There's no denying that some of the most addictive games out there are MMOs. But if you find it frustrating that you can't have them on your beloved PS3 and Xbox 360, blame Sony and Microsoft. According to Star Trek Online captain Craig Zinkievich, the two publishers don't understand console MMOs, making it difficult to bring the games to their respective systems.

A date's been set for Bender/Helper Impact and Paramount Digital Entertainment's multiplatformer offering, Star Trek: D-A-C. Well, a month at least. Game features will include all-new content such as new ship classes, variable AI settings, and new game modes, plus stereoscopic 3D compatibility on PC.

So J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek movie is hitting theaters this weekend (gods know if I can still reserve some tickets - frak it p'tahk!). And in light of the movie's release, we now have a debut trailer for the accompanying XBL/PSN game. This one's actually got some little footage from the movie alternating with some gameplay clips for Star Trek: D.A.C. too. Phasers, on!

Taking a look at the games from both the east and the west, there's no denying both have their own charm in wooing their respective crowds. However, some gamers enjoy crossing the lines and end up playing games, despite the fact they don't understand a word of what the characters say.

Read more about import gamers in the full article!

FASA Studio has announced that come September 12, they will no longer be in business - this was announced in a post on the Official Shadowrun Forums. The Community Manager and Technical Support Manager are still being kept active though as they will continue to provide tech support as long as players continue to play Shadowrun (Xbox 360, PC).

The company, originally known as FASA Corporation, was started by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock. They are credited for classics such as Crimson Skies, Star Trek RPG (Table-top version), Shadowrun, and Battletech (Mechwarrior). The company eventually merged with Virtual World Entertainment (VWE) to become the Virtual World Entertainment Group. In 1999, Microsoft purchased the said company and decided to sell the VWE portion of their acquisition, leaving behind FASA Interactive as a subsidiary of Microsoft Game Studios.

It deeply saddens this blogger to have to report this news as this is one of the companies that got me into gaming. Let us all take a moment of silence in respect to a company whose products have provided many a happy memory for gamers around the world.

You probably don't know him, but Michael Giacchino composed the music score for many all-time favorite games, not to mention TV shows and movies. He composed the score for "Mission: Impossible," "Lost," "Alias," "The Incredibles," and the yet unreleased and newest "Star Trek" movie.

Giacchino will be composing the score of the new video game based on TV's "Lost." He's also behind the music for the Medal of Honor franchise, including the latest release in the series: Medal of Honor Airborne.

With the recent announcement of his involvement in MoH Airborne, in a recent interview by John Gaudiosi of GameDaily.Biz, Michael expressed his feelings and experiences towards the gaming industry.

When he first started he couldn't find a proper niche between the movie industry and the gaming industry. The two didn't mesh properly before. He even freely expressed how early games based on movies either sounded nothing like the movie, or was an "approximate rip-off" of the movie. Back then, Hollywood didn't care much for gaming, but everything's different now.

He remembers the time when games still ran on stereo 8-bit sound. He actually chose to return to the Medal of Honor series because it makes full use of the new technology, allowing games to play music as it would in a real theater and, of course, for EA LA's ability to tell a story. Says Giacchino:

I was amazed at the level of detail in the technology but also in the storytelling EA had always gone to great lengths in telling great stories within their video games. But in this one it seemed like they went further. They really do care about the story and that is not always prevalent at video game companies. That's an area where a lot of them are still evolving.

So when you start playing Medal of Honor Airborne, take some time to appreciate the music and look back on how much the gaming industry has progressed. Medal of Honor Airborne will be released on August 24 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

More informations makes itself known for the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) for this year, as we disclose details for the event's Omegathon competition, keynote speaker, and headliner band.

For the pre-registrants of Penny Arcade's upcoming PAX 2007 event, we imagine one thing you'll be looking forward to (or dread) is the Omegathon event. This yearly PAX event pits 20 randomly chosen "Omeganauts" from the pre-registered crowd in multiple bouts of tabletop, videogame and computer game matches, culminating in a final match conducted onstage in front of PAX's thousands of (expected) attendees.

This year's Omegathon grand price is a trip for two to the Tokyo Game Show (September 22 to 23), plus US$ 5,000 in travel money. Not exactly a new truck, but given the price of gas these days, we like it.

On the matter of PAX's keynote speaker, the organizers have managed to pick up Wil Wheaton - trekkies will remember him as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Outside his acting role, Wheaton has also authored two books: Dancing Barefoot, and Just a Geek.

As for tunes, PAX 2007 is expected to dance to the tunes of The Minibosses - gamers will this band for its rock revisions of  the music of classic titles  like Mega Man, Metroid, and Castlevania. Other musical guests expected to make it to the event are The OneUps, MC Frontalot, Jonathan Coulton, Freezepop, The Neskimos and Optimus Rhyme.

This year's PAX will be held from Aug. 24 to 26, at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center in Seattle. Ticket prices for both pre-registration and on-site registration should be available at Penny Arcade's PAX site (read link).

In a quick Q&A with Gamasutra, Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing Pete Hines gave something very similar to a progress report regarding several Bethesda titles. He talked about Oblivion, Shivering Isles, and Star Trek, but what caught our eye is his little quip about the resurrection of their classic Fallout franchise. Let's save that quip for last though. Here's what he had to say about Bethesda's other games.

Regarding the Shivering Isles' and its X360 future - Hines says that because the Xbox 360 does not allow stand-alone expansions to work with another existing product, their only real option was to distribute the game via download. He adds that though they wanted to have a version for the retail market, the console just simply cannot do that yet. He says that they've been told that it would take a lot of extra work from the folks at Microsoft to get that option available.

Pricing and add-ons - When it comes to the pricing, Hines says that they're working closely with Microsoft as they are concerned about hitting a reasonable price. As for additional content, he says that he's not sure if they will ever release downloadable content specific to Shivering Isles.

Their Star Trek games - Hines says that Bethesda, while aware that the Star Trek games may not be 'Game of the Year Award' candidates, is pleased to see that Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the DS and PSP, and Star Trek: Legacy for the Xbox 360 and the PC are doing well.

On to Fallout - When asked about the resurrection of the post-apocalyptic Fallout franchise, Hines had this to say:

We are a fairly good ways into the process. The team has ramped up, and it will be a little while longer. As is the case with all of our games, especially those of this scope, we don't really want to talk about them until they are in a state where we can show you, rather than having you simply picturing it in your minds eye.

...Fallout is not a quick two year process, and we are already several years into the project.

Several years huh? Please don't make us wait several more years.

And so the list of Star Trek titles from Bethesda Softworks is now complete. The developer happily announced today that Star Trek: Legacy is finally shipping to our favorite alien hubs, err, retail stores. It would be remembered that the game should have come out earlier if not for the recent invasion mounted by the Klingons.

Like the other Star Trek titles on other platforms, Legacy puts players in command of a few selected star ships into battle. Not only that, this strategy game also features a fully customizable skirmish mode. More interestingly (at least for this blogger), there is also a single player mode that takes players not only to the whole of the Star Trek universe but to infinity and beyond.

Star Trek Legacy is just one of the many Star Trek titles that were recently launched for various platforms. The PS2 got Encounters, while handhelds DS and PSP have Tactical Assault. If you happen to get one of these copies, just update us if William Shatner's voice is still as pristine as it used to back then.

Buy: [Star Trek: Legacy for Xbox 360]
Buy: [Star Trek: Legacy for PC]

"That famous Shatner humor is still in high gear!" That's what fellow QJ-er Chris Coker said about William Shatner, the actor who played James Tiberius Kirk on Star Trek.

GameSpy interviewed him about what it was like to voice Kirk in the Bethesda Softwork Star Trek games: Star Trek: Legacy (for Xbox 360 and PC), Star Trek: Encounters, and Star Trek: Tactical Assault (for DS and PSP).

How did Bethesda manage to convince Shatner? "I didn't want to do it," Shatner said, "But they kept coming back to me... It was the groveling that got me. It broke my heart." Although Star Trek: Legacy impressed him ("cool" was how he described the game, and with the best graphics among Star Trek games, yeah it's cool).

Is it hard work to do voicing for a game?

GS: Have you ever been doing a voice for something and had the director say you're sounding too Kirk-like?

Shatner: No. But you have to explain that to me: What's Kirk-like?

GS: Well, Kirk is very commanding, very authoritative…

Shatner: No, there's no such thing. I just say the words. "NO!" Was that Kirk-like?

GS: Yeah.

Shatner: But that's also how I ordered dinner last night.

Anyway, Legacy is coming out on November 21, while Tactical Assault has already been released. Shatner said, "Star Trek is coming back, you can feel it in the air." We QJ Trekkers and Trekkies agree.