Mass Effect 3 box has lady Shepard

By Robert Purchese Published 17 June, 2011

'FemShep' a cover girl at last.

Lady Shepard will feature on the Mass Effect 3 Collector's Edition box, BioWare has said.

The series has previously leaned on male Shepard to front the sci-fi space opera. He's who you play as in demos, he's who you see in videos.

"Both MaleShep and FemShep are featured on the Collector's Edition. One side male, one side female," confirmed BioWare marketeer David Silverman.

Note that BioWare hasn't confirmed that FemShep will be on the Standard Edition box.

The chances of that are presumably slim. Only 20 per cent of gamers picked a FemShep to play through Mass Effect 2 with, according to BioWare's stats.

femshep

Oh hello, lady of my dreams.

Nevertheless, Silverman went on to reveal on Twitter that BioWare was working on a new FemShep video.

Mass Effect 3 takes the battle to Earth amid an invasion by nasty spaceships the Reapers. Eurogamer broke the news this week that Mass Effect 3 will have four-player co-op.

Eurogamer got its latest glance of BioWare's space supremo at E3 last week.

An homage to FemShep was made by a talented fan. That video is below. Bewarned, it covers most of the Mass Effect 2 campaign and therefore, by nature, has spoilers aplenty.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 11 months ago

    Wouldn't.

  • Lemming81 #2 11 months ago

    TBF, you wouldn't change the sex of the character on your box at for the 3rd act in a trilogy. That would just confused folks. Having both on either side, or sticking to one (male as that's how they've advertised it since ME1) is really the only sensible option.

  • JohnnyCullen Verified UK News Editor, VG247 #3 11 months ago

    Would. (No, I wouldn't)

  • NineOverSeven #4 11 months ago

    Would this be the first time seeing "canon" femshep or have I missed a previous appearance?

  • Lotos8ter #5 11 months ago

    phwoarrrrr

    /had worse

  • paulf #6 11 months ago

    I have played as femshep since me1 (in me2 playing a renegade who looks and acts like Michelle Forbes in bsg razor) funny thing is it looks like her walking animation is based on the same motion capture as the maleshep so she may have a female shape but she certainly has a male gait when walking, running etc

  • DiamondIce #7 11 months ago

    That is a genuinely scary face.

    On a slightly different note: Isn't the voice acting a lot better with the female Shepard?

  • Gumersindo #8 11 months ago

    I've got 1 maleShep and 1 femShep. Now I can board Noah's ark

  • munki83 #9 11 months ago

    But it won't be my femshep :p

  • The-Bodybuilder #10 11 months ago

    Femshep in front, and Manshep behind her.
    Because that's the way it's meant to be.

    /sexist. :p

  • sheldipez #11 11 months ago

    Female Shephard is the way to go. Jennifer Hale's voice acting is superb.
    Easily the best performance for me this generation.

  • 32768Colours #12 11 months ago

    I've had a femshep since ME1 and it really throws me whenever I hear the male shepard on clips because I've never played as him.

    Perhaps having a femshep on the cover is part of their efforts to widen ME's appeal?

  • DDevil #13 11 months ago

    That's not MY femshep!

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #14 11 months ago

    I've been playing as Manshep because, well, when I play RPGs I like to make the character "me". However, once I've completed all three games, I intend to set aside some time and go through the whole trilogy again, in one go, as a renegade lesbian Femshep.

  • munki83 #15 11 months ago

    20% seems a small number. I away recommend people to play through as femshep. It's the best way to get some turian meat lol

  • MiY4MOTO #16 11 months ago

    Please tell me that the image on the left of a femshep is *the* femshep? I've never played it with anything other than the default male Shepard, despite having completed both ME1&2 3x times.

    I was planning on going through both saga's again as femshep before ME3, but I can never be arsed changing features & nearly always play with the default character.

    I think that image may give me nightmares. /shudders

  • TopKatt #17 11 months ago

    Trust me guys, once you've had a femshep, you can never go back.
    Edited by TopKatt at 17/06/11 @ 10:59

  • hiddenranbir #18 11 months ago

    YOUR femShep doesn't matter. It never mattered.


    "The Shepard" should be on the cover (mine). I mean, it is a THE!

  • jablonski #19 11 months ago

    Headline should be "Mass Effect 3 CE box has lady Shepard" obviously.
    But that wouldn't be as titillating

  • rob_of_the_robots #20 11 months ago

    "Would this be the first time seeing "canon" femshep or have I missed a previous appearance? "

    I'm assuming it'll be the stock femshep from the previous two games, like Shepard on the box is the stock maleshep.

  • Waffleaber #21 11 months ago

    Paragon Femshep, renagade Maleshep. Both ginger oddly.

  • _Price_ #22 11 months ago

    Yep, as with many others, my Manshep ('Maleshep', pfffff) will remain canon. My ME1 run-thourgh with a female lead just didn't sit right with the character.

    Well, that and the fact that (despite the quality of the voice-acting) Hale will always be Bastila Shan as far as I'm concerned.

  • metalangel #23 11 months ago

    I have two FemSheps (main is an Infiltrator who looks like an aged Miki Berenyi, and a little blonde engineer) and one MaleShep who's a soldier and just has the preset black dude look.

  • Whizzo #24 11 months ago

    All this talk of femshep and manshep would have John Noakes spinning in his grave.


    If he was dead.

  • tyrant1 #25 11 months ago

    Dont like femshep, dont like her fans who bitch incessently about the smallest of things (Ive even seen them complain about animation bugs that appear differently to maleshep!), dont like this, but dont care ultimately.

    I hope its on the back of the tin. I care even less about femshep than I do about that stupid model guy theyve been using all this time as default (although without pissing and moaning about it constantly).

    It is my understanding that most people customise their Shepards anyway. This whole thing is just a bunch of vag waving from the femshep fans anyway. Just play your own fucking Shepard (as much as it can be done in ME at least, with its paltry choice of Dirty Harry or Picard) and stop worrying about the ones in the cover or the marketing, and what genitals they have.

  • RodHull #26 11 months ago

    Come by Shep, come by!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #27 11 months ago

    Enjoying everyone's comments a lot today :)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #28 11 months ago

    Hold on, is that Janice Dickinson?

  • Xardan #29 11 months ago

    Only about 20% of players go femshep.

  • space_ace #30 11 months ago

    that's the pop star of the future? no wonder earth is doomed

  • tachometer #31 11 months ago

    Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful femshep

  • deano2099 #32 11 months ago

    Still convinced the script was written with a FemShep in mind, it just all fits better.

  • stegabba #33 11 months ago

    why not just have both on thecover? seeing as i pay as male shep

  • doragor #34 11 months ago

    @tyrant1

    Might you be bitter for no good reason? or has no-one been waving their 'vag' at you?

  • disappointed #35 11 months ago

    They've missed a trick here. Have two editions: one male and one female. Collectors would go nuts.

  • Vortex808 #36 11 months ago

    @metalangel - Miki Berenyi eh? I haven't listened to Lush in ages.

    /makes a mental note to rake through vinyl on return home.

  • tomjoadsghost #37 11 months ago

    Whoever is on the box, the female shepherds have fared better than the player character from KOTOR 1 who has been absorbed into the dreary star wars canon as a male character, which for a lot of players means that even if KOTOR 3 does eventually appear its not going to relate directly to their version of the earlier games.

  • bdc #38 11 months ago

    If they can fix the duckface I'm for it.

  • udat #39 11 months ago

    I started a FemShep playthrough and got about half way through but two things always bugged me and I eventually drifted away from that savegame.

    1) The animation is the same, and, especially having already played it with a male character, it looks like masculine movements with a female model.

    2) Jennifer Hale is Bastila Shan

  • TruWari3r #40 11 months ago

    I'm Commander Shepard and this is my favorite thread.

  • Katsumoto #41 11 months ago

    Jennifer Hale's voice acting is so massively beyond the male actor it is almost unbelievable. 80% of gamers are missing out drastically, it seems!

  • deiseach #42 11 months ago

    @udat

    Jennifer Hale is Bastila Shan

    No, she isn't. Well, obviously it's the same actor but I never hear the arch, occasionally whiney Bastila Shan when the gun-toting badass that is Femshep is on the case. And that's why Jennifer Hale is ace

  • Futaba #43 11 months ago

    My current ME2 playthrough is as a renegade femshep, feisty women seem to do something for me. I also have KOTOR 1+2 women playthroughs that are at the worst end of the evil scale.

    ...Does this sound normal?

  • dadrester #44 11 months ago

    If I'm to look at a characters arse for 40 hours I always go for a female. It helps that femshep's voice acting is brilliant!

  • Inmediasress #45 11 months ago

    @DiamondIce
    It is that voice is awsome sexy.
    The male voice is bad I think then again I'm a male so maybe we should ask girls opinions maybe they find it sexy.

  • crazyhorse174 #46 11 months ago

    I've finished ME1 and ME 2 as the standard male Shepard (of box art fame!). For some reason I just couldnt get as attached to any of my self-created characters - felt like I was cheating or something!

  • Jamieb87 #47 11 months ago

    They should do some sort of special edition with your own shepherd on the cover. I guess you'd have to order it direct or something but it would be total doable with the id codes each character has.

    I'd happily pay an extra tenner to see my sheps weather beaten mush on the front cover.

  • Ashcroft #48 11 months ago

    They need to make an app that can use your Mass Effect game saves to create a version of the box art with your own Shep on it.

  • CaoSlayer #49 11 months ago

    Include me in that 20%.

    A rule of thumb for me about third person camera is to always pick a girl since I going to stare a butt for hours.
    Edited by CaoSlayer at 17/06/11 @ 15:25

  • anomagnus #50 11 months ago

    I have 4 main sheps

    A male Paragon Vanguard , saved the council, stayed a spectre, destroyed the base and told cerebus to go f**k themselves
    A male Renegade Solider, left the council to die, told the new council they could shove their spectre status, kept the base, and told TIM he was my bitch
    A female Paragon Vanguard who saved the council, but kept the base
    A female Renegade Solider who let the council die, and destroyed the base.

    Its odd, that my femsheps were less committed to their paths, but it felt right each time, that the changes in choices were more as stimulus to how she was treated.

  • udat #51 11 months ago

    I wanted to love it because Jennifer Hale is superb, but I thought she sounded disinterested, bored almost, a lot of the time. Listening to the voice work in the above video it does seem like she sounds more "involved" later in the story. I'll go back to it eventually.

  • Tyrhinis #52 11 months ago

    That video was amazing! Better than any of the official trailers...

  • Bluetooth #53 11 months ago

    It won't be MY FemShep though

  • milki-tea #54 11 months ago

    I probably still would