"Mass Effect" has one of the best worlds in RPGs. Even with the impending Reaper invasion, it seems like it would be fun to live in that version of the Milky Way, and one of the coolest background depictions that BioWare has included in the series is the little ticker on the home screen of "Mass Effect 2" called "Cerberus Daily News" (opens in a new tab), which provided short news bulletins on galactic events. Now, Legendary Edition Nexus modder Cirosan has incorporated these articles into the re-release of the Legendary Edition (opens in new tab). [The original CDN updated the Mass Effect 2 main menu with new stories daily from January 26, 2010 to January 24, 2011, with a brief revival in late 2011 and 2012 to promote the ME2 DLC and eventually Mass Effect 3 There were. Some of these stories foreshadowed later developments in the main Mass Effect film, while others simply added to the texture of the setting.

My favorite was a series of updates about an AI-powered ghost ship (opens in new tab) discovered in deep space. In subsequent stories, CDN revealed that it was actually the home of a virtual civilization that had digitized its consciousness to escape a dying planet, and the series culminated in their attempt to integrate with the wider galactic community. It's a nifty little sci-fi short story that you can enjoy from the main menu of your favorite action RPG.

Previously, CDN updates were only stored on the Mass Effect Wiki, but Cirosan's mod reintroduces them to Mass Effect 2 in the form of new in-game emails to the Normandy's PCs. cirosan has also added a new CDN story to each mission is satisfyingly spaced out by sending a new CDN story upon completion. However, Cirosan states that the sheer volume of CDN updates exceeds the number of missions in the game, so instead of spamming poor Shepherd's inbox, it has chosen to include some and exclude others at its own discretion.

I had almost forgotten about CDN until I saw this mod, but Cirosan's work brought back fond memories. The use of Shep's email terminal as a vehicle for these stories is particularly exciting, and I will definitely be downloading it during the next major revival of the series (about once every two to three years)