Together with the unveiling of its new minimalist-themed corporate website, Cryptic Studios confirmed that it is developing a “top secret” project that will become the sixth in its stable of MMO titles.

Details about this new online game are scarce, with Cryptic not even naming a genre or a connected IP to the project, saying only:

“In addition to developing Neverwinter and supporting both Champions Online and Star Trek Online with new content, Cryptic Studios is working on at least one top secret project for Atari.

We’re very excited about what we’re working on. Like Neverwinter, our Top Secret work represents our continued commitment to diversify and reach beyond the boundaries of traditional MMORPG gaming. We can’t wait to show you more!”

With D&D rules-based Neverwinter launching in 2011, speculation among fans is that this new project will be slated for a 2012 release, at the earliest.

It might be total conjecture on our part, but Cryptic’s goal to “diversify and reach beyond the boundaries of traditional MMORPG gaming” might mean a title that veers away from the heavily instanced approach that most of its titles seem to take on. Of course we have no proof to support this–just plain ‘ol wishful thinking.

Season Three: Genesis introduces new features such as The Foundry, a content creation system for players, and Borg tech integration.

The Dec. 9 release date came as a surprise because many expected the developers to avoid a head-to-head collision with World of Warcraft’s Cataclysm expansion, which releases just two days before on Dec. 7. Now, fans of the space MMO can rest easy knowing they won’t have to wait for Christmas season to test-drive Season Three.

Easily the most talked about feature this month is The Foundry, which lets pilots create custom missions that the rest of the community can undertake and complete. But with great creative license comes great responsibility; players will be rated for their crafted content, with the best ones gaining game-wide fame.

Season Three: Genesis also enables the use of Borg technology. These powerful items can be won as rewards from Special Task Force missions and should boost the battle prowess of player ships.

Other features available from the get-go are the Episode Replay, a feature that lets players take on past missions, and the revamp of Sector Space graphics. Meanwhile, Gorn customization, Market Exchange improvements and new loading screens are all scheduled in the near future.

Villains must find Star Trek Online captains so predictable. As soon as inhabitants of an alien planet–in this case, the Defera–signal for help, we immediately send in our massive ships to rescue them.

But warding off the invaders won’t be as easy this time around against the armor-clad Breen, a long-time Klingon rival and major antagonist in the first three Feature Episodes scheduled for Star Trek Online.

The Breen have formidable battle prowess and seem to have prepared a great deal for the invasion. It’s obvious that such a planet-wide offensive has deeper motives, and these will be laid bare in the next two weeks when Episode 2: “Out in the Cold” and Episode 3: “Cold Comfort” go live on Sept. 4 and Sept. 11, respectively.

In promoting this newest Star Trek Online feature, Cryptic Studios also released a new video showing how ground and space battles will play out in each episode.

It’s a nice lead-up to this month’s Season 2 launch if only for the Breen obsession in hiding behind armor units. Some say they’re super ugly or require some sort of special oxygen from their planet that’s why you’ll never see one without his suit on. I wonder how they sleep?

The level cap has been raised to 51 from 45 with three new ranks opening up to both Federation and Klingon factions. But what good are new titles without a new ships to go with them?

That’s why Federation captains will be treated to three new vessels: an Exploration Cruiser retrofit featuring saucer separation, a Tactical Escort retrofit with a non-combat cloaking device and a Long Range Science Vessel retrofit with ablative generators. Meanwhile, Klingons will get the Kar’Fi Carrier, a Fek’Lhri Tactical Carrier with kamikaze S’Kul Fighters.

While the Federation will get more ships, Klingons will get special episodes focusing on their fight against the Fek’lhri, who plan to occupy the Klingon homeworld Qo’noS. Season 2 will also introduce the Federation Diplomatic Corps system, which tracks progress in non-combat missions and awards special rewards for those who complete First Contact missions.

There’s even the new casino game Dabo that’s poised to lure risk-takers who seek gold pressed latinum and the valuable items that can be exchanged for the said currency. Let’s just hope no delays crop up because STO fans have already sacrificed an update so Season 2 can be released on time.

We’ve seen it before. A patch goes out a week later than promised, and suddenly the succeeding updates gets bumped down as well. Star Trek Online wants to avoid the same delay domino so it will be inserting the smaller Update 1.3 to the features-packed Season 2 patch, and sticking to its July release date.

Update 1.3 was originally scheduled to be released later this month. But given the slight delay in releasing the most recent Update 1.2 (it went live early June instead of late May), Cryptic decided to consolidate the next two updates in instead of pushing both back into  later dates. Here’s the long-winded explanation from their latest Engineering report:

So what about update 1.3? With Season 2 looming in July, and 1.2 having just shipped this month, we made the decision that the game will better served if we combine 1.3 into Season 2.0 and work to get that full update onto Tribble as soon as possible instead of trying to get 1.3 up later this month, and then Season 2 after that. Getting Season 2 onto Tribble sooner than later will give you more time to check it out and provide valuable feedback and testing of the content before it goes live in July. So that’s the plan. No more 1.3 update. Instead, get 1.3 into 2.0 and get 2.0 to you ASAP. The sooner we do that, the sooner we can ship Season 2.

It’s a solid move to prevent further disappointment in terms of delays. Players have voiced concerns that Update 1.2, despite its prolonged testing period, still left out promised features such as Episode Replay and the Caitians. The hope now is that the combined Update 1.3 and Season 2 update will deliver in its promise of a functioning Federation Diplomatic Corps system, a new level 51 cap, and additional missions for both factions.

Star Trek Online delivered on its promise to release the Season 1.1 Supplemental update this week, enabling the new STF: Undine Terradome mission and some convenient Memory Alpha upgrades.

In STF: Undine Terradome, admiral-ranked captains must thwart an Undine invasion against the Federation. What begins as an investigation of an unknown energy signature deep in quadrant space becomes a race to discover–and destroy–the mastermind behind a possible attack. Players will engage in both space and ground combat as the Undine block your progress deeper into the terradome.

The latest update also rolled out fixes that makes it easier to use the Memory Alpha crafting system. Quick access to R&D progress and the addition of unlock requirements beside grayed out items should cut down the crafting migraines. Research has also been streamlined somewhat to seven areas of research, with each opening up to advanced Energy, Physical and Technology recipes.

The Season 1.1 Supplemental patch notes also mention minor UI and mission tweaks as well as more detailed notes on the Memory Alpha changes. Head there now for a quick read then go kick some Undine behind (in whatever shapeshifted form you may find them).

Bigger, more strategic battles are coming to Star Trek Online–just don’t expect them to pop up anytime soon.

In a new interview with news site mpogd.com, STO Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich admitted that Cryptic is “working on core technology” that would help create content requiring more than five captains to finish. “It’s just not something that will come right away.”

The game developer also confirmed the role of STFs as end-game raiding for Trekkies, which give gear and storyline rewards.

“We’ve designed STFs to be endgame missions, partially because we want to give players a big content reward at the end of their advancement, and partially because we’ve built them to be the most challenging portion of the game,” explained Mr. Zinkievich. He cited the role of “Infected”, the first STF to be released in game, as a vital plot point  against the assimilating Borg.

Tactical team play will also be needed in future STFs, he said, which could require a shift from the carefree focus and blast strategy to a more coordinated effort. But not too punishingly rigid as to require must-have specs.

“We’ve seen a lot of people get specific about the types of captains they want on their teams, down to the Kits being used. I’m not sure its that necessary to get the perfect assembly of complementary powers on a team, but it really does demand that players work together to their characters strengths, rather than just run in somewhere with guns blazing.

So diversify your buddies while doing quests for the new Season One: Common Ground update. You’ll be thankful to have the right type of captains warp in with just a tell from your keyboards.

Full interview with Mr. Zinkievich available here.

Raid episodes will be added as well, which will satisfy those looking for a challenge in Star Trek Online. Set in five-man missions, these raid episodes span a variety of storylines such as defending a planet from the Borg and investigating the deep mysteries of the galaxy. More details on the upcoming patch updates here.