How people are already talking about the game's ending and such? I mean, it leaked I know, but there's a 2048-bit key in the way, which even a Reaper couldn't hack.

You guys think the Mass Effect universe will continue in the next generation?

Yeah, Carl's taking a liking for ME3 really surprised me, especially after all the things he said on the Spike VGA trailer thread  

But I see why ME3 is pleasing more of the general fandom. The Role-Playing mode is basically a pretty good mix of ME1 and ME2 mechanics and there's much more depth now with the skills trees than before and much more class combinations can be made which will lead to many more variations on the gameplay approach. 

Personally, I would love to see the Mako exploration levels coming back, but I know that would be an impossibility, not only for the scope that ME3 has got to have (it's basically the entire galaxy, not just some fragments like on ME1 or ME2) and this time is a true race against the clock to stop the reapers from fucking up the galaxy more than they already have . Though I figure that I'm pretty much one of the few fans that loved the Mako levels xD.

360 version was leaked at the same time as well. Plus there were the script leaks a few months ago. 

@JGarret - I hope the ME universe continues, but it will be with an entire new set of characters and story, since this is the final chapter of Shepard, no matter what happens (as Bioware said).

Aside from the leak, the strategy guides are also floating around now, and they apparently describe the endings in some small detail.

But there will be no discussing of the endings here. This is a safe zone.

The universe? Sure. It's a very rich IP with lots of options for where to take it in the future. Hell, in terms of universes, the one presented in this trilogy is as expansive as that shown in the original Star Wars trilogy - probably moreso.

They could do almost anything with the Mass Effect IP and it would work properly, if they are careful.

Thought I should warn you guys, some sidequests can't be completed after you start the next main quest mission, so try to do the sidequests before starting the next quest in the storyline. And there are consequences for not doing the timed sidequests, bad ones.

Heavy weapons are now pick-up, use and discard, you don't carry them anymore.

Well, both of those sound pretty all right to me. THat allows sidequests to be more intrinsically tied to the progression of the story - so it's more like one of the Witcher games rather than previous ME titles, where the sidequests didn't really matter to the larger progression.

I think I can handle that. Also not having to pick a heavy weapon loadout sounds nice too. Without needing to ration out heavy weapon ammo over more than a single mission, we can be pretty assured of when is the best time to use them. Should work out fine.

I hate the fact that I as a European will be playing this three days later than Americans.

I promise I will not tell you how awesome it is.

Outside of going like "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH" if it is super awesome.