The Penny Arcade Expo wrapped up earlier this week in Seatle and Cryptic Studios had a big presence at the show this year featuring our favorite upcoming MMO Star Trek Online.

If you missed it (like we did, Duh!) then you're as excited as we are about all the online coverage. Here a few samples of some of the things we missed while leading a hum-drum existence. We like to call this the PAX 2009 Star Trek Online stuff extravaganza! Dun-da-da-daaaaaah!!

Massively.com's PAX 2009 ST:O hands on:

We stopped by Cryptic's booth at PAX 2009 for a chance to speak with the Executive Producer for Star Trek Online Craig Zinkievich, and obviously to get our hands on the game as well. Well, turns out our demands were acceptable, and we got to both play the game and prod at Craig with our incessant "questions" for your -- and of course our own -- pleasure.

Cryptic's goal for Star Trek Online is to make players feel like they're inside an episode of Star Trek when they play the game. That's why they call their story-focused missions episodes, and why every one of them deals with both ground and space combat. Our hands-on experience focused on this aspect of the game, and much combat was had by, well, us.

STO's space combat is exactly what Cryptic has been promising. It looks, sounds and emphatically feels very Star Trek. Transferring power between your various ship systems or shields is obviously in, but there's a lot more nuance than most people may have been expecting. For instance, we were lucky enough to see Craig take out one Klingon ship by exploding another that was flying nearby. Two Birds of Prey with one torpedo, the way Kirk would've done it. (source Massively.com)

Read the full article here.

ST:O Space Combat Game Footage

ST:O Ground Combat Footage

ST:O Ground Combat Footage 2

Cryptic Studios, Star Trek Online booth

IGN's PAX ST:O Hands on

Star Trek Online, the Cryptic Studios MMO based on the popular franchise, was first announced a little over a year ago. At Gamescom in Germany last month, they showed a demo of actual gameplay which featured both ship and on-planet combat. At PAX last weekend, they actually had hands-on playable demos on the floor so I was able to get a first-hand feel of the gameplay.

The game's Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich talked a little bit about the episodic content that they are introducing into the game. According to him, their objective it so make you feel that you are in one of the Star Trek episodes so you're constantly moving between space and ground on missions. As captain of your own ship, you get to choose and train your bridge officers, which are like pets in the MMO tradition with quite a bit more customization. Initially starting out with one officer, you eventually gather more than you can seat on your bridge or take with you on an "away" mission so you will be able to pick and choose which ones you need depending on the situation at hand, as each one will have his own special skills.

Because you are a captain of a large warship with theoretically hundreds of thousands of crew on board, ship combat is more about managing the power on your shields, engines and weapons at the right time rather than zipping about like a fighter. The objective is to knock your enemy's shield down, and as soon as it's down, to get that photon torpedo salvo off. The ship I was flying had forward and rear facing photon torpedoes, as well as forward phaser beams with a wide firing arc for knocking down enemy shields. You use the Q and E keys to control the throttle but once it's up at full throttle, you can pretty much forget about the forward movement and concentrate on the pitch and yaw, which are controlled by the WAS D keys. During battle, you can also control the amount of energy your shield, engine and weapons get, depending on where it's needed most. As Craig pointed out, the officers on your bridge can also make a big difference. In the demo session, I had a Science Officer with a tachyon beam power that lowers enemy shields, and a Tactical Officer who had photon torpedo salvos, a combination that worked out pretty well in taking down the three ships in my encounter (source IGN)

Read the full article here.

Hailing Frequencies Interivew with Executive Producer, Craig Zinkevich Part 1

Hailing Frequencies Interview with Executive Producer, Craig Zinkevich Part 2