I was reading through the answers to the following questions:
- Do I need to have played Mass Effect to enjoy Mass Effect 2?
- Should I continue one of my Mass Effect playthroughs in Mass Effect 2 or start afresh?
And there's a compelling argument that not only should one play Mass Effect prior to Mass Effect 2, one should play it on the same platform so you can transfer your Mass Effect save and change the starting conditions of the game: from different (better?) backstories, to more characters being accessible, to better resources.
This is, of course, similar to other BioWare titles like Dragon Age II, where different quests are accessible depending on your actions from Dragon Age: Origins.
The problem is: there is no Mass Effect for PlayStation 3, so there's no way to import a save to unlock all the "New Game Plus"-esque features.
So when one starts a Mass Effect 2 game on PlayStation 3, is it any different than starting a clean new game on the PC or Xbox 360? Or is there a system like in Dragon Age II where you can select your backstory?