No Effect

 I've still yet to play Mass Effect 3. I could say that I'm waiting to have enough money to obtain all the DLC but truth be told, the controversy over the ending still lingers. It does indeed cast an intimidating shadow behind Mass Effect 3 and looks like it won't be going away anytime soon - thus greatly hindering my plans to 'wait until this blows over'.

But then again, what need do I have for Mass Effect 3 as a game when the fan backlash proves to be more compelling and entertaining?

It's simply amazing to see such outrage that makes the Star Wars fans look like a bunch of wimps in comparison. For example I found this some months ago, being a document listing all the things wrong with the infamous ending. The amount of detail gone into this is astonishing - more so when one considers the level of passion to Mass Effect and fan rage. True fan rage is nothing new but to see such effort being invested is indeed enough to stop this being dismissed as people being angry for the sake of being angry.

More recently there's this that makes the effort gone into the previous link seem pitiful by comparison. It may seem like a fanfic - and there are certainly no shortage of attempts to fix the ending to Mass Effect 3 - but to bash out a 500+ page document? And to disguise it as a genuine planning document? Now this guy has really put in the effort and to that end he's got balls.

They say history is something that can never be re-written (or something like that) but gaming culture is the only culture I can see where it's supporters think they can. Books and movies are more or less untouchable but anyone with passion, as well as some knowledge in modding, seems convinced they can fix the mistakes made by the creators of the original product.
But this is Mass Effect 3 we're talking about, a game which had it's creators generate a new ending to placate the angry horde of fans -and even that wasn't enough to silence the angry horde who went ahead and still embraced a different, fan-made ending anyway. But will it ever be the end of this? Will everyone be convinced of Bioware's vision (if you can call it that)? Will Bioware admit they made a mistake and fix it come a tenth anniversary (or something) release? Will there be a resolution that satisfies both parties?

Probably not.