An Atari financial document apparently reveals that the company expects Star Trek Online to launch no later than March 31, 2010. ShackNews read the report, which also states that players will boldly go where no one has gone before on "both console and PC formats."

We've hailed Cryptic for any official comment and will update as soon as it responds.

[Via Massively]

Joystiq's sister site Massively.com has all the news you'll need about MMOs. Here's the best, brightest, and most interesting stuff from the last week, all in one convenient place for your MMO minute.

Massively's complete coverage of Warhammer Online Patch 1.2 Dwarf Slayers are just about ready to start hitting the live Warhammer Online servers for all their worth. With the orange tide imminent, I've been running around the test server for the past several days, looking to learn all I could about these wonders of Dwarven kind. Including -- but not limited to -- the underlying cogs of their special mechanic, how they handle PvP and PvE, and most importantly where they hide their booze -- here's a hint: it's underneath something.

EVE Evolved: Apocrypha expansion preview As March 10th draws ever closer, EVE Online's Apocrypha expansion is coming more and more into focus. Information on the new game mechanics and content is being released in the form of developer blogs and the official expansion page complete with screenshots and artwork is already up.

Make no Bones about it, folks -- memorable faces from the Star Trek universe won't be making an appearance in Cryptic's upcoming final frontier MMO, Star Trek Online. In a recent interview with MTV Multiplayer, STO executive producer Craig Zinkievich explained that the game takes place "in the future where the majority of the known characters have passed on." Except for the ones that are robots, or holograms, or ghosts. Or all three!

Don't think that Cryptic's issued themselves a license to kill canon -- Zinkievich (a shoe-in for Joystiq's Surname of the Year award) claims that the STO dev team has been in talks with folks who've been involved in the franchise to make sure they don't cut any corners, or crush any anticipation-filled Trekkie hearts. We've submitted our own terrifyingly erotic fan fiction to their think tank -- hopefully, it'll make it into the final product.

Yesterday's Cryptic Studios panel was a two-part affair. The majority of the hour-long panel was allotted to talk on Champions Online – a super hero MMO based off the original 80s paper-and-pencil RPG. The last five minutes were reserved for Star Trek Online. Both games yielded tons of new info.

First off, Champions will feature a lot of unique and odd weapons such as guitars. Essentially, this means you can create a "Guitar Hero" (hey, not our joke – blame executive producer Bill Roeper). The crew at Cryptic is also looking into implementing vehicles such as motorcycles, tanks ... and pogo sticks. Lastly, the formation of "super hero groups" will still follow the basic MMO guild structure, but with an integrated ranking system.

Moving on to Star Trek Online, the game was revealed to be set in the year 2409. That's 30 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, which marks the end of the ST timeline. The MMO puts players in the captain's chair as they are tasked to command their own ship either under the banner of the Starfleet or Klingon Defense Force. Ships and bridge officers are customizable. Cryptic says to expect a lot of "beaming up and down" from ship to ground for an authentic ST feel. The most interesting reveal was the race creator, allowing players to customize their own race. See that in action after the break.

The buyout game, like any other, produces sore losers. In this case it's Ubisoft, who lost out to Atari in a bidding war for Champions Online and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios.

Gamasutra quotes Ubi's CFO, Alain Martinez, as saying the company was "a bit mad [about]" losing the deal. "We were a bit disappointed," Martinez admitted, though he said Ubisoft is moving ahead with other planned acquisitions. "We have about three deals within [the] five million euro range that we are negotiating," he revealed, stating that, "Most probably, one or two of them will be closed in the next three or four months." One of those wouldn't happen to be Eidos, would it?

With all of the activity coming out of Atari lately, you'd think the once-struggling publisher stumbled across a bag of cash under the house. The company, which recently has made a habit of picking up other publisher's unwanted cast offs, today acquired City of Heroes developer Cryptic Studios in what GI.biz describes as a "performance-linked deal."

The agreement includes three of Cryptic's upcoming projects, including next year's super powered MMO, Champions Online, Star Trek Online in 2010 and an as-yet-unannounced third project (Hint: something Online?) due the year after that. What's more, the report suggests that in addition to the $26.7 million in cash that Cryptic pocketed from the deal, the developer could see its coffers grow by another $20 million bonus should enough players decide to suit up in tights or explore the final frontier.

Admit it, watching that guy play the Star Trek theme on the Wiimote theremin gave you a powerful appetite for Roddenberry's magnum opus -- we highly suggest satisfying your interstellar jones with three new screenshots for Cryptic's Star Trek Online, available in the gallery below. These are easily the best-looking images to come out of the game thus far -- just look at the glow from the dry dock's hazard lights, shimmering on the tritanium hull of that majestic, spacefaring vessel. Whoa, apologies for that brief relapse to our Trekkie days. Check out the gallery while we play a few recompensory rounds of Madden.

Job advertisements are often a useful source of information and this listing for Cryptic Studios is no exception. It seems the Star Trek Online developer is looking for some PS3 coding talent to get their MMO engine running nicely on the system. if Star Trek Online (or any other Cryptic properties) are coming to the PS3 then they're the latest in a long line of MMOs that we've been promised for the system.

Between NC Soft's announcement of bringing games to the platform in mid-2007 and SOE's numerous offerings, such as DC Universe Online and The Agency, we've yet to see a single one released. Still, variety is the spice of life and we're happy to hear that there's a chance Star Trek Online will be heading PS3wards. Think you can make it happen? Apply at Cryptic Studios' official website.

Think about it, is it really very strange that Star Trek Online could have cross-platform play? After all, Captain Kirk had all kinds of cross-species lovin', so why not? According to the Star Trek Online FAQ, the upcoming muhmohrpuguh from Cryptic Studios might have cross-platform play between the PC and it's console cousins. Regarding the possibility, the FAQ states "We would like that to be the case. There is nothing technologically keeping us from making it so." It's not an outright declaration that there will be cross-platform play, but it's not a denial either.

For the sake of peace throughout the galaxy, let's hope that Cryptic does indeed make it so.

[Via Joystiq]

It's the first question everyone has when confronted with an MMO targeted for both PCs and consoles: "Will console and PC players be on the same servers?" Lucky for us, the MMO nerds at Cryptic expected your (frankly) predictable inquiry and met it with the following response, helpfully contained on Star Trek Online's official FAQ page: "We would like that to be the case. There is nothing technologically keeping us from making it so." The more astute amongst you will undoubtedly taken note note that the above response is not technically the same as "yes" but it perhaps gets us one step closer to having an MMO besides Final Fantasy XI that actually plays across platforms.

Until then, we'll toss Star Trek Online into the same pile as other MMOs that are considering cross-platform play but have yet to actually deliver it: The Agency, DC Universe Online, Age of Conan, and Cryptic's own Champions Online. Wanna make it off that list, Cryptic? Make it so.

Welcome, Trekkies! [Insert clever Star Trek reference here] Cryptic Studios has beamed up (har) a gameplay trailer for Star Trek Online as it debuted today at the Star Trek Experience Event in Las Vegas. All footage is in-game, according to the developer. As revealed earlier, you'll be able to create your own alien species to play as, possibly even a Super Smurf (our conjecture). We imagine the cartoony art style will have a better reception than, say, Diablo 3.

The trailer is available via the official site; we've also made a new gallery of images from the trailer if you're too impatient to download. (Update: Video embedded after the break.)

We're just hours away from Cryptic's world reveal of Star Trek Online during the Star Trek Experience event in Las Vegas, but those wishing to jump the phaser on all the hubbub would be wise to read a recent AP interview with Cryptic Chief Creative Officer Jack Emmert. In said interview, a number of intriguing details about the MMO are revealed -- chief among these include word that players will be able to choose an alien species to play as, or create their own, in an uncharacteristic show of disregard for Star Trek canon.

New players will then captain their own Starfleet or Klingon ship, the size and crew of which will grow as the player progresses. Players will also be able to leave their ships to explore planets in true Trek fashion. Don't expect to see many familiar, pointy-eared faces on your travels, however -- Emmert explained that the game takes place "a few generations" after the last Star Trek film. It seems your best bet of running into Shatner in an MMO is to continue searching World of Warcraft for a shaman with unusual vocalized pauses.

[Via 1UP]

If you haven't been to the Star Trek Experience inside the Las Vegas Hilton, you might want to try and get yourself there on August 10th. That's when Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy, will be unveiling gameplay footage from the upcoming Star Trek Online.

This long-in-the-making and often troubled MMO has had a shaky path down the development road, and Vegas might be the perfect place for it to make one of its first appearances. Developer Cryptic could renew their Star Trek vows with a quickie wedding in true Trek style. One Vulcan Vow Renewal to go, please.

With the intergalactic cat already out of the bag this weekend, Cryptic Studios has officially announced Star Trek Online and unveiled a website for the in-development MMO. The developer has also released a handful of screenshots and promises to reveal gameplay footage at the Las Vegas Star Trek Convention on August 10 (there's a countdown on the STO site if you need something to stare at for the next 13 days). For those who can't make the convention, or decide to stay home because your prosthetic Vulcan ears didn't look just right, Cryptic will be streaming the presentation online.

[Via Massively]

If you happen to peruse the recent Game Career guide e-newsletter (PDF file; via WarCry), you'll notice on page 43 an advertisement that Cryptic Studios is hiring. While it may not seem like much, the ad does reveal a rather juicy detail that the developer is working on Star Trek Online.

In January 2008, work on the Star Trek MMO switched from Perpetual Entertainment to an undisclosed California-based developer. It looks like they're sticking with the Star Trek Online name; we were so hoping to see City of Trekkies instead.

[Via Massively]