Q&A: Cryptic takes Star Trek online

Over the weekend, Trekkies from all walks of life made their annual pilgrimage to the Star Trek Convention to meet, greet, and flash Vulcan peace signs. As a special treat this year, Cryptic Studios delivered the first details and gameplay footage of Star Trek Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Gene Roddenberry's beloved sci-fi series.

Best known for its work on the City of Heroes/Villains MMOG (which is now fully owned and run by NCsoft), Cryptic Studios acquired the license to develop Star Trek Online from Perpetual Studios in the wake of that outfit's closing earlier this year. In an interview with Cryptic executive producer Craig Zinkievich over the weekend, GameSpot confirmed that the new rights holders have opted to build the game from scratch, making use of only a portion of the concept art created by Perpetual.

Zinkievich also told GameSpot that the game will be set 30 years after the most recent film, Star Trek: Nemesis. In addition to setting the stage for an all-new storyline, the time period means that established characters will be "retired or passed on," so players won't simply be reenacting old TV episodes, according to Zinkievich.

For more on the types of ships, locations, and exploration destinations in Star Trek Online, check out GameSpot's full interview.