Mass Effect 2 has "intense" DLC schedule

BioWare's Mass Effect project director Casey Hudson has said the second game in its space opera trilogy will have an "intense schedule" of downloadable content, the first fruits of which will appear "shortly" after launch.

"There will be great downloadable content throughout the time that Mass Effect 2 is out there while people are waiting for the third one. You'll always have great stuff. New adventures to play. New things to do," Hudson told IGN.

"We don't have anything specifically announced yet, but we basically plan for DLC pretty shortly after the release of the game and then a pretty intense schedule of downloadable content throughout.

"This is one of the big improvements that we've been able to do for Mass Effect 2. Lots of DLC and lots of really high quality DLC that players can look forward to," he added.

Mass Effect 1, despite the in-game menu's DLC option, only expanded twice in two years: first in March 2008 with Bring Down the Sky then with Pinnacle Station in August last year.

Hudson also revealed that work had begun on the third instalment in the trilogy, ensuring BioWare can do as intended and release all three games on Xbox 360.

"We are already at work on Mass Effect 3, building the first bits of the story, putting that together," said Hudson. "We always wanted to make sure that we got the entire trilogy of games done within this console's [Xbox 360's] lifecycle. We didn't want to take forever with it.

Hudson explained that by the "final chapter", "you'll know that it's your universe", through the choices you've made and saved games carried from ME1 to ME3.

Mass Effect 2 is due out for PC and Xbox 360 on 29th January.