NASA released the first black hole photo in recorded history earlier this week, but Mass Effect 2 seemingly predicted its appearance way back in 2010. As pointed out by eagle-eyed Mass Effect fans, the critically-acclaimed RPG sequel featured a black hole located near the collector base, and it has a strikingly similar appearance to this recent discovery.
The revelation that BioWare seems to have correctly predicted how black holes would look came from a post by ResetEra user “Regis.” Regis points out that Mass Effect 2 included a black hole with an orange glow surrounding it, with its appearance being criticized at the time — just like NASA’s black hole photo, which has been mocked on social media for being blurry and “underwhelming.”
“And i remember people b****ing about the orange filter [surrounding the black hole] in ME2, [but] i always knew it had a purpose,” Regis wrote. “For those who don’t remember, the collector base was located near the edge of a black hole, i don’t remember why, but reaper tech helped a lot.”
Here’s the black hole as it appears in Mass Effect 2:
And here’s the real black hole photo from NASA:
It may be more accurate to say scientists predicted the look of black holes and BioWare just conducted the appropriate research. However, Regis points out that games like Halo 2, Uncharted 2, Arkham City, and Half Life 2 all included their own takes on black holes, but none were as accurate as BioWare’s interpretation in Mass Effect 2.
Mass Effect has taken a bit of a back seat of late, with Bioware’s latest release Anthem in the spotlight. However, the developers have taken some time to look to the future of the franchise. In February, executive producer Mark Darrah and general manager Casey Hudson stated they were “definitely not done with Mass Effect.” The comments alleviated the worries of some fans who were concerned about the possibility of BioWare’s closure following the middling performance of its recent titles.
BioWare has most recently been in the news following a report by Kotaku journalist Jason Schreier. Schreier’s report looked into the working conditions at BioWare during the development of Anthem and Mass Effect Andromeda. Casey Hudson responded internally along with a public response which criticized the report, stating: “we don’t see the value in tearing down one another.”
Image Credit: Getty Images / NASA
