BioWare has revealed that it has already started “building” the third Mass Effect title, even though the second hasn’t hit the market yet. Talking vaguely about the final chapter in the trilogy, project manager Casey Hudson spoke about the upcoming installment into the Mass Effect trilogy at the Consumer Electronics Show.

“We are already at work on Mass Effect 3,” he told IGN. “Building the first bits of the story, putting that together.” However, he did reveal that, simultaneously, BioWare would also be working on the downloadable content for Mass Effect 2 extending the life and replay value of the sequel.

“There will be great downloadable content throughout the time that Mass Effect 2 is out there while people are waiting for the third one. You’ll always have great stuff. New adventures to play. New things to do,” he continued. With that in mind, he continued to taking about the final chapter into the Mass Effect trilogy, Mass Effect 3.

“I think the exciting thing in the final chapter of the series is going to be just seeing where everything goes that we started,” said Casey, remaining vague. “With Mass Effect and now Mass Effect 2, you’ll see when you play it, all of these threads keep going. And not only that, all of the choices you’ve made too. You made choices in Mass Effect and you’ll see those in Mass Effect 2. And it just cascades. And people will see that by the time you finish Mass Effect 2, you’ll know that it’s your universe — everything is the way you set it out — and that all of these things get to come to fruition and some kind of ending in the final chapter.”

Sony had a very impressive 2009; however, Microsoft is seeking to gain 2010. That said, with expectations set very high on both fronts, Microsoft has added Fable III to the list of games that it will be releasing this year — something that we did see coming, seeing that Lionhead announced the game late-last year.

According to Microsoft’s CES press release, the company is looking to fill its gaming holiday release schedule with highly anticipated titles, such as Halo: Reach and Fable III. “Our holiday line-up of games includes the highly anticipated Fable III, followed by Halo Reach,” read the press release. With that in mind, Fable III is scheduled to release this holiday season on the Xbox 360.

As of lately one thing that has been pushing down the number of new friends I make on Xbox Live is the current 100-friends limit that has been pushed by Microsoft since the release of Xbox Live. But, it looks like Microsoft may have plans to increase the limit of friends you can have on Xbox Live.

When speaking to Joystiq at CES, Xbox director Aaron Greenberg told them that, “I can’t commit to when that will happen, but that is something we want to do. It’s definitely something we’re looking at expanding and, as this social network grows, we’ve absolutely heard the pleas for that. It’s on the list.”

Then he went onto say that how they had thousands of potential friends turn away daily on Xbox Live. And, as he said, it’s on the list so lets see what future plans they have for Xbox Live.

Alex Mercer may not remember if he was a hero or a villain, but do you remember the trailer that was ‘leaked’ a month ago? Well, it looks like that trailer has found its way to CES, in Las Vegas, this year and, as I digress into this matter, that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

At the end of the trailer (shown below), there was a simply advert saying that newest release target for Prototype, which reads ‘Summer 2009′. That’s it. That was the newest release target for the title, but also in the trailer it revealed some powerful, and rather painful, powers that haven’t been shown before, here take a look.

Note: to view video in better quality go here and click in ‘watch in HD’.

Sony has revealed some very impressive things at CES this year, but when you head over to the Sony boot, on the show floor, you will see one of the most impressive displays of 3D this generation, which just happen to be on the PlayStation 3.

“Don’t get caught up with specs,” the Sony representative told Arstechnica. “We’re not going to talk about specifications. This is just a look at what 3D could look like if Sony decided to move in this direction.”

Anyway, Arstechnica were shown Wipeout HD in 3D and they say that, “[they were] ready to whip out [their] credit card right there” and buy the system. But, sadly, the showing was just to see if people would want that kind of technology in their home.

During Sony’s presentation at CES, Guerrilla Game’s Hermen Hulst started talking about AAA titles on the PlayStation 3 that will release this year. In his presentation, on AAA titles, he gave out details that we already knew about the game, like destructible environments, etc., aspect for this one piece of information.

Now, he didn’t official give out this piece of information, but Killzone two will offer most gamers about ten hours of single-player gameplay.

Depending on some other factors like difficulty, your skill level, and weather or not you want to collect all the trophies, this game has some great single-player story detail. Because 10 hours is an average for a game of this nature, which isn’t bad at all.

If you were wondering why EA was planning to put their upcoming Beatles/Rock Band hybrid against a number Music games that would be released this year, here’s why.

According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, who spoke at a Billboard CES session today, the company will be taking a break from the release cycle of Rock Band this year.

“We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” Rigopolous told the assembled press and industry members. “[This is] partially because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.”

Rigopolous added that the delay was also partly so the developer could focus on the Beatles-focused game announced last October. But, I hope, the cycle will return next year.

[Harmonix’ Rigopolous: “Rock Band 3 breaking the annual cycle” via Crispy Gamer]