Mass Effect 3 - 3.5M Shipped Worldwide and More

EA has announced Mass Effect 3 has shipped 3.5M units worldwide, according to VG247:

EA’s announced, following today’s European release, that Mass Effect 3 has shipped 3.5 million units worldwide.
Dr Ray is, quite naturally, happy at the news, as well as paying tribute to series executive producer Casey Hudson.
“We have been truly humbled by the amazing response from fans and critics for Mass Effect 3,” said BioWare GM Muzyka.

Apparently sales were 900k on the first day.
Meanwhile, Chris Priestly has responded about the face import issue on their forums, offering a fan-made tool as a temporary solution:

Hi everyone

We are aware that some players are having issues importing the faces of characters from Mass Effect 1 or Mass Effect 2 into Mass Effect 3. The issue is likely in how faces were detected when imported from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2, and we’re working on the best way to correct it for affected players.

As our teams work hard to address the importing of face codes we would like to call out a fan made tool that may be able to help PC users in the short term:
Mass Effect Tools

And detailed instruction from a fan on how to use them here.

Edit: Update: Hi Everyone.

We want to keep everyone up to date on this issue as we know how strongly many you feel about this. I will continue to update this thread as we have more information.

We have determined that faces importing incorrectly is an error with how codes were detected when transferred from Mass Effect 1 into Mass Effect 2 and then on into Mass Effect 3 or importing a Mass Effect 2 saved game with New Game +. The Mass Effect team continues to investigate fixes for these issues and they are top priority concerns for
everyone here.

Again, when we have more news, we will let everyone know. Thanks again for your patience.

Lastly, Gamasutra talks with BioWare's cinematic lead Jonathon Perry to talk about "contrastive juxtaposition", which is apparently the key to their stories:

The first central element of contrastive juxtaposition is polarity, Perry explained. "I like to think of contrast in terms of polarity. We have positive and negative polarities that we're all familiar with—good vs. evil, light vs. dark. But they don't have to be good and evil—up and down, for example," Perry said. "Polarity lets us see how a character is changing over the course of a story, shifting in polarities over time. As players in a game, we like to be the one that's driving that change." Mass Effect 2's Paragon/Renegade system is perhaps the most obvious example.

More information.

That's a staggering number, seems to me, and that's just it's initial shipment. I'll be interested to see if this game lives up to the hype it's gotten.

I think that pretty much guarantees that ME3 won't be the last game for that franchise.

Yeah, it had problem importing the face of my paragon character, but I've reconstructed it in 5 mins, no big deal. They should focus on fixing the buggy missions primarily.

I was waiting for the reviews before buying Mass Effect 3 (because after Dragon Age 2 I decided to always read reviews before buying), but now I have to also wait for them to resolve character import issues

Still happy for them doing so well, though I have to remind people that shipped=/=sold.

Originally Posted by Edgarstrong
I was waiting for the reviews before buying Mass Effect 3 (because after Dragon Age 2 I decided to always read reviews before buying), but now I have to also wait for them to resolve character import issues

Still happy for them doing so well, though I have to remind people that shipped=/=sold.

But which reviews? So far, we got a good few "divine perfection 100%"s with one or two brave souls risking a (*gasp*) 96%. User reviews are just Talimancers upset at the bleak endings and bombing 0's and 1's.

I really wish someone would create a site where people would rate games on a 4 star scale and then those whose scores were most in common with your own tastes (based on games you yourself rated) would be aggregated…

Personally, I'm not much surprised about that high number.

Mass Effect will probably be a "classic" in 10 years or so.

Perhaps even (I fear) "the game that brought role-playing back into PC gaming !" -
like Baldur's Gate did.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Personally, I'm not much surprised about that high number.

Mass Effect will probably be a "classic" in 10 years or so.

Mass Effect probably will be. Mass Effect 3? No way.
And to be honest I do not get how the reviewers got such amazing numbers, as being Mass Effect fan myself I would rate i as 8, before factoring the ending. After factoring the ending, numbers are just not relevant for this bitter disappointment.

Well, I don't get these high numbers as well, but I've decided that ME3 isn't my thing so I'm not that much bothered with it …

I do remember, owever, hat there was once this interesting article of an Reviewer looking back at Oblivion … And writing on how "unjustified" the high numbers had been he and others had given the game in its early release time, then …

Originally Posted by fungus
Mass Effect probably will be. Mass Effect 3? No way.
And to be honest I do not get how the reviewers got such amazing numbers, as being Mass Effect fan myself I would rate i as 8, before factoring the ending. After factoring the ending, numbers are just not relevant for this bitter disappointment.

I am sure that, in a few weeks, you will be able to buy some better endings for about $20 a piece.

I can't say anything about the ending yet, but so far I don't see the problem with Mass Effect 3. It's a Mass Effect game just like the second part, but with some improved mechanics. I guess the first was great because of the expansive Citadel environment and the fact that it was new.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I think that pretty much guarantees that ME3 won't be the last game for that franchise.

ME2 guaranteed that. All ME3 guarantees is that the Shepard story arc ends.

They will continue, no doubt, with another arc, though I'm concerned that since they've already saved Earth and the universe— what else is left?

Just no frigging prequel, please!

Next game will be a pure shooter I bet, the cynic in me says.

Originally Posted by Thaurin
I can't say anything about the ending yet, but so far I don't see the problem with Mass Effect 3.

Haha. That's why.

I have seen THE ending, so…

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
Just no frigging prequel, please!

There you go.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Next game will be a pure shooter I bet, the cynic in me says.

Do you comment on this game for the sake of commenting? To my knowledge you have never played any in the series.

Don't worry we will get more of Bioware's lovely plot hole filled story's and lies where your choices will matter. We will also get another ending that will leave me disappointed. They cant deliver on the endings anymore as proven by DA2 and now ME3.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Don't worry we will get more of Bioware's lovely plot hole filled story's and lies where your choices will matter. We will also get another ending that will leave me disappointed. They cant deliver on the endings anymore as proven by DA2 and now ME3.

Or BioWare just thought players had more brains. <= Contains spoilers for ME3 endings and lots of part of the game.

Good for them. The series is fun as hell whether it's an rpg or not. Love it!

Originally Posted by azarhal
Or BioWare just thought players had more brains. <= Contains spoilers for ME3 endings and lots of part of the game.

Even if that theory is true, that just mean bioware cut off the true ending for DLC and asking us to pay for it…

Originally Posted by Malkavian
Haha. That's why.

I have seen THE ending, so…

I'm really growing impatient to see this much-maligned ending! I can't imagine it's that bad, really, but at this point I can only speculate. I don't wanna get spoiled, though. However, I'm pretty sure that no ending could ruin the whole experience for me!

Originally Posted by ChaosTheory
Just no frigging prequel, please!

A prequel could be interesting, though, with humanity first finding the Prothean ruins on Mars, and struggling to grow in power among the newly found alien races… hmmmm.