BioWare, FUNimation Creating Mass Effect Anime Film

BioWare announced an agreement with distributor FUNimation Entertainment to create an anime feature film based on its popular Mass Effect action RPG series, to be co-produced by Japanese production company T.O Entertainment. Releasing straight to digital and home video in the summer of 2012, the anime will be based on the universe established by the two Mass Effect games, and will tell the tale of "an epic science fiction adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life and mysterious, uncharted planets." Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson will serve as executive producer on the film, as will the CEOs and other members of FUNimation and T.O Entertainment. The group has already begun production on the Mass Effect anime film. T.O Entertainment and FUNimation Entertainment are also collaborating with BioWare, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts, on an anime adaptation of the developer's Dragon Age RPG series, which is due to release some time later this year. "Over the last few years, we have revealed different pieces of the Mass Effect world through different media," says BioWare's Hudson. "Extending the story through an anime medium is another amazing opportunity for us." Hudson continues, "Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we will bring this rich universe to life with the utmost quality and the same attention to detail that the Mass Effect games are known for."