At a Star Trek event in Las Vegas today, Leonard Nimoy, better known to fans as the legendary Mister Spock, announced the biggest MMO since World Of Warcraft.

The game will be set several generations after the events of the last Star Trek theatrical film, Nemesis. This relieves my fear of the lack of progress after Voyager and Nemesis, Star Trek resorted to a prequel series called Enterprise and the 11th theatrical film will also take place before the original series. The game will start players out on their own ships in the Federation or Klingon Empire, with heavy emphasis on exploration in a vast space setting.

The Associated Press reports character creation will draw heavily from Star Trek’s database of species, but will also allow players to create new races. Any chance I can make Species 8472?

Star Trek Online has no set release date, but the above trailer is said to be in-engine and is supposedly very far along. Still, graphics and gameplay mechanics are secondary in a Massive Multiplayer Online game, which will likely require an extensive beta test and ongoing support. The game is being developed for PC, but developer Cryptic has teased an Xbox 360 or PS3 version may be released.

Star Trek Online details (AP)

Also of note: four new character posters from JJ Abram’s Star Trek are at Trekmovie.com, similar to ones handed out a Comicon.