In an interview with GameDaily, Jeff Bell, Microsoft’s VP of Marketing announced that BioWare’s Mass Effect has soared past industry expectation numbers and sold 1 million copies in just three weeks.

Released on November 20th, it seems the branching, customizable sci-fi adventure is breaking new ground in terms of game play, and having an impact on the gaming community as a whole. With such high sales numbers usually not seen by role-playing games—much less ones that demand the level of involvement and customization that Mass Effect requires—this announcement reinforces BioWare’s ability to provide solid, story-driven titles that can also gain mainstream momentum.

While games such as Halo 3 and Rock Band will always represent the "fun for everyone" factor that the 360 offers, it's good to hear that the once-niche genre of role-playing games is now getting in on more of the action. With any luck, we’ll see an even stronger surge in sales this holiday season for BioWare Corp’s magnum opus and hopefully keep everyone along for the ride once the trilogy is completed.