Three of the actors who provided performance capture for developer Treyarch’s latest Call of Duty: Black Ops II blockbuster game are touring Europe with the USO to play the game with soldiers.
Activision’s latest Call of Duty game reached $1 billion in history-making time last year. Developer Treyarch tapped into Hollywood talent like writer/producer/director David S. Goyer to craft the story for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. The game makers recruited Hollywood actors like Sam Worthington, Tony Todd and Michael Keaton to provide performance capture for the game’s characters. Three of the stars of the blockbuster game, James Burns, Kamar de los Reyes and Rich McDonald, are currently touring Europe with the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment.
“Although the Call of Duty franchise presents fictional story telling, the games do a great job of portraying the tough integrity, bold valor and unwavering honor of our service men and women,” said McDonald, who portrays Commander David Mason in the game. “These people are true heroes, and the Call of Duty games glorify this easily forgotten fact. Activision and the Call of Duty franchise have always supported our troops and have been extremely successful in inspiring our nation's youth and other age groups to have pride in our armed forces.”
Armed with copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the actors are putting their skills to the test with some friendly competition against real-life heroes, our men and women in uniform. Copies of the game are being donated by Activision and will become a welcome addition to the gaming libraries at each of the bases the tour visits. Additionally, the trio will pay tribute to healing heroes by visiting medical centers in the UK at Royal Air Force Lakenheath as well as those at the USO Warrior Center at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
De los Reyes, who first visited troops and military families in Japan in 2003 and in Portugal, Italy and Spain in 2004. In total, De los Reyes has lifted the spirits of more than 2,000 servicemen and women and their families.
“It’s been nine years since my last USO tour, so this trip has been a long time coming,” said De los Reyes, who brings the game’s antagonist Raul Menendez to life. “I can’t wait to meet with our troops again. One of the best things about the Call of Duty games is that they are a big hit among the military, something I couldn’t be prouder of and the reason why this trip means so much to us.”
This USO trip is part of an on-going effort by Activision, which created the Call of Duty Endowment several years ago to donate money to veterans. McDonald said the Endowment is an absolutely invaluable resource available to American veterans because so many men and women come home only to find hard economic times and extreme difficulty landing steady employment.
