If there’s any hardware company that keeps a close watch on the ebb and flow of the PC gaming industry, it’s Nvidia, and that often means a beneficial conflict of interest for owners of Tegra-based machines. Last year fantasy fans got a complimentary Skyrim live wallpaper, and now Nvidia’s teamed up with BioWare to give the same treatment to Mass Effect 3, easily one of the biggest video game releases of 2012. It’s available on the Google Play Store now for free to Tegra-based tablet owners.

As with the Skyrim wallpaper, it’s a little simple, but fits in well with the game’s scifi aesthetic. Galactic bad mama jamma Commander Shepard sits above a view of the Earth in flames as the evil Reapers invade, animated as they break orbit to start munching on some tasty Glagnar’s Human Rinds. Though the only real movement is the reapers themselves and the foreground and background layers, you can add a little bit of custom flair by changing it to Commander Shepard’s female variant if you play FemShep (and you should, by the way – Jennifer Hale’s voice acting makes it a much better experience). Unfortunately, there’s no way to remove the GTX logo.

As nice as the wallpaper is, we can’t help but wonder: is that all? BioWare and EA have already teamed up to release both a separate game and a companion app for Mass Effect 3 on iOS. With EA promoting the hell out of ME3 (including some rather shady DLC and pre-order shenanigans) you’d think they’d be eager to make as  much of that content available to as many people as possible. Guess they didn’t get the memo that Android is beating the pants off of iOS for sales.

No spoilers in the comments section, please. I want to preserve my inner fiction of Shepard and Mordin getting married and raising little salamander babies.

[via Android Police]