Bioware producer Casey Hudson has posted a lot of interesting details about Mass Effect 2 on a developer's blog at IGN. For instance, if you've finished Mass Effect, your saved doesn't just give you a powerful character at the beginning of Mass Effect 2.

If you have completed Mass Effect and you still have your savegames, you can view each playthrough you've completed, and choose the one you want to continue from. The Mass Effect savegame doesn't just contain a couple of your big choices. It contains countless decisions you've made, both large and small. These things could each potentially carry forward and affect your story in Mass Effect 2. This has never been done before on this scale, and it means you're actually continuing your own story from exactly where you left off.

And it looks like Bioware intends to continue this trend for Mass Effect 3. Which raises interesting prospects considering there's no guarantee your character will survive through the end of Mass Effect 2.

Part of what makes the final mission dangerous in a more profound way is that each squad member could potentially die a real, story-based death during that mission as well. You might have an ending where Shepard's entire team survives, or where the entire mission is a bloodbath and everyone (including Shepard) is killed, or anything in between. And for all characters, death in Mass Effect 2 means they won't show up in Mass Effect 3.

The rest is silence?

Finally, Mass Effect 2 doesn't end when the storyline is over.

One big reason you'll want to be alive after the ending is that after the credits roll, you are returned to the game world - ready to head back out for more adventure. You can complete unfinished missions, explore the galaxy, and download new adventures to play.