New details about the PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 are emerging as the series’ first PlayStation outing grows closer. Jesse Houston, producer of the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2,revealed during a recent Bioware podcast that the port uses the Mass Effect 3 engine.

We’ve actually created the engine for Mass Effect 3 and use that to make Mass Effect 2 PS3. So we took the content and the story and all the other assets that made up Mass Effect 2 and we put them in the Mass Effect 3 engine. And that‘s what we are actually delivering. Examiner

Also since Microsoft owns the publishing rights to the first game Bioware has found a creative way to keep PS3 owners in the loop as far as the Mass Effect story goes. An “interactive back story comic” provided by comic book publisher, Dark Horse, unfolds between the opening cutscene of Mass Effect 2 and the character customization screen. Your male or female Shepard recounts the story of the first Mass Effect against a backdrop of images. –IGN

See IGN UK’s preview video of  Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 after the jump.

Mass Effect 2 releases for the PS3 on January 18, 2011 in North America and on the 21st in Europe.