Dragon Age 2 - Lowtown Profiled and a preview @ GameDynamo

Bioware has updated their official website for DA2 with some info on Lowtown in Kirkwall. From Lowtown we will probably be let into the the city sewer's tunnels, Darktown.

A newcomer to the city of Kirkwall will find Lowtown a vast maze of shantytowns and labyrinthine corridors, all clustered around the busy man-made harbor. Lowtown is literally a pit where the slaves were once quartered, but residents comfort themselves with the thought that as poor off as they are, they are still not the worst in Kirkwall. That honor belongs to those who have descended into "Darktown", the nickname given to the truly desperate who have taken refuge in the city's sewer tunnels.

A brief preview can be found at GameDynamo based on info we already know. Here's a snip, though:

On the plus side, the new character can be either male or female and can be a mage, warrior, or rogue.  However, the first name will be based on whether the character is male or female, with the last name taking Hawke either way.  Hawke will be fully voiced this time around, and depending on who is speaking to the player character, will be addressed differently. It is possible to hear Hawke’s own name but that will be rare. Apparently, the developers at BioWare felt that the enigmatic hero from the original game actually turned many people away. As such, they decided to take the same approach the Mass Effect games did to draw the player in and immerse them in the story.

BioWare will again include romantic encounters as part of the gameplay, but this time it will not only be with NPCs in the party (as before) but also with others met throughout the game world.  There will also be encounters with groups and characters from Origins, including Flemeth (yes, she is still alive).