Avast, mateys! A fell voice on the North wind whispers a mighty temptin’ shanty into this sea dog’s old ear - aye it does. Prepare ye’ selves for Mass Effect to set sail for the ends of the gaming world, and journey into unknown, cinematic waters, yarrr!

Avi Arad, the major Hollywood producer with such box office smashes as Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four has bought up the film rights to Bioware’s sci-fi RPG, according to Variety.

Although game-to-film conversion aren’t exactly known for their successes, adapting a strong, story-driven, character-centric title like Mass Effect should be a relatively simple task for any half decent screenwriter. If anything, the game’s only criticisms came from too much cinematic content and talkie bits, so the transition ought to be a smooth one.

Neither Arad nor Bioware have made any official comments on time scale, budgets or what we can expect, but considering that EA spent $860 million buying the game’s developer, this is likely to be a franchise the gaming giant will want to fully exploit.

Yarr! What do I hear blowin’ in on the South wind? Mass Effect 2, the sirens are callin’ from the pirate’s graveyard!