Happy Mass Effect 3 Day

I was introduced to the happy world of gaming by my friend Kim Smith. Today, one of Kim's favorite games, Mass Effect, comes out with its third installment. The gaming community is run through with the same sociological issues as the rest of the world, but there are signs of progress. Here, Kim writes about the newly released trailer for Mass Effect 3:

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In honor of Mass Effect 3 Launch Day, I give you this: http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/05/mass-effect-3-femshep-trailer/.

The money shot comes around 2:25, when you see two women leading the army in Earth's defense (fully clothed, no less). If it were two men, you'd think nothing of it. If it were a man and a woman, you'd think, "Well, that's cool." But two women? That's unheard of in video games, let alone a gritty, sci-fi shooter. Hell, that might be unheard of in most of pop culture.

While politicians chip away at women's rights, with Mass Effect 3, BioWare has rebooted the default female Commander Shepard (aka FemShep), giving her a unique visual texture and body animations (thus avoiding those awkward moments when she sits in a little black dress with legs splayed a la Sharon Stone). They've released not one, but two FemShep trailers, and the game disc case features a reversible cover (FemShep on one side, DudeShep on the other).

All this comes on the heels of last year's Dragon Age 2, possibly the most LGBT-friendly video game ever produced by a mainstream developer. BioWare . . . making the world a more inclusive place one video game at a time.

Now if only they weren't all so damn white . . .