Bethesda sends along this press release announcing that they have obtained the rights to the Star Trek license, and will be allowed to create games for all gaming consoles, handhelds and PCs. Activision previously owned the Star Trek rights, but sued Viacom back in 2003 because Paramount did not continue to exploit the franchise in the way Activision was hoping for with cancelled TV series and a lackluster movie. Bethesda already has two Star Trek games in development, with both Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault coming out this year. Legacy is an Xbox360/PC project we mentioned a while back while Star Trek: Tactical Assault is a real-time space combat game planned for Nintendo DS and PSP.

Taking advantage of next-generation consoles, Star Trek: Legacy features dynamic three-dimensional battlefields with graphically stunning space environments filled with fully realized nebulas, wormholes, planets, and stars. With full multiplayer support, you will be able to choose from small-scale engagements to all-out war involving multiple star systems in addition to tracking stats and player rankings. Star Trek: Legacy is being developed at the studios of Mad Doc Software, creators of the highly successful and critically acclaimed Star Trek Armada II.

"Being able to work with the entire universe of this beloved series is an incredibly exciting opportunity for us," said Todd Vaughn, vice president of development for Bethesda Softworks. "We have some great ideas about where we want to go with this license and having the exclusive right to develop and publish Star Trek games across all platforms ensures that every Star Trek game will be a quality game worthy of its name."

You can check out screenshots from Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault here on the Shack.