‘Star Trek’ hits another frontier: Online gaming

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‘I’m a doctor, Jim, not a massively multiplayer online-role-playing game designer!’

I’m sure McCoy, Scotty, Data and Geordi could’ve gotten it going, but finally, ‘Star Trek Online’ (with no official release date set) will boldly go where lots of games already are. Leonard Nimoy is set to introduce the world to the immersive experience at a ‘Star Trek’ convention Sunday in Las Vegas at the Gene Roddenberry Theater inside the Las Vegas Hilton. The intro and panel will also be broadcast live at StarTrekOnline.com.

Cryptic Studios Inc., the developer originally responsible for ‘City of Heroes’ and ‘City of Villains,’ snatched the franchise from Perpetual Entertainment. Cryptic Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert says it was a no-brainer.

‘As it became apparent they weren’t going to continue to function, they decided to sell off the license. We swooped in and grabbed it. We took no assets. There was nothing to be had, to be honest. We’re building everything from the ground up.’

So, if I say ‘Tea, Earl Grey’ to my computer, will it come out? Maybe not, but players will be able to customize characters to be any race, customize ships, and have adventures either hurtling through space at warp speed, or beamed down onto an uncharted deep space planetoid that turns out to be a discarded super intelligent spaceship bent on eradicating all human life ... or something.

-- Jevon Phillips

Photo: Associated Press