Evening Reading: Boldly Going

With Star Trek Online going into open beta today (we've got 1000 keys below) and the full launch just a couple weeks off I can't help but wonder if it will fare any better than the first attempt at a Star Wars MMO. I wouldn't really call myself a trekkie but the idea of captaining the Enterprise (or a similarly cool starship) in battle sounds plenty enticing. And from what I saw at Gamescom in Cologne last year Star Trek Online has a pretty good chance at getting that part right.

It's the away team missions I'm not nearly so sure of. I can't help but be reminded of seeing Pirates of the Burning Sea a couple years back. The first time they brought by the game it was all about the ship to ship combat. It looked cool. But somewhere along the line it was decided that they needed third-person sword fighting ("swashbuckling") as well. First it was to be DLC but then it completed the creep making it into the released version. To me it didn't look that great, handled clumsily, and overall detracted from the game.

I appreciate the desire to create a more complete world with more than just one facet of the experience. The thing is; once it's in the game, there's no getting off the hook for it. I'd hate to see Star Trek Online pull off the large-scale starship engagements that really give the series (at least to me) the unique part of its appeal only to get bogged down in poorly executed adventures. But, at least with their experience on Champions Online, developer Cryptic Studios definitely has a shot at getting that part down too. I'll know soon enough as I plan to get some time in the beta hopefully this week and if not before then over the weekend for sure.

If you'd like to check out Star Trek Online we've got 1,000 activation keys to hook you up (UPDATE: All 1,000 have been claimed). All you've got to do is download this pretty picture of a Klingon bird of prey and our email system will shoot you a note with the code. (yeah, it's funky but our automated system needs something for you to click download on to trigger the email)

Then, while you're waiting for the game to download, check out today's news:

Apologies for not have a rest of the crap set of links today. Have to make up for that tomorrow.

Oh, and here's a link to the Star Trek Online beta client

From The Chatty
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    January 12, 2010 5:43 PM

    Am I the only one that liked the Doom movie?

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      January 12, 2010 5:44 PM

      if you smell what the rock is cookin.

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      January 12, 2010 5:45 PM

      I liked it.

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      January 12, 2010 5:48 PM

      nope, it was a good popcorn flick.

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      January 12, 2010 5:56 PM

      I really liked the first person scene

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      January 12, 2010 6:09 PM

      it's a fun movie.

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      January 12, 2010 6:17 PM

      it wasn't bad

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      January 12, 2010 6:19 PM

      The blonde was cute...

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      January 12, 2010 6:20 PM

      The one with Rosamund Pike? I liked it...

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      January 12, 2010 6:26 PM

      I mainly liked the fact that id Software has their own movie now. And I liked how they used some real props for the monsters instead of all CGI. I actually sort of like the movie.

      But yeah it's not exactly what I wanted in a DOOM movie.

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        January 12, 2010 6:31 PM

        Well yeah it's def based on Doom 3; but yeah no CGI was a major and pleasant surprise

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        January 12, 2010 6:43 PM

        To be honest, the stories in all the DOOM games weren't great. The DOOM movie really didn't have much to work with unless they created everything new.

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      January 12, 2010 6:29 PM

      Shit was horrible. lol

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      January 12, 2010 6:38 PM

      Nope. I had fun.

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      January 12, 2010 6:40 PM

      it was pretty terrible but worth watching at least once

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      January 12, 2010 7:47 PM

      It was a good chick flick. It a date/movie with a girl in college.

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      January 12, 2010 7:54 PM

      Horrible, the story was worse than the one for Doom 3 and the visuals were awful.

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      January 12, 2010 7:58 PM

      I thought it was boring. I wanted to see some crazy, over-the-top demon invasion, not some some lame bio-monster that's the equivalent of a space zombie.

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      January 12, 2010 7:59 PM

      i like it when the Rock is a bit less serious and more goofball/action guy.

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        January 12, 2010 8:01 PM

        Like Walking Tall? I actually like that movie. =)

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        January 12, 2010 9:39 PM

        The Rundown. What a fun blast of a movie. Plus Rosario Dawson lookin' all hot and sweaty and braless! It's got a great climactic action scene in it.

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      January 12, 2010 8:02 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 12, 2010 8:02 PM

      I liked it.

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      January 12, 2010 8:03 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 12, 2010 8:05 PM

      It was ok.

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      January 12, 2010 8:06 PM

      Which is the best video game movie:

      A) Postal
      B) Doom
      C) Super Mario Bros

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      January 12, 2010 8:10 PM

      it was awesome but i couldn't help but laugh during the 1st person scene

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        January 12, 2010 8:13 PM

        The whole movie should have been first person like that.

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          January 12, 2010 8:15 PM

          Yeah it was actually my favorite part of the movie.

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      January 12, 2010 8:14 PM

      I liked it but I felt the whole fact that they removed hell from the movie made it just a mediocre sci-fi flick and would have been so much cooler with the original story intact.

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      January 12, 2010 8:15 PM

      Besides the story changes it was a decent flick. It needed more stuff blown up with the BFG and not just another wall

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      January 12, 2010 9:11 PM

      I liked it in a "this is fucking horrible in every way" sort of way

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      January 12, 2010 9:12 PM

      Your not alone brother!

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      January 12, 2010 9:59 PM

      Its not good but still enjoyable

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      January 12, 2010 10:38 PM

      It was fucking terrible. I love how they left out the whole plot line involving Hell. The closest we will get to a Doom movie is Event Horizon.

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      January 12, 2010 10:39 PM

      [deleted]

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      January 12, 2010 11:15 PM

      Seeing as I actually like Super Mario Bros., I'm not sure my opinion would be valid. But, yes, I liked the Doom movie. It could have been better, but it was good for what it was.

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