Commander, is this some kind of game?

The game Mass Effect, takes place in the year 2183, where as an elite human soldier named Commander Shepard, you set out to explore the galaxy on a starship, the SSV Normandy. The titular mass effect is a form of inertia-suppressing technology, allowing faster-than-light travel.

The sequel, Mass Effect 2, takes place two years after the events that transpired in the first game. Mass Effect 2 also directly uses players' completed save data from the first game to influence events and storylines within the second game, basing certain events and narrative threads on decisions and actions that the player had made in the first game.

I first got hooked on ME2 after buying it for my son last Christmas and have played through it several times. I then purchased the original game, looking forward to experiencing stuff that had been referenced in ME2, only to end up frustrated and stymied by the irritating in-game vehicle called the Mako. After failing to get a handle on that pesky ride which you are forced to operate on many missions, I basically set the whole game aside for a few months and only recently popped it back into the Xbox 360. Thankfully I got a grip on driving the Mako and ended up liking it quite a bit, plus now that I’ve beaten Saren, saved the Citadel and succeeded in accomplishing Commander Shepard’s inaugural mission, I can roll over my save file and have that character also complete ME2. This will allow me to maintain a single character thread throughout all of the Mass Effect games.

EA Games has a bevy of much-anticipated titles to display at E3 2011, including live demos of Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3. The press event is called “Gamechangers: EA 2011 Preview” will air on Spike TV at 3:30 p.m. (EST), June 6, 2011.

In addition to the third Battlefield and ME installments, EA Games will also display Star Wars: The Old Republic, Need for Speed: The Run and the latest installments of Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer as well as some previously un-announced titles.

Early indications suggest that surviving original Mass Effect squad members (pictured above; left-to-right with Cdr. Shepard are Kaidan Alenko & Liara T’soni), who only cameo’d in ME2, will return to active duty on the squad in the third and final chapter.