A new contest has been unveiled at Star Trek Online's home page. The contest would be to describe the planet you are currently in orbit around. In 500 words or less, you can go over the history of the planet, the social habits of those on it, or simply the terrain illustrated in pristine detail.

"Tell us about the planet shown here as well as on the Planet Exploration contest rules page. You can tell a story of daily life of the inhabitants, make a scientific survey log entry, or weave any type of tale you choose."

Jean Luc would be proud, but Kirk would simply think it is your duty to portray information to the Federation. Archer would have just played it by ear.

Source: Star Trek Online

Cryptic has released new footage of Champions Online in their increasingly cryptic fashion to MSNBC.com. Although it's not clear if this footage is from the XBox 360 or PC, or for that matter why they released it to MSNBC, it nevertheless drops a jaw to the floor. This game looks like it might just be a winner, with a style all it's own and a sense of artistry that just boggles the mind. Check out the video below!

Source: MSNBC.com

Cryptic Studios, the developer of games such as Star Trek Online and Champions Online, will be acquired by Infogrames Entertainment, the parent company of Atari, according to a press release.

The release states that the "acquisition is a critical step in the implementation of Atari’s strategy to become a leading online game developer and publisher."

Atari will benefit from Cryptic’s powerful proprietary engine, scalable content development tools and online server architecture to deliver very high productivity-per-employee and industry-leading client/server performance and create unique, high quality MMO games on 18 to 24-month cycles. Atari will also gain a proven set of high-quality MMO game operating tools for sophisticated customer service and account management.

John Needlam, CEO of Cryptic Studios, said he is committed to helping Atari grow and that the Cryptic team is "very excited about the opportunities that this unique combination with Atari creates." Keep reading after the jump for the full announcement.

Hey, maybe that Pong MMORPG I recently joked about will see the light of day!

In the newest Meet the Team segment, we are introduced to Christine Thompson, a writer for Star Trek Online. While the interview focuses mainly on Thompson's background and favorite Star Trek storylines and characters, she does make an interesting comment regarding the nature of quests in STO:

I’m really excited about our episodic mission structure. We’re creating content that’s not “typical” MMO quests – we want to reflect what you’ve seen in the shows, with a variety of locations and actions in each one. I want people to be excited during episodes and eager to find out what happens next, not just wanting to finish quickly so they can get some XP and move on.

You can read the full interview here or below.

Champions Online (CO) is an MMORPG based on the 1981 table top game, Champions. Cryptic Studios, after canceling their Marvel Universe Online in February of 2008, undertook the making of the CO game, and they've come quite far in a short amount of time!

At both the Gen Con and Leipzig gaming convention shows this year, Champions Online had a presence. I was lucky enough to see it both places, and what I saw of the game is both exciting and interesting!

The most important detail about the game is that it will be available on both the PC and Xbox 360 at launch. Though having both formats of the game on the same servers at launch is a goal, they'll not confirm anything until they are sure it can be done. Also, subscription models for either service have not yet been announced or talked about. While it may be early in the process to talk about, dual patching both game servers was also not discussed, though I asked about it. I guess at this point, saying anything when they're not sure how things will work out, is a bit premature.

If you're an MMO enthusiast -- which you likely are considering your current choice of reading material, chances are you've heard of a game in development called "Star Trek Online". Though the game has changed hands a few times over the years, it certainly looks that it's on the right track and in the right place. We had the chance to find that out first hand when we spoke to Executive Producer, Craig Zinkievich.

During the interview we manged to get Craig to divulge information about Tricorders, The Prime Directive and we even got his "solution" for the Kobayashi Maru. If you're a Star Trek fan or looking forward to the game, our Interview is a MUST read.

Tamat: Thank you for agreeing to talk with us about Star Trek Online Craig! Let's start with a question that the community would really like to know. Are there any plans to include the Borg as a playable faction in future expansions?

Craig : We’ve thought about it. There are some daunting design problems, one of which would be how to deal with Borg PCs being part of the Collective. That being said, we’ve had some creative and cool conversations about what it might be like to play as the Borg – so maybe there will be something in the future!

Tamat: Most MMO's include a "loot reward" system in which the player upgrades their character with currency and items obtained from defeated monsters.  However, Federation captains aren't known for their graverobbing, so how does STO handle this?

Cryptic Studios has posted an interview with Matt Highison, a character artist for Star Trek Online. In this highly anticipated game, it's Matt's job to model characters, paint textures, create shaders and implement new tech.

While the questions focus mainly on Matt's personal interests, he does mention that STO is doing things he's never seen before in any game.

"My personal goal is to give the player as much creative freedom as possible, while doing things behind the scenes to make sure that every player creation comes out looking as good as any of the classic Star Trek characters we are making. The species you know and love should be there and looking great," Matt said in the interview.

For the full interview, head over to the official Star Trek Online Web site or keep reading below.

Space may have been the final frontier when Gene Roddenberry's original "Star Trek" first aired in 1966, but Cryptic Studios' upcoming MMORPG will provide a new undiscovered country for Trekkies and Trekkers alike to explore using fully customizable characters.

In the newest "Ask Cryptic " dev blog, the development team focuses on character customization as a "hallmark feature" of the game. Players will have the ability to modify their characters' uniforms, as well as change their Bridge Officers' race, appearance, gender, name and physical appearance. I suggest refraining from dressing your characters in red shirts or your gaming experience may be short-lived.

Also, the team discussed the roles of Federation ship classes in the game.

Will ship roles be analogous to naval combat roles or will they be more like the party roles in other MMOs - will ships be cruisers or destroyers or they be tanks or healers?

Federation ship classes are inspired by the television shows. So, for example, you could have a ship like the Enterprise, the Defiant or the Voyager. We call the different classifications of ships Cruisers, Escorts and Science Vessels.

Cryptic has released another one of their "Ask Cryptic" dev blogs, this time answering your submitted questions about Star Trek Online .

Ask Cryptic returns with answers on story, space, psionics, society, ships and logs. Thanks very much to our development team for taking time out of their busy schedules to answer these!

Given that the story and character of Star Trek are almost iconic, how will the story element be delivered? Will there be voiceovers or cut scenes?

Star Trek Online takes place about 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis and Star Trek: Voyager, in the year 2409. Many of the characters have retired, passed on or otherwise evolved. Certainly, some characters have very long lifespans, and many will have had children. Expect to see the descendants of some of your favorite characters, old enemies return and friends evolve. And definitely expect to visit familiar locations like Starfleet Academy in San Francisco, Deep Space 9, Qo'noS, Vulcan and many others, as well as strange and entirely new worlds.

You can read the whole thing right here .

What's an MMO without good lore? To help get everyone up to speed, Cryptic has released the first of a series of short pieces to get everyone up to speed on what happened between Star Trek: Nemesis and 2049, the setting of Star Trek Online . This piece covers 2379-2380. A lot went down in that short time.

Following the death of Praetor Shinzon at the Battle of Bassen Rift, the Romulan government fell into disarray. Tal'aura, one of the few remaining members of the Romulan Senate and a former ally of Shinzon, declares herself the new Praetor, supported by Fleet Commander Tomalak as the new leader of the Imperial Defense Force.

However, Tal'aura's leadership is opposed by Commander Donatra, who with the support of Commander Suran and former Admiral Braeg retains control of the majority of the Fifth and Third fleets. Any hope of a reconciliation between the two sides ends after the execution of Braeg, and Donatra vows never to accept Tal'aura's rule.