I've spent a dozen hours in the Star Trek Online beta, and while I've spent more time firing at enemy ships than poking about the surface of strange new worlds, there have been a few moments of simple exploration and diplomacy. There are away team missions where you never have to fire a single shot, which go great lengths towards assuaging my initial fears that this would be Star Trek: Combat And Not Much Else.

I've still got a large universe to explore, so let's hope the trend continues.

Cryptic rings in the holidays in Champions Online with the Attack of the Misfit Toys event. The Black Harlequin has made diabolical changes to the children's Christmas toys, and it's up to the heroes of Millennium City to take them down a peg or two. It's all about seasonal toy clearance, at least until seasonal toy Clarence shows up. Hugs and death for everyone!

"We really wanted to celebrate the holidays by giving our players some really fun gifts," said Bill Roper, Executive Producer of Champions Online. "So we've cooked up a brand new winter event, and created several new ways to share the joy of Champions Online."

Those new ways include a refer a friend program, where old players bring in new players to try the game for 10 days, with rare in-game items for all and 400 Cryptic points for the referrer if the new player stays, and a new demo that allows players to level up to 15 in the opening tutorial.

Nice offers, but as far as I am concerned it's all about Clarence.

The fancy case is only the beginning for Star Trek fans willing to spend $79.99 instead of the normal retail price of $49.99 on Star Trek Online, but it sure is lovely. It features magnetic closures and nested storage for the rest of the premium items included in the deal. Items like a combination hardbound instruction guide, art book, and disc container, or the cast metal communicator badge, styled after the one used in the game. The package also includes three credit card style buddy passes for you to share with your friends. Swanky!

The collector's edition also comes with the requisite in-game items, with a red matter capacitor for your ship and Deep Space Nine and Next Generation uniforms for your crew.

The Star Trek Online Collector's Edition will be severely limited, so if you want it, I'd highly suggest preordering as soon as possible. GameStop has an exclusive in-game Constitution Class Starship waiting for those that do.

Star Trek Online Collector's Edition [GameStop via Big Download]

Perhaps I am just not seeing the beast in the trailer, or perhaps the whole thing takes place inside said belly and I am just not versed enough in Star Trek lore to see it. I suppose it's a better title than "More Ships Shooting At Each Other," but I still want my money back.

I got a little excited when I heard the term 'boarding parties' in the video, but it turns out that the separation of starship combat and away missions remains intact, with boarding parties essentially acting as any other attack would. You launch shuttles, and your away team does the work behind-the-scenes. I would have enjoyed the chance to run around causing havoc on board an enemy vessel while it shook from the beating my ship was giving it, but I guess you can't have it both ways.

For those of you not up to par on your Star Trek calendar, that's actually January 12th, 2010. The open beta will run through January 26th, giving players two weeks to play the game prior to the February launch. Open beta keys will be given out on a first come, first serve basis, with players urged to watch the game's official website at http://www.startrekonline.com to keep abreast of the situation.

"We are excited to announce the dates for the open beta phase as this is one of the final steps in launching Star Trek Online to the public," said Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer on Star Trek Online. "We are looking forward to the launch of our first-of-a-kind MMORPG with anticipation and excitement and we expect Star Trek Online to explode onto the scene, giving fans and gamers a Star Trek experience like no other."

Star Trek would be a much bigger hit with the fans if video game website writers didn't have to covert dates to stardates of their own accord. Just sayin'.

Allowing players to create their own nemesis in Champions Online seemed like a great idea, but I always wondered what Cryptic would do with them once they were created. Now we know. Starting November 24th, the Nemesis Confrontation event will let players team up with friends to take on their nemeses together.

"We wanted to take our unique Nemesis System to the next level and do something really awesome with it," said Bill Roper, Executive Producer of Champions Online. "So we asked ourselves, what if your Nemesis could band together with your buddy's Nemesis to take you on? Epic."

Players will have to band together against a team of their greatest foes in order to stop them from tearing a hole in reality in a bid to take over the Champions universe. The event will feature a brand new location and new, intergalactic gladiator enemies to the mix as well. Sounds like a good time!

And in case you've let your Champions Online subscription lapse already, Cryptic is holding a free weekend the 26th through the 28th, just in case you wanted to return to give your nemesis the beat-down.

Visit the event page for more information on Nemesis Confrontation.

Once again I must point out that the space shots look incredibly pretty, and the on-foot bits not-so-much. It almost looks like you'll be playing two different games when Star Trek Online launches in February. I'll be sticking to the space lanes as much as possible, thanks.

Star Trek Online is Cryptic's massively multiplayer stab at the Star Trek franchise, but it won't take a system from 400 years in the future to run it. A PC with 1GB of RAM, an Intel Core 2 Duo of 1.8Ghz or higher, and a NVIDIA GeForce 7950 or ATI Radeon X1800 or better should do nicely. Those are pretty modest, all things considered. Hell, my toaster requires 2GB of RAM to burn a piece of bread, so this is downright child's play.

Of course, if you want the game to look good you'll have to step up from System Requirements to Recommended Specs, in which case you'll want a faster Core 2 Duo, enough RAM to power my toaster, and a beefier video card, but I'm sure you'll make due.

Check out the full specs below, and be sure to read AJ's preview to see how she felt about the game's mix of ground-based and ship combat.

System Requirements

OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+
Memory: 1GB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD Graphics
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
Disc: 6X DVD-ROM
Recommended System Configuration

OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)
CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+
Memory: 2GB RAM+
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard
DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher
HDD: 8GB Free Disk Space
Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required
Disc: 6X DVD-ROM

Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game based in the near future, or at least the near future of the Star Trek universe. Players become high-ranking Starfleet officers, customizing their ships and boldly going many different places, both in space on planet side. Beta testing is now underway, and will likely continue until the game's newly-announced February 2nd North American release date.

"Star Trek Online is poised to become the ultimate Star Trek gaming experience," said Jim Wilson, CEO of Atari, Inc. "Throughout the last four decades, Star Trek has been a mainstay in pop culture, influencing legions of fans through television, film, and more. Star Trek Online opens a whole new chapter and expands upon this incredible universe in 2010."

While I am excited by the concept of the game, the more stats-based side of me is even more interested in seeing how many Trek fans flock take to the game. It could become the new online destination for Trek fandom, or it could wind up one of those deserts where the crew of the Enterprise tends to run across the odd megalomaniacal robot.

As a long-time MMO player, I love the way developers tend to go slightly crazy when it comes to Halloween events. I used to get all giddy back in the day, when Everquest first started running huge, multi-zone treasure hunts during the holiday, and to this day I always look forward to seeing what the creator's of my favorite MMO titles come up with to celebrate the 31st of October. It looks like Cryptic doesn't plan to disappoint.

It's strange. I don't remember Star Trek Online looking this pretty when I played it at PAX last month, but it was pretty early on the first day, and I was still getting my show legs. Perhaps I was too busy destroying Klingon ships and raiding the planet below to pause and take everything in. Or maybe someone on the Cryptic crew takes a damn fine screenshot.

From Friday October 30th to Monday November 2nd, Cryptic is opening up Champions Online to any and all who want to come try it out. Simply head over to the free play promo page, sign up for an account, download the client, and then wait. Perhaps you could make a sandwich or something.

The free play weekend coincides with Champions'' Blood Moon Halloween event, which introduces invading zombie hordes (*sigh*) and the introduction of the new Celestial power set. The event begins for current subscribers on the 27th. Free players can play around with it once the weekend comes.

Star Trek Online Video Talks About the Timeline, Shows Space Battles

The Blu-ray releases of the original Star Trek come packed with extras, as well they should, because when you make something very old very clear it generally makes it look even older than it is. Along with rare pilot episodes and various other bells and whistles, Star Trek: The Original Series season three on Blu-ray comes packed with a special code that will unlock an Admiral costume for your character to wear in Cryptic's Star Trek Online.

"For a limited time, sets will include an exclusive free offering in Atari's Star Trek® on-line game. Each set will include an insert that includes a unique code that will allow game players to outfit their avatar in an exclusive Admiral's outfit available only with this offer."

That's certainly one motivational extra for fans of the series and serious MMO fanatics. I just hope they keep things authentic, so when players don the Admiral outfit they suddenly find themselves trapped behind a desk, desperately trying to give orders to starship captains who have no respect for authority - for example, all of them.

The third season of Star Trek: The Original Series on Blu-ray ships in December.

Star Trek News [TVonDVD.com via Big Download]

What Is It?
It's the the future of the Star Trek universe as a massively multiplayer online game. Romulus is destroyed, the Klingons hate the Federation again, but they are still boldly going all over the place.

What We Saw
I got to take a spin in the generically named U.S.S. Light Cruiser, journeying to the Penn'Arc VI system where I did battle with several Klingon Bird of Prey squadrons before taking the battle to the planet's surface with my away team, fighting my way to a certain iconic talking time gateway.

How Far Along Is It?
It's hard to tell how far along it is at the moment, as this was obviously a special demo created just for the show. They've just announced registrations for the closed beta test, so obviously Cryptic is far enough along that they are getting ready to begin allowing people into the universe to try things out.

What Needs Improvement?
Ground-Based Combat: While the starship combat portion of the game felt pretty satisfying, something about the ground-based combat didn't feel nearly as polished. Perhaps the fact that an NPC away team accompanies you on ground missions threw me, as I'm more used to being one avatar in a world of other avatars. It just seems like there's a great deal going on that I had no direct control over. It could take some getting used to.

What Should Stay The Same?
Ship-Based Battles: Cryptic has chosen an interesting route to maintaining the Star Trek look and feel in space combat. Rather than go with full 3D ship movement, vessels move on a plane, able to climb and descend without ever actually going inverted. One would think it would be limiting, but it it helps the combat feel tactical and less chaotic...and definitely more Star Trek. How many times have you seen an upside-down shot of the Enterprise?

Crew Support: Having members of your ship's crew act as powers during space combat is a brilliant idea. Through combat you level your various officers, who appear with buttons next to their faces in the use interface during ship combat. The officers have different skills that are represented as skills during battle. One might be particularly good with energy systems, allowing you to regenerate shields faster than normal, while another allows you to empty all of your torpedo tubes in one large burst. It marries the standard MMO skill hot keys with the Star Trek universe in a rather ingenious way.

Ships of the Line: I spent several minutes at the beginning of my hands-on simply panning around the U.S.S. Light Cruiser, admiring the 3D construction of the vessel. Close attention has been paid to making sure that the ships in the game, both established and new, maintain the classic Star Trek look and feel. Customization options are there for those wishing to make the experience a little more personal, but strict limits keep players from going overboard. Don't worry - there won't be any pink Federation starships. Yes, I asked.

Final Thoughts
AS a Star Trek fan for far longer than I'd like to admit, I was pleased with what I saw of Star Trek Online, to a point. Cryptic has displayed a great deal of respect for the property, which shows in the graphical design, interface elements, and some of the odd design choices they've made in order to keep the feel of the franchise intact. I just hope the away team mechanic doesn't end up being an example of how their reverence for the series backfired.

Closed beta - the initial frontier. These are the voyages of the Star Trek Online beta tester. Your continuing mission? To explore strange new worlds; to seek up new bugs and report them to Cryptic; to boldly go where only a handful of people have gone before. Interested parties are urged to visit www.startrekonline.com to sign up for their chance to help make Star Trek Online the best game it can be.

"Closed beta registration is an important step in bringing Star Trek Online to the public," said Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer on Star Trek Online. "We are looking toward the launch of our first-of-a-kind MMORPG with anticipation and excitement and we expect Star Trek Online to explode onto the scene, giving fans and gamers a Star Trek experience like no other."

I'd say your chances are pretty good if you sign up early. How many fans that enjoy both Star Trek and PC gaming can there possibly be?

The early head-start for Cryptic's new superhero MMO Champions Online kicked off this weekend, and despite having many other plans, I couldn't resist the siren song of the spandex. Finding myself awake far too early on a Saturday morning, I couldn't help my hand as it opened up Games Explorer and double-clicked on the Champions icon. Soon I was strapping on equipment, fastening my cape, checking my weapons, and in two cases growing a pair of breasts as I dived headlong into the world of Champions Online.

The Secret Origin of Bullshot

I've always had a weakness for superheroes that used bows, so archery was my first choice of powersets to explore. I started off with images of Hawkeye and Green Arrow in my head, but the game's expansive character creation tool soon led me in an entirely new direction. I am not quite sure how I ended up trying out horns on my archer, but they fit perfectly. A nice brown color scheme later and Bullshot was born.

Champions Online isn't quite the sort of persistent world MMO we're used to. It's made up of adventure instances, sort of like comic book issues, where a certain number of characters can play before a new instance is spawned. The starting zone, for instance, is set during an alien invasion of Millennium City. The player progresses through a series of quests that ultimately leads to an instanced mission, and then they progress to the next area of their choosing.

Bullshot had some troubles early on, as I hadn't quite grasped how the powers work. Basically you have one power that builds up energy, and other powers that use said energy. It's sort of like the rogue in World of Warcraft. You build up power using your weaker attack in order to unleash the big guns. Not quite understanding this, Bullshot died quite a few times.

Eventually he got to a public mission, which works a lot like public quests in Warhammer Online. A series of tasks is presented, such as kill 20 aliens, and all players participate until the next task is given. At the end of the quest the players are ranked and awarded prizes based on their participation. Having done terribly, all I got was a lousy health kit.

Then came the instanced mission, where the real foe behind the invasion is uncovered. It's your first encounter with a supervillain, and if you know what you are doing it isn't too hard, especially with a high-powered NPC at your side. Needless to say, I died several times. Luckily the supervillain's health stayed where it was when I bought it, so killing him was only a matter of running back to finish him off.

After the grand finale of the alien invasion arc, I was presented with two different storylines to pick up - Canada or the desert. Choosing Canada, I was transported to a snowy base in the middle of nowhere, and urged to purchase my first new powers in six levels, along with a travel power. Eager to test out travelling, I chose swinging, thinking that shooting a bow with a line attached would fit Bullshot perfectly. I spent about an hour after that just swinging around, casting my line out to the empty sky, and generally having a blast before I decided to take a nap.

Enter Becca Danger

I'm also a fan of superheroes who are just normal people with a few extraordinary powers. Rather than continue with Bullshot, I created a female character. A simple girl with a t-shirt, jeans, a pair of swords, and big, clunky rocket boots. I showed the design to my girlfriend, who suggested I name my creation Becca, after the real name of Tank Girl. Craving a bit more of a twist, I added Danger as a last name, and Becca Danger was born.

Now that I had the hang of things, the tutorial level flew by in an hour, with nary a death. The dial swords powerset is unique in that many of its powers hit more than one enemy at a time, so I was tearing through aliens like there was no tomorrow. Finishing the opening in no time flat, I chose the desert this time around, granting Becca a few new powers and of course, activating those rocket boots.

Rocket boots are the fastest travel power, though they activate in stages, to keep things fair and balanced. Once you get up to speed, shooting around the sky is extremely entertaining.

The desert storyline involves freeing a research facility from radioactive mutants. I got Becca to level 9 by the end of the arc, though I did have to team up for one particularly difficult quest. My Champions Online team experience lasted all of 2 minutes, and we disbanded as soon as the boss monster was down. Otherwise, Becca was flying solo.

Once that arc completed I was delivered into a new, more expanded desert instance, with the facility rebuilt. New missions and more exploration awaited, but that would have to wait for the next issue.

Onyx is Born.

Sunday was a brand new day, and a brand new heroine was born. Inspired by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred's stint on X-Force (renamed X-Statix before cancellation), I went with a rather quirky design for Onyx. Completely black, this powerhouse character wears the outfit of a classic 1970's superhero, with her red glasses the only discernible facial feature. Very, very Allred.

Fortunately for me, Onyx proved more resilient than the characters of X-Statix, again breezing through the tutorial mission in record time, thanks to her uber-toughness and her powerful arsenal of punches. Again I chose Canada, giving her the earth flying power to coincide with her geological origin. Hovering about on a dislodged chunk of earth, I took on all manner of ice demons and ice zombies as I struggled to free the ice outpost from the ice evil. As it was getting late, I couldn't see the mission through to completion, and my girlfriend wanted to watch Kate & Leopold. Not wanting any more ice, I decided to go with her plan.

But the best was yet to come...

The one...the only...Super Crecente

This morning I woke up early, and having a little bit of free time I decided to make one last hero. The gadgeteer in pink and yellow, his long tresses as much a weapon as his sonic blaster, Super Crecente arrived on the scene, taking down aliens as easily as if they were notes at a press conference.

I am not sure how he lost his eye, but I bet it was painful.

My time in Crecente's shoes was short, as he has much smaller feet, and I actually enjoyed the concept of the gadgeteer power set and didn't want to be locked into being Super Crecente until the end of time.

Those four characters represent about 13-14 hours worth of Champions Online. I'd say I had a bit of fun, though there wasn't much in the way of chatting going on, so I couldn't really gauge the community. With the game going live for everyone tomorrow, I expect that to change.

Feel free to hit me up in game if you'd like to take out a few mutants together. Just be warned that I have serious alt-character disease, so there's no telling who I'll be when you finally catch me.

In a VG247 podcast, Emmert says Cryptic has a 360 version of the game "ready to go," but it's not likely to arrive this year.

"It just takes time for the big beast known as Microsoft to get moving," Emmert said. "I really have no explanation other than that, because it's as baffling to developers as it is to everyone else."

Asked if Champions Online, which hits the streets for PC this week, will arrive anytime soon, Emmert said, "This year? I don't know."

"Right now we're just talking with Microsoft. Right now the ball is firmly in their court," he told VG247. "We're ready to go, but until we get the go ahead from Microsoft, right now we're sort of waiting."

MS Foot-Dragging on 360 MMOs is 'Baffling' says Cryptic Boss [VG247 via Joystiq]

I've been a bit worried about how group roles would work in a game with such flexibility to its character creation, but Cryptic's Bill Roper seems to think that won't be a problem. In fact, he explains that multiple characters which fill the same role will be able to group together better due to the different ways to go about filling said role. It sounds a bit complicated, but I'm sure the assembled superhero community will be able to figure it out.