Er, it was common knowledge.  Microsoft was publishing ME for both platforms.  They published it for Xbox 360 then we found out EA bought Bioware.

Then a few months later, its announced that EA will now publish ME PC (I think it was a tandem press announcement). 

We shall see if ME2 on the PS3 will ever happen. As a multi console owner, I'd still get ME2 for the 360 (even with the disk read errors and all) if it ever became multiplatform. I wonder if the relationships you build with Liara or Ashley in ME1 will remain the same.

@starcraft

he is asking for source when yoy say MS got something in return,,,,he wants to see the source for that.Don't forget ,,you said the same stuff for bioshock and we all know how that turned out.

This time it's worse,,,EA ,of all publishers, owns the dev team for ME

Here's the definition of what a source is:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/source

Please read the aforementioned link, understand what a source is and provide the source for the two claims that you have made:

1. That Microsoft had the publishing rights for ME on PC

2. That Microsoft gave the publishing rights of ME on PC to EA (rather than having it stripped from them because EA bought Bioware) 

I applaud Wii owners for not buying into the crap EA throws on shelves, bravo!

Ps2 owners need to watch what they buy.

Imagine the potential for Microsoft if they actually bought out the I.Ps in the first place. So far GeOW and ME were I.Ps that could have been locked down for good.

Actually I said something completely different for Bioshock, but thanks for purposely misquoting me.

Bioshock I said MS paid for exclusivity, which they did: timed exclusivity.

Mass Effect is something different.  It was announced that Microsoft was publishing both the Xbox 360 and PC versions, with Bioware owning the rights to the IP.  Microsoft was under no obligation to let EA publish the PC version, but they did.

Do you think Microsoft did this out of the goodness of their hearts?

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3163640

"1UP has it on good authority that Microsoft has exclusive publishing rights to the second Mass Effect game, but the EA deal seems to have thrown an unexpected kink in the plans."

http://spong.com/article/14790/EA_Publishing_Mass_Effect_For_PC_Other_Platforms_to_Follow?cb=832

"Frank Gibeau, president of EA’s Games Label added, "EA has struck an agreement with Microsoft to handle future publishing for Mass Effect. We are looking forward to releasing Mass Effect on the PC this Spring and brand new titles in the future.""

Based off of what Frank Gibeau said in regards to the agreement with microsoft, I'd say Microsoft let go of the ME publishing rights for a big wad of dough. Expect lots of bread and cookies from Microsoft soon.

Certainly possible, but it would be unusual for moneyhatting to work in reverse: Developer to console maker.

At the end of the day, both companies would have had a good idea of how the game would sell.  Would EA really spend enough money moneyhatting to convince Microsoft to give up one of their front-running exclusives?