While the Mass Effect Trilogy remains one of the most beloved trilogies in all of gaming, the ending of Mass Effect 3 is still as divisive today as it was in 2012. Now, certain members of the development team at BioWare have spoken up and shared a bit about what the original ending plans were and why they may have used those controversial color choices.

These developers who worked on Mass Effect 3 were part of a People Make Games video titled 'The Inside Story of Mass Effect 3's Endings, Finally Told,' and they were very open about not only the game's actual ending and what could have been, but also the reception to it finally being out in the wild.

SPOILERS AHEAD for Mass Effect 3.

When people talk about the endings of Mass Effect 3, they usually always bring up that they were more or less boiled down to three choices - represented by the colors blue, red and green - that were all very similar to each other and didn't quite factor in the player's choices as was expected.

According to ex-BioWare Montreal animation director Dave Wilkinson, these color choices were used early on to help him differentiate between his work on the multiple endings and he didn't think they would actually make it into the game.

"According to Wilkinson, he chose these three colors as an easy way to differentiate between his work across the three endings and hadn’t necessarily expected them to end up in the final product," People Make Games' Chris Bratt said. "In fact, he picked blue and red because they referred to what was originally being talked about as the ‘Paragon’ and ‘Renegade’ choices, and the green was just… the other one.”

Wilkinson continued to share a bit more about his early work on Mass Effect 3's ending, including his original plans for them. While they are not radically different from what ended up being part of Mass Effect 3, one of the big changes did involve the Queen of the Reapers confronting Shepard at the end as opposed to The Catalyst/Intelligence/Star Child.

He shared the original plans for the Paragon, Renegade, and Synthesis endings and how it all began by Shepard plugging himself into The Citadel.

"At that point, Shepard was so augmented with like electronic bits and all the rest of this s***," Wilkonson said. "I actually had him just plug himself into the Citadel, and then within a virtual world he has a conversation with what was described as a god of the Reapers. I think it was a queen? And he had this conversation with the queen, and the queen basically said, ‘the way the Reapers keep going, this isn’t sustainable, blah blah blah blah blah blah, we have to evolve, but we’re incapable of evolution because of the limitations of our AI and stuff like that.’

"She was their queen, but she proposed things the Reapers didn’t like so they basically just locked her away inside the Citadel and just never ever listened to her again. So, then the conversation was really like her going, ‘This is the chance to evolve everything, we can move everything forward.’"

After this initial conversation, Shepard would have some choices, much like those found in Mass Effect 3. However, the outcomes were a bit different.

"And so the Renegade option was like Shepard just goes, ‘Go f*** yourself,’ and he rips himself out of the thing and he starts blowing up the f******… the room in the Citadel where the stuff is kept, which then causes the Citadel to detonate, because it was in the middle of doing something and he f**** it all up," Wilkinson said. "And then the whole Citadel basically blows up and wipes out the Earth, but in the process, he’s now destroyed the Reapers and he’s given organics a chance."

The Paragon option was a little more hopeful, and it also had the benefit of turning Shepard into the "big king Reaper."

"The Paragon option was like, ‘I’m so awesome, that I can take control of these Reapers and I’ll use them for the right reason.’ So, then Shepard turns into kinda like the big king Reaper," Wilkinson continued. "You still said, ‘f*** you’ to the queen, but you did it because you became the reaper and you could lead the reapers to be a power for good or whatever the f*** that meant.’

The final option, Synthesis, was available to everyone and has an ending that is similar to what is seen in one of the final scenes with the Stargazer.

"And the ending that everybody could get was Synthesis, where the queen was like, ‘we’re going to use space magic and we’re going to combine the best parts of you and the best parts of me and we’re going to send it out through the universe and it’s going to change everything. Everybody’s going to get affected by this, and everybody’s going to change," Wilkinson shared.

"There was an ending where there was a mom and a daughter, and I had them sitting on a hill, and I shot in with us drifting through stars and the stars get blurry, we then we re-focus and it’s like little like dandelion fluffy things floating on the wind, but everything’s got this weird green like circuitry coating stuff on it, like it’s just an effect on it.

"And then we would be drifting and we’d follow them and we’d hear this woman explaining to her daughter how we came to this place, and we reach them and they’re like Asaris but they’re Asaris who are a little bit different, and she’s just telling the story about how Shepard made everything better and saved everybody from the Reapers.”

It was also explained how the endings happened very late in the development cycle and that they were very expensive to make, which may have led to the reusing of some of the assets seen in-game. Additionally, cinematic designer Zachariah Scott shared that, while they should have expected the reception of some to the ending, they simply didn't.

"You know, it’s Scorpion and Sub-Zero," Scott said when comparing two of Mortal Kombat's most iconic fighters to the color choices of the ending. "It’s two ninjas that are two different colors. Look, it’s not a good fix, but we didn’t expect it to blow up as… I mean we should've, we completely should've, but we didn’t expect it to completely blow up.”

This inside look at Mass Effect 3's endings is well worth a look and dives into much more about the fan's reception to the ending, how the team was split about the Extended Cut DLC that was released, and how the team was even sent green, red, and blue cupcakes with the letters a, b, and c on them following the release of the game. The kicker? The cupcakes were all the same flavor.

For more on Mass Effect, check out our review of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and the latest news on the next entry in the franchise that very well may see the return of Liara T'Soni.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

How would it feel to know that your face was adapted for Michael Myers' iconic mask? William Shatner recently got to experience that feeling firsthand.

In an interview with YouTube channel Jake's Tales, Shatner described his reaction to seeing the mask for the first time saying, "I thought, is that a joke? Are they kidding?"

While Myers' facemask is about as iconic as they come in the world of horror disguises, its origin story was only recently detailed in an episode of Netflix's The Movies That Made Us. During the show, Hollywood designer Tommy Lee Wallace explained that he'd found the mask during a trip to a magic shop on Hollywood Boulevard. In order to give it its signature appearance, Wallace then made a number of modifications to the mask including widening the eyeholes, painting it white, and darkening its hair.

“I don't think I saw the movie but I saw the mask probably in a picture, and I recognized it as the death mask they had made for me,” Shatner explains when recalling the time he first saw the mask. “They made a mask of my face on Star Trek with clay so that I wouldn't have to be available for the prosthetics that they would put on my face to look old or evil or whatever it was they were making me look like. So that mask existed on Start Trek [and] somewhere along the line, someone got that mask and made a mask of it for [the holiday] Halloween.”

Michael Myers recently featured in director and producer David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills. The film acts as the middle child in Green's trilogy of Halloween films and finally came out in theatres (as well as to the streaming service Peacock) on October 15 following an earlier delay that had pushed it back an entire year. IGN review of Halloween Kills awarded it a 7/10. In our write-up, we said that it "delivers gory fun, fantastic performances" despite suffering from being the "second chapter in a trilogy."

For more on Halloween Kills make sure to check out this article where Gordon Green himself explains the film's ending - warning spoilers ahead - or this piece detailing seven things you probably didn't know about Halloween.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

How would it feel to know that your face was adapted for Michael Myers' iconic mask? William Shatner recently got to experience that feeling firsthand.

In an interview with YouTube channel Jake's Tales, Shatner described his reaction to seeing the mask for the first time saying, "I thought, is that a joke? Are they kidding?"

While Myers' facemask is about as iconic as they come in the world of horror disguises, its origin story was only recently detailed in an episode of Netflix's The Movies That Made Us. During the show, Hollywood designer Tommy Lee Wallace explained that he'd found the mask during a trip to a magic shop on Hollywood Boulevard. In order to give it its signature appearance, Wallace then made a number of modifications to the mask including widening the eyeholes, painting it white, and darkening its hair.

“I don't think I saw the movie but I saw the mask probably in a picture, and I recognized it as the death mask they had made for me,” Shatner explains when recalling the time he first saw the mask. “They made a mask of my face on Star Trek with clay so that I wouldn't have to be available for the prosthetics that they would put on my face to look old or evil or whatever it was they were making me look like. So that mask existed on Start Trek [and] somewhere along the line, someone got that mask and made a mask of it for [the holiday] Halloween.”

Michael Myers recently featured in director and producer David Gordon Green's Halloween Kills. The film acts as the middle child in Green's trilogy of Halloween films and finally came out in theatres (as well as to the streaming service Peacock) on October 15 following an earlier delay that had pushed it back an entire year. IGN review of Halloween Kills awarded it a 7/10. In our write-up, we said that it "delivers gory fun, fantastic performances" despite suffering from being the "second chapter in a trilogy."

For more on Halloween Kills make sure to check out this article where Gordon Green himself explains the film's ending - warning spoilers ahead - or this piece detailing seven things you probably didn't know about Halloween.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Wheel of Time is such a big production that Amazon gave up on finding the appropriate studio space to make it, and instead built a gigantic studio complex in Prague, named after the original book's author, Robert Jordan.

As reported by GQ, producer David Brown explains that traditional studio space in Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Budapest and Prague was already booked up when they began looking. “The show is hugely ambitious creatively," Brown continues. "So how do we fill that? That's why we're in this building that is 350,000 square feet.”

Instead of continuing to look around, Amazon created Jordan Studios in Prague, buying industrial buildings that were previously used by a trucking company. The studios include a visual effects unit, stunt gym, costume department, writing offices, accounting department and, "football-field-size soundstages", among other things.

That control over the space seems to have allowed Amazon to essentially take greater risks with its creations. The report includes the detail of how the production saw an entire town, Two Rivers built for the production, and subsequently burned down for another scene.

The scale of the production is all in aid of creating a show to rival TV's most prestigious shows, particularly Game of Thrones. Reportedly, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wanted his own Game of Thrones for Amazon, with executive producer Mike Weber adding that audience expectation is for a show like this to look like the latter seasons of Game of Thrones, which were significantly more expensive per episode as time went on. Some estimates have put Wheel of Time at around $10 million per episode.

We'll see the fruits of that labour when the show premieres on November 19, with three episodes launching at once. We've not seen much so far, but a first clip showed off Two Rivers and the entrance of Roasamund Pike's Moiraine.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Wheel of Time is such a big production that Amazon gave up on finding the appropriate studio space to make it, and instead built a gigantic studio complex in Prague, named after the original book's author, Robert Jordan.

As reported by GQ, producer David Brown explains that traditional studio space in Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Budapest and Prague was already booked up when they began looking. “The show is hugely ambitious creatively," Brown continues. "So how do we fill that? That's why we're in this building that is 350,000 square feet.”

Instead of continuing to look around, Amazon created Jordan Studios in Prague, buying industrial buildings that were previously used by a trucking company. The studios include a visual effects unit, stunt gym, costume department, writing offices, accounting department and, "football-field-size soundstages", among other things.

That control over the space seems to have allowed Amazon to essentially take greater risks with its creations. The report includes the detail of how the production saw an entire town, Two Rivers built for the production, and subsequently burned down for another scene.

The scale of the production is all in aid of creating a show to rival TV's most prestigious shows, particularly Game of Thrones. Reportedly, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wanted his own Game of Thrones for Amazon, with executive producer Mike Weber adding that audience expectation is for a show like this to look like the latter seasons of Game of Thrones, which were significantly more expensive per episode as time went on. Some estimates have put Wheel of Time at around $10 million per episode.

We'll see the fruits of that labour when the show premieres on November 19, with three episodes launching at once. We've not seen much so far, but a first clip showed off Two Rivers and the entrance of Roasamund Pike's Moiraine.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Sony has been granted a patent that would allow spectators on platforms like Twitch to vote or pay to "bench" players in a video game.

As reported by Eurogamer, this patent - which is titled "Spectators Vote to Bench Players in a Video Game" - would allow for viewers to vote or pay to have certain players removed from a game or to send custom messages that tell them they need to improve.

These viewers would gain access to a menu that would include such options as "Remove Player from Game," "Warn Player to Improve," "Provide Custom Message," or "Keep in Game." A player, according to this patent, would only be removed if voting reaches a certain amount, like 60%, and there would be a weighting system that would put more impact on the vote of "a more skilled spectator." This skill level would be determined by such factors as their game level, statistics, or accomplishments in the game they are watching.

The patent was filed due to the fact that as "more and more people have become interested in watching video games and esports events, game developers have sought to enhance the viewing experience by providing increased functionality and interactivity for spectators."

Many aspects of this patent appear to be solely focused on negative actions and don't appear to have a focus on positive actions like rewarding players that are doing well. However, it's important to note that patents often take many shapes and forms before/if they ever make it to the public.

Sony's filing of this patent could be part of its more focused approach to esports that was recently shown when it announced it was purchasing the Evolution Championship Series - the world's largest fighting game tournament.

Unless there are a ton of safeguards, the potential harm this could cause could be problematic, especially when considering Twitch is still dealing with the fallout of the many hate raids that have been impacting countless streamers.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Sony has been granted a patent that would allow spectators on platforms like Twitch to vote or pay to "bench" players in a video game.

As reported by Eurogamer, this patent - which is titled "Spectators Vote to Bench Players in a Video Game" - would allow for viewers to vote or pay to have certain players removed from a game or to send custom messages that tell them they need to improve.

These viewers would gain access to a menu that would include such options as "Remove Player from Game," "Warn Player to Improve," "Provide Custom Message," or "Keep in Game." A player, according to this patent, would only be removed if voting reaches a certain amount, like 60%, and there would be a weighting system that would put more impact on the vote of "a more skilled spectator." This skill level would be determined by such factors as their game level, statistics, or accomplishments in the game they are watching.

The patent was filed due to the fact that as "more and more people have become interested in watching video games and esports events, game developers have sought to enhance the viewing experience by providing increased functionality and interactivity for spectators."

Many aspects of this patent appear to be solely focused on negative actions and don't appear to have a focus on positive actions like rewarding players that are doing well. However, it's important to note that patents often take many shapes and forms before/if they ever make it to the public.

Sony's filing of this patent could be part of its more focused approach to esports that was recently shown when it announced it was purchasing the Evolution Championship Series - the world's largest fighting game tournament.

Unless there are a ton of safeguards, the potential harm this could cause could be problematic, especially when considering Twitch is still dealing with the fallout of the many hate raids that have been impacting countless streamers.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Goichi Suda, the No More Heroes creator better known by his online alias Suda 51, says that he was once asked to make a Deadpool game by Activision. The Grasshopper Manufacture CEO has also spoken further about his studio's ten-year plan, which should include three brand new games.

Speaking with VGC, Suda51 explained that he'd previously been approached by Activision over plans to make a Deadpool game. "Here’s something a lot of people probably don’t know,” Suda stated in the interview. “Over a decade ago, I was actually approached by Activision at one point to make a Deadpool game. It was sometime after the first No More Heroes came out. Obviously, that plan never came to fruition, and it fizzled out in the initial planning stages but I had some really cool ideas for it at the time.”

While plans for a Deadpool game with Suda at the helm were eventually shelved, Activision worked with developer High Moon Studios to release a game featuring the foul-mouthed hero in 2013. Although the game launched to mixed reviews, the character's popularity among mainstream audiences has since been notably elevated through Ryan Reynold's screen adaptation - perhaps opening the door wider to future Deadpool video games down the road.

In a separate interview with IGN Japan in August - featuring as part of the launch celebrations for the final installment of his No More Heroes series - Suda spoke about Grasshopper's plans for the future. During the interview, the studio boss confirmed that the company is currently working on three new original game IPs, but also said that he'd be interested in working alongside Marvel on a superhero title should the opportunity arise. "I’d love to work with Marvel on a Shatterstar or Deadpool game," said Suda during the interview. "Something sort of Grasshopper-y like that. Maybe a Quicksilver title of some sort."

While it seems that Grasshopper would jump at the chance to make a Marvel-based game in the future, Suda's interview with VGC delved further into the company's current ten-year plan and what fans should expect to see during that time.

“We’ve got a general plan in place for the next ten years," he said. At this point, we’re planning on doing three titles over the next decade: three new IPs. We’ve actually already begun the pre-production stuff on the first title, but I can’t say anything about it just yet.”

In terms of the scope of those games, Suda told VGC that they wouldn't necessarily be developing full-scale AAA games but that fans shouldn't expect to see anything too small either. "I’d say they’re probably going to be around ‘AA’-scale games," he states in the interview. "As in, the games themselves will be around AA-level scale, and the core team making them will be a relatively compact team.”

Despite the fact that Grasshopper has a long-term plan in place for the next decade, the studio boss was also keen to state that things could be subject to change, with the studio perhaps opting to take a different route with its upcoming IPs.

“With regard to the three new IPs I mentioned, we may actually go a slightly different route,” he explained. “What I mean is, we may actually decide to do like one new, original IP – the one we’re working on now – and then make a game version of an existing IP for our second game, and then go back and do another new one for the third one."

“There are a few games from back in the day that I’d like to get my hands on and try to do a reboot or a remake of some kind, or we may get approached by the right company with the right IP and decide to go with that… We’ll see how things work out.” Suda's previous games include Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned, Killer Is Dead, Lollipop Chainsaw, and much more.

Grasshopper Manufacture's last game, No More Heroes 3, marked the end of a franchise spanning over the last thirteen years. With Travis Touchdown and the series now behind them, fans will be eager to see what's next from Suda51 and the team.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Goichi Suda, the No More Heroes creator better known by his online alias Suda 51, says that he was once asked to make a Deadpool game by Activision. The Grasshopper Manufacture CEO has also spoken further about his studio's ten-year plan, which should include three brand new games.

Speaking with VGC, Suda51 explained that he'd previously been approached by Activision over plans to make a Deadpool game. "Here’s something a lot of people probably don’t know,” Suda stated in the interview. “Over a decade ago, I was actually approached by Activision at one point to make a Deadpool game. It was sometime after the first No More Heroes came out. Obviously, that plan never came to fruition, and it fizzled out in the initial planning stages but I had some really cool ideas for it at the time.”

While plans for a Deadpool game with Suda at the helm were eventually shelved, Activision worked with developer High Moon Studios to release a game featuring the foul-mouthed hero in 2013. Although the game launched to mixed reviews, the character's popularity among mainstream audiences has since been notably elevated through Ryan Reynold's screen adaptation - perhaps opening the door wider to future Deadpool video games down the road.

In a separate interview with IGN Japan in August - featuring as part of the launch celebrations for the final installment of his No More Heroes series - Suda spoke about Grasshopper's plans for the future. During the interview, the studio boss confirmed that the company is currently working on three new original game IPs, but also said that he'd be interested in working alongside Marvel on a superhero title should the opportunity arise. "I’d love to work with Marvel on a Shatterstar or Deadpool game," said Suda during the interview. "Something sort of Grasshopper-y like that. Maybe a Quicksilver title of some sort."

While it seems that Grasshopper would jump at the chance to make a Marvel-based game in the future, Suda's interview with VGC delved further into the company's current ten-year plan and what fans should expect to see during that time.

“We’ve got a general plan in place for the next ten years," he said. At this point, we’re planning on doing three titles over the next decade: three new IPs. We’ve actually already begun the pre-production stuff on the first title, but I can’t say anything about it just yet.”

In terms of the scope of those games, Suda told VGC that they wouldn't necessarily be developing full-scale AAA games but that fans shouldn't expect to see anything too small either. "I’d say they’re probably going to be around ‘AA’-scale games," he states in the interview. "As in, the games themselves will be around AA-level scale, and the core team making them will be a relatively compact team.”

Despite the fact that Grasshopper has a long-term plan in place for the next decade, the studio boss was also keen to state that things could be subject to change, with the studio perhaps opting to take a different route with its upcoming IPs.

“With regard to the three new IPs I mentioned, we may actually go a slightly different route,” he explained. “What I mean is, we may actually decide to do like one new, original IP – the one we’re working on now – and then make a game version of an existing IP for our second game, and then go back and do another new one for the third one."

“There are a few games from back in the day that I’d like to get my hands on and try to do a reboot or a remake of some kind, or we may get approached by the right company with the right IP and decide to go with that… We’ll see how things work out.” Suda's previous games include Killer 7, Shadows of the Damned, Killer Is Dead, Lollipop Chainsaw, and much more.

Grasshopper Manufacture's last game, No More Heroes 3, marked the end of a franchise spanning over the last thirteen years. With Travis Touchdown and the series now behind them, fans will be eager to see what's next from Suda51 and the team.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

As part of its 25th anniversary celebrations for Tomb Raider, Square Enix has published three new videos featuring an array of details from the cancelled survival horror game Tomb Raider: Ascension.

As shown on YouTube, the three videos focus on different elements of what could have been for Ascension, had the game not been replaced by the franchise's preferred 2013 reboot. In the first clip, the publisher shows off a range of concept art for the game where fans can see its island setting as well as a number of characters designs.

"After narrowing in on the concept of a survival story on a remote island," says Square Enix in the video's description on YouTube. "Crystal began developing what was internally called Tomb Raider: Ascension. At one point, Ascension felt closer to a horror game than a Tomb Raider title. Eventually, the concept evolved into the origin story told in the 2013 reboot, keeping the key survival components with a dash of supernatural terror."

The second of the three videos shown by Square seems to highlight this well. Showing off early footage, Ascension looks as if it would have leaned further into the horror genre, as Lara can be seen making her way through a number of darker poorly lit areas and battling against a range of twisted monsters.

Across the seven-minute video, fans are treated to a reasonably substantial amount of content - with scenes also showing Lara traversing the island's environment on horseback and what looks to be a pretty intense moonlit boss battle. According to the publisher, it was during its work on Ascension that the team then "homed in on telling an origin story through the lens of survival," and some of those horror elements were seemingly pushed aside.

The final video published to YouTube features some early logo concepts for Ascension and a number of designs for its box art. While these are interesting to look through, the main highlight of the clip is the inclusion of some early voiceover work that the publisher says was recorded to " capture the tone" for Lara's difficult journey ahead. The narration in the clip does well to set up the reboot's take on Croft, distinguishing her from iterations of the character seen previously in the series.

"You think you know me," says Lara in the video. "Think you've seen me before. The Brit princess, rich girl with a pretty face, shiny guns, and a flair for gymnastics. I think you've got me mixed up with someone else."

"I'm not perfect. I'm not bulletproof. I struggle. I bleed. I get cold. I get lost. I have doubts. I know pain. I know fear. One day, I will become a legend. A warrior. A hero. A raider. But first, I will be a survivor. Still think you know me? Think again."

Across the range of footage shown off, it's not hard to see how Ascension eventually transitioned into becoming the publisher's 2013 reboot. While many of the original ideas shown never quite made it to see the light of day, the clips seem to have gone down well with the Tomb Raider community. Across the videos' comment sections, a number of fans have praised the idea of a horror-led Tomb Raider title with some even asking that Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics consider making the game now.

For more on Lara and the series, make sure to check out this article detailing the latest from Tomb Raider: Reloaded, an upcoming mobile game based on the franchise and set to launch next year. The latest trailer for that game can also be seen below, so be sure to give that a watch too.

Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN who remembers playing early entries in the Tomb Raider series alongside his parents as a child. You can follow him on Twitter.