Star Trek

The Star Trek Online C-Store has seen a major update in recent days, adding tons of new goodies for players to drop their Cryptic Points on.

Among the new goodies are a slew of new themed costume packs that range anywhere from Deep Space Nine to the Wrath of Khan in theme. Other additions include the Caitian and Jointed Trill playable species, Liberated Borg Bridge Officers for both Klingon and Federation factions, Targ and Tribble pets, new emotes (Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!) and more.

Check out the C-Store here for all the goodies.

Aiming to keep Star Trek Online players in the loop, Cryptic Studios has introduced "Engineering Reports," which are posts that detail what the developers are currently working to address, add, or improve in the game.

The reports are broken down into three sections, which are described in further detail below:

In Testing These issues have been addressed, and are being reviewed internally. Once approved, these items will be added to one of the next Holodeck updates. Issues in this bucket are generally around 2 weeks away from going Live.

Under Investigation STO Team members are looking into these issues (many times player reported) to uncover bugs or oddities that will need to be addressed. Not everything in this section turns out to be a bug, and in some cases these issues may be specific to some players and require CS resolutions. ETAs for resolution in this section vary by issue.

In Development These are features or fixes that have been reviewed and discussed and are undergoing design time to be implemented in a future update. Issues in this section are more than 3 weeks away from going Live.

The first report is now available for viewing and feedback, you can read it here.

[Thanks Christopher8 for the tip!]

While Star Trek Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich touched on some of the things we could expect in the future for Star Trek Online in a recent State of the Game letter, a new "What’s Next" page on the Star Trek Online website goes into far more detail.

Over the next two months players can expect three high-level episodes centered around the Borg, new five man Raid Episodes (or raid-i-sodes), a number of Klingon additions, such as new Klingon Fleet Actions, a new Klingon ship, as well as more Klingon PvE content.

PvP will be getting some interesting additions as well. Players can look forward to Federation vs. Federation PvP, and even Ground Assault PvP maps.

For the full rundown check out the "What’s Next" page here.

The date for the Star Trek Online Open Beta test has been announced today as beginning on January 12th, 2010 and running through to January 26th, 2010. This should give gamers on the fence about the game a solid two weeks to evaluate it and decide whether they want to be there for opening day on February 2nd, 2010.

Below are some comments from Star Trek Online Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich on today’s announcement:

"We are excited to announce the dates for the open beta phase as this is one of the final steps in launching Star Trek Online to the public," said Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer on Star Trek Online. "We are looking forward to the launch of our first-of-a-kind MMORPG with anticipation and excitement and we expect Star Trek Online to explode onto the scene, giving fans and gamers a Star Trek experience like no other."

For more information on Star Trek Online, head over to the game’s official website here.

Due to an error with yesterday’s screenshots, the team from Cryptic has sent along a new batch of this-time exclusive screenshots from their upcoming MMORPG, Star Trek Online.

Check out the new screenshots, here.