You can be the Captain in the upcoming VR game Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Ubisoft will release Star Trek: Bridge Crew, an upcoming virtual reality game based on the 50-year old sci-fi franchise. It will work with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR when it is released later this fall.

The Associated Press, via ABC News, has the first info on the game, which is being developed by Ubisoft's Red Storm Entertainment studio. The four-player co-op game will allow players to take on the role of the captain of a Federation starship, the Aegis, or the roles of the ship's tactical, engineering or helm officers:

"Bridge Crew" utilizes a VR headset and hand-held controllers to boldly mimic seated players' heads and hands on the virtual bridge, providing 360-degree views and the ability to complete such tasks as activating the warp drive, scanning foreign objects in space and broadcasting relevant imagery to the ship's viewscreen.

The game itself is set during the timeline of the recent Star Trek movies reboot, as the Aegis is looking for a new homeworld for the Vulcans (their world was destroyed in the 2009 J.J. Abrams film):

"At first, people might think you're just pushing buttons and that's lame," said David Votypka, senior creative director at Red Storm. "However, it's what the buttons do that makes it cool. You're on a Federation starship firing torpedoes, raising shields and turning on the red alert. That's an awesome sensation, especially when you're playing in VR with friends."

The article also shows how three Star Trek actors (the movie's reboot Dr. McCoy, Karl Urban, along with Star Trek: Voyager's Jeri Ryan and Star Trek: The Next Generation's LeVar Burton) reacted when they got to play a mission in Star Trek: Bridge Crew. There's no indication if they will be involved in the game itself.

John Callaham