A standalone Mass Effect FPS almost happened

The Final Hours of Mass Effect 3 just went live but already there are some very interesting stories coming to light about the development of the series' third installment.

One such story is that of Mass Effect: Team Assault, which according to Kotaku was to be its own fully functional multiplayer FPS that eventually ended up becoming the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer that we see today.

According to Keighley's documentary, the goal was, "To create a standalone multiplayer experience in the Mass Effect universe that would mix the play styles of Unreal Tournament and Battlefield 1943 — and likely be released as a downloadable game."

Isn't that interesting?  Yes, yes it is.