Could Star Trek Online be out sooner than expected?

Saw this comic over at GUComics and thought, wow, would that ever be cool, since they had announced that development had stopped and the property sold to Cryptic Studios. Now they had this pop up on their website.

Now, clicking on this just goes to their in development page, but a lot of people are noting that this is one of the old screens from Star Trek Online when it was in development at the now defunct Perpetual Studios.

Preview for upcoming MMO "APB"

OK, I really enjoyed playing Crackdown, and it had nothing to do with the Halo 3 beta. It was a great sandbox game and the creators, RealTime Worlds did a great job. I'm really hoping they can pull this game off, it'd be great to have a cops 'n' robbers type of MMO out there. The way this mission played out looks like it really could break the standard MMO mission mold.

Thanks, Kotaku and GameVideos.com.

Realtime Worlds shows off All Points Bulletin

What word is perhaps most synonymous with the current MMO playing field? Grind. Realtime Worlds' Dave Jones (no relation?) is setting out to change that with the studio's first massively multiplayer title All Points Bulletin we caught wind of back in September. He's hoping the formula Crackdown + MMO = crack will be proven true with variables like infinite, professional-looking character and vehicle customization, contemporary setting, integration with last.fm and dynamic, variable team-sized missions hidden in the equation.

Read full story here.

[via Joystiq]

First Star Trek Online Screenshot

Shacknews has posted the first known screenshot of the up and coming Star Trek Online. It looks good, but let's hope it doesn't suck.

More free MMOs

For those of you gaming on a budget, there are a couple more free MMOs to try out. I previously told you about Dungeon Runners from NC Soft. And I recommend that all of you try it. It infuses a lot of humor into the gameplay. Another that I tried the beta for a while back has gone to free to play is RF Online. This one is a sci-fi / anime type MMO and was pretty fun. Now Disney is giving us Pirates of the Caribbean Online. This has just launched, so I have not given it a try, but the folks at Joystiq have. As with all of these, they are free to download and play, and offer a more robust experience with a subscription. Usually that entails unlocking higher levels and areas, and maybe better equipment, but that is usually when you're at higher levels. But if you want to tryout social gaming, nothing is better than free.

Also, most games have a free trial and download so if you want to try out Lord of the Rings : Online or World of Warcraft, give em a try. If you try out either of these, drop me an email and I can meet up with you online to give you an introduction and helping hand in MMO gaming.

New KOTOR 3 For Christmas?

Earlier this year, BioWare announced the formation of a mini-studio devoted to developing the new Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO. Since then, BioWare has remained mum about the extent of what they are developing, but rumor has it that they might be working on KOTOR 3 for Next Gen systems like the Xbox 360.

Perhaps there will be some sort of interesting announcement at next month's E3, but if not, fans will have to continue to cross their fingers.

Read more after the jump. [Computer and Videogames]

Blizzard working on Next-Gen MMO?

I saw this in my e-mail from Game Informer and had to tell all who are Blizzard fans!!!

Blizzard Working On "Next-Gen MMO"?
by Jeff Cork
POSTED: 4/27/2007 1:20 PM

Blizzard has added a trio of positions to the job-opening section on its Web site, fueling speculation on what exactly the software giant has up its mighty sleeve. The positions—for a lead engine programmer, lead tools programmer and lead technical artist—all mention a focus on "next-generation massively multiplayer online games." This is where nerd minds start racing to fill in the information gaps. Of course, with a planned May product announce in Korea of all places, as well as one of Blizzard's vice president's own enthusiasm for the series, StarCraft seems like a franchise ripe for an MMO treatment...