Mass Effect: The Animation

[Mkilbride]

http://geek-news.mtv.com/2011/04/07/funimation-and-bioware-to-make-anime-of-mass-effect/

One of the biggest North American distributors of Japanese animation and one of the leading video game publishers are teaming up to create an anime of the popular Mass Effect franchise. Funimation and BioWare are collaborating on the project, along with T.O. Entertainment, which is set for a Summer 2012 digital and home video release.

Production on the Mass Effect anime has already begun, and they promise to extend the pre-existing Mass Effect storyline through the anime medium.

The Mass Effect franchise has already gone beyond the games with a series of comics from Dark Horse and novels from Del Rey.

Official Press Release:

Home Video Adaptation of Award-Winning Sci-Fi Game Scheduled for Release in 2012

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioWare™, a division of leading video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) and FUNimation® Entertainment, the leading distributor of Japanese animation in North America, announced today an agreement to create an anime feature film adapted from one of the video game industry's most revered franchises, Mass Effect™. Tokyo-based anime and international feature film production company T.O Entertainment, Inc. has signed on as a co-producer on the video. Based on the Mass Effect universe, the anime video will tell the tale of an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets.

Casey Hudson of BioWare, executive producer of the Mass Effect series, will serve as executive producer on the film, along with FUNimation President and CEO Gen Fukunaga and Director of Original Entertainment Chris Moujaes and T.O. Entertainment's CEO Takeichi Honda and Yui Shibata.

"Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media. Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us,” said Casey Hudson, Executive Producer for the Mass Effect series. "Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we will bring this rich universe to life with the utmost quality and the same attention to detail that the Mass Effect games are known for.”

"It is thanks to the enormous and passionate Mass Effect fan base that this movie is made possible," said Gen Fukunaga, President & CEO of FUNimation. “With production underway on the Dragon Age video, we are excited to team up with another BioWare team to add an exciting new chapter to this vast sci-fi world.”

Production of the Mass Effect anime movie has already begun. Digital and home video releases are scheduled for the summer of 2012.

The original Mass Effect game and its sequel Mass Effect 2 have received over 250 awards and 100 perfect ‘10’ scores from critics worldwide. Mass Effect 2 is available now for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. Stay tuned for more news about the continuation of Commander Shepard's adventure as BioWare will release more information about Mass Effect 3 soon. For more information on the game, please visit http://masseffect.bioware.com/ and follow the development team at twitter.com/masseffect2 or at http://www.facebook.com/masseffect.

Let the **** storm begin from ME fans who hate anime, and anime fans who hate animes based off video games.

I thought they would have learned after Halo tanked as an anime, and Dead Space just barely was acceptable.

 

[The Deco]

WHERE IS MY KOTOR AND CHRONO TRIGGER MOVIES????

 

[Dokutayuu]

WHERE IS MY KOTOR AND CHRONO TRIGGER MOVIES????

You've always got the irrelevant carnival special. Generally games don't translate into anime. I'm not familiar with Mass Effect so I'm not sure how well the story will translate.

 

[Z Power]

You've always got the irrelevant carnival special. Generally games don't translate into anime. I'm not familiar with Mass Effect so I'm not sure how well the story will translate.

HOW DARE YOU SAY THOSE TERMS!!!

 

[Dokutayuu]

Do I win a prize? It's one of the games I never got around to trying.

 

[Z Power]

Do I win a prize? It's one of the games I never got around to trying.

No, you lose 6 Million Dollars. Now pay up.

 

[Mkilbride]

The first Mass Effect is pretty mediocre and short, the second is much better, and longer. Hopefully the third will be great.

It's very unusual for a sequel to be better, but BioWare has done it with Dragon Age 2 & Mass Effect 2, so it shows they're improving.

 

[Z Power]

The first Mass Effect is pretty mediocre and short, the second is much better, and longer. Hopefully the third will be great.

It's very unusual for a sequel to be better, but BioWare has done it with Dragon Age 2 & Mass Effect 2, so it shows they're improving.

^This.

I had to force myself to play through ME1 just to get the save file. It was utterly tedious. But ME2 made it jump to the other end of the Spectrum, eventually making it my favorite game of 2010. I haven't play Dragon Age 2, so i'll reserve judgement until i have.

Alright, now I'll stop highjacking this thread. So if you need any more persuasion Doku, meet me in the ME2 thread.

 

[Zeonix]

The first Mass Effect is pretty mediocre and short, the second is much better, and longer. Hopefully the third will be great.

It's very unusual for a sequel to be better, but BioWare has done it with Dragon Age 2 & Mass Effect 2, so it shows they're improving.

Have you ever considered suicide before?

 

[MrKurt2011]

Suicides never the answer chum.

 

[Specht]

I really don't see Dragon Age 2 as an improvement, it rather seems they were going the other way around with it.

 

[DiebytheSword]

The first Mass Effect is pretty mediocre and short, the second is much better, and longer. Hopefully the third will be great.

It's very unusual for a sequel to be better, but BioWare has done it with Dragon Age 2 & Mass Effect 2, so it shows they're improving.

I find that both Mass Effect 1 & 2 have their problems, but DA2 falls far short of the glorious DAO. Not that DA2 was a bad game, its just not as good as the first. ME1 had issues with overly complex inventory and long romps on planet exploration in a rover that were a bit tedious. ME2 oversimplified everything and made planetary exploration worse by adding mining to zero exploration.

 

[Rocky]

I thoroughly enjoyed ME1, then I started playing ME2 and I noticed all the flaws of ME1. That's not to say ME2 was perfect, as Cuc said, ME2 was really simplified (which was good in some cases, talent points for example were simplified for the better). I didn't like the weapon and equipment simplification, it kind of made customisation of your character meaningless. Which seemed like a band-aid fix to the ridiculous amount of loot (and low inventory space) that the first game had.

Irrespective, both games were enjoyable. However, I'm not sure how well the story would translate to an anime. The appeal of Shepard and ME is that he is *your* character and you can develop him (or her) to your liking, any non-interactive series that tries to build from this game is not going to have that element which I have no doubt, will detract from the experience.