Mass Effect 3 Player Files FTC Complaint Over Game's Ending - PC Magazine

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Mass Effect 3 Player Files FTC Complaint Over Game's Ending - PC Magazine Mar 19th 2012, 19:02 Bioware's Mass Effect 3 sold 890,000 copies in its first 24 hours on the market, but not everyone is happy with the game's ending. One fan is reportedly so peeved that he filed a false advertising complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. "After reading through the list of promises about the ending of the game they made in their advertising campaign and PR interviews, it was clear that the product we got did not live up to any of those claims," user El_Spiko wrote on the Bioware Forums, according to gamepur.com. El_Spiko pointed to posts on the Bioware Forums that said pre-release quotes from Bioware execs about the game's ending didn't match up with the reality. "Does all that talk of meaningful player choice, multiple significantly different endings and closure for the characters and series not seem, at the very least, strange?" wrote cato_84. "You know, I'm willing to overlook the ones that were made back in, say, April 2011, because things might have changed in development over time. But the ones that came out this year? No, unacceptable, and yes, these ARE outright lies because they knew that what they said went completely against what they had planned," BrotherFluffy chimed in. According to the FTC's rules of the road for advertising and marketing on the Web, "advertising must tell the truth and not mislead consumers." But that usually applies to how products work (a car dealership that wrongly promotes "$0 Down") rather than plot points in theatrical works. A woman, of course, did recently sue over a "misleading" trailer for Drive, but that was not the FTC and the very busy agency is not likely to devote much, if any time, to the ending of a video game. Mass Effect 3 director Casey Hudson didn't specifically mention the FTC complaint, but in his own post on the forums, he defended the game's ending while promising compelling new content over the next year. "For the last eight years, Mass Effect has been a labor of love for our team; love for the characters we've created, for the medium of video games, and for the fans that have supported us. For us and for you, Mass Effect 3 had to live up to a lot of expectations, not only for a great gaming experience, but for a resolution to the countless storylines and decisions you've made as a player since the journey began in 2007," Hudson wrote. "So we designed Mass Effect 3 to be a series of endings to key plots and storylines, each culminating in scenes that show you the consequences of your actions. You then carry the knowledge of these consequences with you as you complete the final moments of your journey." Bioware always intended the Mass Effect 3 ending to be "bittersweet," he continued, because "to do otherwise would betray the agonizing decisions Shepard had to make along the way." He pointed to the rave reviews received by outlets like the New York Times and Penny Arcade, but acknowledged that "some of our most passionate fans needed more closure, more answers, and more time to say goodbye to their stories. Hudson promised new content in the next year and said Bioware will "keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be. This is not the last you'll hear of Commander Shepard." This is not the only controversy Bioware has faced over Mass Effect 3. Earlier this month, the company denied that portions of a downloadable content (DLC) pack for Mass Effect 3 was intentionally removed from the game for financial gain. For more, see PCMag's first look at Mass Effect 3 and the slideshow above. For more from Chloe, follow her on Twitter @ChloeAlbanesius. For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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