Although the focus of the week has been the home video release of the new Star Trek, there has also been a lot of activity on the Star Trek Online MMORPG front. Cryptic has released the box art for the game, announced dates for open beta, released new videos, and more. They also revealed a big change in the game, allowing you to hang out on your bridge.
Command the Bridge!
Cryptic has announced that due to popular demand they will be allowing players to explore the interiors of their ships as well as the exteriors. At launch you will be able to explore the bridge of your ship, which they describe as "a social area where you and your friends can meet to talk about plans for your future missions, or reminisce about the heroic deeds you’ve already completed." Cryptic initially was not going to allow interiors, but in a statement executive producer Craig Zinkievich noted that . "it really felt like a hole in the game, and it was just something that we had to put in." Players will be able to chose from about 20 different bridges.
One of the STO bridges
New Videos
Cryptic have provided us with two new videos.
Firstly, the "Bridge Trailer"
Secondly, the "Exploration Trailer"
IGN has a second video on STO space combat.
Open Beta
Star Trek Online is currently in invite-only closed beta test. The game will be released on February 2nd, 2010. And now Cryptic has announced their open beta test, which will run from January 12 to January 26, 2010. Keys will be given out on a first come, first served basis.
New STO site & box art
The official www.StarTrekOnline.com site has been revamped with a new look and more content. It is worth checking out
New STO site
In addition Cryptic has released the final box art for the game.
The final box – STO getting realer (click to enlarge)
More interviews, details and screenshots
Here is the latest press coverage of Star Trek Online.
- Craig Zinkievich interview with Gamerzines.com (includes new screenshots)
- Ten Ton Hammer interview with producer Daniel Stahl
- Community Q&A at Massively.com
-
MMORPG Editorial on Important game aspects + new screenshots
Star Trek Online comes out February 2nd and is available for pre-order now.
Wow. Looks good.
Monthly fee?
The starships weren’t going to have interiors? What kind of person would even imagine a Star Trek RPG where you can’t explore your own starship?
Can you level and gain abilities in this game? Or is this just a bridge simulator/first person shooter online?
somethoughts
you should probably visit the official site, especially the ‘The Game’ section
here is one area to start with
http://www.startrekonline.com/player_progression
Star Trek Online is a MMORPG, that is a ‘massive multiplayer online role playing game’, not a first person shooter. You should look through our past articles and maybe do some research on MMORPGs
We will do a ‘basics’ article closer to the release
The only game to truly do justice to the bridge concept was Bridge Commander. They turned the bridge into 10-Forward. It’ll be a time waster aspect instead of integral part of the game.
RE: monthly fee
it has not been announced, however it is very likely to be $14.99/m, which is what other Cryptic games have cost
They’ve put TOS sounds in there just to make shmucks like me seem hopeful! Haha.
I have to say STO is a massive disappointment to me, if only for this reason : technology is getting so awesome these days that a game really could incorporate the best bits of games that have come beforehand .. we could finally have a game that lets you roam your ship if you want to, but no one’s making it. What the funk!
Thanks Anthony!
wow, that’s a cool cover, i like
and the first person to start the mac vs mic war again shall be smited by shatner himself :)
Cover art guy definitely looks like a futuristic Kirk (Shatner version)!
@ #8:
Ship bridges are just the first step of letting us roam all of our own ships. Cryptic is working on the rest of the interiors, but it just won’t be available at launch. If you let something that will be in the game eventually stop you from playing the amazing space combat, you’re really missing out.
That first bridge has the tallest ceiling of any Federation bridge I’ve seen. You could play basketball in there! :-)
Also, I forget to say that the scenes look very nice, very futuristic. And I saw what seemed to be the Gate of Forever. Most intriguing!
LOL, “exploration trailer”…..
WHAT exploration? it was all just space blasting.
Whoa, you can actually use the Constitution Refit in the game? I thought all you could do was the knock off look a like ship from the cover?
….please incorporate more TOS and I’ll buy.
I am truly intrigued by this game, I just hope it isn’t too expensive!
BTW, is it me, or does cover art boy have shoulder pads in?
I’m sorry, but as much as I want to play this game, I refuse to pay a monthly fee.
A little lame if you ask me.
I’ll try an play the open beta. If it’s THAT good, I might think about paying a monthly fee, but right now, I don’t think I will.
I’m not a MMORPG player, though I am looking forward to STO. If the game is a success, I hope they open up the Romulans for play, I’d love to command a Romulan ship.
I’d would be cool if they opened up the Borg too, so if you’re assimilated you keep on playing, imagine the potential size of the online collective!
Oh, and saluting in Trek? Looks like one of the bridge officers was saluting the Captain in the IGN combat vid. Not that I’m going nuts about that, just noticed it as a bit weird in context.
#17 “BTW, is it me, or does cover art boy have shoulder pads in?”
Those are muscles. You have to be fit explore strange new worlds ;)
^ “You have to be fit TO explore”. Sorry for the typo.
O.o that bridge is ridiculously ginormous…
Love the box art and the Starfleet uniform design!
I’m not usually into MMOs, but I’m going to have to pre-order this game. And I’m going to pre-order it at GameStop of all places so I can unlock the Constitution class ship.
I think it would be great if the game designers could incorporate exploration themes in the storyline, if they haven’t already. Just imagine if they incorporated episodic plots in the gameplay. The story of the discovery of the Pegasus in the eponymous TNG episode, had it not already been told, could be an element of it.
#16 I believe that ship on the cover that looks like the enterprise is simply a futuristic version of a constitution class starship with all the Next Gen science. The Constitution class just had so much to do with the past with legends that they made it to honor the original. Its an Excalibur class starship. Cant wait to play this game. Maybe they’ll do the same thing they did with Champions Online and offer a $200 lifetime subscription when the game releases. But who knows gotta wait and see.
As someone who owns alot of star trek games. I’m sure this one will be another flop. Star Trek Beidge Commander was really fun and you could command all aspecs of your ship. But it lacked the ability to walk around teh bridge, and explore the rest of your ship.
DS9 : The fallen. was really nice. you could walk around the station, planets, ships, and the Defiant. Pretty kool. it was 3d person wich i liked. and the inferface was simple walk up to console and your guy does the button work. nice neat scripted.
Star Trek Armada 1 & 2 RTS. Fun, high replay value. kinda like starcraft.
Star Trek TNG : A Final Unity. The best game made EVER ! i own the 1995 Dos CD-rom. I love this game. And if you’ve ever played it you’d know why. You felt like you was really a part of starfleet. Great written story and story arc. Well done for a Dos game, action adventure roleplaying game. Best ever IMHO. I even wrote a movie script based on the game’s story for the TNG crew. would be great to see it on screen. But only a dream.
Now if they could only mix all these together into one kick *ss game. OH waite that’s what i wanted in Star Trek Online… Ohhh Fail !
– T
I saw shield arcs! I saw shuttles! I saw power allocation! This thing’s gonna be close enough to the old “Starfleet Command” games that I definitely want to give it a taste.
Any chance there will be a single player random mission generator included that you won’t have to pay a monthly fee for? I won’t mind choosing to upgrade every now and then like you can with other games like “Burnout Paradise” but I don’t want to have to shell out 50 for the game and another 15 every month afterward just to keep playing it…
You should only have to pay a fee to download additional content or if you’re playing online.
Please tell me there will be a single player offline mode… I don’t think I can afford constantly paying for online…
Okay, I just checked the ship list on the star trek online website and they don’t have the Nebula class or the Excelsior class listed!
I won’t cry too much about the Excelsior even though we saw it throughout the TNG era as an effective part of the fleet still, but please tell me they will have the Nebula class included! It’s my favorite starship class ever!
@31
I agree! The Nebula Class rocks!
I really wish they would have made the Romulan Empire into a third faction. If I play this game, I don’t wanna be like one of those little kids that plays wow and thinks that alliance is the coolest and all, so I’d probably end up playing Klingon, but it seems like if the Romulans had been thrown in they’d be more interesting, at least for me. But hey, who knows, there’s always expansions.
#6 Agreed! The bridge should look more like the bridges in Bridge Commander. BC also had EXCELLENT space combat that was very realistic and very much like the Star Trek show. The combat in this game looks like the old Star Fleet Command game.
I’m also confused as to why this game has the Constitution, Centaur and Soyuz Classes in the game…. and NOT the Excelsior!!! I wants my Excelsior if they’re going to have old ships! The Nebula class is also missing and this is confusing!
Uh, OKaay. When do the console versions come out?
This is not meant to be a slight to anyone, but it sounds like many who have posted do not truly understand how MMOs work. It might be a good idea to read up on STO website and other places to familiarize more with the nature of this type of game.
As for the monthly fee, I have played several MMOs, both those with a monthly fee, and ones without. Anyone hoping for smooth game play, regular maintenance, and worthwhile updates with def. want this to be a monthly fee based game. Any game with maps as huge as this thing sounds, will def. need a lot of maintenance. Games with a monthly fee offer nice content updates regularly. You don’t get any of that with one time cost MMOs. You do get broken quests/missions, server lag, and no new content.
The second video shows the Constitution Refit (NCC-1701-A is on the nacelles) and NOT an Excalibur class (as depicted on the box). So….will the Constitution Refit be available?
i bet they used a Mac to do the Box Art :)
:-D
What #37 said.
And bring on the Shat Smite. I (and friends, family, clients) want a Mac version (which I’ve read is in the works, BTW).
http://www.startrekonline.com/ships
Lieutenant Commander
Configuration: Cruiser
* Constitution
* Excalibur
* Vesper
Looks like both Constitution and Excalibur classes will be available. I’m glad you will see the Constitution class but how does it work into the whole “This is decades after TNG” theme?
Hello, please excuse my english, I am from Slovakia…
Every ST game was focused on something.
Klingon Academy was the best ship combat game out of the box without the mods. The energy management was great. In Quickbattle if you knew how you could beat 3 klingon battlecruisers with only one excelsior class ship.
The trick was in the energy management. The first thing you need to do was to overload weapons, but as you overloaded every shot damaged the weapons so the next step was to set the repair priorities to specific areas. Because of that the energy for the engines needed to be lowered. Because of the low speed you needed to overload the shields etc.
Bridge commander was not that good, but the mods changed everything and it became almost as good as Klingon Academy.
STO tries really hard to be all the great ST games in one. And I think that it will be a problem. I don’t want to be pesimistic. But after the last big mistake named Legacy I am not very positive.
STO remids me of one really promising game which turned to be REALLY DISASTER :) its name was Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. I am sure some of you have played this DISASTER.
Bye.
P.S. After this I need to play Klingon Academy again…:)
seriously, all you morons need to stop complaining if you dont like the way the game is going to turn out dont buy it, wah wah wah, it doesnt have the excaliber class, it doesnt have the nebula class, read the god damn updates, wah it doesnt have interior, wah the bridge is to big, look at the game as a whole. wah it 14.99 a month to play. FYI morons all MMORPG’s that are BIG IP’s cost money to play, wah theirs no console version, again read the updates; there working on it.. wah its another old SFC 3 game.. SFC 1-3 was the best ST simulator that money could buy dont dis SFC, all you ST fans who call yourself ST fans are pathetic, yeah your gonna say i got my panties in a bunch, or dude whats this kids issue.
And another thing. Who are you to critize Cryptic? at least their attempting to bring Star Trek back to the fans who all love and deserve a game just like any die hard Star Wars fan or Halo fan out there.
Give the company a chance they been bringing out quality IP’s for a long time. Your complaining because it doesnt have every aspect of the game YOU’d expect. What do you think you pay a monthly fee for? The game was owned by perpetual which had ALOT of promise, promises that were broken constently, and look what happened, they went bankrupt.
Now that Cryptic has it. You should be grateful your even getting another ST game. I for one am glad to see where cryptic is going with this. They listen the players. I will pay my 14.99 a month and 49.99 for my game and will be happily exploring the galaxy, while you are still bitching about why your damn nebula class starship is still not in the game.
Go back to WOW or w/e shitty ass MMORPG you play, dont bitch and rant in ours
/rant off
Looks interesting. I may have to give this a shot. One question that I have is the graphics. I just played Dragon Age and it was fantastic, why does this one look so….late 90’s early 2000 ish?
they wanted to make the game so ever one could play it so they lowered the
system specs so every day pc guys can play it not just ppl like me who build high end gaming pc and sides they had to do that for the consoles and mac users out there ;)
oops type o dang kids asking me things while im typing
hey wanted to make the game so every one could play it so they lowered the
system specs so every day pc guys can play it not just ppl like me who build high end gaming pc and sides they had to do that for the consoles and mac users out there ;) yes and i agree with the ppl out there sticking up for the game and u guys that arnt u call your selfs trekys aka trekers get the hell out of here u should bow your head at cryptic and say were not worthy where not worthy and pray the even let u play the game with out your worp core going poof every 10 to 20 min