BioWare: 13% of Mass Effect players use default hero, 18% play female Shepard

We've already heard that the female Commander Shepard, voiced by the talented and busy Jennifer Hale, will be featured in Mass Effect 3's marketing, marking the first time in the series that BioWare has done so. But VG24/7 has more about the female version of the Commander, and just how many players have seen her and Hale's performance over the years.

Turns out, according to BioWare, that 13 percent of Mass Effect players just use the default male Commander Shepard. 83 percent of players customize the hero in some way, and of those, only 18 percent use the female version. Director of Marketing David Silverman says BioWare doesn't have a "canon" version of the hero: "The beautiful thing about the Mass Effect series is the fact that the player gets to make choices that actually impact the game and make their entire game experience unique to them."

For example, none of you have ever played with my Commander Michael Shepard, honorable Vanguard war hero, one of the coolest Paragons ever, and also incredibly handsome. Shame you've never gotten to meet him.