Mass Effect 3 owners were shocked to find out today that most of their customized Commander Shepards could not have their faces imported into the new game.

One of the first things you’re able to do before you get going in a new Mass Effect game is to customize your Male or (preferably) Female Shepard’s face. If you’ve played Mass Effect 2 (or the just-released Mass Effect 3), you have the option to import this custom character and his/her saved data to continue your adventure as the Shepard from your previous game.

However, if you bought the game for your Xbox 360 or PC and started your character all the way back in the original Mass Effect, you might find that your face refuses to import, leaving you with a blank slate, or the option to use the default Shepard head for your ME3 playthrough.

How did this happen? And is there a solution? Find out after the jump.

(UPDATE: More temporary solutions found, plus BioWare is working to address the issue.)

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Women in gaming have made tremendous strides, both onscreen and off, behind the scenes, or playing the games. Fans of the Female Shepard in the Mass Effect series — male and female alike — encouraged BioWare to finally put her in their advertisements and materials just so that other gamers would know she exists. It’s 2011; are women still being overlooked in gaming? Sean talks to guest panelists Sindra and Megan about what it’s like to be such a minority in gaming culture, and discuss their favorite heroines from the aforementioned Shepard, to “Lady Hawke” from Dragon Age 2, Samus in Metroid, Alex Roivas in Eternal Darkness, and more! And Sean tries to avoid saying “that’s what she said” for almost an entire hour.

[Listen to the episode after the jump…!]