User blog comment:JakePT/Mass Effect 3 Revealed at Videogame Awards/@comment-1691295-20101209111215

CVG has acquired an image from the trailer and they say EA has conceded that it is real.

It depicts the Sniper's POV with a woman reaching for a fallen child in the rubble.

http://cdn.medialib.computerandvideogames.com/screens/screenshot_242933.jpg

The full story.

The US source that leaked the image to CVG told us: "I won't spoil it for everyone by telling you what the game is. But it's going to have a lot of hardcore BioWare fans jumping out of their seats."

That comment says, to me, that the game won't be a multiplayer spinoff and won't be a new franchise. As a new franchise wouldn't make 'hardcore BioWare fans' jump out of their seats. Excited, sure, but 'jumping out of their seats' is more of the reaction you'd get to something set in an existing universe they they're already fans of.

Multiplayer would also rule out that reaction, as BioWare doesn't do multiplayer (yet), so I don't see how that would make hardcore fans that excited, since they're (we're?) the typesto get more excited about story-based single-player RPGs. While I'm sure plenty probably do play multiplayer games and would be excited about out, it's not something you could necessarily say 'hardcore BioWare fans' would be excited about.