Well you came to the right place. There are plenty of folks here who gave advice in the past, just search finished basements with the search button at the top of the page.
Here is one
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/f45/finishing-my-basement-3989/
Read up, and ask again. Your project sounds like it is very possible, usually you have beams in the basement, but some walls do hold weight. I would remove an entire sheet, and see what is behind the wallboard.