BioWare has become among the most acclaimed RPG creators in the Western world. Anticipation for their titles is almost akin to that for a new Pixar film, where fans of the studio expect a beautiful, well-crafted piece of entertainment and they pretty much always get their wish. It was with great expectations, then, that BioWare rolled out their first game for next-gen consoles: Mass Effect.

Although some have pegged this new title as sort of an ersatz Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic by the Canadian studio, that's really not giving it enough credit. While doubtlessly inspired by science fiction from the last few decades, Mass Effect has its own internal history and technology making it a unique experience unto itself. Consumers have rewarded BioWare's detailed efforts by making the game a genuine hit for Microsoft's Xbox 360.

We talked with Guy Welch, Global Product Manager for Xbox Global Marketing, and discussed BioWare's new hit franchise.

Mass Appeal
According to the NPD, Mass Effect sold 473,000 copies during its debut month of November. This made it the third best selling game on the 360 and the sixth best selling title overall. Microsoft confirmed this past December that Mass Effect had already sold over 1 million copies worldwide, which is excellent for a non-sequel based around an original IP.

"We knew that with Mass Effect's combination of a rich story, expansive universe, and tactical combat it would attract a wide audience, but the success of the game has truly exceeded our expectations. To date, Mass Effect has surpassed 1.6 million units sold since launching on November 20, and is the fastest selling RPG on Xbox 360 and the fastest selling RPG on the current generation of video game consoles," Welch said.

When asked how Mass Effect's sales compared to that of Jade Empire, a BioWare game also published by Microsoft, Welch answered candidly, "Jade Empire was BioWare's first original title after a series of very successful high-profile licensed projects. It was also Microsoft's first time publishing a BioWare game. Despite being a hit with critics and selling a respectable 750,000 units, Jade Empire didn't break out to a wider audience. However, we were fortunate to have done Jade Empire as it helped us make better decisions with Mass Effect."

A Mass of Gameplay
One consistent element to BioWare RPGs is a morality system that will reward the player based upon his/her actions. This goes back to their first RPG, Baldur's Gate, and was made appropriate to the Star Wars universe in Knights of the Old Republic. By contrast to these linear morality choices, however, the system in Mass Effect reflects a more morally gray world and doles out "Paragon" and "Renegade" points separately instead of on a single scale, allowing characters and situations to be a bit more dynamic.

"As in the real world, the right choice is not often a black and white matter," detailed Welch. "The fact that players face morally challenging decisions that impact the outcome in their quest to save humanity is a key feature in the game. Players have an unprecedented amount of freedom to shape Commander Shepard's personality and impact the world of Mass Effect through their choices."

On the left a Turian, on the right an Asari... two of several unique species in Mass Effect

To complement these complex situations is a set of top-of-the-line voiceovers. Drawn from the ranks of well established American voice actors, these individuals bring the various human and alien characters of the game to life. "Mass Effect's high production value has certainly helped create a highly immersive experience, and the great talent who voiced the key characters is a big part of that," acknowledged Welch. "Well known actors like Seth Green, Lance Henriksen, Marina Sirtis and Keith David bring tremendous talent to the interactions in the game and help pull the player into a rich, living world. On top of the innovative dialog wheel, this has made for one of the most realistic character interaction experiences found in an RPG."

While inherently and fundamentally an RPG, Mass Effect also utilizes squad based tactical combat. Fairly unique among RPGs, this combat system may have drawn in people who never would have considered playing an RPG before. Balancing between the action and the RPG components is just one more reason that Mass Effect has had such wide appeal. "One of the key features of Mass Effect is the real-time, squad-based, tactical combat system," laid out Welch. "At the same time, we wanted to give players the ability to pause combat and issue strategic commands via the combat wheel, assigning their team to target specific enemies using their abilities. The result is an intense, challenging and exciting action-component of the game that also relies on traditional RPG elements like skill levels, stats and gear. Engaging enemies with a variety of ranged weapons, using cover and biotic and tech powers are all crucial parts of Mass Effect's sophisticated tactical combat system."

Will EA affect Mass Effect massively?
From the very first teaser trailer for Mass Effect, the game already had many RPG fans at "hello" (or "threaten the bartender" if you'd rather). Since the game's official introduction in 2006, Microsoft and BioWare have made a concerted effort at getting people interested in the game. This culminated in a series of TV ads surrounding the release, which highlighted the game's morality system.

"From our television campaign to the partnership with Sci-Fi, we had a campaign that was hitting on all cylinders," commented Welch. "However, I believe the most important part of the campaign was the concentrated PR effort that over time, allowed us to build blockbuster expectations around an original title. In a business driven by sequels, that's very hard to do!"

With BioWare now officially a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, it is unknown if this Microsoft published title will suddenly be going multiplatform. EA certainly isn't known for making many console exclusive releases when they can help it, and any future titles by BioWare are likely to appear on PS3 and Xbox 360. Regardless of whether the series will continue to be exclusive to the 360 or not, it has been confirmed that it will continue, and that's a fact that all RPG fans can certainly celebrate.