Yeah sure that's the obvious headline that anyone could have come up with. But what's the alternate? Live long and err, get a console port. Beam us up, Scotty. With a console version of Star Trek Online. Anyway you say it, the point is that Star Trek Online is headed to consoles later this year. Specifically, PS4 and Xbox One. And it will come packed with six years of content and be free-to-play.

So yeah, Star Trek Online has been available on PC for a number of years now but with a recent visual overhaul the console version will benefit from years of updates and a new control scheme designed for both ship versus ship and ground-based combat.



For those unfamiliar with the game Star Trek Online lets you create a character from all the various species featured across the television series' and films and then become Captain of your very own ship.

Star Trek Online: Delta Rising, the free-to-play MMO's newly announced second expansion, will feature some of the Star Trek series' most well-known actors in its cast.

Three actors will be reprising their roles from the series Star Trek: Voyager - Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, Ethan Phillips as Neelix, and Robert Picardo as The Doctor. They'll be joining Garrett Wang as Harry Kim and Tim Russ as Tuvok.

Delta Rising, which is set 32 years after the events of Star Trek: Voyager, promises to be Star Trek Online's biggest content update to date. It'll be released later this year.

Cryptic Studios and Perfect World have announced today that the highly anticipated Star Trek Online Free-to-Play is now officially launched and available.

"We couldn't be more excited," said Jack Emmert, CEO, Cryptic Studios, Inc. "Updating Star Trek Online to the popular free-to-play model removes those barriers of entry that previously kept fans and casual gamers away. Anyone can download and play Star Trek Online at no cost. There's no better way to see how sitting in the captain's chair feels."

Now that Star Trek Online has become a free-to-play MMO, anyone can download and play the game for free without a retail copy or subscription. Of course, there is the added benefits of subscribing to a premium account to access addition optional features, but the majority of the content is available to free-to-play accounts.

To start your adventures on the final frontier, head on over to the official website here and create an account. Check out the video below showing off the new features available for Star Trek Online and also swing by our game page for screenshots and info.

An official demo for the MMORPG Star Trek Online was released over the weekend, but many people had issues with the downloader (both because of the slow p2p downloads and the fact that 7.9GB is a beefy metered download).

Fortunately, Cryptic Studios, the developers of the game, are completely awesome and within minutes of us asking, sent us a downloadable version of the demo that we have been able to mirror.

If you want to live long and prosper, nab the demo now locally from AusGamers (note: you'll need to create an account to play).

Following on from our interview with Cryptic Studios for Star Trek Online, we've prepared a full hands-on report after being given a handy media pass to the recent STO beta (which allowed us extra special access).

So if you're still not sure what to expect with the game, jump on in and read our full thoughts and impressions to see if you have what it takes to tackle the final frontier.

For our full hands-on report, hit this link.

AusGamers recently had a chance to talk with Cryptic's Craig Zinkievich about all things Star Trek Online (while also taking up media beta play opportunities - stay tuned for a full hands-on preview).

In the interview we ask some of the nerdiest, yet most important, Star Trek questions. Don't get too scared when you click through, truth is I'm a big Trekkie, so this was especially important.

Along with the interview, we also have two AusGamers exclusive screens (the first two in the feature), which show off the game's lush MMO visuals.

Click here for the full interview.

Cryptic Studios have just kicked off the open beta for their latest massively multiplayer title, the epic Star Trek Online, bringing the final frontier all together in one bigass game.

Thanks to the awesome folk at Cryptic, we've got a swag of beta keys to giveaway to AusGamers readers and if you point your phasers over this way you just might be able to snag yourself one. Get in quick though, because these are first in first served. Update: all keys are now gone, thanks for playing!

Once a beta key is acquired, you can download the full beta client Right here from AusGamers (6.38GB), then head over to startrekonline.com/openbeta for registration.

For those that can't spare the gigabytes or don't do that beta thang, our resident trekkie Steve has been putting some quality time in already and we'll have his impressions on the game up soon. We also have an exclusive developer interview with the game's Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich incoming that should answer some lingering questions so keep an eye out for that one.

Star Trek Online is due for a February 11 2010 retail release in Australia with online distributions likely being available to Aussies sooner due to the earlier North American release date of February 2.