Mass Effect 3 update: Cupcakes for hungry kids, because Mass Effect

Humbled devs pass treats onto the needy for +402 Karma

Words: Tom Goulter on March 30, 2012

Just like any good ending, the saga of Mass Effect 3 took another twist today – and just like the conclusion of a saga as heroic as Bioware's, the new development is a pretty virtuous touch indeed. However, it won't really have any impact on how the actual game turns out, which is sort of what fans have been complaining about all along. Yes, this is about the cupcakes.

Above: Intentions be damned - the day this arrives on your desk is the day you know you're doing something right in life

Surely you remember back to the Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy, Day 22 – when frustrated fans decided that the way to Bioware's heart was through the universal appeal of sugary baked-goods. Now the cupcakes have arrived at Bioware (story via Game Informer), looking every bit as tasty as they are ideologically cogent. However, “ultimately,” says Bioware's Chris Priestley, “[the gesture] was not done in the context of celebrating the work or accomplishment of the Mass Effect 3 team.” So said team don't get any cupcakes after all.

Instead, all 402 cakes have been donated to a local youth shelter, allowing kids who can't afford Mass Effect the chance to enjoy the choice between three functionally-identical things. So Bioware's feeding the hungry, which is heartwarming and great – but is the studio also saddling poor kids with the exact same dilemma fans accuse it of creating in the first place? And before you answer, how many delicious cupcakes have you given away to charity today?

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Topics:

Bioware, Electronic Arts, Mass Effect 3

36 comments

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db1331 - March 30, 2012 5:57 p.m.

Before BioWare dropped the cupcakes off at the youth shelter, they scraped the icing off each one and then charged the kids $1 if they wanted it put back on.
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peregy - March 30, 2012 5:59 p.m.

Buy me 400 cupcakes and I'll donate them to charity too
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Brutalicus - March 30, 2012 6:17 p.m.

Dude, the cake is like 99% of the pleasure of a cupcake. Oddly appropriate.
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D0CCON - March 30, 2012 6:18 p.m.

I think receiving those would be bittersweet.
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PReNDeL21 - March 30, 2012 6:41 p.m.

The kids wouldn't care if the cupcakes had frosting or not. Good try though. /buzzkill
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TheValiantBob - March 30, 2012 6:50 p.m.

wow, I am happy that now the hungry kids get cupcakes, but it just seems like a spiteful thing for Bioware to do to the people that donated them.
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tichtat - March 30, 2012 7:03 p.m.

This.
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tiben36 - March 30, 2012 7:05 p.m.

you guys misspelled "angry" anyway, mass effect was shit anyway, like almost everything they did (besides KOTOR 1)
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forestfire55 - March 30, 2012 7:07 p.m.

Ok, new ending, shepard is realy the five year child dreaming it all...can i have 400 cupcakes?
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FlyinHawaiian13 - March 30, 2012 7:20 p.m.

Who would actually eat a cup cake without icing? A cup cake without icing is a muffin.
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Pwnz0r3d - March 30, 2012 8:43 p.m.

If you read up on the indoctrination theory, all of the proposed evidence shows that the entire ending was a dream. While I understand the endings now (the Reapers have controlled Shepard, but he still has some fight left in him), I don't know if the whole "the ending was a dream" thing is actually BETTER.
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BladedFalcon - March 30, 2012 10:14 p.m.

Hey, that's actually a pretty good sport move from Bioware. They could have just easily just dumped them, so giving them to charity was a pretty good move ^^ Regardless of intentions, it's nice to know those cupcakes ended up doing some actual good (:
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Rub3z - March 31, 2012 12:52 a.m.

I like muffins...
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Rub3z - March 31, 2012 1:06 a.m.

When I first heard about this whole cupcake thing sent by angry fans, I predicted that it's entirely likely that the cupcakes were laced with poison or powerful laxatives, or that at least they spat into every one. It's not very likely (imagine the lawsuit), but I'm saying IF it is, we'll be hearing terrible news of poor children falling ill, or getting diarrhea and vomiting... all because some idiots decided to carry out their petty revenge campaign against the developers over the ending to a damn videogame. If you really think about it, and have seen how angry some of those people have gotten over this issue, it doesn't seem too far off. I just hope to goodness this isn't the case, but I won't be surprised if it is.
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KnowYourPokemon - March 31, 2012 2:35 a.m.

Man if someone gave me $1000 worth of something for free and I donated it to charity I could easily look like a good guy too :P Not saying this wasn't a nice thing to do but yeah...
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winner2 - March 31, 2012 4:39 a.m.

I wonder what the people who fundraised for the cupcakes are feeling right now. I'm not sure if I'd be annoyed or feel defeated or what.
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Acerlux - March 31, 2012 7:06 a.m.

It's a great thing they did, donating the cupcakes to kids. But I can't be the only one that finds this a little ironic. Bioware is presented with 3 different choices, all of them separated only by color. Any choice finishes the cupcake. But because they didn't like the choices presented, they chose to take a 4th option that they actually liked and found satisfying. At least Bioware won't have to start up a "Retake Cupcakes" protest.
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ParagonT - March 31, 2012 7:27 a.m.

Once again your looking in the worst of everyone, what kind of life do you live sir?
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ParagonT - March 31, 2012 7:28 a.m.

Then there was not an actual ending.
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ParagonT - March 31, 2012 7:28 a.m.

Touche!
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