As of yesterday, the open beta period for Star Trek Online is underway. There are supposedly still beta keys available, but the list of partners that are giving them away (in batches of 1000 each) seems to be largely tapped out. If you’ve missed out but have pre-ordered the game, you’ll still get a slight headstart though – starting on January 29.

The word on the street so far is that the game might be perfect for hardcore Trek fans. But this isn’t WoW-in-Space, whether you would consider that to be a good or bad thing. Most of the action takes place from the bridge of a ship, involving long-term tactical combat (though there are apparently away team missions as well).

There seem to be no plans for a Mac version of the game, which excludes the gamers/Trek fans like myself, but if the number of open beta keys snatched up so quickly are any indication, the launch is going to be a big one. Has anyone already been playing the game? If so, what do you think?