Gamers Are Now Angry at BioWare Because of An Image in Mass Effect 3 (Spoiler)

Fans have expressed outrage at the apparent reveal that developer BioWare used a stock photo as the basis for one of Mass Effect 3's main characters. Angry gamers sent a barrage of e-mails to Kotaku's tips hotline last night with links to the stock photo and the spoilery reveal from the action-roleplaying game.

[dazreah]

Wow the fuss over this is sad, it's almost like people are going out of there way to find reasons to bash Bioware. How the hell can this make gamers angry??!!

[Dovahkiin]

Although I agree completely that this is too minor for people to fuss over, I must admit I do think it's relatively lazy to use a stock photograph. As much as I love Bioware.

[Ares84HU]

Lazy?? Have anyone even played ME3 at all??? If you did than you must be an idiot to call BioWare lazy.

Also, this picture issue is nonsense!!! Kotaku just makes it out to be a big deal. I DO NOT CARE WHAT SO EVER.

[joab777]

It may be lazy, but, my gosh, get a life. Who the he'll took the time to find this anyway? Obviously they are not too lazy where it matters so who cares. Go get a job or something, or i dunno, actually play the game before u spend countless hours tearing it apart. Wow!!!

[da_2pacalypse]

That's what they get for selling out. I'm glad.

[teething]

All I can say is that I am sad that Bioware chose to show her face... and she looked like a human with 3 fingers. Seriously?

The troll in me wanted her to look like some sort of freak, mainly because the model used for the shadow of her face behind the mask to date has been anything but pretty... and because I would love to see fanboys cry knowing they romanced an "uggo."

Tali was about personality not her appearance... now she is about appearance too... just like any other character.

I always felt that part of her appeal was that gamers got to imagine what she looked like (thus people would generally imagine an ideal if they liked her, a nasty bubbling alien if they did not).

I figured there would be fallout if her face was shown. A few fanboy dreams were crushed today. You can;t make everyone happy. This IS the internet.

[JsonHenry]

This is kind of what stock photos are for..

[limewax]

very true, however I personally am a big fan of all the games, and Tali is one of my favorite characters, being used in my squad for most of my playthroughs, And this is not what I expected Tali to look like at all. I wouldn't say the fact they used a stock photograph was lazy, however the amount of work they done to the image itself quite clearly was, There is literally a couple bits of metal and one moved hair section. Had they at least changed skin texture and possibly color then the image would not have looked as bad.

[NAGNEWS]

looks like a blow-doll

[Nimblest-Assassin]

Im not going to spoil what Tali's face looks like.. I figured out you get a picture after you Romance her.

Why are people constantly raging at Me3?

I started playing last night and I am heavily enjoying myself.

I mean so far this is what people have raged about

1) Day one DLC: OK I get it: its gimmicky, but people need to understand that it was the exclusive content for the collectors edition first.. lol collector edition( sorry, ME2 humor)

2) Freddie.Prince.Jr: Who is this guy and why do people hate him? He is actually doing a pretty decent performance as James Vega.

3) Jessica Chobot: YOU DONT EVEN NEED TO INTERACT OR SEE HER! Are people just mad because she is in the game? People don't rage at Felicia Day being in Fallout, nor Jace Hall. So why rage at Chobot (even though I do not like her)

3) Protheans sound Jamaican: Really? I actually found this funny when I heard the clips, and the voice actually matches pretty well with the character (Did the from ashes DLC, since I bought the collectors edition)

4)Gay-Shepard: Really again? Aren't we over the whole gay relationships thing? Skyrim did it and no one cared... hell Me3 makes the relationship more meaningful than in Skyrim and its good for people whom actually want to pursue that sort of relationship. I mean, are these people raging trollophobes? You don't even have to make him gay. Are they just mad because that option exists?

5)Getting banned for calling writter for Bioware a slut:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I wonder why you got banned. Do you think you are going to stay on the forums after calling a writter a slut? Is she prostituting herself? No, she just said she felt narrative is more important than gameplay in HER OPINION! And people call her a slut.. -_-

6) Tali's face: Not spoiling it for me. But why are people raging? You know what do not tell me, and I will weight on it later.

Im sorry, but from what I see.. people raging at Bioware and Me3 seem extremely immature. Call me a biodrone (even though I only played 3 bioware games including KOTOR, ME2, and now ME3)

Those same people raging probably will call me that. But I say it as I see it... those people raging are immature

And thats that

[omi25p]

Because you have played it and I haven't, one of the things people are moaning about is the fact there are hardly any conversation options when compared to ME1-ME2 Did you notice this?

[hay]

Started it yesterday. Rant is out of proportions, but ME3 is weaker than ME2 IMO. Won't say it's bad, but it's worse. AI's retarted, tons of minor bugs and glitches, frame drops, it's easier than previous(I never play on normal or below), gameplay is weaker, script seems to be written by someone who doesn't know the universe(Anderson shouts "grab the ammo" when bioware defended heating clips and said they are not ammo, Liara is out of character, most dialog options are followed by the same sentence of other NPCs, dialog choices are shadow of what they were in previous ME and they broke my Shepard, since there are no longer choices I was used to in previous games). It's a lot worse. And I played only few hours.

I also was ready to overreact 'cause of sheer disappointment. But it's not as bad as people go crazy about. 7/10 for me at the moment. Pretty good game, with issues. That's 1.5 less than I'd give ME2, and 2.5 less than I'd give ME1.

I hope it gets better with time invested.

But I do agree that most of people's complaints are stupid. Chobot? Don't use her, or screw her and leave, or get her into the team send her to her death in each firefight if you hate her so much.
Prince Jr is good as Vega. 1st day DLC? We allowed that to happen. Gay Shepard? Why the hell not? It's player's choice where they put their piston.

[PooEgg]

@Nimblest-Assassin

I agree with you 100 percent. It is frustrating that people are going overboard with the hate, but some gamers seem to have nothing better to do with their time.

Personally, I love the fact that BioWare is an open minded company, willing to try new things and willing to embrace the fact that not all gamers are straight and male. They know they will get crap for it, but they do it anyway, you have to respect them for sticking to their guns.

[vallencer]

But you didn't play their best one Jade Empire...>.> bummer. On topic with your comment though well said sir or madame well said.

[latinalover]

Yea over 1 picture.... 1 PICTURE

[andron]

It's quite pathetic when "gamers" go out of their way to find issues with everything.

Real gamers play games, they don't bitch about totally unimportant things like 3 year olds brats...

[closnyc]

no, real gamers want respect not to be milking cows fo r the devs. This generation of gamers have caused this, you all keep sinking your heads into this and develpers keep milking you. And on the others side, devs are all cash cows and they take this to their advantage thanks to gamers. Again, we want respect and we want a finished product for what we pay, 60 fucking dollars for a pc game that has atrocious fov, low res textures, no holstering, day 1 dlc, horrid animations, horri graphics, and i could go on is an insult. If yuo cant see past that, enjoy your milking. CDPR gives witcher 2 buyers all updates and dlc for free. I will support that, in the meanwhile i will pirate every single bioware and EA game.

[FrankDrebin]

No one is angry but Kotaku is looking for site hits. Not getting mine!

[pixelsword]

The fact that the article lead to kotaku was my first warning...

[Anon1974]

They ARE going out of their way to find reasons to bash Bioware. We see this happen all the time when something becomes popular. When a company starts doing really well, when a game becomes popular there will always be a subset of individuals who will automatically turn to "hate". We see it with TV shows, movies, bands, games...you name it.

Just look at how some fans turned on Rockstar, or Infinity Ward. GTA4 was an absolute masterpiece of gaming, something recognised by critics and fans alike and yet you still had a group that was "OMG! They ruined the series! Worst game of the year!"

As Plato once observed “Out of every hundred a hater is born and without effort, a hater’s gonna hate.”

[Persistantthug]

"Tali's fine....my Shepard's gonna get some of that."

Maybe it's just me then.

:P

[TekoIie]

Yeh I found it funny too but tbh this is so insignificant that all the tali lovers (myself included) can ignore this because bioware clearly didn't think this through much at all which makes the whole "issue" an over the top hate spam and ignorable.

I just think "if I don't look at the picture it doesn't exist" and am amazed no one else has thought to do this -_-.

[PooEgg]

Haters need to hate, and I honestly think there are a lot of people out their calling themselves gamers, who don't actually game much. Instead they spend their time picking apart every little thing game makers do wrong. The worst part is most of the hate comes from people who don't buy the game. I have always felt that if you have not personally picked up a game and played it you have no business judging it. But that's just me.

As for ME3, the game is excellent, and if you are stupid enough to jump into the negative hype wagon and pass on it, you are only hurting yourself. Even with all the whining and fake user reviews on Metacritic I have no doubt that ME3's great qualities will still make the game a huge success. BioWare may not be a perfect company, but they are the best at what they do well. They create great characters and they tell a damn good story.

[Megaton]

Nah, I agree with this one. This was extremely lazy on BioWare's behalf. There was a moment that would have been perfect to show Tali's face, something that fans have been wanting since ME1. Instead, they shoop a stock photo of some woman and put it next to your bed. Slap in the face of all the Talimancers out there.

[dirthurts]

I think it's more that seeing such a familiar image that is supposed to represent such a mysterious character can really ruin the suspension of disbelief for a lot of people.
Pulls you out of the game.

[TheXgamerLive]

It's an incredible game........play the game.

[Simon_Brezhnev]

The fans will really rage at the ME3. The ending is so shitty it just ruined the whole series for me.

[M83_]

Jesus! bioware can't even breathe without causing controversy these days!
Why do these people even play it if theyre just going to turn around and bitch about it?

[FunkMacNasty]

Seriously!? What's wrong with gamers these days?? Anyone who spends anytime on any internet gaming sites sees hardly anything but trolls, fanboys, and a population of nerd-raged, self-righeous, know-it-all pricks who flaunt this sense of entitlement.

Nobody can just play a game and be happy with it anymore. Instead they take to the internet in droves to complain about the game developers and troll about a pixel thats out of place.

I understand that when people pay %60 for a game, they expect that the developers put their best effort forward into the creation of that game.. but I mean, we're talking about the re-use of a stock photo in a game.. not recycling environments, character models, building models, old animations, etc.

Unreal.

[NAGNEWS]

is that everyone can act like a troll even you

[FunkMacNasty]

And a quick browse at your comments history will show you aren't immune from trolling either. Guess you're right--everyone can act like a troll. Even you.

[pixelsword]

@Funk

I pay 100% for my games. :)

[FunkMacNasty]

Haha! Yea me too.. Meant $60 of course :)

[pixelsword]

:)

[Soldierone]

You have to admit trolling Apple fanboys is absolutely fun though lol

Trolling like this gets annoying though, it happens to every company. "oh they can't do that, now they suck" It's normally as simple as them putting games on consoles, it's like wtf every gamer can't enjoy "your" game?

[pucpop]

its usually cry baby, fan "mummys" boys who spend all their free time glued to a pc, that moan like little girls

[Elvis]

Gamers are so childish nowadays.

[svoulis]

It's not they are childish now-a-days, it's that they are actually children now-a-days.

Seriously went to ME3 launch event saw like 70% kids there with their parents.

[FinaLXiii]

their spoiled

[OmegaSaiyanX]

Thats what Bioware have done by showing Tali's face lol

[helghast102]

Wow, I had no idea N4G had this many Biodrones.
This is pure laziness on BioWares part, Tali's face reveal has been anticipated by fans for many years, and when they finally do it.. it's a slightly (and badly) photoshopped stock image.. HOW is that acceptable to you people? BioWare doesn't give a damn about you and this is evidence enough, get your head out of the sand.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

God damn it spoiled it for myself...

But let me shoot you a little theory: Maybe because how Tali has changed as a character. She is more confident, and now a lot more funnier.

So maybe, Tali trolled Shepard by giving him a stock image... I mean, come on... they have hind joint legs. No way they can look like that image.

I actually found it pretty funny... good on you Bioware, Tali has become a character I really care for.

Now to dump Miranda for her... long distances relationships suck

[Blacktric]

Here's a spoilerish tip. You CAN'T romance Tali or Garrus if you haven't romanced them in ME 2 then imported that save to the game. It's just not possible.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

@Blaktric

Really? Damnit... well I will still try, or I guess Im going to romance Ashley, since my ME romance went that way

[Genecalypse]

Exactly, couldnt have said it better myself

Why are you people defending Bioware over this? Talis face was a big reveal for the ME series. The fact that they took a photo from google and photoshopped it for 5 mins and slapped it into the game shows how much they truly *care* for the lore and universe of their games.

Honestly its unacceptable, think of how much time they placed on getting same-sex love interests and day one DLC into the game, and then see how much time and effort they put into designing the physical appeared of one of the main characters who was a squadmate in all three games. (she even looks human)

Look at all the people defending them with logical fallacies like, "you guys need lives", "gamers are childish". No, stop feeling sorry for Bioware for 'being criticized'.

Are you fucking kidding me? When did these kind of practices become acceptable? When did it become wrong to point out flaws in a product. Stop being Bioware-fanboys for a moment

Sad really, this is truly the work of a multi-million dollar studio that cares *deeply* for storytelling in their AAA games

What a joke

[Fkabbz]

Seriously, some gamers really need to find some other hobbies in addition to gaming. It's becoming too much.

[Moncole]

They should have made her look like an alien.

[dawgsfan117]

This comment is hilarious. Please describe "an alien" for everybody. Also note that depending on your species a human falls into the category of alien.

[-MD-]

An alien.

[scotchmouth]

They should have made her look like a hotdog.

[ThanatosDMC]

Or a broom head.

[honkyjesus]

I am about six hours in, and there should be a bigger fuss about how average the damn game is.

[ThanatosDMC]

There are especially about the story.

[Canary]

You know, some people have made some truly fantastic Tali fanart. I'm sure they would have let Bioware use it free-of-charge in Mass Effect 3 if only they had asked.

[Fadetoblack69]

I dont get how this even happens. I mean does some random user notice a random in game image and say "Hey, I've seen that before!"...., or do people just have so much free time on their hands they spend their days sitting around comparing game images to real online images until they finally figure out where it came from?

I mean who in their right mind has the time to devote to even make connections like this seriously?

[limewax]

its much more likely that the person who noticed it does a job that involves working with stock photos regularly and happens to be a ME fan.

[Fadetoblack69]

Ok that makes sense, was always curious how these stories came up. Thanx

[Darth_Bane79]

They should have put Jennifer Helper on the pic..
http://branchingdialogue.ne...

[rdgneoz3]

I think shep would have shot himself after if that's the pic he had...

[Rock_On_PS4]

i will pick this game up when it is $20.

[jjb1981]

Who really cares, besides, give it 2 months and the game will be 40 bucks and nobody will even care about this bologna anymore...

[urwifeminder]

The modern gamer has become a two bit bitch, ouchie i got an E splinter, i love this game but it gives me blisters if i play too much.

[Kennytaur]

Wow, Bioware is getting alot of hate.
I do find it dissapointing and weird that Biowares artists actually didn't design one of the main characters themselves. But then again, maybe it's a way of saying that "Tali looks however you decide in your mind and because of that we'll just use a stock photo". But let's not forget these are the same people that has a totally generic space-marine as the standard main protagonist... :-P

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Well, that's how it is nowadays. Give the gamer one or two valid reasons to hate on a game then every other minor flaw is blown out of proportions. I wouldn't be peeved if they stuck to their guns about the DLC but getting mad over this is redundant.

[Robotronfiend]

I think the disappointment is mixing with the anger and its hard to sort that out on the internet. I really enjoyed Tali's story in ME2, and chose her for my romance. I always wanted to see what she looked like, so having it be a stock image is disappointing.

Crappy writing is something to get angry about, a stock image for an cool character... not so much.

[Braid]

Wow. That explains the romance option with Tali now.

[Robotronfiend]

It would have been funnier if they used the "webpage not located" blonde girl. I think even more people would recognize that stock photo.

[Dr Face Doctor]

Anyone actually defending Bioware on this front must be sick in the head, especially if your only argument is a strawman like, "Lol get a life loser." This is not a matter of the legality or ethics of using a stock photo. It's about the unforgivable laziness of taking a very central character and using a ten minute photoshop of a stock photo as their face for the reveal that millions of fans have been waiting for and theorizing on. There's even concept art better than this, stuff that's had a lot of thought and care put into it. But nope, let's just draw some lines and touch up some colors and add a lens flare to it and call it a day.

Remember that they have spent tens of millions of dollars on the production of this game and are confident in making a profit off of that investment. That is what has come of tens of millions of dollars and two years of development.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

I have to admit. I was going by the comments given for this article because I didn't want to spoil the game for myself if I bought a complete edition down the road causing me misinterpret what the photo was used for.

After reading your two cents, I had no choice but to look and now I'm angry myself because she was my fave character in the series. I'm definitely not picking this up now.

+Bubbles for the insight.

[RyuDrinksTheDew]

really people? really?

WHO CARES?!?!?!?!

people are looking for anything to rip apart in this game.

this is just getting sad now.

im going to ignore most ME3 articles now.

[Mr Tretton]

Nerds gonna nerd

[WildStyles]

The Bioware apologists have been out in full force these last couple of days.

[MilkMan]

Wow. SOMEBODY has LOTS of time on their hands.

[aaronobst]

Obviously not Bioware... I reakon I'd be able to to a quick Photoshop job like that in half an hour

[ThreshStar]

I think a lot of anger/resentment/annoyonce going towards Bioware is because of a major reason:

Confusion.

When Mass Effect 2 was released, people received Day 1 DLC For free, got a great, polished campaign with intrigue and a stellar ending that paved the way for a potentially awesome Third game. Not to mention some really great DLC (Shadow Broker, the Arrival) that, to me, made what DLC is SUPPOSED TO BE - cool content after the game that expands the story and adds nice little extras to an already great package.

Cut to today.

We have day 1 DLC on a pretty important factor of the SERIES...$10. DLC crashing/not even working for the PC. Character transfers not transferring the VISUAL character you created by supporting the franchise from the beginning.

Now you have a MAJOR character with a MAJOR mysterious design element: What does her species look like?...and it gets completed with a stock photo from the internet.

For me, the reason why I've been annoyed at Bioware is mainly confusion. What the heck happened between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 to create all of these seemingly problematic situations?

This to me is just another notch in the Bioware confusion element. Why a stock photo? Why not just keep it mysterious for the sake of imagination? Why not make a fan-based contest to come up with her look?

Again - a great company that made an awesome game because let's face it, it is a GREAT GAME. Just some of the decisions that came along with it are very baffling for a polished, professional, veteran company.

[Rowland]

there's no confusion - it's crystal clear - a major reason why there's resentment towards Bioware is because they dumbed down their RPG's, were caught being lazy (ME2 & DA2) and sold their soul to EA !

[SneeringImperialist]

I'll tell you what happened, EA happened.

[Old McGroin]

Wow. That really doesn't seem like something to get angry over.

[colugothelegend]

its strange someone actually took the time to check on this.

But wow. seems pretty lazy. considering Talis face is important to fans.

[CYBERHATER]

SO! the game is awesome big deal.

[Saryk]

It seems that most of these gamers need a diaper and a pacifier!

[koehler83]

At least two of them disagree with you.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

People are just looking for a reason to hate this game.

There is a certain faceless community on the web. All they do is hate stuff. It's their raison d'etre. The internet's petty hate machine.

[ziggurcat]

LOL @ gamers and gamers' logic...

[PersonMan]

What the hell do you think stock photos are for?

[SnipeySnake]

This is a joke right?...

[TridentSlayer]

so if people really rage about this game they will stop playing it....no?....they wont?....oh they'll just keep playing and saying this game is awesome.....

[Enigma_2099]

They pulled a Greg Land?

[Lord_Sloth]

I originally thought it was lazy (and it still kind of is) but the image makes sense once you receive the picture and realize what it is.

******SPOILER******

It's her on Rannoch after you win it back for her.

******END SPOILER******

But Tali's face was a big deal and they were probably worried about upsetting fans with their butterface characters, very few of which are exceptions.

[Awesome_Gamer]

I didnt know there were Too many bioware fanboys on N4G!! I mean.. Come on this pure laziness from them, why didnt they design a face for tali instead of using a stock image!! They dont care about their fans anymore

[Genecalypse]

Why are you defending Bioware over this? Talis face was a big reveal for the ME series. The fact that they took a photo from google and photoshopped it for 5 mins and slapped it into the game shows how much they truly *care* for the lore and universe of their games.

Honestly its unacceptable, think of how much time they placed on getting same-sex love interests into the game, and then see how much time and effort they put into designing the physical appeared of one of the main characters who as a aquadmate in all three games.

Sad

[ZippyZapper]

Have you seen the photo they used? she's beautiful.

http://www.gettyimages.co.u...

[sly-Famous]

The way this is blown out of proportion buy a bunch 13 year olds who still believe in cooties, makes me embarrassed to call myself a gamer.

[stumpa]

get a life and get on with playing the game

[thelion]

I really couldn't care less, she is beautiful and if that's the image I have in my head when/if I get a chance to make the beast with two backs with Tali, I am a very, very happy man :)

[eak3]

I've come to the decision that Gamers are always angry.

[Razgriz383]

How pissed do you think people would be if Darth Vader or Master Chief was Michael Jackson? Im sick of the people saying "you has no life" or something similar when they be pissed if their favorite hidden character was a photoshop job.

[aaronobst]

Sure in hindsight its not that big of a deal. But Tali has been a PRIMARY character since the first installment.

Sure it's not worth getting upset over but fuck me if it isn't lazy as hell.