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<i>Star Trek</i> writer signs on for Bethesda games

Original series scribe DC Fontana providing scripts for upcoming Legacy for PC and 360, as well as Tactical Assault for PSP and DS.

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When publishers working on a licensed game want to provide a bit of authenticity to the final product, from time to time they'll attach one of the license's original creators to the project. Atari picked up frequent Forgotten Realms author RA Salvatore to contribute the story for its game set in that fantasy universe, Demon Stone. For 24: The Game, Sony Europe based the story on a script from one of the TV series' screenwriters.

Bethesda Softworks is taking a similar approach for its upcoming Star Trek games, Legacy and Tactical Assault. The developer of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion announced today that it has secured the talents of Dorothy "DC" Fontana to help write the scripts for the two games.

Fontana has deep roots in the Trek universe, having provided stories for the original TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Animated Adventures, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and even the unofficial fan-made spin-off Star Trek: New Voyages. The rest of her career is dotted with work for other sci-fi TV series, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Logan's Run, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Babylon 5, and Earth: Final Conflict.

Fontana's familiarity with the Trek mythos should come in handy particularly with Star Trek: Legacy, as the PC and Xbox 360 game is set across every era of the Trek TV shows, from the prequel series Enterprise up through Voyager. As for the game itself, it will have players assuming the role of a Starfleet admiral charged with commanding a task force of Enterprise-esque starships through large- and small-scale battles.

On the other hand, the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS game Star Trek: Tactical Assault will be set exclusively in the original-series setting. Focusing on real-time ship combat, Tactical Assault's single-player campaign will let players assume the role of a Starfleet or Klingon commander, and its Fontana-penned story will have branching paths and multiple outcomes.

Both games are set for release by the end of the year.

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