E3 2011: Mass Effect 3 in effect March 6

The first day of the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo kicked off with Microsoft's press conference. On hand at the event was BioWare head and cofounder Dr. Ray Muzyka, who showed off the Kinect functionalities of Mass Effect 3. The Xbox 360 version of the sci-fi role-playing game will let players give voice commands in combat via the camera-based motion sensor, as well speak lines of dialogue during character interaction sessions.

Later, at Electronic Arts' E3 press briefing, Mass Effect 3 got a release date after suffering a delay last year. The game will now arrive on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on March 6, 2012. Previously, it had been scheduled for a holiday 2011 release.

The third installment in BioWare's epic sci-fi role-playing game series, Mass Effect 3 sees planet Earth under siege. The attackers are the Reapers, a race of heavily armed sentient spacecraft that were central to the plot of the first Mass Effect. The Reapers' return to the series was concretely revealed in Arrival, the tepidly reviewed last installment of downloadable content for Mass Effect 2.

In Mass Effect 3, players will once again take on the role of Commander Shepard, a hardened space marine who is now on the run from his former employer, the shadowy pro-human organization Cerberus. To save Earth, he must travel the galaxy trying to rally support from alien civilizations with varying degrees of sympathy (or lack thereof).