The image you see above looks a lot like the Mass Effect logo and raised the hopes of BioWare fans everywhere when series producer Mike Gamble tweeted it this weekend.
Initially, Gamble offered no comment when he posted the picture.
— Michael Gamble (@GambleMike) May 3, 2015
However, he later clarified that the image was real and had been taken by an astronaut. Gamble added, "I think it's pretty fantastic. But you guys (Mass Effect fans) are pretty awesome, really."
It transpires that the image was taken by astronaut Reid Wiseman from the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2014 as he captured a sunrise. “Not every day is easy,” Wiseman wrote at the time. “Today was a tough one.”
Wiseman was referring to the failure of the Cygnus spacecraft, shortly after launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus was carrying supplies for the ISS, including research equipment and provisions. It's possible that the next Mass Effect game will offer a similar plot, especially if rumours of the game being set in the Andromeda galaxy are true.
If a supply ship from the Milky Way was destroyed, there could be dire ramifactions for the fledging colonies in Andromeda.
On the other hand, it's entirely likely that this was no more than a teaser that BioWare are hard at work on the next Mass Effect, which will hopefully be revealed on June 15th. BioWare games have traditionally been featured at Microsoft E3 press conferneces and we can expect the game to be shown at EA's press confernece this year as well. There has also been speculation, and enquiries from BioWare itself, about the possibility of a Mass Effect collection bringing together the first three games of the series with improved graphics for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
While we don't even know the name of the next Mass Effect yet, you can find out some of the details shared by BioWare so far here.
