It's been many years since the first announcement of a Star Trek MMO entering development, but August 10 will finally show eager fans their first look at actual gameplay from the online game. After former developer Perpetual ran into trouble, it seemed for a while that the idea of a Star Trek MMO was dead, as has been the case with many other great licenses. But Cryptic Studios announced at the end of July that they had picked up development of the game, and surprisingly enough have been moving fast t to show off screenshots and, soon, actual game footage.
This implies that Cryptic isn't starting from the ground up on the game, but continuing from where Perpetual left off. Some fans may also worry that it means the game will be rushed or not fully realized at launch, but Cryptic Studios is trying to engage gamers by hosting forums on the new official Star Trek Online Web site, encouraging gamers to ask questions of the developers and give ideas of what they want to see. The new development team is also reassuring gmaers that most are Star Trek fans themselves and "get" the appeal of the property.
Cryptic representative Jack Emmert wrote a message on the Web site when it went live, saying in part, "Star Trek was always about an entire universe. And MMORPGs are uniquely suited to create such a thing and allow players to explore every inch. Admittedly, Star Trek has its challenges. We want to make a game that best captures the real essence of Star Trek. We see Star Trek as much about exploration as combat."
Sentiments like that can bolster confidence that cryptic knows what it's doing, but other news, like a simultaneous release for a home console or that everyone gets to be a captain, have many forum posters on their site worried that Star Trek Online will be just another console-type space shooter, without taking advantage of the infinite diversity in infinite combinations possible in a real MMORPG.
August 10 should provide many answers, as Cryptic is hyping up their unveiling at the annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, and will even have a live Web feed of the event. As Mr. Emmert said above, Star Trek was made to be an online universe, not just a shooting game, and Trek fans are even harder to please than gamers. It'll be interesting to see if Star Trek Online comes close to living up to its true potential; that would be a game even non-Star Trek fans would love.