Shatner revives Kirk role in game

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4790231.stm

Yay! :)

cooolio

Thanks for the link,

IPete2.

cool, hope the game's good. Shatner and Nimoy are on my list of people I want to meet!

If only they would hire Christopher Walken to voice his Khan-like nemesis then I would be happy. I can only imagine how great listening to a verbal duel between the two would be.

I imagine that they'd both have entertaining anecdotes, but I suspect that they may both be rather obnoxious, pretentious (particularly Nimoy) and uncharismatic (exclusively Nimoy!) in real life. Having said that, Shatner seems to have mellowed a lot in his old age - he's like the jolly, chubby uncle with a mischievous twinkle in his eye these days. Actually that sounds rather sinister, doesn't it?

I wonder who's going to be Dr. McCoy.

"I'm dead, Jim."
"Can't. You. do anything about it, Bones?"
"Damn it, Jim, I'm a corpse not a Doctor!"

he might have been cremated so perhaps:
"I'm universal energy Jim, possibly even reincarnated, not a Doctor!"

Also Scotty isn't much good as an engineer these days either...

How ironic it will be if 'Bones' was cremated. Heh.

I believe the Star Trek license has finally been given to another developer, so I think I can expect this one to be reasonably decent.
(Previously, I just expected all of them to be garbage -- especially the out-of-place Elite Force).

Although, it still think it sounds a bit out of place.
Battles are a minimal chunk of Star Trek, and mindlessly shooting at Klingons / The Borg just doesn't seem right.
Shatner probably won't like it, anyway... he seems to have high expectations.

This is the one case where I think the MMORPG is the best way to go, since it, oddly, is coming the closest to what it claims to be a part of. Star Trek games need an adventure game / rpgish design.

In my opinion, they just just don't work as action games.
So, they'd better write a darn good storyline to make up for it.

Agreed. Star Trek is a futuristic soap opera most of the time, not a frenetic action fest. Something that focuses on the plot, story and characterisation would be better fit.

That would be Bethesda, and I dont think anyone's a clue as to how well they can do the license justice....been one too many bad Trekky games out there for my tastes.
(and we've still yet to see what they've made of the FallOut license)


I recall reading that there is actually a Star Trek MMO in the works, I'll try to dig up the article I read.
[EDIT] Ah here it is, all of GameSpots news articles on the thing : http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/startrekonline/news.html


As for Shatner actually taking it upon himself to role upon his Star Trek self in a video game, I quite like that.

Yep, the ST MMO is in the works and it sounds interesting.
People don't all crew their own ships, but have individual roles aboard various big ships.
Not sure how players are arranged to play together, but I'll assume the developers know what they're doing.
It interests me because it is working at a slightly lower perspective than most others (and Elite Force is terrible, so that one doesn't count), and it could have some good stuff going on.


Although, really, I would much rather have Shatner playing the captain in a game like the above MMO, except as a single-player game.
Lots of amusing motion-capped scenes of falling across the bridge, etc.
It would fit better, and it would conceal how horribly linear it all is.
I'm thinking something light-hearted like the original series, instead of the stupidly dark mood that ST games are obsessing over to get away with their endless battles.

Maybe a Star Trek made like KOTOR could be cool?

Good idea. The party dynamic would work particularly well for away missions.

Hmmm... now I wonder if my trust in Bethesda is a bit misplaced...
http://www.bethsoft.com/games/games_indevelopment.html

#1 "Players become the Admiral of a task force of warships and must lead their fleet to victory in large-scale battles."
#2 "A real-time spaceship combat game for 1 or 2 players" "authentic Star Trek races, ships, and weaponry from the universe of the original Star Trek series." (When will they learn? Star Trek weapons suck! They aren't nearly satisfying enough :P ...Well, the space ones are good).
#3 "Take command of your starship and blast through the universe" "demolishing your opponents’ in fast action battles."

Wow.
Oh well, it's not an FPS, and it stays a bit more true to the setting.
Nice graphics engine, too... and it looks open ended.

So, it won't be as much of a travesty as ST Elite Force (which not only had an awful graphics engine but also played like an arena shooter), and they probably won't do the same thing again.

Large-scale war does happen, it is amusing, and it works fine if not going from a first-person perspective fighting random alien scum, so it can still avoid being a travesty if they don't do something stupid with the story and if it is actually entertaining. (At least it can't have boss battles against giant mutants).

nice, i want them to get as many actors from the show to do the character's voices

i hope Romulan Admiral Sela is in it with her voice from the shows

I might be mistaken, but I think that Bethesda is only acting as the publisher. I can't remember the name of the developer.

Elite Force I and II were OK, but the weapons were unsatisfying. They did have some authentic voices too. Anyone ever play the Deep Space 9 3rd Person game? That was pretty good.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6155744.html?tag=latestnews;title;0

And yer right JustLuke, appears that "Mad Doc Software" is the developer.

clicking on the developer in game spot reveals a small quantity of crap games...:-(

AM I the only person to think William Shatner is a ham actor?
He certainly fits his new role the best selling All Bran, it gives you constipation and that's what William Shatner always seemed to possess. :)

Ah, but he knows how to make fun of himself.
For instance, there's that (unfortunately never aired) clip from Family Guy of "William Shatner in Fiddler on the Roof".
Apparently, this would have had the real William Shatner had it not been for Fox.

Shatner is a surprisingly good actor... Watch "Boston Legal"...


in any case... There are 3 types of games perfect for Trek games... each for a different style of Trek show.

There is the Adventure game, perfect for the origional trek. The dating sim, perfect for Next Generation, and the Turn Based Strategy... Perfect for Deep Space Nine.

... Perhaps only real trek fans will understand why tho..

Don't bust on the dating sim idea tho... I don't just mean a crappy porn game, but a well thought out 'relationship simulator' is exactly what NG was all about.

NG was all about Picard flying around trying to make peace with everything that had a brain, Riker trying to bang hot alien tail, and Data trying to foster human-like relationships with people... Relationships, is what NG was about.

the origional was less about relationships, than it was about meeting an obsticle, looking at it, and using what is on hand to solve it. Landing on a planet and having to get out of it by riping a tricorder apart and making lasers from lamps and crystals... Thats why the adventure game works well for oldschool trek..

And Deep space nine was all about 3 things. The war with the changlings, other wormhole related issues, and bejoran(sp?) bs...

Making it perfect for large scale space battles, smaller scale battles, and even some land/station battles... (which there were a surprising number of in the show)

A game where deep space nine is under attack, you fight on the station, on some planet, in space around the station, out in deep space, these all fit well into the world of Deep Space Nine..


now... I always wanted to see more of what happens when you are an admiral... The inner-political federation dealings... They always were so vague about that.. and the shows all center around some ship/station with the highest ranking officer being a captain...

While, a tv show would prolly be boring.. "Law and Order: Deep Space 4" or "CSI: Vulcan".... A game, like Civ, only Trek themed, might be really good... Less combat centered, and more about treaties, setting up colonies, some space conquest, and such... With all the major races playable with their dynamics... Federation, Romulan, Klingon, Cardasian, Dominion, Borg, Farengi(sp?), and even some more obscure ones...

So I guess there are 4 possible game styles/genres that would work well with Trek....

I really can't see a fitting trek game in any other genre... not one based on common trek things... On movies or shows or things that are obvious..

I mean.. Sure... A First Person Shooter centered in some world you saw in one show in Next Generation... or a Bejoran Farming Sim..... But thats all dumb... its not really what I am talking about...

The big problem with trek is that it does NOT lend well to action games... That's just not what trek was all about...

It isn't starwars.. it isn't about the fighting, or the explosions.. It isn't always about being realistic or complex... but it isn't about mindless action...

Hey I even played Klingon Honour Guard. It was OK.

All the Star Trek Games i've seen looked boring and sterile in one or another way.

Maybe i would like to play an adventure game with the old crew. Exploring planets and so on but please with the same humour and the fancy coloured sets the tv serie was featuring.

But hey i at least found his "common people" cover quite good...

> Shatner is a surprisingly good actor... Watch "Boston Legal"...

Or "Decision at Nuremburg", or even one of his Twilight Zone episodes (he did two if I remember correctly - famous one with the airplane gremlin and another one which also had Leonard Nimoy)

I've gotten more respect for the man since he started making a career of making fun of himself.

Both Nimoy and Shatner were on Columbo as well, Shatner twice.

It's possible, after the consumption of large amounts of bran, that he is now more regular...in the delivery of his words that is ;)

I heard that bran can sratch the inside of you bowel and cause unneccessary irritation.