Star Trek Online MMORPG

Star Trek Online is a 'massively multiplayer online role-playing game' (or MMORPG for short) set in the Star Trek universe. Star Trek Online will run on Windows PCs and allow players to play as characters from the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire. For instance, they could choose to play as a Captain of a Federation starship, or alternatively to play as a Klingon Warlord.

The game is currently undergoing beta-testing, ready for it's imminent release dates of February 2, 2010 in North America and February 5, 2010 for Europe.

It's available now for pre-order with Amazon, however, where there are some pre-order incentives, i.e. access to the open beta (scheduled for 1/12/10 - 1/26/10), Head Start access (1/29/10) and an Amazon.com exclusive Borg Bridge Officer.

There are two versions available, the standard version and the collector's edition, which has the following bonus items:

• Deluxe Packaging - Futuristic holography set in a high quality brushed aluminum finish.
• Deluxe Manual - Hardbound, art book, manual, and disc case in a single, elegant package.
• Communicator Badge - High quality cast metal design based on the in-game badge model.
• Guest Passes - Credit card style passes entitling friends to a ten day game trial.
• Red Matter Capacitor - A unique item that charges up and delivers extra energy to all of your ship’s equipment for a short time.
• Next Generation Uniform - Uniform options from ST-TNG, as worn by Picard, Data and Riker.
• Deep Space Nine Uniform - Uniform options from ST-DS9, as worn by Sisko, Worf and Dax.

The plan is to allow players to choose to play as any of a number of races, i.e. Human, Vulcan, Andorian, Klingon, Orion, Gorn and several others. You will also be able to create your own race with its own custom look and attributes.

Your character will be able to choose from a variety of career paths, such as Engineer, Tactical Officer, Doctor, Science Officer, etc. Your career choices will will affect your skills and how you command your crew, although you will always be Captain of your own ship, which will be able to be customized in many ways. As Captain, you lead your crew on missions that span a number of locations and make the decisions, wherever you are. This will help to earn you the skills to command larger, more powerful ships as you progress through the game.

You might be in space, exploring new parts of the galaxy, or fighting a 3-D space battle against your enemies. At other times, you might be on a planet's surface, where you lead your away team across new worlds. On the ground, you command five crew, which can be directed to act as you choose.

You'll be able to play with friends, including being able to build an away team for ground based missions involving other players. There will also be non-combat based scenarios involving other players.

Minimum system requirements are:

• OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista / Windows 7 (32 or 64-bit)

• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or AMD Athlon X2 3800+

• Memory: 1GB RAM

• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 / ATI Radeon X1800 / Intel HD Graphics

• Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible Soundcard

• DirectX: Version 9.0c or Higher

• HDD: 10GB Free Disk Space

• Network: Internet Broadband Connection Required

• Disc: 6X DVD-ROM

Recommended system specifications beyond the minimum are:

• CPU: Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X2 5600+

• Memory: 2GB RAM+

• Video: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3850+

• HDD: 10GB Free Disk Space