Mass Effect 3 standard edition contains reversible FemShep cover

by Alexander Sliwinski on Feb 22nd 2012 1:16PM

Commander Shepard is a man? It was the greatest lie ever created in future history. BioWare sought to fix this, admitting the savior of Earth (and the galaxy at large) could be recast as female.

Well, it seems the developer has gone one step further and slipped in the female Shepard on the reverse cover of Mass Effect 3 (standard edition). Sure, she's not black yet, but we'll take a partial truth for the time being.

Check out BioWare's unboxing video after the break.

Source: YouTube

Tags: mass-effect-3, microsoft, pc, playstation, ps3, xbox

Reader Comments (84)

My solution to the Mass Effect cover problem (It has affected every single version so far) just don't show SHEPARD!
Come on how hard is it, show Garrus or the Citadel or the enemies, just don't show Shepard!
The ME2 Collectors Edition cardboard sleeve front had the right idea, the steelbook though, did not.

@iceytoa1

Why would they put Garrus on there when he's dead?

*tear*

@Vcize
Hmm, fair point, didn't think of that. But my point of the Citadel or weaponry still stands.

@iceytoa1; I'd be more in favour of Reaper's attacking earth as the cover art for ME3 personally.

@Vcize STFU! GARRUS ISNT DEAD!

@Granger I like it :D

@Vcize

Maybe for you........but not for everbody :)

@Vcize

*GASP* How could you let him die?! I weep for you.

You guys should try reading the wiki. The only squad member who ever died was Kaiden.

@maveric101

In ME2 all of your squad mates and even you could die, so it seems that he lost Garrus

Spoiler city.

I kept Kaiden alive solely for the male-male relationship options in ME3.

@EIranzer

Wow, you're so progressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM9jhGiIAFM

@Mofetti

Wow. I thought my sarcasm there was obvious. I guess I was wrong.

Reversible covers are awesome, I hope they become a gaming standard. The one for the SOTC/ICO collection looks great.

Call me crazy, but I miss the branding. This might just be the first reversible cover I use, not only because I prefer the reverse image, but because it has the platform branding on the front and spine, as well as the features on the back. Considering 99% of the time, all I see are the spines of the games anyways, the ICO collection looks a lot better on my shelf with the original cover - or at least it fits in with the rest of my library with the PS3 logos lined up.

There are lots of PS3 games with dual-sided covers. Problem with Xbox 360 is the GREEN colored case. Ewwwww.

Correction: I meant inner cover arts.

@Ballistic Hey! Speak for yourself, I love the Green Translucent Xbox case, much better than the Black Opaque case of the PS3

@killer rin
PS3 cases are translucent clear or red in the case of greatest hits.

2 DVD's FOR THE LOSE! I had my hopes up when I read somewhere that it was going to be on 1 DVD.

This is unacceptable after Skyrim.

@SpartanSnake
I know, right? The fact that you'll have to stand up and press a button after 40 or so hours is egregious and just plain mean.

@SpartanSnake
Minus: It's on two DVD's.
Plus: The NPC's will have more than 5 stock voices saying "I used to be a soldier like you, until I took a laser in the knee!"

@sigma8

I'd be happy with ten disks if I could avoid hitting 2-3 line brick walls with NPCs.

@sigma8

Let me guess, someone stole your asari honey marinade...

@SpartanSnake
Do you know what multiples disks means?

1. There's lot's of content.
2. That content is not compressed to force it to fit onto a disc it would otherwise be too big for.

So... what's the problem?

I know. Games like Final Fantasy 7-9, Parasite Eve, Chrono Cross (pretty much all Square Enix CD-ROMs) as well as multi-disc PC game installs...

All bad games just because they were on multiple discs.

Lol at the black part... Btw, I'm black

@CraszyAsce

I don't know why this guy was downvoted. If people ever listened longtime to the old Joystiq Xbox 360 Fancast, you'd be aware that Xander's Shepard is a black female called Oprah and it was a kind of meme, in-joke, within the show like Ted Tyson's Toyota Town or dropbears. Hence, the joke at the end of the main post. It's not a racial slur. Dropbears are no joke however.

I don't know why they show Shepard at all. I hate the stock male Shepard, and the female one isn't much better.

There are so many characters they can put on the cover. But they insist on putting one that I'll never actually see in-game.

@greyseal
Except you actually do see and hear Shepard quite a bit. They actually hired real voice actors to do each gender for Shepard. Depending on who you pick (and assuming you only ever play as the one gender) you actually eliminate a substantial member from the voice cast at runtime.

That was one of the things I really enjoyed about the ME games. They really did incorporate my custom-Shepard into the game. It wasn't like Elder Scrolls, where you never get much of a look at your character, and you certainly never hear him (or her). Or even compared to Dragon Age, where I do think I chose a voice...but then never got to hear it. So many games make you feel like you're playing a mute with no face.

ME is probably the only game where I see the cover of a different Shepard and I actually double-take. I actually feel like the game is about the Shepard I know. It feels like it was designed that way.

@sigma8

I think you misunderstood my post. I'm a huge fan of the series, and have completed each game with both male and female characters.

I'm just saying that my Sheps look completely different than the "official" Bioware versions. I never see their version of the character in-game, so I don't know why they're on the cover. They may as well put characters that we all see during the game on the cover -- it's not like there's any shortage.

Well, at least they're still keeping it down to two discs. Unless I missed something, nobody has said anything about how many discs this game would have. The only real reason I'd want the PS3 version of Xbox 360. I could not be more excited about this game (or more resentful over the fact that I couldn't save Wrex and sacrificed the council over four years ago.)

@SeannyD Man, 'EFF the Council!!! They were a Bunch of Racist and Haters.. They Deserved to Die!!

@SeannyD go get the motion comic, play through 2 again. YOU STILL HAVE TIME!

@SeannyD get the motion comic, play through 2, YOU STILL HAVE TIME.

Wrex is worth it.

Bioware: How about I upload my Shepard to a website and print out my custom cover?

Other games have had importable character creators.

@Anguissette
Howabout you photoshop it and take your action to Kinko's (or even better, a photo place) for some nice glossy printouts? Can't be too hard, can it? Not a criticism, just a thought. I never thought about doing that myself, but for someone who is into game case display, it seems like a good idea.

@Anguissette And another thing Bioware, why not let me use the Kinect to import my face onto the body? That will be what gets me to purchase a Kinect.

Great stuff, glad to hear it. Too bad default female Shepard looks like she's about to head out the door to her job as hostess at an Outback Steakhouse. I prefer someone a little tougher looking.

I thought we learned from Mass Effect 2 about 2 discs for 360? -_-;

@WigglesPNG

Learned what? That we Americans need to get off of our lazy asses more often? C'mon, Man. Is it really that big of a deal?

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En

Yes the 2 discs were a big deal. Not because that meant I had to get up and change discs; but because it forced Bioware to cut content and make ME2 more linear. We were originally suppose to be given all the dossiers and allowed to recruit in any order we see fit. If you look it up on Youtube you can see that Legion, Samara, Thane, and Tali had dialogue on the pre-Horizon missions.

While I'm sad that Bioware will have to make ME3 linear to reduce the number of disc swaps; I'm slightly happy because I was expecting ME3 to be on 3 discs.

It isn't often that I care about you folks regarding your review copies, but I straight up hate you guys right now. Longest 13 days ever.

Ps- I still love you. Besides, the space baloon copy will descend in my backyard soon enough.

@Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En
For some reason you just made me think of neunundneunzig luftballoons.

I think it was the typo, which harks to the German pronunciation.

@sigma8

Well played, Sir. Well played.

I love joystiq literally no one I know would have come up with that but it's so true

Why she gotta be black though?

Now if you own all 3, it looks like Shepard had a sex change inbetween Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3

I think some people are missing the point...typically games are dominated by male protagonists and as such most female players feel a bit detached from otherwise stellar storylines. I think subtle things like this reversible cover really help broaden a game's appeal as it helps female gamers feel welcomed and considered in the community. Kudos to BioWare.

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Mass Effect 3

Mass Effect 3 standard edition contains reversible FemShep cover

Reader Comments (84)

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:20PM iceytoa1 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:38PM Vcize said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:40PM iceytoa1 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:46PM Granger said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:50PM sammo21 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:36PM iceytoa1 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:46PM Mofetti said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:47PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:51PM maveric101 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:00PM Mofetti said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:29PM Chibi Chaingun said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:31PM EIranzer said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 4:52PM Jenks said

Posted: Feb 23rd 2012 2:17AM maveric101 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:20PM Hank Hill said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:28PM Granger said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:47PM Ballistic H said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:49PM Ballistic H said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:44PM killer rin said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 7:35PM KirbyCommando said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:25PM SpartanSnake said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:35PM RickGhastly said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:37PM sigma8 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:14PM Ignatius said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:58PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:22PM Vesuvium said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:33PM EIranzer said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:26PM CraszyAsce said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 4:11PM Styli said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:29PM greyseal said

Posted: Feb 23rd 2012 2:20PM sigma8 said

Posted: Feb 23rd 2012 9:20PM greyseal said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:29PM SeannyD said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:17PM StarcasM said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 4:15PM Pywodwagon said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:36PM Pywodwagon said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:29PM Anguissette said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:39PM sigma8 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 5:18PM MrCheeks said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:31PM Daveboy said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:34PM WigglesPNG said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:38PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 3:10PM Saiyan26 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:35PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 1:41PM sigma8 said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:46PM Zoot Suit Jedi Grammar Hammer En said

Posted: Feb 22nd 2012 2:24PM Tomerick said

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