not sure what to think about this. hopefully it hasn't taken their focus away from making a great single player experience.

That’s right - Mass Effect 3 is getting multiplayer! We travel to BioWare’s office in Edmonton for hands-on time with the series’ first foray into online gameplay, and chat with Mass Effect Series Producer and Mass Effect 3 Project Director Casey Hudson about the decision to go multiplayer in the epic battle for the galaxy.

the cover reads:

Fight alongside your friends as the galaxy goes to war!

co-op gameplay perhaps?

Yeah it doesn't sound good for the genre. That being said, Baldur's Gate pulled off a way of doing it, where people join the player's party with their own characters to help, though I never really tried properly.

Come to think of it, holy shit Baldurs Gate II was an amazing game. Frikkin, wizard asylum on an island,

Well, I'd prefer if it at least plays a sound bit "Assuming direct control" every time.

edit: something like this in fact.

Sounds like another excuse to market an online pass in a game they might not have been able to swing it with otherwise. Can't blame EA for thinking of the shareholders!