Star Trek Online has posted a couple of updates to their site including a new 'Meet the Team' and a brand new rap contest featuring the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.  Wait, what?!

Contest: Ferengi Rules of Acquisition Rap

A young Ferengi stopped by the office the other morning, his head hung low. We asked him what the problem was. Schoolwork, he told us. His teachers just don’t get his generation; he has to learn everything by rote, and nothing in his textbooks really speaks to him. He said even the vaunted Rules of Acquisition were a bore. What, he asked us, will he ever do if he can’t remember all 285 rules? He’d be the shame of his family! He’d never make a profit!

We asked him what really gets him excited, what really engages him. Rap, he said. Rap is what snaps him out of the doldrums and gets him ready to face the world. What, he asked us, if someone were to write a rap for him about the Rules of Acquisition? He’d be back on track in school in no time!

That’s where you come in. Throughout June, we’d like you write a rap based on the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition. We’d love it if you performed your rap and posted the video on YouTube for the entire community to enjoy, but if you’d rather put on your poet’s hat and give us a few rhyming stanzas via email, that’s fine, too. We’ll be giving away four beta keys for this contest: two will be awarded to a winner and runner-up from the pool of users who submit their rap to YouTube, and two will be awarded to a winner and runner-up from the pool of users who choose to only write their rap.  (souce Star Trek Online)

Read the full article here.

Meet the Team: Matthew Kenneally

What do you do on Star Trek Online?

I’m the UI programmer for STO. I am responsible for programming the functionality behind many of our in-game windows, HUD elements, as well as camera and targeting systems, which are in a constant state of iteration and revision. When you think about how complicated a UI for Star Trek can be, you get the duality of a challenging and thrilling job. The UI team is at a stage now where we’re getting some great looking visuals on the screen, and it feels like everything is coming together. This is why I love making games: to create an experience that looks as good as it is fun and functional.

Who is your favorite Star Trek character and why?

I have to say that this boils down to just a question of who is cooler: Spock or Kirk – and that’s a tough decision. There is just something incredibly intriguing about the trials and adventures that define and bond the friendship of these powerful figures, and create the ultimate dynamic duo. But which of the two is strongest on their own? On one hand, Kirk has tremendous charisma and great leadership abilities. He’s calm and collected, witty, courageous, and loyal to his crew. He has a killer fighting style, and his stare could kill a man. Then you have Spock, whose wisdom, introspection, and curiosity, coupled with his long, thin face and sharp features are the definitive Vulcan. I would have to say that he is the single most memorable alien of my childhood - even though I hadn’t seen that much Star Trek in my younger years. So while Kirk’s character is as cool as he is humorous, I’d have to say that Spock wins for the nostalgia and lasting image that Leonard Nimoy created for Star Trek. (source Star Trek Online)

Read the full article here.