Mass Effect 2 - Preview @ Giant Bomb - tells about the first 90 minutes

A preview for Mass Effect 2 can be found at Giant Bomb. It details what happens during the game's first 90 minutes. Spoilers abound so consider this fair warning. Here's the part where the author talks about what Bioware views as canon, for the first Mass Effect - if you don't have savegame to import that is:

It assumes that you allowed the Citadel high council to die at the end of the first game, for instance, allowing humans to take control of the highest positions of government. It also says that you allowed Kaidan Alenko to die, sparing that space bigot Ashley Williams for the sequel.

Is this a good canon ending for the first Mass Effect ?
More information.

Negative.

I saved the council and marched off Ashley with extreme prejudice.

Surprising, I always thought the default ending would be:


Oh well, I probably won't try the default start at all. I see no reason to, as long as I still have my savegames intact. Also, ME1 is a fairly short game - you can create a new character and play through the main quest in a day (half the game is made up by space exploration, which will grant quite a bit of experience and gear, but it's worthless if your goal is ME2 - as far as I know, all characters are stripped of their gear and experience when you import them from ME1 to ME2).

The actual main quest really is quite short if you go directly to all the main quest planets. I've never actually tried, as I like to complete all the sidequests, but I'd estimate about 10 hours or so on the main quest. Maybe even less.

I was playing good shepard for the most part, though I heard Jennifer Hale's bad shepard dialog was rather humorous and the council mostly sucked.

I, too, thought Ashley would have died and the High Council would still be there.
On the other hand, this ending for the first Mass Effect makes perfect sense, since humans are now leading the galaxy - hey, just like on Earth.

Personally, I found it refreshing that the humans were not in the lead for once. It will be interesting to see if how the choice regarding the council in ME1 will affect the world in ME2 - will the humans be domating if you choose the diplomatic solution, preserving the council?