To celebrate open beta we’ve put out a lot of content! This video serves as a “guide” to help you find the content you want to watch!

This video features clickable previews of each video, with links to them in the show notes below as well.

Our STOked App:

Grab the STOked iPhone/iPod App and download STOked plus bonus content on the go!

Show Notes:

This videos covered are:
-STO Character Creator Tutorial Video

-STO Tutorial Tips & Tricks

-Interview with STO Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich

-How to Submit great bug reports during beta

The post STO Open Beta Must Watch Video Guide | STOked first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked Season 1 Episode 14: We detail how Cryptic acquired the right to a Star Trek MMO, what big well known company almost acquired STO and turned it into a console only game!
Plus we cover the news of a new book based on Star Trek Online, and what you can expect. We’ve combed through the latest Cryptic staff interviews and have picked out the best bits from them all, and share them with you!

THEN – We cover the Live streamed beta leak and what the public reaction to Star Trek Online was, and we cover the latest round of game play videos and screen shots!

DISCUSSION:

The Complete History of the Star Trek Online IP:

Feb 2000: Announced at a financial meeting that Verant (which later became Sony Online Entertainment) obtained the IP to make a Star Trek MMO. This title was slated to be released for both PC and PS2 (!), but was abandoned less than 6 months later when Verant instead shifted most of their production to SWG. This version of STO was quietly abandoned
https://pc.ign.com/objects/794/794740.html

2004: Perpetual Entertainment announces development of “Star Trek Online”. PE (or P2 Entertainment, later) was also developing a “Roman” themed MMO (Gods & Heroes) which never made it past Closed Beta. In January 2007, just a few months after beginning G&H Closed Beta, a massive wave of layoffs swept the company and after another wave hit in September, PE announced they would be exclusively focusing on STO. In order to quell rumors that the company was going under, a series of screenshot releases and interviews were held that were later reported to be completely bogus, or concept-level creations ONLY.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_Entertainment

November 2007: An article was released that Perpetual may be bought out by an investor known as Gravity Co., Ltd – a korea-based company that intended to change the game into a non-subscription-based MMO that would instead charge RL money for in-game items and advancement.
https://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/50065

In January 2008, Perpetual filed Bankruptcy and liquidated their assets. Almost immediately following the collapse of Perpetual, the IP and all of PE’s work was obtained by Cryptic Studios. Utilizing the Cryptic Superhero engine, development progressed very swiftly. And by Auguest of 2008, in-game footage was available & revealed at the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas (the announcement of STO, and reveal of this footage, was co-hosted by Leonard Nimoy).

Food for thought:
Star Trek will have existed for 44 years at the time of release (since 1966)
Despite the eventual success of Star Trek, creator Gene Roddenberry nearly filed bankruptcy in the early 70s after several other TV pilots/pitches were rejected by many studios.
Due to lackluster box office draw, Roddenberry was forced by Paramount to relinquish creative control to future sequels after the release of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”
Over 15,000 fans attended the 2009 Las Vegas Star Trek Convention (vs approx. 8,000 @ Blizzcon 2009)

NEWS:

STO Novel: “Needs of the Many”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/143918657X/?tag=thelinactsho-20
Michael A. Martin — has written books in the “Enterprise” timeline.
Won’t release until after STO is out. Trek today reports “it will have 340 pages, and the release date is set for March 30th, 2010”
Pre-Order at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/143918657X/?tag=thelinactsho-20

STO has a Rating!
“T” for Teen (Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes)

STO is up for “Most Anticipated of 2010”
https://www.massively.com/2009/12/03/massivelys-end-of-the-year-readers-choice-awards/
Only noteworthy adversary is FF XIV. And maybe DC Universe.

“Tweet in Klingon” (Twitter) and “Trek Me” (Facebook)
https://www.startrekonline.com/node/659
The klingon tweets annoy me. Not a very good translator, anyway.
Trek Me was fun for for about 10 minutes.

BETA LEAKS:

Over two hours of footage was leaked on MMORPG.com’s forums (justin.tv)
Has since been removed. Showed tutorial gameplay – space & ground combat.
Generally well-received! Made people excited!

ARTICLES:

Massively.com — Community Q&A with Zinc
https://www.massively.com/2009/11/25/space-combat-star-trek-online-community-qanda-answers/
Discusses the “need” for combat, both in the story and as a game
Firing arcs & power management discussed, driving a tactical feel to space combat.
“Fun comes first, with IP accuracy a close second.”
Klingons: Have to drop shields to cloak (susceptible to AOE torpedo spreads and such?)
Shuttles (crew-fueled abilities) can be shot down! And countered via a “Security Team” BO ability.
Subsystem targeting: Science vessels can do this innately, but BOs are better at it for a single system (Weapons, Shields, Engines, Aux)

Boomtown.te — Craig Zinceivich interviewed
https://rpg.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=18916
Diplomatic missions: “… the point of these is to figure out a problem, locate evidence or a missing person. These missions flow naturally thru talking with NPCs and exploring the environment.”
Learning Curve: “Minute to learn, lifetime to master.”

Ten Ton Hammer — Gear Information
https://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77337
SO MANY SLOTS: Weapons, Shields, Armor, Kits, Devices… and MORE for your Boffs!
MORE SLOTS IN SPACE! Weapons, Shields, Hull, Deflector Dish, Station Upgrades/Mods
Kits = Class specific. Visual additions (belts, shoulder harnesses, etc)
This is the first time Cryptic has made gear important in a game (CoH, CO – not important). Trying to find a balance that will enable gear to augment and customize a character, instead of define it.

MMORPG.com – Hands On Preview
https://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/352/feature/3780/page/2
Some more thorough Character Progression info (Careers and Sub-classes of skills)
Tactical = Soldier (Damage), Security (Tank), Special Ops (Stealth)
Engineering = Technician (Buff/Debuff), Fabrication (Turrets/Pets), Combat (manipulation of the battlefield) –?
Science = Research (group buffs/debuffs), Scientist (individual buffs/debuffs), Medical (healer)

IGN.com – Developer Diary w/ Matt Highison: “Re-creating the Borg”
https://pc.ign.com/articles/105/1050342p1.html
“No return” from assimilation. Whole limbs & torsos are removed/replaced for the new borg.

Gamerant.com – Interview with Daniel Stahl
https://gamerant.com/exclusive-star-trek-online-interview-robk-3807/
Additional interiors post launch? “With so many ships, and everyone wanting a different configuration, there needs to be a lot of options to make it live up to Cryptic’s customization standards.”
Fleet Actions (20+ players? We keep getting different numbers.) can take place on ground or in space.
Any announcement of future projects (whatever those will be) will not come until after the release of Star Trek Online.

Computer & Video Games – Interview w/ Al Rivera
https://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=228783
A LITTLE more Klingon ship information, but not much (BoP, Raptor, Battle Cruiser (Neg’vhar, Vor’cha), and Super Carrier)
Traits: “There are about 60 species traits. Most are passive, but a few can be activated. Some are obligatory to the IP like Vulcan Nerve Pinch, Mind Meld, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Empathy, etc. Others are more implied by the IP or simply make good MMO mechanics, like Improved Strength, Logical, Warrior, Soldier, Stubborn, Spiritual, etc. Some traits are unique to certain species, and some are generic. The way it works is you first pick a species. Every species gets 4 traits. If you choose a specific species you will get 1-3 traits that are auto assigned to that species, and you can choose the remainder from a generic pool. Species specific traits are typically better than those in the generic pool, but the more species specific traits a given species has, the less generic traits the species has access too. If you choose to create your own species, you do not get any species specific traits, but you can choose all 4 of your traits from the entire generic pool, so you can make some interesting combinations not available to any specific species.”

Massively.com — Space Combat Hands-On
https://www.massively.com/2009/12/01/hands-on-with-star-trek-onlines-space-combat/
Walk-thru of some key commands: Thrust on Q/E, WASD, Power Level Presets
“Space combat may get to a point — we’re talking after release, here — where players can do it so deftly that it becomes somewhat boring, but I kind of doubt it. Every battle offers different challenges depending on the configuration of the enemy forces.” (We can assume this is somewhat in reference to things like launching fighters, boarding parties, minefields, and more.)
Article includes a handful of new screenshots! (Romulans, and weird Fed ships)

Techulous — Interview w/ Dan Stahl
https://www.techulous.com/news/exclusive-interview-star-trek-onlines-daniel-stahl.html
Crafting is not crafting. It’s either “replicate and trade” or “survey and collect” for rewards.
PvP Instancing: Arena, Objective, or Assault. (No definitions available)

MMORPG.com — Bridges & Boffs
https://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/352/feature/3792/Star-Trek-Online-Bridges-Bridge-Officers-Preview.html
“Each time the player earns a new ship, they get to select from a group of prefabricated bridge areas. The team is close to launch and they didn’t want to bite off more than they could chew.” … meaning no customization beyond just picking which one to use, for now.
There are plans to add other iconic locations, such as the Captain’s Ready Room that could store trophies and other personal items.
Akin to player housing, no piloting functions included.
Boffs: Full customization of name, features and RACE (this is not what our beta tips told us!)
Smaller ‘cast’ than the TV shows, due to combined/general classes. No helmsmen, no counselors, no morale officers. Boffs are more well-rounded, though you can choose their skills to focus on particular skillsets.
8 abilities (1 per rank, 1 ground & 1 space). All visible when you acquire a Boff to help you plan accordingly.
Boffs are groupmates, buffs, collectibles, and a tool to allow captains to adapt to different situations, all in one tidy little system.

VIDEOS:

From a France company – Andy Vasquez
https://www.youtube.com/user/unificationfrance
Each shot is only ~40seconds, not much new information, but fun to watch.

Cryptic – Fleet Actions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfebtpXOY3w
Quick shot of Astrometrics (aka Sector Space)
Crystalline Entity (with an odd ship in the foreground – three nacelles?)
Camera flies thru the wings of a Romulan ship – AWESOME
DOOMSDAY MACHINE

Cryptic – Belly of the Beast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds4KbG3eCk4
More combat and big beautiful explosions
DS9 combat shot

SCREENSHOTS:

10 Shots over at IGN: https://media.pc.ign.com/media/142/14270158/imgs_1.html (Including RAD Klingon shot)
5 shots over at curse.com https://www.curse.com/articles/sto-en-news/617080.aspx

The post How Cryptic Saved Star Trek Online | STOked S01 E14 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked S1 E13: Our beta tip inbox is packed full of great info, and we give you the best of the best! Then we go over everything we’ve been able to learn about STO’s Character Creation process.
We also talk about just what sets Star Trek Online’s tutorial apart from other MMOs (HINT: It’s got a key role in the game’s primary plot line).

Plus we answer some of the audiences most frequently asked questions, reveal the details of the Collector’s Edition, and drop another healthy dose of news, reviews and screenshots in your lap.

 

This Week’s Links & Notes:

THANKS:

• Thanks to Aaron over at consoleclassix.com for the account hook ups, great place to get some RETRO Star Trek games!
• Thanks to imaximus for a very awesome fleet logo!  

NEWS:

 

New Collector’s Edition bonuses added @ Gamestop.com

https://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=75981

• Red Matter Capacitor (triggered effect = extra energy capacity)
• Uniform options from DS9 and TNG-Movies
• Over 40 pages of glossy concept art 

Open Beta confirmation – Stormshade

https://forums.startrekonline.com/showthread.php?p=1005927#post1005927

• "People in Closed Beta should automatically roll into Open Beta" – StormShade

BETA LEAKS:

• No penalty for being Human?
• BOFFs can not change race, but can be customized from within that race.

 

ARTICLES:

 

Ten Ton Hammer – UI Review

https://www.tentonhammer.com/node/77082

• No custom UI mods:  "Our UI scripting language is proprietary and internal. It is really powerful and eventually we may release it to the players to allow them to play around with it but not at launch." (Zinc)
• "You can define the Fleet Logo that ends up displayed on your ship." (Zinc)
• Open Instancing: Auto-Group functions.  Can be toggled on/off.
• 1024×768 recommended, minimum.

 

Massively.com:  The Digital Continuum – Federation Stands For Fighting

https://www.massively.com/2009/11/23/the-digital-continuum-federation-stands-for-fighting/

• A brief combat-oriented overview of the Trek universe, to help explain the combat-centric STO gameplay
• "… combat is the elephant and all of these people claiming it’s something else are blind men holding onto different parts of the same creature."

 

IGN.com – Dev Diary: Visual Effects (by Michael Cavallaro)

https://pc.ign.com/articles/104/1047832p1.html

• "Our job is to modernize the look but still keep the original feel so fans will immediately recognize the IP and be impressed by the updated look. "
• They talk about receiving stats on an item/ability, and going over TV/Movie footage to find something similar, before implementing the final look & effect.

GameSpy’s Hands-On Preview

https://pc.gamespy.com/pc/star-trek-online/1049400p1.html

• "I worry for this game."
• Skepticism tends to stem from Ground Combat, and a perceived lack of innovation in Space (Pirates of the Burning Sea "ripoff")

VIDEOS:

 

New Space Exploration "Trailer"

• On YouTube in HD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QldsDfkXNc0

 

SCREENSHOTS:

ZAM has 5 new High-Res Screen Shots: https://www.zam.com/Im/image/gallery/148969

Galaxy Class-ish ship blowing up: https://cds012.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60968.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

Great ground shot: https://cds009.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60966.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

Sov and Excels take on a gorn? https://cds001.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60967.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

Excels and Sov lines merge to form Chris’ ultimate ship? https://cds020.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60969.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

USS Discovery a Micro Voyage’esk ship: https://cds020.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60970.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

Romulan Vs. Defiant’ish ship: https://cds012.sj1.cdn.themis-media.com/m9z2g8u7/cds/media/global/images/galleries/full/60/60971.jpg?dopvhost=cdn.themis-media.com

 

 

Product Highlight

	Star Trek Online – Pre-Order
	Star Trek Online – Pre-Order (Collectors Edition)

 

The post New Beta Info + Character Creation | STOked S1 E13 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked: Season 1 Episode 11 | We Cover Official release date and System Requirements. We’ve officially got
Bridges, but are they Star Trek Enough? We make a few corrections based on tips we’ve received from Beta
Testers, and we give you the low down on why we are so excited over the Astrometrics game-play we’ve seen.

Then – We round up our favorite new screen shots and share with you a few game play details that we spot in them.

Plus we’ve got a whole bunch of great info from our Beta tester anonymous tipsters!

This Week’s Links:

The post We've Got Bridges & More Info from Beta! first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked Season 1 Episode 10:

This week we cover the details leaked to us from anonymous closed beta players, we discuss the innovative “Seasons” & “Episodes” approach to quests, and how you can expect them to play out.

Then – We cover the latest round of STO developer interviews and pick out the best details from them all, PLUS we review the latest round of screen shots and find great game play insights!

And so much more!

This Week’s Links

The post Star Trek Online Beta Leaks & Day to Day Game Play first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

This week on STOked, highlights of the best tidbits on the latest round of press blitz from Cyrptic (we’ve got some juicy details!), we cover the new time line video and of course the Klingon focused Star Trek Online trailer. We update you on the new pre-order incentive goodies, and last but not least we go over the history of how Cryptic Studios obtained the rights from Paramount to make a Star Trek MMO.

The post STOked Season 1 Episode 7 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked: A Podcast all about Star Trek Online. This week:

We break down the latest set of screen shots from Star Trek Online, give you the best of the best details from several interviews with dev staff, and we cover the big news regarding Klingon game play.

PLUS SO MUCH MORE!

TrekMovie interview w/ Zinc, Oct 7

Dev Chat Transcript, Oct 8

MMOGaming.RU (Russian) interview w/ David Stahl — new screenies

Zinc on Eurogamer (locked Klingons?)

The post STOked Season 1 Episode 6 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.