Mass Effect 3 patch causing widespread crashes

Mass Effect 3's latest title update can cause the game to crash upon loading, rendering the title unplayable for those affected.

The issue appears to be centred around the Xbox 360 version of the game, although some PlayStation 3 users report similar problems.

Some players who have installed the 4MB download are then been unable to load Mass Effect 3's main menu. The game will often enter an endless load cycle while attempting to contact EA's servers or simply crash the console completely.

Gamers last night flooded the @MassEffect Twitter account and official BioWare forum with complaints after the title update went live, alongside the new free multiplayer Resurgence DLC. BioWare responded that it was "aware of issues" and appealed for help from users to fix the problem.

Users have meanwhile begun prescribing their own fixes for the game: loading Mass Effect 3 while disconected from Xbox Live, clearing the system's cache, swapping game discs and sheer persistance have reportedly fixed the issue for some people, while others remain affected.

The title update was designed to mend Mass Effect 3's face import problem, a fix that BioWare's community coordinator Chris Priestly previously admitted had been a while coming. "A new patch gets heavily tested by BioWare, EA, Microsoft and Sony before it can be released to the public," he explained. "We all want to be sure that it fixes the issues it is supposed to fix and doesn't start any new issues."