New Star Trek strategy game in the works?

While by no means official, an interesting bit of Star Trek gaming news has emerged from the aptly named Star Trek Gaming Universe. In a thread started last week, a person going by the name of "Harry" let readers of the site know the "state of the state" of several Star Trek game projects.

First up were some allegedly new details on the upcoming Star Trek massively multiplayer online game tentatively titled Star Trek Online. "First and foremost, the MMOG is deep in design," he said. "The game is set for beta sometime in 2006 and release sometime in 2007. … Not far from now, you'll start seeing more info coming out." Star Trek Online is being developed for PCs by San Francisco-based startup Perpetual Entertainment and has no firm release date.

After mentioning GameSpot's recent review of the mobile game Star Trek: The Birds of Prey, Harry went on to talk about future Star Trek games in more vague terms. "All I can really say about the next thing right now is that you'll be seeing ST games coming to non-traditional gaming platforms this year," he said. Then, Harry dropped an enticing clue as to what kind of games Trekkers will soon be able to beam up. "While not set in stone yet, discussions are ongoing for several all-new ST games (anybody here like strategy?). And one you might play sooner than you think, if it happens."

So why give Harry more credence than any other forum-user posting on the future of Trek gaming? Because the thread-starter claims to be the "Senior Director, Interactive Viacom Consumer Products, Licensing Division of Paramount Pictures." That position is currently held by one Harry Lang, who is credited with working on Trek titles as far back as 1999's Star Trek: Hidden Evil and 2001's Star Trek: Armada II.

Though Lang could not be reached for comment, he does have a reputation for posting online. However, if indeed the post comes from him, it is still not an official announcement from Star Trek studio Paramount Pictures or its parent, global media giant Viacom.

GameSpot will have all the latest developments in Star Trek gaming as they occur.