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We've been having something of a Star Trek Online kick lately with The Daily Grind, but could you blame us with a suspiciously Cryptic clock ticking away? We figured that there wasn't any point in holding back our continuous thoughts on the possibility of Star Trek Online being announced in less than a month, so today we've got another question to ask you: Do you want away missions in your online space treks? It's not a cut and dry question, because away missions are arguably one of the core mechanics of the Star Trek series. Yet on the other hand, they're almost an entirely separate gameplay type than space exploration and combat.

It really comes down to whether or not away missions need to be in the game on launch day or if it could wait until an expansion or large free content update. We would argue -- in devil's advocate form -- that creating a thoroughly complete ship experience may actually be even more important for the game. Then again, it would be sort of strange to never leave your ship and explore the surface of strange planets with other players.

Since we get the feeling that something may be announced for Star Trek fans somewhat soon, we thought it a good idea to be topical.The moment anyone begins talking about Star Trek Online we here at Massively begin to wonder whether we want to play a character on the bridge of the ship with a group of other players or whether we want to just be the ship ourselves. It's an important question because it affects how the entire game is perceived and played. So far we've had three space MMOs where the ship was the avatar. Those games are Jumpgate, Earth and Beyond Online and EVE Online. On top of that, Jumpgate Evolution will make for a fourth spaceship-centered MMO.

With that in mind, we here at Massively are hoping for something different from Star Trek Online. It seems to us that part of the draw of both MMOs and Star Trek is working together with a group of people to explore space and sometimes do battle. Still, we're not sure if we're on the minority with that opinion and would love to know what you happen to think on the subject.

The Hailing Frequency forum is a self-styled fallout shelter for fans of the now-canceled Perpetual Entertainment game Star Trek Online. Interestingly, the forum has begun a several-part series unveiling never-before-seen screenshots of the game. With Perpetual's demise one would have thought these images would remain locked into fan hard drives forever. Instead, the forum moderators have been given leave by the new owners of the project to "start generating some significant hype for Star Trek Online." Poster Zach Nicodemous offers not only a series of (admittedly fuzzy) images of the project, but offers a great deal of hope to Trek fans everywhere.

According to Nicodemous, in the second post of the series, the new developer of STO has yet to make a Sci-Fi game. Just the same, they're looking to aggressively enter the marketplace, exceeding the game Perpetual was looking to make in numerous ways. Be sure to check out the screenshots, which includes hints that the game may have actually included ship interiors - a possibilty the developer initially ruled out.

There are many races within the Star Trek universe to choose from when it comes to your favorites -- and we say that in plural form because lets be honest, you can't pick just one -- so of course we're curious about your personal choices. If you had the power to choose four or five races for Star Trek Online, what would they be? Vulcan? Cardassian, Bajoran, Ferengi, Klingon, or Romulan? Or maybe something less expected like the Voth? We'd totally roll some bipedal hyper-dinosaur characters. Obviously we're assuming that Humans are included in this list, but hey if you want to exclude them feel free.

There's certainly a lot of room for discussion on this topic, seeing as there have been six Star Trek series (if you count the animated series) and ten -- but soon to be eleven -- movies. One thing we personally thing is that all Game Masters should be forced to be the Q race, because come on... that just makes too much sense!

The checkered past of Star Trek Online is well-known to both fans and detractors of that universe. As with so many things, the longer one has to wait for something, the greater the expectation accrued, until at last there comes a point at which nothing can possibly live up to its own hype.

However, there are indications that point toward Cryptic Studios picking up the license to have a go, and given their track record, there is room for hope. Will any of the cool concepts from the previous iteration remain? Will Cryptic be able to innovate in a genre they haven't tried before? What would make STO worth playing?

Keen-eyed reader Jester has alerted us to an interesting clue that might be Cryptic's way of telling us what their other MMO in development might be. On their front page, Cryptic has a small countdown clock with a lovely space background, but no other text over it.

Over at Star Trek fansite Trekcore, they've posted a ton of the concept artwork that had been previously done by Perpetual for the Star Trek Online before it got canceled. One of the pieces is the same blue-washed planet scene immediately discernible as the background for Cryptic's countdown timer. We've inset the clock into the concept piece for your viewing pleasure above. Is this a smoking gun? Or, rather, a plasma-venting core?

There's something to be said for a good user interface. Look at the ugly UI of Second Life, for example. Compare that to World of Warcraft, or what would have been (and might still be) Star Trek Online. Looks are important; at the very least, the interface should match the aesthetic of the world in which you're playing. But beyond that, there are other considerations.

Obviously, you want to be able to quickly find the commands you're looking for, and perhaps even customize the UI to match how you think. Assignable keyboard commands are a time- and sometimes life-saver. And although its growing increasingly rare these days, sometimes monitor size and screen resolution are important too. So, when they're all stacked up against each other, who's got the best UI?

TrekMovie.com, the web's foremost Star Trek blog, claims that it has "confirmed with sources" that Cryptic is the new developer of Star Trek Online. Just a couple of days ago, some forum-dwellers connected a lawyer representing STO back to Cryptic. A couple days before that, the STO website mysteriously relaunched. The clues don't end there, either.

TrekMovie is a fairly credible blog. It has an outstanding track record of inside scoops about the new Star Trek movie, at least. So: you know when two friends in your circle are sleeping together, and they want to keep it a secret, but every one knows, and it would just be easier for all involved (and not involved) if they'd just fess up? This Cryptic/STO relationship is looking a bit like that.

We've got on more tiny little piece of evidence to add to the mountain that already says Cryptic has been chosen as the developer for the new Star Trek Online game. Apparently a lawyer representing the unknown developers of the game sent a C&D to the folks at the Star Trek Games board saying that there is a developer with rights to the property, and that they should stop posting the IP of said developers. But those wacky forumites then connected that lawyer, one Timothy J. Harris of Morrison and Foerster LLP, with none other than Cryptic themselves, by way of Champions Online's privacy policy (he's down there in Part VI -- the first one, since there's two).

So. Nothing is still officially confirmed, and to be fair, Morrison and Foerster LLP (or "MoFo" as their webpage designates them) is a huge worldwide firm, and it could be that Timothy J. Harris is their guy for a number of videogame clients. But considering all the other evidence, it's a pretty good bet that Cryptic is working up concept art for an MMO featuring Klingons and the Borg.

[Via WarCry]

Star Trek Online fans have suffered in informational darkness ever since the lights went out at former developer P2 Entertainment a couple of months ago. We've known for a while that the game changed hands, but whose hands carry it today? A few bits of evidence led us to speculate that Cryptic might be the new bearers of the Trek torch, but for nearly 8 weeks, we've officially heard jack squat. Zip. Nada. Some might even say "nein" if that also meant "nothing," which it doesn't.

After all that silence, we're so sensitive to anything STO-related that the slightest sound rocks our collective consciousness. That just happened when the official STO website, which had vanished into the cyber-ether, suddenly came back online with a slightly altered logo accompanied by two teasing words: "Coming Soon."

Somewhere, somehow, and with someone, things are moving forward. So continue to employ Vulcan-like patience, because an announcement is bound to come eventually.

[Via WarCry]

Jack Emmert, Chief Creative Officer at Cryptic Studios, gave an interesting talk about using episodic content (read: patches) in the morning's (yes, it's still morning in California!) first round of GDC sessions. While we'll be posting a detailed write-up of the session later today, Emmert dropped a tidbit that, like any good piece of gossip, we simply must share. Talking about what Cryptic was working on, Emmert mentioned the recently announced Champions Online as well as what he called "a secret sci-fi project."

We could hardly resist squeaking with glee as this bit of information might lend some credence to rumors that Cryptic might be acquiring the Star Trek Online license. Of course, this is all speculation -- it's entirely possible Cryptic is working on an original IP or other sci-fi license. Right now we know:

1. STO developer Perpetual closed up shop and announces the Trek license had been given to an unnamed developer in the Bay area.
2. Cryptic was in talks with Perpetual for... something. We presume they were after some of Perpetual's development team, but no one would confirm or deny whether the STO license was involved.
   
3. Cryptic is now working on a sci-fi project.

This may not be proof, but if you put these pieces of news together it seems highly likely that they've become involved in STO's development in some way.

One thing I've taken to recently is lurking over at the Nerfbat forums, where many great minds discuss a lot of different things concerning massively games. One idea in particular has given me a spark of -- probable -- insanity in regards to something I've been giving plenty of thought to lately. The insane idea is this: What would a massively game be like if character avatars had no stats?

After reading though several different concepts presented in the thread responsible for this lunacy of mine, I started to wonder why every one of them focused on keeping with the fantasy motif. To me, it seemed obvious that if you're going to delve into a massively game where the characters have no numerical (or numerical-like) levels, stats or personal equipment it, was going to have to happen in something other than your standard fantasy adventure.

That's when two unexpected things came together for me and I realized something. A game where characters don't have any stats attached to them could exist with a difficult-to-design IP that's quite near and dear to me. What's the property, you ask?

The breakup of Perpetual Entertainment has been a messy, messy affair. The death of Gods and Heroes, the uncertainty over Star Trek Online, and former Perpetual PR representatives Kohnke's lawsuit were all signs of MMO development gone horribly wrong. Thankfully, it seems as though these threads are quickly sorting themselves out.

After Perpetual made some cranky throat-clearing noises early yesterday, saying the whole thing was "ambiguous and unintelligible", they must have decided it wasn't quite that ambiguous after all. Shacknews is reporting that Kohnke has dropped its suit after the two parties found some sort of mutual resolution.

As might be expected, the particulars of the agreement are not forthcoming. The initial suit was for some $300,000, and with its conclusion that sounds like it may be some of the last news we'll hear about Perpetual for the time being.

These days, if you don't keep your head down, a rumor about Cryptic Studios is bound to hit you in the face. In fact, quite a few of them probably already have at this point. It all started with a letter to the community. After that plural hit, it wasn't just Marvel Universe Online that people were chattering about, but upcoming "projects" from Cryptic Studios as well. Ever since they managed to take one of my favorite things in the world -- superheroes -- and turn that world into a fun and successful massively game, I've loved the people at Cryptic.

So it was with plenty of excitement that I discovered Cryptic would be handling the Marvel Comics license for their next massively game. Unfortunately for all of us excited fans -- of Cryptic, Marvel or both -- the entire operation went into super-secret-silent mode. Aside from CoX news, (which came from a different team at Cryptic, now NCsoft NorCal) we haven't heard even a faint murmur of information. After a while, this leads to lots of speculation about whether or not Marvel Universe Online is canceled. So far, there still hasn't been any additional official information on the game and all we are left to is pure speculation.

What could be in the future for Cryptic Studios? Nobody knows except them, but that shouldn't stop anyone from guessing.

According to WarCry's sources at P2 Entertainment, yesterday was the last day at work for the members of the Star Trek Online development team. We already heard that some of the team went over to Cryptic Studios for job interviews, but we didn't hear what they might be working on. It might be STO if Cryptic are the ones who purchased the license and content from P2.

Everyone at Massively is anticipating specifics about the fate of STO, but the internet community is sitting in the dark for the time being. While we wait for the lights to come back on, we want to wish all the STO refugees the best of luck as they boldly go to whatever strange new worlds await them.