A Star Trek MMORPG has been long overdue, in my opinion, but will the developers of Star Trek Online be able to give justice to the series? Well, we have a handful of new details that may help you answer that question. Details after the link.

Whether you're a trekkie, a trekker, or just a fan of Star Trek, you must be very excited that Cryptic Studios has taken up the development of Star Trek Online. Well, the new developers seem to be on the ball with this one and will be showing off the first gameplay footage of the game this August. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

After Perpetual Entertainment halted development early this year, Cryptic Studios is now taking up the mantle and has announced that it's working on a Star Trek MMO, called Star Trek Online, which is supposed to head to the PC and consoles. Find out more about this upcoming game, as well as see some screenshots, after the jump!

If you were dismayed to find out that P2 Entertainment scrapped its Star Trek Online project and laid off the majority of its employees, there's more bad news for you. A report has recently been circulating, detailing the demise of the online gaming outfit. Is there any weight in that news bit? Read the full article and find out.

Bad news for the Trekkies, in case they were hoping to hear more about the progress on Star Trek Online. Perpetual Entertainment's has recently announced that they've ceased development of the said MMORPG. You can find out the details over in the full article.

Alas, the time of Perpetual Entertainment's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising may have ended prematurely, but that doesn't mean their story is over quite yet. After all, there must have been people who wanted the game badly enough to pre-order it, but are now left with no product to buy. That being said, the folks at Perpetual Entertainment have some important news for you.

According to the official website for Gods and Heroes, you can actually pick up a refund for the pre-order you purchased. Just contact the retailer where you purchased the pre-order and you should be able to pick up a refund. You may want to make sure you have a proof of purchase when you show up at the store though, just to be on the safe side. Of course, if you pre-ordered online, then we're not entirely sure how you'll work that out.

In any case, you can check out their short message by following the source link below.

   

Let's all take a moment of silence and think about the epic MMORPG experience that has recently been put on indefinite hold, Perpetual Entertainment's Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. And to accompany us in mourning are the game's final screenshots, which have been unrevealed until now.

As we can see, the game has been shaping up quite well before the decision was made to focus on Star Trek Online rather than pushing forward with the game's release. We here over at QJ.Net have been looking forward to exploring Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising's rich landscape, as well as interacting with the game's many characters hewn from myth and legend. It's quite sad, really, to see such a project go on indefinite hold.

Still, we should be glad that it's just on hold, and not canceled entirely. Who knows, maybe after Star Trek Online rolls out, then we'll be able to see Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising sitting on a store shelf somewhere, waiting for us to pick it up. In the meantime, let's all dream of the fields of Elysium as we gaze at the screenshots.

Co-Chairman and President of Perpetual Entertainment Chris McKibbin has announced that they will be putting Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising on hold indefinitely to focus on Star Trek Online. According to him, they made this decision after evaluating the current competitive landscape, the game's state, and the company's goals. 

McKibbin pointed out that they would still need to make a "significant investment" if they want Gods & Heroes to reach the level of quality and polishing they want. Apparently, they don't have the resources to do that at the moment so they decided to shift their focus to Star Trek Online.

Fans of the Gods & Heroes will undoubtedly be disappointed by this move by Perpetual Entertainment. It was pretty surprising considering it was only recently when they started asking for more beta testers for a stress test. On the bright side, the company hasn't completely abandoned the game and may choose to go back to developing it after they have finished Star Trek Online.

 

Perpetual Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing some beta codes for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising. The keys are being given out to help facilitate the stability test that will be happening over the weekend.

Before you go rushing off to get a beta key though, you might want to know what the game is about first. Players will be placed in a very problematic time in the history of Rome. A race of beings that the Olympian gods imprisoned has returned from exile seeking vengeance. They start their assault by kidnapping all of Rome's heroes and inciting beasts, creatures, and rival cultures to attack the city.

If that got you interested in trying the game, click on our Read Link for more details on how you can get a beta code for Gods and Heroes: Rome Rising.

 

How does one go about translating concept art into the environments we see in MMORPGs? This is the topic of the latest Star Trek Online DevLog written by Perpetual Entertainment's Mike Stemmle. He walks us through the process of developing the different in-game structures that we often take for granted.

The process begins with the design team choosing a building they will be converting from the available concept art. Once the decision has been made, the concept artist needs to create more concept sketches showing the object from various perspectives. It is at this point that adjustments to scale are also made since most MMORPG's structures generally have bigger doors and pathways than those found in real life.

Once that is done, the building is then dissected into different pieces so that the modelers and texture artists will have an idea of how to group the different items into modular components. This process has to be done so that all the created sprites can also be used in other buildings.

After all of that, the same process is then repeated for the interior of the structure. When the interior has been finalized, the concept team begins to create the different props that will serve as items inside and around the structure. Once these get approved they are converted into in-game objects.

Unfortunately, Stemmle ends the DevLog at this point saying that the rest of the process will be discussed in a future article. Well, that's something we can all look forward to. Star Trek Online has yet to have a definite release date but it is slated for some time this year. While waiting for more news on this, take some time to go over some of the concept art that will be converted into in-game sprites.

  

The full article awaits after the jump!