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Cryptic Studios made clear the basic framework of its vision for Star Trek Online immediately after announcing the game, but the occasional interview or FAQ has revealed greater detail over the past few days. The latest example is a video interview at MMORPG with Cryptic's Jack Emmert, who in the interview reveals specifics about character, race, and starship customization. He also talks about Cryptic's relationship with the previous holders of the Star Trek Online mantle, Perpetual Entertainment.

As far as the customization goes, you'll be able to customize the "skin, eyebrows, antennae, and hair" of your characters and races. At launch, it's likely that all players will be humanoids. Ship geometry, colors, decals, names, and even serial numbers can all be set by players. It sounds like they'll use basic "kits" of tools based on which faction (Federation or Klingon) they choose.

Emmert also says that "war games" within factions would be possible, allowing players to engage in PvP with members of their own factions in a limited way. He doesn't sound at all certain that it will be possible at launch, though.

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.

This week we get to meet an ex-Star Trek Online team member who made the move to Cryptic Studios last February, becoming Champions Online's associate producer. Who is this man? It's Dennis Adams and we have to say he seems like a very cool-headed cat.

With a mind for art, Dennis got his start as an animation production supervisor for Walt Disney Studios. He spent five years there before getting a gig on The Simpsons Movie. Dennis finally made his dream-breakthrough into the videogame industry with Perpetual Entertainment, the then-developer of Star Trek Online. Of course, we all know how that unfortunate ship sailed. Not all was lost, however, as Dennis found a home at Cryptic Studios and is working diligently to bring all of our super-powered dreams to life. When asked to give his advice for anyone wanting to break into the industry his response was, "Love the craft -- you owe it to the gaming community." We always appreciate an impassioned videogame developer. So hats off to you, Dennis.

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.

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.

According to WarCry, The Studio Formerly Known as Perpetual Entertainment -- or just "P2 Entertainment" if you want to be less facetious -- has passed or sold ownership of the Star Trek Online project to a new studio headquartered in (fittingly) the Bay Area. This comes after a rocky history for the title, starting with the cancellation of Perpetual's other title Gods & Heroes, all sorts of corporate maneuvering, and a lawsuit.

WarCry did not reveal the name of the new steward, but it did learn that while the game's license and content (such as artwork, one presumes) were transferred, the code wasn't. So the new STO team is starting from pretty close to scratch. If you were hoping for a 2008 release, it's time to be disappointed; though at this point none of this is a huge surprise.

We don't know if the new owners are related to P2, if any of the old team will be moving with the project, or anything else, really. More info and some clarifications are sure to come eventually, though, so sit tight.

2007, by some accounts, has been one of the best years for video games ever. While most would think of the tremendous console releases, MMOs have also seen their fair share of greatness. However, as the saying goes, you can't win them all.

We're going to take a look back at 2007 at some of the higher, and lower, points in MMOs and game development. New Year's is over, so take some aspirin, get yourself a stiff cup of coffee and take a brief stroll through MMO memory lane.

Star Trek Online is one of the most anticipated MMOs on the horizon, but it's no secret that Perpetual Entertainment has had a rough couple of months. There's an ever-present air of uncertainty around STO's future.

Most of that uncertainty stems from Perpetual's legal and financial troubles, but one former STO team member has written up a blog post suggesting that making a Star Trek MMO might be a Kobyashi Maru scenario to begin with. "At first glance, Star Trek seems like the perfect setting for an MMO," said former systems designer Eric Heimburg, "but appearances can be deceiving. It's actually a huge landmine of problems."

Heimburg wrote that it's an expensive and difficult task to produce both a space game and a land game, that making space interesting is challenging, and that it's impossible to please all Star Trek fans because everyone has a different opinion about what makes the franchise great. All good points; we'll see if Perpetual has what it takes to make it all come together ... if it can even survive its financial and legal woes.

[Via TTH]

For a minute there, we thought Perpetual Entertainment was clear of the post-Gods & Heroes-cancellation mess and that Star Trek Online would enjoy (relatively) smooth sailing from here on out. It turns out that drama isn't over yet. There's been a new development that raises new concerns and sheds light on what's been going on over the past two months.

A few days ago, Kohnke, the PR firm that promoted Gods & Heroes, filed a lawsuit against Perpetual. Kohnke believes Perpetual owes it up to $280,000. Just prior to the cancellation of Gods & Heroes, the bigwigs at Perpetual sold Star Trek Online to another company they owned. So in other words, Perpetual sold STO to itself. Kohnke has accused Perpetual of doing this so as to avoid paying up -- which would be a violation of the law.

We here at Massively are game journalists, not lawyers, so don't take this as an expert opinion, but it looks like the worst case scenario for Perpetual is that it'll have to sell STO in order to pay Kohnke. Alternatively, Kohnke could settle for a stake in STO as payment, or Perpetual could find another investor for STO to make paying Kohnke easier. All that assumes that Kohnke wins the case, though. If it doesn't, it'll be just another day for Star Trek Online.

If only Perpetual existed in Star Trek's 24th century, in which there is no such thing as money -- except for Latinum, of course!

In the past, Star Trek Online devlogs have been light on gameplay information. Perpetual's Mike Stemmle usually writes about the development team, concept art, and things of that nature. But this time it's different. Not only does Devlog #5 include juicy details about interacting with NPCs, but it also includes the very first in-game screenshot. Sweet!

We can learn a couple of things from this screenshot. First of all, the graphics are neither cutting edge nor outdated; they're right in the middle. This is arguably a sweet spot for MMOs. Second, the LCARS influence can be seen on the UI, but it's not overt. In fact, it's barely there. We do find it a bit alarming that the game features a standard MMO "1 through =" action bar -- a tired convention that's begging for innovation.

As far as the NPC interaction stuff goes, though, it all sounds good.

Now that the Star Trek Online nerf scare has passed, it's time to take a few deep breaths of anticipation and soak in STO-related news again. The first news-worthy bit to pop up post-scare is a post by Steve Mason (the lead UI designer) at the startrek-online.net forums.

Mason is dedicated to preserving the LCARS look in Star Trek Online. For those who aren't total Star Trek nerds; LCARS is the graphical user interface used by Federation ships in the 24th Century-era Star Trek series (The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager). It was designed by a TNG-staff artist who was trying to theorize what a high-tech GUI interface would be like when GUIs were still in their infancy in the real world.

So, there are some challenges in making LCARS useful to modern users. Mason says that STO will use an updated version of the LCARS interface (which won't hurt canon, since the game takes place quite a few years after Voyager left off) that will include all the bells and whistles of modern, cutting-edge UIs. " Think iPhone," he said. There are more details in his post, and he also opened up the thread to questions.

[Via WarCry]

There has been a lot of confusion with regards to the fate of Perpetual Entertainment and Star Trek Online over the past few days. First, an SEC report was filed by Gravity that appeared to say that Perpetual Entertainment was liquidating all assets and would cease to exist as a company. Then, Shacknews ran a story claiming that STO had been bought and would be re-invented as a "more casual" experience.

Star Trek Online's Executive Producer Daron Stinett addressed panicked fans, saying that not all is as it seems. We have the lowdown here for you. The heart of the matter: it appears that STO has not been canceled or nerfed after all --at least not to the degree that we feared. That said, here's the full story so far.