We got to see a number of the worlds players will explore in the game via the new in-game trailer. One takes place on a living AI world with a visual look that's similar to the Stargate Atlantis city (Atlantis itself won't be in the game at launch but will be put in as an expansion pack). Yet another world is a "nature gone wild" planet that was once used as an Ancient outpost (the god-like race that's well established in both Stargate TV series). Yet another world is Tollana, the homeworld of the Tollan race that got blowed up real good by Anubis in Season 5 of SG-1. So why is Tollana back up to speed? Ballentine wouldn't tell us. We also got to see an unnamed world that's rather arctic in nature and contains a structure that was once a Goa'uld outpost that is now being use by Stargate Command as a prison planet. Finally we saw Lucia, the previously unseen homeworld of the Lucian Alliance, which is kind of the organized mob of the galaxy that was created in Season 9 in the wake of the System Lords' destruction. Ballentine told us that there will be dozens of worlds to explore in the MMO universe.

Ballentine also told us more about what Stargate Worlds' gameplay will be like. At the moment there will be several races that you will be able to pick from, including Human, Jaffa, Goa'uld, Asgard, and OpFour (a game created extension of the TV show's covert human group the NID/Trust). There will be several character classes within each race and each of them will have a separate starting point when the game begins rather than everyone starting at the same location. One of the more interesting things about the game is that when you complete a mission as a specific race and character class, you can move on and go to more advanced missions. However you can then return to older missions you have completed previously and find new quests and content that will be added by the game's development team after the game's launch.

After I suggest that Stargate may be too obscure a franchise to sustain a massively multiplayer online (MMO) game, I am calmly told that the developers at Cheyenne Mountain do not believe that is the case. I'm in a hotel room with Cheyenne Mountain Senior Vice President Joe Ybarra and Senior Marketing Manager Kevin Balentine, and I've just been shown the first in-game video of Stargate Worlds, a new MMO based on the long-running television and film franchise that is shaping up for a late 2008 release.

While Stargate may translate as "that corny Sci-Fi Channel show" to some readers, Balentine is quick to point out that anywhere between 17 million and 22 million people worldwide tune in to episodes of Stargate each week. It's a surprisingly healthy and very dedicated fan base to be plucking eager gamers from.