So forgive me if I can't come up with enough Star Trek quips or effectively weigh in on the Kirk vs. Picard debate. I can, at best, recite the lines from the J. J. Abrams film and shout out "Khan" when somebody cuts me off in traffic. Also, I can tell you about this here Star Trek MMO that's been something like six years in the making.

What Is It?
Star Trek Online is a massively multiplayer game previously under development at the now-dead Perpetual Entertainment. Cryptic Studios picked up the aborted project in 2008 and started almost completely over for the game we have now.

What We Saw
I saw a quick demo of a space combat and ground combat before being turned loose on the mission "Stranded in Space" which combines elements of the two.

How Far Along Is It?
The game is due out February 2, 2010.

What Needs Improvement?
Canon Clarity: Licenses are a funny thing – so much so that the developer couldn't exactly articulate to me what Star Trek Online can and can't do as far as incorporating stuff like the Borg and Space Lincoln. They did say that the MMO should be treated as canon since it takes place in the prime timeline (the non-J. J. Abrams one) and that canon things like the Borg might show up. However, there was some confusion about the alien races that players can customize right down to the skin color. As Cryptic seems to understand it, if a custom-made alien race gets really popular, it could become canon if enough people download it. The possibilities are heady and all; but it's kind sad to think somebody could put a lot of work into building an alien race of their own that then magically winds up in a new Star Trek movie and they don't get any credit for their creation.

No Catchphrases/Bridge Banter (Yet): Currently, the only talking that goes on between non-playable characters and the captain that you take the role of happens in text boxes. There's no free-flowing banter between bridge crewmates and no way to click on individual NPCs during away missions just to chat them up. Cryptic says they're currently looking into adding the catchphrases we're used to hearing from the series during space combat ("Warp speed," "Reroute power to the shields," "Great shot kid, don't get cocky," etc.) – but at the moment, it's all silent and somewhat stilted.

What Should Stay The Same?
Space Isn't Slow: I was afraid the space combat and travel would be too much like Eve Online – where you have to wait ages for anything to happen. Instead, I was pleased to see somewhat snappy movement and reasonable physics to account for the fact that you're maneuvering a huge starship, not a tiny fighter craft. And while the game confines the 360 degrees of space to just forward, back, left and right for the shields, you have the full range of 360 degrees to use in movement so you can evade fire and break line of sight (and tachyon blast) by getting behind asteroids and stuff. Also, the game gives the player the ability to throttle more or less power between the four sections of the shields. This comes in handy when you're too close to a ship about to explode and need to absorb the shock on your aft shields.

Ground Isn't So Bad: It's totally not regulation for a captain to take half the bridge planetside with him as an Away Team (that's what Red Shirts are for!), but the game lets you do it anyway with your three favorite bridge crew members. While in space, these members have special abilities and buff/debuffs depending on their class (Science Officer, Communications, etc.) – but on the ground, you can outfit them with whatever weapons and equipment you like and either let the AI drive them around, or command their every move. The Away Team will still bring some special abilities with them planetside like Harvesting or Diplomacy stats you can use. But if you don't feel like making room for them, you can always leave ‘em on the ship and meet up with other real-life buddies on some planet to shoot at stuff.

Set Phasers To Vaporize! During ground combat, when people are shooting NPCs, you'll sometimes see a yellow icon pop up on a disoriented enemy. Pressing the secondary fire on a certain gun vaporizes that enemy and it's pretty neat. Who needs a stun function, anyway?

Final Thoughts
I wasn't so wowed by the ground combat, but space blew me away. If this were a singleplayer game, I'd still be happy with it. But I guess with so many Trekkies in the world, it'd be a waste not to turn Star Trek into an MMO for the masses to enjoy.

Kohnke Communication's suit against Star Trek Online developer Perpetual Entertainment is "vague, uncertain, ambiguous and unintelligible" according to a recent filing made by the developer.

While lacking in the vitriol found in Kohnke's original claim, which claimed among other things that they were paid to deliver good reviews for now moth-balled MMO Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, it does a pretty good job of denying everything without saying much at all.

Perpetual's response asks the judge to toss the original suit out and force Kohnke to pay for their attorneys' fees after outlining why none of Kohnke's 13 claims have any substance. So boring, I was hoping for more dirt on the whole delivering-review-scores-for-pay issue.

PR Firm Dishes on Influence over Reviews in Suit [Kotaku]

That developer is going to have to start with a clean code slate, as the unknown new home of Star Trek Online gets the license and the artwork, but not the codebase from its former owner.

The game, which was said to be going in a new, more "casual" direction, was announced in Spetember 2004 as a 2007 release. Perpetual's had a rough go of it since, canceling its MMO project Gods & Heroes and then being sued by its PR firm.

It was then infested by Tribbles and had a rather unfortunate visit from Lwaxana Troi that was meant to be in good fun, but wound up being unbearable. That may help explain why the developer is rumored to now focus on its Perpetual Platform and casual games.

Breaking News: P2 Out As Star Trek Online Developer [WarCry]

TenTonHammer broke, and Shack News dug deeper into, recent news that public relations firm Kohnke Communications is suing Star Trek Online developer Perpetual Entertainment over a falling out two had over now moth-balled MMO Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.

The seven count suit alleges breach of contract and fraud, among other things, and seeks up to $290,675 stemming from Perpetual's recent shift in ownership and decision to redirect their efforts from Gods to Star Trek.

More importantly, though, the suit offers a disturbing look at both the world of game development and the relationship between PR firms and game reviewers, or at least the relationship that Kohnke thinks exists.

The suit lays out the fact that $70,000 of Kohnke's compensation was held back with the understanding they would receive that money, and as much as $280,000, based on the number of active subscribers to the game 90 days after shipment.

The incentive came to the PR firm if they were successful in creating pre-release "buzz" and in "convincing reviewers to write positive reviews about the game."

Funny, and I always thought it was the game that was supposed to do that.

I'm not naive enough to think that the success of a video game has nothing to do with the PR push, but it's disheartening to see that in this industry, reviews are see as something bought, not earned.

Star Trek Online Dev. Perpetual Sued by PR Firm, Charged with Breach of Contract, Fraud (Updated) [Shack News]

Asked about reports that Sony Online had shifted from co-publisher to solely a marketing role with Gods and Heroes, representing a backing-off the project by Sony, McKibbin called it a "non-story that people spun a little." He clarified: "There was no change in our relationship with Sony... part of the confusion comes from the difference between online games and packaged goods games. Perpetual has always been the financer and creator of Gods and Heroes. What [Sony was] doing initially versus what they are doing now is the same; marketing and distribution, and that's it. We have a great relationship with them, and there hasn't been any change with that."

McKibbin didn't put a date on Rome Rising's ship date, saying only they are aiming for an early 2008 release.

Perpetual Announces Gods and Heroes Delay, Layoffs [Gamasutra via Worlds In Motion]

BIOWARE CORP. LICENSES PERPETUAL ENTERTAINMENT'S ONLINE TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FOR UPCOMING MMO GAME

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - July 19, 2007 - Perpetual Entertainment announced today that BioWare's Austin studio has licensed Perpetual's online technology platform for an upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) title. The agreement gives BioWare the platform to deploy and support its online titles utilizing Perpetual's industry-leading technology for online game operations, deployment, infrastructure development and community support.

"We evaluated numerous technology solutions to serve as the service backbone of our first MMO title and feel Perpetual's online platform is the best fit," said Gordon Walton, Co-Studio Director of BioWare Austin. "The Perpetual team has years of experience building infrastructure and tools for online games and we are thrilled to be working with them."

"BioWare is one of the leading developers of AAA games in the world and we know they will find the Perpetual platform provides both the functionality and ease-of-use they are looking for to support their upcoming title," said Joseph Keene, Co-Chairman and CEO, Perpetual Entertainment, Inc. "With the Perpetual platform, BioWare's Austin studio can focus on making great games while minimizing the time and effort required to deploy and support their titles."

The Perpetual online platform provides a technology backbone of modules necessary to deploy and operate any modern online game, as well as a collection of in-game features and services. Incorporating tools for player management, billing, customer relationship management, game feature extension, load-balancing, lobby servicing, patching and community management, the Perpetual online platform gives developers and publishers the tools to bring the next generation of online games to market faster, and with lower technological and logistical restrictions.

Perpetual Entertainment invited me over to their downtown San Francisco studios yesterday for a little hands-on time with their upcoming massively multiplayer online game God and Heroes Rome Rising.

Chris McKibbin, Perpetual's Co-Chairman & President, said the game is set to hit by the end of this summer and went to great pains to explain how it would be more of an action adventure game than your typical massively multiplayer online game. Some of the other things he highlighted, which he believes sets his game apart from the rash of other MMOs, were the game's classic, mythologicially-influenced theme, a strategic squad-based combat system and collectible minions that level up with you. Think of them as a sorta Pokemon, it sounds like you will be spending a lot of time in the game running around trying to find and collect these guys and then trading them with other real-world players.

Kinda a neat concept.

The game also has this robust god system which seemed a little too familiar to me. It's not much different than the overarching thing in other games that make your particular character special, be in that you're a rookie who shows much potential, a hero or happen to be the son or daughter of a god.

I had a chance to play around with the most recent version of the game for about 20 minutes before I had to run to another appointment.

The character creation was fairly basic, though there were enough sliders in the appearance field to allow you to somewhat tweak the look of your particular son or daughter of a god. You also have to select your class and your god.

I started out in the game with a level two character and ran through a quick mission that seemed to exist in a smallish incident in the game. The other press testing out the game were also here, but my feeling was that it was a small space that could only handle a dozen or so players at a time.

The look of the game, while a bit generic, did have quite a bit of polished ambience, from the classic look of the structures, to far off fights with large creatures.

I particularly liked the character animation for fights. Instead of your typical sword swing, my character seemed to really get into the fight. The two special attacks I had were also quite original looking. One had my character leap up in the air, spin and deliver a downward blow with his sword as he landed. The other involved both sword stabs and punches and actually knocked the enemy to the ground temporarily.

While the animation had a nice flare, it was still the same point and click MMO fighting wrapped up in a nice package.

After taking out a few bad guys, delivering some goods, destroying some statutes, killing more stuff, I found my way back to my original quest giver and was told to make my way down into a pit to kill some guards in hopes of finding a key to escape my location.

The fights with the squat guards showed off some of the nice non-player character animations, including one attack in which the thing knocked me to the ground and jumped up and down on my fallen character for a few seconds: A nice touch.

After killing off a few guards I found the key, made my way through a gate and into another instance, one that the developers said would eventually support perhaps a few hundred real players at a time.

In this instance, a small village on the shore of a lake, I received my first minion, a choice between a fighter, essentially, and a healer.

Once you receive a minion you're given the ability to assign them to squads and a separate interface pops up which allows you to control their actions or put them in particular modes, like support.

This is where, I think, the game has the most potential. The idea of controlling a small army of your own minions in real time, setting them out across a field to attack another player's army of minions, could really change the way you play an MMO.

And it doesn't hurt that one of the guys behind the whole minion system is Stieg Hedlund, the lead designer of Diablo II.

Hedlund said that the idea behind minions is that they are suppose to maximize your character class, not the other way around. They want to make sure that you don't try to create characters that are essential minion masters, he said.

There are 132 minions in the world and their abilities and uniqueness are directly connected to how hard they are to find and get under contact.

Another thing that I think could really give this game legs are some of the expansions that they're already talking about doing. They include introducing new cultures and mythologies to the game, which would add to the number of gods and of course inherent conflict.

Also, they plan to add nation versus nation battles to the game down the line and player versus player is where MMOs can really shine, I think. Brian Crecente