In an interview with computerandvideogames.com, Mukzka didn’t confirm the statement made by series director Casey Hudson recently that the game would likely be released within the same two year development cycle as “Mass Effect 2” was from the original – but he didn’t deny it, either. “I don’t think we’ve announced the timing for the third one yet,” Muzkya insisted, hedging his bets a little, “but I can tell you the team’s already working on it. Our goal is to get it out in a time frame that can maximise the quality for our fans, maximise the commercial success for the company and just make sure we do the right thing overall for the long term of the franchise.”

Muzyka also admitted that he believes while reaching a ‘mass audience’ is obviously important in terms of sales, it cannot be at the expense of the hardcore fan. “At the end of the day they’re the people that spread the word and virally propagate the message. The guy who buys a dozen games a year tells the guy who buys a couple of games a year “this is the game to get”… In the end, how we reach those mass market fans is through the core audience telling them or through the press. People listen to the press, they listen to the fans, they listen to credible influencers. That’s how we reach the mass market.”

That said, Muzyka is adamant that that success only means the team cannot rest on their laurels with future titles. “It’s interesting being at the EA meetings and receiving the launch congratulations, but I’m more interested in how we drive success in the future, how we make our next games even better than “Mass Effect”. I would hate that it’s seen as the best game we’ve ever done in our entire lifetime, as strange as that is to say, because I want our next game to be better than “Mass Effect 2”. As great a game as it is – and I think it is our best game to date – I always want each game as it comes out to be seen that way. It keeps everybody motivated on the team. So we’re delighted, but we’re looking into the future and trying to make the best stuff. Our best stuff is still to come, I think.”

The original science fiction role playing game featured the likes of Keith David, Seth Green and Lance Henriksen in the cast, and the company has clearly decided to not only follow in the footsteps but also best its predecessor, with the announcement that not only will David and Green be returning, reprising their roles as Admiral David Anderson and Normandy pilot Joker, but that they will be joining the likes of Adam Baldwin, Seth Green, Michael Hogan and Carrie Anne Moss. Also in the cast is Emmy Award winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo (“House of Addam”, “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2”), who will be playing the character Admiral Shala’Raan vas Tonbay. Perhaps the biggest name revealed to be a part of the voice cast for “Mass Effect 2”, however, is the Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning actor Martin Sheen, perhaps best known as the President in US drama “The West Wing”. He will play a mysterious character known only as “Illusive Man”, the commander of a human-centric secret society referred to as Cerberus. Adam Baldwin and Yvonne Strahovski (both from the TV series “Chuck”) will play the characters Kal ‘Reeger and Cerberus agent Miranda Lawson respectively, while Michael Dorn (eternally remembered as the Klingon Starfleet officer Worf in both “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, as well as several of the feature films) will play Gatatog Uvenk.

The game will be released in 2010.

The Entertainment Software Ratings Board summary appears to give “Assassin’s Creed 2” a high rating in terms of the kinkiness factor, with the game apparently containing “strong sexual overtones” ranging from a mini-game in which “players are able to press buttons to kiss a woman and remove her dress; with the woman’s back facing the camera, the two characters lower to bed and blow out a candle”, to “adultery, sodomy, prostitution and rape”.

Most of the naughtier topics are apparently simply background detail for some of the historical characters in the game, though the game itself does see players spending time in a brothel, using prostitutes as cover, and engaging in lots of lots of swearing, in both English and Italian “eg, f**k, s**t, c*zzo, and ‘m*rda’; the most explicit instance occurs when a man frantically describes a vision – “I’m at the opera… the soprano is so beautifu… I’m in bed with her, she cries as I f**k her”, plus such delightful one-liners as “Does your wife know about your page boy fantasies, Captain?” and “So, the whip or the paddle today?”

“Assassin’s Creed II” is due out on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on the seventeenth of this month, with a PC version scheduled for release next year. Needless to say, the game is rated M for ‘mature’ audiences, and will no doubt prove to be very popular indeed with mature teenage boys in particular.

Muzyka revealed his thoughts on the upcoming release of “Mass Effect 2”, the challenges inherent in getting gamers to emotionally invest in their games characters, and the noticeable absence of a PS3 version of the new game. Muzyka says he thinks the sequel is “a really refined evolution of the “Mass Effect” experience. We’ve took a lot of feedback from gamers and the press and internally. I think it’s just an awesome game, when you play it feels real tight and tense… I think one of our visions is to really create an emotional engagement with the game and that can be done in a variety of ways. One of them is through characters and story, to get you to make choices that matter and to have characters that feel like real, living characters – digital personas that you actually care about… The small things matter. You need to have digital actors that are credible and believable… if you can make players believe in your characters, the possibilities are endless.”

Muzyka was cagier about the lack of development for a PS3 version of the game, however. “I think a more accurate way to frame it is to say we’ve announced we’re developing “Mass Effect” for 360 and PC. Right from the beginning we said we wanted to deliver “Mass Effect” on the 360. Right now all we’ve announced is we’re working on 360 and PC.” When pressed again on the PS3 issue, Muzyka simply reiterated, “We haven’t announced anything on that” – twice. Make of that what you will.