Well, much of the backstory will make a little more sense if you play Mass Effect 1 - if you are interested in the story then definitely play ME 1. BioWare managed to retcon enough stuff and add codex entries to cover things for people who just want to play ME 2 without 1 though. You will get plenty of responses, most likely, saying to avoid Mass Effect 1 because the gameplay "sucks" - I personally prefer ME 1 gameplay over 2, but your opinion of it may differ. ME 1 is more of an RPG with TPS tacked on, ME 2 is a TPS with a few RPG elements tacked on. Watch some gameplay videos of both and see if it looks interesting to you. My bottom line is: If you are interested in the story line of the ME universe then play Mass Effect 1 (with the bonus ability to import your ME 1 playthrough character into ME 2 and have it mean something). If you just want a shooter then you can easily skip ME 1 (though you will be missing out on a bunch of small stuff).
They are both good games (And both available pretty cheap). KotOR has more RPG elements to it (base stats, feats, skills) and has a built in Pause'n'Play system. Mass Effect has streamlined RPG elements (Mass Effect 2 removed most of them) and uses an "Active Pause" system They are 2 different fish really - both play differently, both have good storylines, and both are epic in their own right. (I think you can make more money as a Dark aligned character in KotOR as most Light choices seem to bypass monetary award, Mass Effect you can make just as much money on either side and it is easier to skirt the middle). My opinion? Get both. Play Both. Profit.
You may only download it from Steam if you purchased it from them. You cannot register Medieval 2 TW on steam that I know of (there are a few games you can, mostly Valve titles or those using Steamworks). This is a list of games that have support via Steam to register retail keys and download: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601 Other games must be purchased from Steam in order to be able to download them.
A 2 second check of the WoW website would show you that it is 14.99/month base (with small discounts for multi-month plans) [this, of course, does not include the purchase price of the base game + Expansions]
As kramernic said, the pause feature is in both games - though they switched the button, for some reason, between the 2 (Space in ME 1, Shift in ME 2). Please note, however, that it is an "active pause" rather than a full pause - meaning that the game is only paused as long as you hold down the meta key (space/shift). You never control any other squad members in either game, the closest you get is when you tell them to use an ability/move to a spot.
STO was a big letdown for me :/ - I had high hopes, but with the horrible ground combat and game elements that looked like they came straight from CO.. yeah. Mass Effect 2 had me hoping big but I wasn't 100% on all of the changes that they made to "Streamline" it. I know I am in the minority with that but thats how I feel. Expansion wise DA:O - Awakening failed to wow me. I felt they took a step backwards from the elements that drew me into the vanilla game so much [the bugged as hell 1.03 patch did nothing to alleviate my lack of enjoyment for the game - I couldn't play properly for months :/]
Well, Steam is a game store with a community feature tacked on XFire is a community app with a store tacked on Apples and oranges really - one is an integrated platform, one is something that runs by itself on top of games - both have pros and cons (XFire can record videos, stream live, take screenshots, etc - Steam has its achievment system, integrated store, etc).
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