BioWare revealed today the first hint of the next Mass Effect game. On the company's website, they indicated that the upcoming Mass Effect novel will be set in between the first and second games of the franchise. While its been widely assumed that Mass Effect would be the first in a series of titles, this is one of the first official confirmations of a sequel.

"Del-Rey Books and author Drew Karpyshyn have announced the title of the second volume in the Mass Effect series of novels: Mass Effect: Ascension," said the post on BioWare.com. "Set between the first and second game, the novel will arrive in Summer 2008."

The first Mass Effect has already sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Eventual ports to other systems, such as PS3, also seem like a real possibility given the recent acquisition of Pandemic/BioWare by Electronic Arts, although Microsoft will no doubt try to keep the franchise exclusive to Xbox 360 if they can.