Cryptic Studios reveals more details on Star Trek Online at the annual Trekkie convention in Las Vegas...

As promised by Cryptic Studios, more details have emerged about Star Trek Online at the annual Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. This follows Cryptic's official announcement last month that it had acquired the rights for the MMO from Perpetual Entertainment and CBS Consumer Products.

The original announcement on the developer's website stated that Star Trek Online will be available "for both console and PC formats". However, an Associated Press report has noted that Cryptic Studios' CEO, Jack Emmert, is only confirming a PC version at the moment, although he did note that a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version is a possibility.

Emmert also detailed Cryptic's relationship with the now defunct Perpetual Entertainment (that was responsible for the original Star Trek Online project): "We had a friendly relationship with them. As it became apparent they weren't going to continue to function, they decided to sell off the license. We swooped in and grabbed it. We took no assets. There was nothing to be had, to be honest. We're building everything from the ground up."

Given that the development cycle for an MMO game can take as long as four years (and Perpetual Entertainment offloaded the license to Cryptic at the beginning of this year), this does suggest that it could be a few years yet before Star Trek Online goes live.

That said, Emmert did calm the fears of Trekkies who may be worried that it will be another four years before Star Trek Online is released. "Hardened people should know that a release date might be closer than they think," he said.

There was also a snippet of new information on how the game's character classes will be dealt out. We already knew that players would be able to chose between Klingon and Starfleet factions (you start the game by captaining a small vessel from either empire), but it seems there will also be some character customisation options that allow gamers to chose from pre-existing Star Trek species such as the Gorn.