Entertainment

Many forms of entertainment are featured in the Mass Effect universe, including films, plays, books, magazines, musical acts, sports, and various games.

Hamlet (Francis Kitt production)
A production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, directed by Francis Kitt and featuring an all-elcor cast. The elcor cast used their native body language and pheromones to convey the emotion of the play, which would be obvious to other elcor, but which non-elcor would fail to notice, focusing instead on the dialogue. Kitt wished to give the viewers the chance to judge Hamlet "by his deeds and not his emotions."

The play entered planning stages in 2183. By 2185, it turned out to be an award-winning hit over 14 hours in length and was later abridged and placed into extranet format for home viewing. Elcor Hamlet continues to be performed until 2186, with its director announcing plans to move on to a Macbeth production featuring krogan talent as the lead.

Starless
A film acknowledged as a masterpiece of gothic horror. Made in 2173, cinematographer Risa Uvarsen filmed the exterior scenes of "Starless" on the planet Faringor, capitalizing on the planet's grim surface color and dim illumination. Due to Faringor's lack of an atmosphere, the film's sets have been perfectly preserved by the vacuum and attract hundreds of tourists annually.

Blasto
Numerous films featuring Blasto, the galaxy's first hanar Spectre, have been released or reported to be in production.
 * Requiem for a Reaper! - A Blasto production of indeterminate status during 2184. Featuring an explosion fronted by the hanar in one known promotion still.
 * Blasto: the Jellyfish Stings - An exploitation film centered around Blasto, portrayed as the first hanar Spectre. Advertised widely in 2185. Blasto appears, based on quoted dialogue, to be based on the fictional character Dirty Harry Callahan.
 * Blasto Saves Christmas - A holiday film that pulled at least 1.9 billion credits according to a box office report.
 * Blasto 6: Partners in Crime - A box-office record breaker during the Reaper war in 2186. Select dialogue portions and various advertisements available on public Citadel screens.
 * Blasto 7: Blasto Goes to War! - A Blasto film under production in 2186. Starring Blasto, Commander Shepard, Javik, and a Reaper invasion.
 * Blasto 8: Blasto Cures the Genophage! - A Blasto film planned at the conclusion of Blasto 7's production.

Quotes

 * "This one doesn't have time for your solid waste excretions."
 * "This one has forgotten whether its heatsink is over capacity. It wonders whether the criminal scum considers itself fortunate?"
 * "Enkindle THIS."

Citadel
A movie that highlights Commander Shepard's involvement in the Eden Prime War, Citadel is directed by Risa Uvarsen and presented by Eridani films. Among the scenes depicted in the advertisement:
 * The speech by Commander Shepard upon assuming command of the SSV Normandy
 * The confrontation between Saren and Shepard
 * Matriarch Lidanya's order to evacuate the Council to the Destiny Ascension
 * A scene that varies depending on whether or not Commander Shepard saved the Council during the final battle with Saren and Sovereign. If an imported character was not used, the scene will depict the default setting, in which the Council was killed.

Fleet and Flotilla
Fleet and Flotilla is an award-winning entertainment vid noted for its positive portrayal of turian-quarian relationships. One memorable moment in the film involves the turian Bellicus and the quarian Shalei meeting on a balcony affirming their love for each other, culminating in the quarian taking off her mask and the actress getting an infection for three weeks after filming the scene.

The movie spawned at least one "relationship simulator", a soundtrack, extranet sites with "captioned animations", and even a musical adaptation. Home video versions have the capability of activating 'sing-along mode'.

Fleet and Flotilla holds some appeal among turians and quarians. In 2185, A turian in Eternity asks his potential quarian date to see this movie with him. In 2186, Shepard and Tali watch it during their shore leave in the Commander's personal apartment upon prompting from the latter.

Quotes

 * "But Shalei. We can never be together. I have my duty, and you, have your people." - Bellicus
 * "Tonight, I'm as free as the dust in the solar wind." - Shalei
 * "I want you to see behind this mask. I want you to see who I truly am." - Shalei
 * "I already have." - Bellicus

Last of the Legion
A turian war film watched by the crew of the Tempest during movie night. Pathfinder Ryder obtains a banned version on Kadara without scenes filmed for the hanar market. The film contains what was described by critics as training montages with "excessive turian flexing", and an explosive sequence of a ship crashing onto a moon shot using a real derelict, which Liam Kosta opts to skip ahead to.


 * "Teranus? Teranus? No!"

Nekyia Corridor
A record-breaking human simstim movie taking place in one of the most dangerous parts of space where ancient asari once believed the souls of the dead went. The legend of an ancient asari goddess of death, Piares, formed the basis for the movie. First announced during Super Bowl CCXIX on Earth, the movie made a total of around 13.3 billion credits on its opening weekend, and hindered productivity across Citadel Space because most workers either had seen or were seeing the film. Nekyia Corridor went on to surpass some of the galaxy's top-grossing simulstims, including the asari classic Confederates.

Other Films
These films have been mentioned through Cerberus Daily News reports about the galactic box office, or briefly in the Mass Effect games.


 * Akuze - A big budget horror film likely about the massacre at Akuze.
 * Asari Confessions 26: True Blue - A film that is mentioned in Mass Effect 2; it is downloaded by Grunt and Jacob Taylor.
 * Binder - A cerebral horror film which answers the question "Who exactly binds the books covered in human skin in all those other horror movies?".
 * Bloody Mary - A "girl-power vampire buddy comedy".
 * Blue's Anatomy - An extranet action-drama series. Described by Dr. Lexi T'Perro as featuring "dreamy turians with fringe [sic] that can't be natural".
 * Blue Steel - An asarisploitation film produced on Lisir about robo-mining uranium. The film was one of humanity's first attempts to market entertainment galactically.
 * Bullet Train - An action film which did poorly in the box office due to the "Taetrus effect", wherein audiences shunned action movies in favor of comedies following the Vallum Blast disaster on the turian colony of Taetrus.
 * C-SEC - Another action film which performed badly because of the "Taetrus effect". Its main source of revenue was on Tuchanka, where it was mistakenly listed as a comedy.
 * Call Me Sally - A comedy film about an undercover asari Spectre disguised as a human.
 * Check and Mate - A film about asari maidens at the World Chess Championship on Earth. It did very well in the box office due to the so called "Taetrus effect" that caused movie-goers to watch fewer action movies.
 * Confederates - A classic asari simulstim film and one of the highest grossing films in the galaxy. It was surpassed by Nekyia Corridor.
 * Dark Goddess - Described as a "cerebral" film, it performed well at the box office.
 * Diomedes - A successful "Greek-versus-God actioner".
 * Dynasty of Stars - An award-winning salarian extranet drama that ran for over 70 seasons. Kallo Jath was a fan and watches his OSD copies regularly, and bemoans that he left for Andromeda before the Trade Fleet arc was resolved.
 * Exiles: Portraits of the Lost Quarians - Listed as an entertainment vid that Tali downloaded to watch.
 * Farixen - A low-budget historical drama which likely explores the events surrounding the Treaty of Farixen.
 * Gagged - A comedy anthology which was overshadowed by the release of Nekyia Corridor.
 * Goda Tavetara; Lulea Reborn - An angara film trilogy mentioned by Jaal Ama Darav, the mere thought of which causes him to commence "weeping a bit already".
 * Gravity's Rainbow - An Earth classic, of which a 43-hour adaptation was made.
 * Heartbeat - A "dramedy hospital buddy actioner".
 * Holly's Last Chance - A controversial mockumentary. Actor accuses director of using unscripted, real-life trauma in the filming of the Simulstim.
 * How They Must See Us - an asari vid about first contact with humanity.
 * Huntresses - Thought by Liam Kosta to be a classic asari remake of Seven Samurai, but according to Vetra Nyx it is only a newer, low budget film that does not star actual asari.
 * Husks 2: Awl Justice - An adaptation of a "teen-survival/horror/legal-thriller".
 * Iota Horologii - A 342-hour-long epic produced by Got Serbos, when it premiered a decade ago it met critical acclaim, but bombed in the box office. The film tracks twelve alien families as their empires clash in an unnamed galaxy in the Horologium supercluster.
 * Krantt Hardly Wait - A comedy about a krogan male learning courtship practices from a human female. The human female's father is played by actor Vega Bull, Jr. The krogan of New Tuchanka on Elaaden watch this to learn how to court krogan females.
 * Make It Look Real: The Lili T'Nigus Story - An "Asariwood musical comedy romance espionage simulstim biopic" with positive reviews, which launched Oscar buzz with its "YWNBWITFM (you would not believe what's in this [expletive] movie) factor".
 * Milk Sheik - Featured a dairy-powered superhero for a protagonist.
 * Molt - A 95-hour "surreal" film.
 * Night Winds - A "romantic horror".
 * Off Stage - A popular film about a paraplegic asari dancer who learns to dance using biotics.
 * Rodin vs Metagodzilla - An "art-house-release fourth-wall-breaker".
 * Ruck Humpers - A krogan war comedy, Ruck Humpers' humor did not translate well to viewers on Citadel Space. It made a dismal 430 million credits over a period of three weeks, and was described as being "barely in the black".
 * She's a Keeper - A "guess-what's-coming-to-dinner asari romantic comedy".
 * Talons - A controversial horror film involving turians "rending human throats with their razor claws".
 * Taze Patterson: Part 1: The Beginning - A greatly hyped but poorly reviewed "disaster/action flick/coming-of-age story".
 * Teenage Ninja Kwanzaa Force - A holiday film.
 * The 840-Year-Old Virgin - a comedy about "the life of an impossibly nerdy asari".
 * The Demon and the Nightmare - A suspense thriller about two thresher maws that nearly destroy a salarian city on Dagnes. Described as a mostly true story, it made 1.78 billion credits on its opening weekend.
 * The Ever Alert - A salarian series of short films listed under the survival genre.
 * The Jar - A salarian shocker which played on the universal fear of being trapped in a simulstim.
 * The Man Who Hung Himself - A play about an amorous plastic surgeon. It was performed before the Cerberus Coup on the Citadel.
 * The Phage 2 - A horror film about a sentient salarian biowarfare project with the ability to dissolve people.
 * This One's Hanukkah Cheer - A holiday film.
 * Vaenia - A film mentioned in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3; is a topic of discussion in the encounter with Morinth in Mass Effect 2 and is mentioned in an datapad audio file in the Ardat-Yakshi Monastery on Lesuss.
 * We Meet Again, Doctor Fear - A salarian family film about a captured agent with a time machine, which in a comedic twist can only take him 15 minutes back in the past.
 * With Genericized Holiday Spirit - A holiday film.
 * With Soft Shoe Number - A low-budgeted comedy film about a volus and elcor pair trying to make it on Broadway. The film's popularity surprised both volus and elcor critics.

Alliance Corsair
An action game capable of being installed on mobile devices such as an omni-tool.

Chess
A game developed on Earth in the 11th century. Chess became popular with elcor after the Alliance established an embassy on the Citadel. The longest known game in chess history spanned twelve years between Dowumon Thunloon of Dekuuna and Victor Kovisk of Luna, ending in victory for the former.

General Oleg Petrovsky is an avowed fan of the game, playing with himself on a board capable of handling real and holographic chess pieces. The board comes into Shepard's possession if Omega is liberated from the General's grasp. Morinth also has a set in her apartment.

Firebreathing Thresher Maws of Doom
A krogan childrens' game where miniature flamethrowers are used to burn each others' pieces on a map. Nakmor Drack invites Pathfinder Ryder to play the game at the Vortex Club.

Galaxy of Fantasy
A massively multiplayer extranet role-playing game based on turian mythology. It has over 11 billion players. The recently released expansion Waters of Kolono dominated sales charts and adds 200-300 hours of gameplay.

Grim Terminus Alliance
A game series that received much controversy for the ability of a player to capture slaves and beat them.

Kepesh-Yakshi
An asari game that has been translated into virtual form. This complex game requires strategy and incisive thinking to command a small fleet to take your opponent's "homeworld." Some versions include "neural feedback" which delivers a mild shock to the player when they lose a piece, which serves to disincentive casually sacrificing pieces.

Normandy Flight Sim
A flight simulator of the SSV Normandy included with the popular Commander Shepard VI.

Poker
A card game invented on Earth. Shepard can play a game for small stakes against some of the Normandy SR2 crew in Mass Effect 2. James Vega can also be seen playing Poker while on the Citadel in the refuge holding area in Mass Effect 3.

Relay Defense
This arcade game consists of eliminating enemy ships spawning from a mass relay that are attacking your controlled planet.

Shattered Eezo
A fighting game located at Castle Arcade where one to two players engage in a simple boxing match with holographic LOKI Mechs.

Shell game
Allegedly a gambling game but actually a swindle. A vorcha on Silversun Strip can be heard attempting to find new players.

Solitaire
A 400-year-old human card game, Solitaire's popularity has expanded and other species also enjoy playing the game to pass time and relieve boredom.

Third Coil
An extranet game that has received a large amount of press which, according to some, exceeds the attention given to it by actual players.

Other Games

 * Claw Game - A game found at Castle Arcade.
 * Fleet and Flotilla: Interactive Cross-Species Relationship Simulator - Mentioned in Legion's gamer profile.
 * Geth Attack: Eden Prime Fundraising Edition - Mentioned in Legion's gamer profile.
 * N7 Code of Honor: Medal of Duty - Mentioned in Legion's gamer profile.
 * Quasar - A game found at casinos such as Flux and Silver Coast Casino.
 * Roulette - A game found at the Silver Coast Casino.
 * Towers of Hanoi - A game found at Castle Arcade.
 * Varren Racing - A game found at the Silver Coast Casino.

Musical Acts

 * Blue Giants: An act that performed at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Bootyherax: An act that performed at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Domino Masque: Winner of "Best New Artist" at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Dramaxeens: A rock band that walked out of a charity concert when its singer, Gretel Batts, launched a vulgar tirade that lasted 10 minutes.
 * Expel 10: A sensory band that plays on Omega.
 * Eff Tee El: An act that performed at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Jenellen Lepp: A singer who gained infamy when he married socialite Aish Ashland and divorced her after less than a week.
 * Lady Sweat: A human R&B singer who died at age 24 when her ship passed through a proton storm.
 * Skinsuit: Winner of "Best Choreography" for the song "Mix It" at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Varrencage: Winner "Video of the Year" for the song "Let It Up, Let It In" at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.
 * Vi-vian Wonder: Performed Lady Sweat's "Where You Gone" as a memorial at the 2185 Galactic Video Music Awards.

Ascension
Written by human author Drew Karpyshyn, the popular military-historical novel Ascension focuses on several lives warped or destroyed by the human-survivalist cult Cerberus.

Astonishing Adventures
A publication featuring spine-tingling new fiction, such as Following in the Footsteps of Giants! a full-lenght story by D'Quin Katora.

Bernard Plim books
Publications by Bernard Plim, founder and president of the Conspiracy Accountability League:
 * What the Dalatrass Knew -- Post Mortem Edition: Reviewed by B. Plim.
 * What the Drell Don't Know: And the Hanar Won't Say by B. Plim (5 stars from the Illium Trade Review).
 * STG: The Forbidden Files by B. Plim.

Criminal Negligence: The Citadel Council and the True Story of the Geth Threat
A controversial e-book written by a C-SEC officer personally responsible for asari Councilor Tevos' safety, Negligence alleges that the Citadel Council knew the geth were travelling outside the Perseus Veil long before their attack on Eden Prime. Other revelations, such as the geth spreading to not one but five planets before their attack on the Citadel, were revealed to crank up the hype on the author's tour of the Council's homeworlds.

Flight into Mystery
A publication of modern adventures for modern minds, such as The Case of the Four-Dimensional Man, by Hallex T'Kontra, and a complete new novelette called What Lurks Beneath the Invisible City by Tranzi Chang.

Last Star in the Sky - Delsae Orthysa
A detective fiction set on the Citadel where Roma T'Fabris is forced to hire Mr. Fletcher, the protagonist, to search for her missing sister Jedora because the C-Sec Executor is corrupt.

First Contact: Who Needs It?
In First Contact: Who Needs It?, counterculture icon Kurt Riven argues that contact between extraterrestrial species is inherently a bad idea. Riven writes, "Aside from the inevitable wars, jingoism, and disease that always follow first contact, there's a more insidious problem: the homogenization of culture, of thought, of ideas themselves. As soon as I see how your ship works, I don't need to figure it out myself. I'll copy yours and whatever hope we had for something new evaporates. Maybe mine's a different shape, but so what? The same problem exists on a galactic scale, where all major species are busy duplicating each others' ideas. It would have been better if they never met."

Fornax
Launched in 2167, Fornax magazine described itself as "the galaxy's finest xenophilia". Fornax became the first human magazine to offer full five-sensory stimulation, a previously-unaffordable magazine technology made profitable by the economy of scale. With a monthly publishing run of 127 million available in both in hard-copy and direct download, Fornax offers a range of alien models with particular emphasis on the mono-gender asari, although both genders of quarians, drell, batarians, and volus are regularly depicted. Specialty editions such as Genit-elcor and Krogasm service devoted but smaller markets.

Juggling the Monkeys: An Insider's View of the Tower
A book by political commentator Erlan Golta which explains the inner-workings of the Citadel Council and its bureaucracy.

Justicar Heroes
A news publication that tells of the heroic exploits of Justicars. It has been known to exaggerate its stories. Samara has been featured in the publication before including a June 2085 spread called "Justicar Samara: Cold-Blooded Justice Runs Hot" and a May 2140 article that says she personally saved 50 refugees on Nevos from a flood.

Revelation
Revelation is a popular military-historical novel by human writer Drew Karpyshyn that dramatizes human conflicts and political expansion following the 2148 discovery of the Prothean mass relay on Pluto and the beginning of human galactic exploration.

Tales to Amaze!
A publication featuring a collection of pulp stories, such as The Last Outpost by Donovan Beam, and The Brink of Stars by Corvik Malin, and much more.

Sarissa Theris writings
Sarissa Theris's writings and manuals for Asari Commandos include:
 * A Rock in the Maelstrom, her main work on crisis strategy and emergency response.
 * The First Three Centuries: The New Huntress's Path. Cora Harper has a copy given to her by Nisira.
 * Twelve Leaves, a mixture of meditations and combat insight co-written with R. T'Naya.
 * Speeches and Silences, chronicling the Battle of Kerkis.
 * Essays from the Void, which includes her induction address to new commandos and a study of the first asari Spectres.

Spectacular Science
A publication of the premier anthology of speculative adventure, such as The Capricorn Paradox, by "Bones" DeHaviland, She Sleeps in Slipstream which is an exclusive preview of a new novel by Rava Shaniro, and the latest chrono reviews.

Sports

 * American football - A popular sport for humans. In 2185, Super Bowl CCXIX concluded with a New York Giants victory over the Beijing Dragons.
 * Baseball - Another popular sport for humans. During the 2185 Baseball Season opener the Vladivostok Bears defeated the Detroit Tigers 11-4. Other major league baseball teams include the Baltimore Orioles and the Kyoto Katanas.
 * Beach volleyball - Yet another popular sport for humans. Liam suggests to play it, after activating Meridian.
 * Biotiball - A galactic sport involving teams of biotics who attempt to score by maneuvering a ball into a basket. In 2185, the Usaru Maestros and Washington Hackers faced each other in what became a record-breaking game. The Maestros triumphed and went on to compete with the Seattle Sorcerers in the semifinals, while the Hackers played the New Orleans Loa. The Maestros were subsequently defeated by the Sorcerers in a goodwill game during the Reaper War.
 * Biotic gymnastics - Not much is known about this sport, as it has only been mentioned in passing.
 * Clawball - A galactic sport. Teams include the Raescir Rockets which had the legendary player Neno Raxirian.
 * Combat simulator - Venues such as the Armax Arsenal Arena host highly popular combat simulations. Many notable participants such as Aria T'Loak and Commander Shepard participate in these.
 * Kailat ring-ball - A very popular game through the Terminus. A game played in zero-g where one scores when a ring flashes a color that only asari, salarian, and bees can see.
 * Kowla - A krogan sport. Krogan representatives attempted to introduce the sport to the recently encountered raloi during the celebration being held to formally welcome them to the galaxy in 2185. After a game devolved into a brawl that left three dead and fourteen injured, the Council delegation barred the krogan representatives from the remainder of the ceremonies. The krogan, who considered the introduction of kowla successful, denounced the decision as an overreaction.
 * Mixed martial arts - A full contact combat sport on Earth. "Fight Night at Earth's Pontiac Silverdome" witnessed turian fighter Zarren "The Varren" Casias upset the last remaining human champion, Luis "Laser" Reyes, to claim the light heavyweight title.
 * Soccer - More commonly known as football (not to be confused with American football), it is one of, if not, the most popular sport on Earth. The sport is now presumably played by other races; Liam mentions witnessing a very good hanar goalkeeper.
 * Urban combat - A sport played on Earth that presumably involves teams of players who compete in mock-combat situations. Teams include the Edmonton Blood Dragons and Rhode Island Knights, the latter of whom won the 2186 Urban Combat Championship.
 * Yoga - an exercise routine humans created but one Dr. Lexi T'Perro claims asari have perfected.