Singapore bans Mass Effect

Lesbian scene gets Bioware's upcoming RPG kicked out

November 13, 2007

Singapore's government has announced a ban on the sale of BioWare's upcoming Mass Effect RPG in its country.

The ban was triggered by the revelation of a scene in the game in which a sexual encounter between a human woman and a female alien is portrayed in a poorly-lit room with brief partial nudity. The depiction of same-sex relations is enough to get the game thrown out of Singapore, which has a reputation for its strict censorship.

The scene occurs only when the player chooses to play as a female character—Mass Effect allows you to fully customize the protagonist, including gender. The voice of the female version of Commander Shepard is played by Jennifer Hale, who previously worked with BioWare when she played Bastila in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. More recently, Hale lent her voice to Samus Aran in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Mass Effect is due out in North America on November 20.