Star Trek Online Officially Launches with Spock Assist

Today is the official launch date of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Star Trek Online. While those that pre-ordered the game from Amazon and elsewhere had a head start as of Friday, now everyone else will be able to hit up their local store for a copy.

As part of that, the USA Today discussed the launch with Star Trek's two Spocks - Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto who both provide their voices for the game. Nimoy reprises his role as Spock, "I'm an omniscient voice that tells the player what is going on (and) what to do next." Quinto is an Emergency Medical Hologram, "I instruct players on how to navigate worlds early on and is someone to whom they report back to throughout about their progress and accomplishments."

Leonard Nimoy also participated in a quick Q&A about the game and Star Trek once again indicating that it is doubtful he will ever reprise Spock again in the flesh. Snippet below, full interview here.

There have been a lot of Star Trek-related ventures. Where does this one fit?
This is above and beyond anything I have seen before. There was some comparatively primitive work done in previous years. This is a very cutting-edge piece of work. It took a couple years to develop the programs involved and that is really fast. Typically looking at what this game looks like and works like you would think it would take longer than that. ... The complexity of it is extraordinary. It just goes on and on. No matter how deeply you get into it, it still continues to be challenging and more and more choices are available and (there are) more and more decisions to be made. I think it is great for the imagination and great for complex solving of problems, communicating with others. There is going to be an awful lot of people together online communicating with each other in this game.

Is there something at the core of the Star Trek stories that people come back to?
I don't think there's a simple answer to that. Star Trek has always been a hopeful view of the future, as opposed to some of the doomsday stuff that we have seen. I think the collection of characters has always been intriguing, the chemistry between these various characters and where they come from and what they bring to the party, particularly the Kirk, Spock and McCoy characters, the triumvirate. I don't mean to diminish anybody, the whole cast made contributions. I think people enjoy watching this group of characters solve problems together. This film (the 2009 Star Trek), I think gives us a really wonderful look at how these people came together as a group and how this team was formed. It's just fun to watch. It's an exhilarating movie. So we are on track again. I say 'we,' I really think - I've said, 'I am done' several times -- I don't think they need me anymore. I think I was useful in this last film. I don't think they need more for the next one. There will be another one.

Did Zachary Quinto have any lines as Spock that stood out for you?
He was very good in this movie. I was really impressed in the scene where he rejects the entry into the Vulcan Science Academy, when they tell him that in spite of the flaw in his genetic makeup they are accepting him and he refuses the offer saying in effect, 'Go screw yourself.' But what he did with 'Live long and prosper' in that moment was very refreshing to me. ... I don't know whose choice it was, his or J.J. Abrams' but whatever. When I saw that I thought, 'Whoa, that's good.' Nobody ever said, 'Live long and prosper' with that subtext before.

Feel free to post your game experiences in the comments. For newbies to MMORPGs, any new endeavor of this scope online have growing pains. Just be patients has developers will be working to fix bugs as fast as they can, have fun as what is the point otherwise and the enjoy the best part of meeting Trekkies from all over.