The Star Trek Online first ever gameplay video has finally been unveiled, as promised, by Cryptic Studios at the Star Trek Convention held recently in Las Vegas. For more details on what went down, head on over to full article.

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.

If you look carefully behind a game, chances are you'll discover that the inspiration for that game came from something simple that somehow connected with the progenitor's sense of wonder. That's exactly the case with Cryptic Studios and its upcoming superhero MMORPG, Champions Online. More on the inspirational story after the jump.

If you're already excited about the new dual-wielding feature NCsoft is planning to implement in Issue 11 of its City of Heroes and City of Villains, then you'll be pleased to know the developers have more in store for the many would-be heroes and villains in their super-powered MMORPG.

Matt "Positron" Miller, lead designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains, discusses the weapon customization feature that they will be adding in the Issue 11 update. Miller and his team took into consideration the many requests sent in by fans to include more customization options for the game.

The two games already sport a wide array of extensive costume customization to tweak a player's character appearance. However, players wanted more than just cosmetic changes to their costumes - they wanted fully blown effects added in depending on their character's powers.

Jack Emmert, Creative Director at Cryptic Studios, then conducted a poll to ask players what they wanted in the way of powers. While most melee characters still voted for the former power customization feature, what defensive characters wanted most were customizable shield items.

It was then that the dev team found out that it was a whole lot simpler trying to swap weapon geometries and still keep the animations intact compared to revamping the effects altogether. However, while melee characters will be given a lot of love in Issue 11, defensive characters will have to wait for a later update to get their spiffy new shields due to the massive amount of content already involved with the current Issue.

For the ambitious heroes and villains out there, they also have a chance to obtain special weapons from enemies they're closely related to. Examples of these are the Thorn sword from the Circle of Thorns, the Red Cap's daggers and more. Once players obtain these "prestige" weapons, they have a chance to customize them further as well as show them off as well-deserved trophies to the rest of the superhuman community.

You can check out the complete list of weapons the developers will be testing out for Issue 11 right after the jump!

Over at MMORPG.com, Cryptic Studios top honcho, Jack Emmert, tried his hand on answering some City of Heroes questions from the community who have been supporting them from the get-go. There were lots of question thrown at his way but we will only cover the more interesting ones. If you want to read the word-per-word account of the Q&A session, you could click on our read-link below.

Community member UnSub asked Mr. Emmert about the future of microtransacting and RMTs in MMOGs. The Cyrptic Studios head answered:

It would be foolish of me to say that microtransactions won’t amount to anything, but I do think the subscription model will remain dominant for a while. We’re pretty comfortable with monthly bills in North America (cell phones, cable, telephones, etc.) so I think it’s natural. On the other hand, I think we’ll start seeing some games experiment with microtransactions. It’s a rough bet, though. Subscriptions provide a pretty reliable revenue stream, while microtransactions are much less predictable. MMORPG’s are very, very expensive. Publishers and developers want to make sure that they can make their money back!

An interesting gameplay question was asked by Techleo. He asked about Emmert's impressions of Issue 8? Would he prefer seeing more variety in Mission goal-types than saving hostages, blasting a bad guy, or searching for stuff? He gave out a rational and assuring answer:

Like to? Sure! New mission types take time to design, code, then implement. We’re always working on new twists and turns. I7 brought villain players the joy of Mayhem missions while I8 provided heroes with the challenge of Safeguard missions. Each brought some new stuff into play. So rest assured, we’ll keep delivering fresh, innovative content.

One of the signs of a healthy organization is constant growth. For the guys in-game it's in the impending celebrations. Translated to the corporate level, it's office expansions and new job offers - which is what Cryptic Studios has in mind. They've been enjoying the success of games like City of Heroes, and are now looking for a few good men to join their expanding ranks.

In an interview we read while browsing the net, we somehow get a glimpse of the Cryptic's reasons for hiring. For the prospective applicants, this is an opportunity to see what Cryptic's looking for in their new recruits...and a very subtle heads-up on a new Marvel Online MMORPG.

The interview's quick to start with the reasons for this welcomed expansion. And for the guys who're asking for specific projects that are using the new manpower, Jack Emmert's quick to mention the Marvel Online MMORPG in the works, along with other secret projects they're not quite ready to spill the beans on.

As for what sort of people they're looking to hire, the focus is on Art and Software, with an inkling for Community. The Design team's there to help develop new ideas to keep developmentfresh and innovative, while the Community's there to pass along news and updates to the players and website.

Now, for the young, talented hopefuls there worried about their lack of experience in the field, Cryptic's happy to say that you're exactly who they're looking for. As Herrera says in detail over who the ideal candidate is:

As far as hiring artists, we are really looking for the person who has an enormous amount of talent. We don't care if a person has 12 years in the industry or if the just graduated college. We look to see if an artist has a solid foundation (color theory, principles of animation, character proportions, etc.) We aren't looking for overly complex portfolios; we want to see that people understand their own strengths and cater their reel to accentuate their best skills. It is vital that an artist knows how to convey their vision in a fashion that we all understand.

For full details on what each of these guys has to say, click on the read link.

When Cryptic Studios decided to leave the comforts of the MMO genre and step into the console domain with Marvel Universe Online (MMO, X360), the company's head Jack Emmert became a relatively known figure. But until the comics-based title gets releases, Emmert will always be known for games like City of Villains and City of Heroes.

Actually, all three titles are part of Emmert's dreams. After all, he has been a huge comic fan since he was around 8 years old. And as to his favorite comic book hero? Emmert reflected, "I love the fact that Namor roots stretch back to the Golden Age (40's) and the dawn of the comic book medium. While Superman and Batman were strutting their stuff, Marvel had creations like the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and Captain America."

One remarkable thing about the guy is his respect for comic book characters especially women. When asked about the vogue Superheroes is in with NBC Heroes, the Cryptic official lamented,

One thing that disappoints me is that the female characters are all used as sexual objects. The cheerleader is almost raped. The African American woman cheats on her painter boyfriend. The police man's wife cheats on her husband. The blonde sleeps with the politician. It seems that the women's plot lines inevitably involve sex, while the male story lines don't.

The interview then went on to include several topics like his role in Cryptic, his normal day at work, his views about the industry in general and much more. To get to know Emmert more, kindly click the read link below for the whole interview.

When it comes to the just announced Marvel Universe Online, just two important details are known: first, Cryptic Studios was chosen to develop the said Microsoft MMO; then the game will feature seamless play between the PC and the X360. But the recent chit-chat with the three involved companies (Microsoft, Cryptic, Marvel) aims to shed light a bit further and hopes to keep anticipations running.

Microsoft Game Studios Frank Pape admits the tremendous success of WoW is their main motivation for getting into the massively multiplayer online market. He laments however that "World of Warcraft is a great game but it has been a black hole. It has subsumed a large part of the audience." Microsoft believes that Marvel can change all that by breathing fresh air into the space.

Also, they want to make sure that despite of the fact that PC and X360 gamers are able to play on one server, the two versions of the game are still distinct from one another. "[Cryptic Studios] is working very diligently to make sure the PC game does not feel like a port of the console or the console is a port of the PC game," shares Vice President of Marvel Interactive Ames Kirshen.

Furthermore, Cryptic Studios is still in awe regarding the breadth and depth of the Marvel Universe. Apparently, the comic publisher gave their all it at the studio's disposal. When asked as to where battles will take place, Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert gave a very promising answer: "The Marvel Universe isn't just super heroes running around in big cities," he said. "We have Thor and Asgard, we have Atlantis and we have the Midnight Suns and the other dark slices of Marvel."

Marvel Universe Online was first mentioned during this year's ComicCon. Other details including gameplay, characters availability and release date are still not available as of this writing.

His real name is Matt Miller, but City Of Heroes fans know him better as Positron.  By either name, he is well known in the industry as a developer and a communicator. His career recently took a step forward: he's now the lead developer for the CoX games at Cryptic Studios.

What about creative director Jack Emmert, the original brains behind the series? "CoH and CoV are still Jack [Emmert’s] games, but he has entrusted me to lead the games’ direction. I’ve always wanted to make them more story driven and have worked for a long period to achieve that. While he still has his say, I now decide which systems and features we work on, how we implement them, which zones we create or rework and so on," says Matt. He is determined to continue keeping the gaming community informed via forums and bulletin boards, however.

Now that Positron is in the driver's seat, where will he be taking CoH and CoV? Changes that are forthcoming include a new system that will improve Level 50 characters - so players will spend more time on that level before advancing to 60. According to Matt, this will "allows us to create more room on the top." This system, called "Enhancement Diversification," give players "the fat loot," making them stronger.

There'll be some changes in how archvillains and monsters work, although the archenemy system has been delayed because of implementation issues. Matt hopes to have this in place in the next 12-18 months. There will also be some improvements in the veteran reward system, which will include base items, free respecs and temporal powers. "There’s even a chance we’ll see the beloved Christmas jet pack again," adds Matt.

Issue 8 should be out sometime in September.