Paramount brings Star Trek reboot to video games

The shadow of the Star Trek franchise is enormous, not just in film and television (where it has generated nearly a dozen feature films and half a dozen TV series) but in technology and gaming as well. Star Trek’s original flip-open communicators were an inspiration for the mobile phone; the ubiquitous “pads” that littered Trek series from the 80s and 90s are in some ways the predecessors of today’s iPad and Android tablets. And Star Trek has an enormous history in computer gaming: some of the first true computer games were actually Star Trek games designed to run on time-sharing mainframe computers, and innumerable Trek titles have littered the shelves, hard drives, and game consoles of gamers for generations.

Now, Paramount has decided its time for another: Paramount Digital Entertainment has confirmed it plans to launch a new game for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PCs a year from now, subbed simply Star Trek. The new game will be based on J.J. Abram’s successful 2009 reboot of the Trek franchise that recast iconic characters from the original television series and set them off on an alternate timeline where they can have new adventured relatively unencumbered by the enormous legacy of the canonical Star Trek universe.

The game will feature co-op play with players cast in the roles of Kirk and Spock; Paramount promises the game will deliver a stand-alone story where the characters have to work together to (of course) save the galaxy from a “legendary” enemy race. The game’s story is from God of War writer Marianne Kraqczyk, in collaboration with Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who are now leading the Trek film franchise.

“Star Trek challenges the boundaries of co-op gameplay with a galactic adventure that gamers and fans have never experienced,” said Paramount Digital Entertainment president Tom Lesinski, in a statement. “Working closely with the Star Trek filmmaking team throughout development, the game is sure to deliver AAA production values, a wide variety of gameplay, and all the action you would expect from the hit franchise.”

The game is under development at Digital Extremes (responsible for BioShock 2 and Unreal Tournament). Paramount is promising a first look at the title at next week’s E3 Expo in Los Angeles.