First image of next Mass Effect revealed

BioWare producer Michael Gamble today tweeted the first, albeit blurry, image of the next Mass Effect game.

"The next chapter of Mass Effect is upon us!!," Gamble wrote, attaching an image of a developer playing the untitled Mass Effect game with an Xbox 360 controller.

The Xbox 360 controller shown in the picture is not illuminated, though this is because it's connected to a development PC, Gamble explained.

The image comes on N7 Day, a BioWare-created celebration of all-things Mass Effect held on November 7.

BioWare Montreal studio director Yanick Roy also tweeted an image of a BioWare artist working on some of the characters players will encounter in the new Mass Effect.

BioWare announced the next Mass Effect game in September 2012. It will not feature Commander Shepard, as his story came to a close in last year's Mass Effect 3.

The untitled game will run on the Frostbite 3 engine and, according to executive producer Casey Hudson, will be "fresh and new."

In addition to the new Mass Effect game, BioWare is working with Legendary Pictures on a Mass Effect feature film, though no release date or casting details have been divulged.

BioWare is also working on a brand new franchise, which will deliver "something new, the way we did at the very beginning of Mass Effect," Hudson said in March.