different game modes (each with unique objective)
- Two factions (Federation & Romulans)
- 3 ship types for each faction – (Flagship/capital ship, Fighter & Bomber)
- Federation Flagship is USS Enterprise from the movie, Romulan flagship is ‘inspired by’ the Narada from the movie. Other ships are unique to game, but inspired by movie designs
- Game features music and sounds taken directly from new Star Trek movie
- Pricing in line with other download games (which are usually under $20)
Although they are not committing to it, the game allows for additional downloadable content in the future and Baronoff says they "have a lot of cool ideas" for ways to expand the game down the road.
Look for more on D.A.C. soon, including some screenshots!
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Comments»
So are those ships something we’ll see in the film? If so, pretty cool!
interesting
First ! I knew there would be a game.
Mmm.. Sounds like a great way to spend my leftover Microsoft Points.
Also, Michael Giacchino doing the score AND Ben Burtt doing the sound effects, this means it’s going to be pretty darn good.
D.A.C? No idea, but these are all the abbreviations of what it might mean, but I doubt they have the real meaning there.
http://www.all-acronyms.com/DAC
Unfortunately, pretty much every game made for a movie always sucks terribly. These things are rushed for release at around the same time as the movie and to do that, they cut quality and production values to the bare minimum.
Marketing gimmick and I doubt this game will be any different
I can’t wait for the movie, novelization, Countdown TPB and some of the toys, but this game looks pretty lame. It probably won’t enhance my enjoyment of the movie (or Star Trek in general) in any way.
Divide And Conquer?
I’m still more excited about the score than the film.. o_0
we can hope this will be good. :)
I’d rather have an Arcade or Pinball game
I think I’ll stick with the JJPrise and Kelvin mods for good ol’ Bridge Commander.
Sound lame.
Hmmm… intriguing… sounds like it could be fun…
Hopefully only the Romulan capital ship will be of the “squid style”,
I want to blast the Bird-of-Prey!!
Hopefully a Wii version will be forthcoming as well?
Also, I really like that more “battleship gray” hue of the Enterprise in the promo sheet!
Meh. I’m with Will_H. I don’t have an XBox 360 or PS3, so I really can’t care about this.
Top down…perhaps Starfleet Command 4?
If the game is going to be downloadable, please remember that some of us still have and use real computers rather than console game machines. (And some of us real computer users have Macintoshes rather than Microsoft Windows, too.)
It would seem the Romulans are the baddies of the JJ Trekverse…..very nice.
hmmm…. sounds interesting. Don’t think I’ll buy it, but interesting nevertheless.
No Mac or Wii version? Lame.
But then again, look at the art for the game. The art depicts “flames” of thrust coming out of the warp nacelles. (Matt Jefferies was not pleased when the NBC promotional department created artwork with flames shooting out of the back of the warp engines–and engineering hull–on the original Enterprise.)
If they can’t get this right, I suppose we can’t expect them to make the game for the rest of us
Ohemghee. I love that the Romulans are so involved. They’re freakin’ awesome. ♥
I neeeeeed a new gaming system. My newest is a PS2! (Bah.)
First
darn, would like a windows game…
hmmm,,,yet another Star Trek game thats about blowing up other ships,,,
dont get me wrong,,it does look very nice,in fact its something I might even buy,, but,, how about a game where people have to look after their ship and their crew,,do the odd missions from star fleet,, the odd distress call,,,
and maybe seek,,and maybe,,,
explore
Interacting with other types of life,,,and maybe trying to talk your way out of a fight would be better
I love how the Romulan ships in DAC are named “Brutus”, “Claudius”, “Vibius”, “Marius” and so on. Not sure I dig the design. Sorta like new BSG Cylon Raiders. Wonder if we’ll actually see them in the film?
Sounds like “Star Trek: Encounters”
Looks interesting. May look into it.
God bless!
SirMartman, you might like Star Trek: Legacy. I warn you, the PC version is badly broken – the port from xbox was one of the worst I have ever seen, they even screwed up the controls! the controls don’t even match what is in the manual!… but the xbox 360 version is pretty good.
http://www.shacknews.com/screenshots.x?gallery=11658&game_id=7183&id=132533#img132533
Here are some screenshots of the game
Downloadable Arcade Competition.
No. Strike that. Downloadable Arcade Combat
To the powers that be, please make a Wii version…
One game I can do without.
Duck And Cover??
Erm, why was my post with a link to screenshots deleted? It’s not my site, and there isn’t anything about the shots being embargoed AFAIK. Geez, sorry for sharing.
hmmm… Sounds interesting… I’m not much if a game player, but it might be cool to kick some Romulan ass!
what would be sweet us if they made a game based on the Kobyashi Maru… Now that would be fun!
Don’t Ask Cwestions.
Please make the PC version, think about the international market, a PS3 or an Xbox 360 are very expensive here in Argentina, and I would like to be able to play this game before 2012. (when probably a newer console would be in the market).
Dark Angel Creations.
Don’t forget to keep an eye on http://www.startrekdac.com
D.A.C.
Dam Arcade Crap
Maybe it like the on NET TREK game?
“Online” NET TREK game
“Top-down arcade-style space shooter” sounds like the crap ‘official’ BSG arcade game. Compare that to the fan-made ‘Beyond the Red Line’ for example.
Too bad.
D.A.C.—
Doesn’t Align with Canon.
Oh c’mon! Someone was gonna!
#6: True … pretty much every movie tie-in videogame sucks, but the exceptions CAN be delightful :)
That said, this doesn’t look like an exception. Top-down shoot’emup? Even the basic concept is phoned in.
perhaps “Damned Annoying Canon?”
Article: “[D.A.C] definitely stands for something and playing the game will give you clues as to what that is.”
What? I’m expecting to fully understand the title after playing the game! For crying out loud, J.J.! Just clues?? Now you’re taking it too far… j/k :P
Divide And Conquer?
Diplomacy After Countdown? hahah
28#
r.e. legacy
so thats why i could play the game properly on my pc!
Gah, i wanna know what there doing with my (internet) name!
Da Andiscovered Country?
i had to try… Hehe!
Re #28. Aqua
Hey cheers for that,, yeh it sounds like it has afew bugs,, but hopfully someone might come up with a patch.
:o)
Re #28. Aqua
Sweet, yeh there seems to be acouple of good mods out, to patch the PC game, this seems to be the latest one,,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZFsEhXlLJY
Divide And Conquer
@47…
Darn!
;))
Bad news for PC users.
We need a Birth of the Federation sequel… not more shoot-em-up crap.
DAC= Divide And Conquer
“Bad Robot is not putting something out there for the sake of putting it out there or promotion.”
I’m not convinced. 3 ships for each of the two factions? That doesn’t sound anything like something they would slap together in a matter of weeks.
The only good Star Trek game was the first iteration of Star Fleet Command and it’s Expansions. It was based on the old Star Fleet Battles board game. They added a combat slider bar for the ADHD crowd, but on it’s lowest setting, it very much resembled playing the board game. They basically kept it a two dimensional game (yes, it was a bit like everyone was no smarter than Kahn flying the Reliant), but you could zoom in to see 3D detail. They kept the ‘board’ of 2D intact so it would resemble how the old table top game was played.
They had a module editor, and we used to build scenarios. We mostly played co-op, but from time to do (just like the table top game) we ‘devolved’ into finishing each other off. Was pretty fun. Just like the board game, you had a certain amount of power that you had to balance between your shields, weapons, defenses and movement. You could spend points to send repair teams to fix areas that were damaged. After you took down a shield, you could swing close to an enemy with their downed shield and send over boarding parties and specify what areas you’d like them to hit.
Before battle, you got to select ships and configure them. Shuttles, drones (missles), marines, etc. Some of the big cruisers had fighters.
That was a fun game.
This game sounds very much like, I think it was called ‘Klingon Academy’. It came out shortly before ‘Insurrection’, and after we got suckered into trying the game after coming off an SFC high, it was this silly game where you flew big, bulky ships around like they were F-18s – literally with a joystick. We cried about our lost 40 bucks, but licked our wounds and went to see ‘Insurrection’, only to bust out laughing hysterically when Ryker presses a button and out pops a steering council with a joystick. They might as well had him sucking down a Pepsi afterwards, complete the effect.
I’d love to see a good SFB style Star Trek game again that didn’t cave to the push-go-faster crowd.
why on earth (or elsewhere) would there possibly be a reason for warp nacelle ‘rocket exhaust’, especially at sub-light speeds?
is this star wars? does abrams know the difference between the two very different properties?
never, ever has there been any suggestion that warp nacelles emit ‘rocket exhaust’ except for the conceptual sketches from the excellent Ralph McQuarrie who was not required to know how warp propulsion units work.
this may be a lazy re-boot, but warp field coils still operate the same way in any universe. you canna change the laws of physics.
i’d prefer it if this were only a Galaxy Quest sequel.
I’m not usually one to sit around and disparage things I haven’t experienced yet, but I’m going to go out on a limb and assume this game is going to be kind of lame.
Which is not to say that it won’t be kitschy and fun to play, but I imagine it’s going to fall a little short of epic.
Which is true of most Trek games that I’ve played. Star Trek doesn’t really lend itself well to games, because most of the story of your typical Trek episode revolves around the captain brooding over moral dilemmas. Yee haw!
The exception of course, could be Star Trek Online.
How about “hailing frequencies open” and a message of “we come in peace,” then trying to seek a negotiated cease-fire first? That would be Star Trek. This sounds like Star Wars battles with Trek craft — fun, perhaps, but not really Star Trek.
Dunsels Abandon Canon
Sh*t. I thought it would be an actual *GAME* not a silly arcade style game.
Bottom line for me is that if a game doesn’t allow me to, at the VERY least “explore strange new worlds … seek out new life and new civilizations … to boldly go where no man has gone before …” then I’m immediately skeptical about its right [by any other means than simple greed-driven licensing and marketing] to call itself a Star Trek game.
Not saying a game can’t win me over when focusing on some other, smaller aspect of Trek (like, say, ships beating the snot out of each other) but such games begin at a disadvantage, and must seriously impress to sway me.
57:
Definitely need a BOTF sequel! 10 years plus on and i still play it with the original disc. I always thought that for the sequel that they could have the wormholes take you to another galactic screen that would be the Gamma and Delta quadrants. Microprose were planning on releasing a few updates and a second game but then they went under and were bought out by Hasbro and that was the end of that.
Generations on PC was actually pretty good too, I still have that lying around somewhere, not played it for years but from what i remember was a good mix of strategy and first person action. I remember one level where your Data and have to beam down somewhere and the level was massive. Good graphics for Win95 too.
i hope this game doesn’t suck like most movie game tie-ins
http://uk.media.ps3.ign.com/media/143/14328719/imgs_1.html
Screenshots of the Game :)
Man i got to get xbox live to play this Damn!!
Star Trek D.A.C. = Destroy All Canon
D.A.C.:
Dual Analog Control?
D.A.C.:
Digital Academy Combat?
#71
LOL!!
SIGH…. Star Trek is not about wars. So why are the games?
Final Unity, now there was a game true to the spirit of ST. Too bad its so old it won’t run on most computers.
A shooter game “inspired” by Star Trek.
And this is a good thing?
I guess a prime directive based game that values peace and dialoge would be kind of boring. Not so good when you are trying to attract the masses to the “world” of Star Trek.
Most arcade style games based upon movie franchises are quite lame. My last experience on that matter was the BSG shooter, also an XBL download. The excitement wore off in less than an hour for me, and I’m not assuming this would be the case with ST:D-A-C, with I wouldn’t be that much surprised.
Anyway, I know I’ll buy it, give it a shot, and play it, just as I’m still playing BSG, just for the sake of fun.
But I really expected a nice, 360 game. Well, maybe next year.
It just plain annoys me how virtually every star trek/star wars game that gets announced now seems to be for every platform but the PC. So I guess the PC is obsolete now then? If so, then why does the world still USE them? Make the PC gamers haper for once and make a few games for us instead of churning out console games that would be better on the PC (well some of them would, at last, and I’m still bitching at Lucas Arts because the made The Force Unleashed for everything but the PC for which they have not given a rats ass about). But hey, at least us PC gamers are getting MMORPG’s and console gamers aren’t! We actually have something to be a little happy about.
Dubious Asteroid Clone?
Sneak Preview of this game….ahem….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E48lfOXUIdQ
:)
[...] For more info, read ‘First Details on DAC‘ [...]
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