I was excited until I realized there was no way in hell my computer was going to be able to handle playing it. Now I'm pissed because by the time I've saved up enough to upgrade into a state of ME2 playability, some chucklefuck is likely to spam spoilers every fucking where.

This stuff is dangerous, you know.
 

I still haven't finished DA, and no way am I going to have two open Bioware games in my house. On the bright side, I get to wait for a sale.

Man, I'd buy the collector's edition for this game, on the sole virtue of it being Mass Effect.
Unfortunately, it appears we won't be getting a Collector's Edition.

Oh well. If EA doesn't want my money, am I right?

But yeah, pretty psyched about Mass Effect 2.

EDIT: Scrap that.
Found a Collector's Edition. Sweeeeet.

I'm really excited about getting to play this. but god dammit I hate they added a "Ammo, but not ammo" system. That just seemed like a pointless change.

Any word on how or if the Saved games from ME 1 are somewhat transferable to ME 2?

yes and no. Your stats, equipment, and skills won't transfer because the combat system is different enough to make conversion too difficult to be worth it. However, your choices made will transfer, and affect ME2. For instance, apparently if you killed Wrex, when you visit the krogan homeworld it's being torn apart by civil war. If, however, you spared him, when you get there Wrex is working on bringing the krogan to order.

Edit: Also I'm debating whether to just buy ME2 and let it sit until I've built a computer to play it on. Apparently preordering the Collectors edition gets you the most free shit (three sets of armor, two rifles and a black hole cannon) yeah nevermind apparently to get the black hole cannon and the terminus armor you have to give up the AH AHM IRON MAHN armor.

So, I gave up on my 50 Cent playthrough because trying to pick the "most gangsta" dialogue option got kinda dull. Still gonna try to do a fresh playthrough for the sequel, though.

I created a Vanguard character to see how a close-combat oriented game would play out. Visually I used the default Male Shep model because to be honest, that's kinda how I see him these days. My original Shep was based on Dr Evil and seeing him with Shep's voice has become almost jarring - that's just how many preview videos I've seen. So yeah, default Shepard has become Shepard to me. I named him Commander, as well, so it kinda feels like people are actually saying his name. As a side-effect, any and all military situations feel a helluva lot less formal.

As for the game, I'm playing it a little differently too. On my first playthrough I think I was using mostly Wrex and Liara, but now I'm going with Garrus and Tali so I have the option to continue the trend in the sequel... plus, they're both awesome characters. I'm also trying to just skip the Mako sections as much as possible rather than worrying about the experience I'm missing out on. There was a time when I'd spend ages trying to park on top of an Armature so I'd get the 2.5x XP from killing it on foot, but that time is gone and now I'm just ramming the shit out of anything in my way until I reach my destination.

The on-foot sections are really what make the game awesome. Playing as a Vanguard - a class whose main strategy seems to be "knock them down and hit them as hard as you can while they're there" - is a huge change of pace from the Adept's "make them helpless in midair" and the Infiltrator's "SHOOT'EM INNA HEAD" strategies. I find myself actually using my squad members now - it's mostly because they're excellent diversions for when I charge the enemies and hit them with my fist/brainwaves/bullets, but it also helps keep them out of the cover I need to survive. It feels completely different from before.

I'm also trying sidequests far more often. I had THOUGHT the game felt a little short, and now I know why - I was dodging the meat of the game completely by accident. I'm on Feros, the first planet, but I'm already like Level 15 or something because of all the extra stuff I've done. It's a blast and it's ALMOST tiding me over for the sequel.

Dunno if I want to powerlevel up to 60 or not (apparently a stupidly high level grants you some experience bonuses) but I'm trying to make as many decisions as possible, since presumably most of them will impact the sequel in some way. I did buy Bringing Down the Sky but that was more because it's a whole set of levels I'd never encountered before and I figured it was worth a try.

Anyone else starting anew?

Ehh actually out of all my playthroughs, I liked the Adept class the most.. Though I guess that's primarily because I was an Adept on my 2nd playthrough I think so they let you immediately put points into Assault Rifles and the like instead of having to wait a while before you're even able to use a Pistol which was sick.

I was always a fan of specialists. Which in this game is all the women for some arbitrary reason. So I went with Tali and Liara. Though thinking back Liara was abit on the flat side. Tali however was a character I took a shine too and glad to know she's back. I am however unhappy they said romantic plot would never be possible with her.

Bit of a lame reason, really.
All you'd need to do is decapitate Shepard (to get rid of the bacteria-infested mouth, don'tchaknow?) and strip away his/her skin and disinfect the rest of his body, and he/she and Tali could totally get it on.