Since the first cinemas opened there in the late 1920s, Central London’s Leicester Square has been cordoned off countless times for film galas. Never before, though, has this prestige entertainment destination been given over to the launch of a video game.
With a fanfare of martial music and a roar of Jeeps filled with out-of-work actors dressed as US Marines, an invited audience was ushered down a camouflage carpet into the Vue cinema while a smallish crowd of dedicated gamers leaned longingly over crash barriers.
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Once inside, the audience – mostly gaming journalists and lucky fans with a sprinkling of celebrity guests – were treated to an ebullient introduction from self-confessed Modern Warfare fan Vernon Kay. The atmosphere was self-mockingly blokey as Kay pointed out the rather narrow demographics of the evening and, by extension, the game.
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British actor Kevin McKidd, who voices key character ‘Soap’ McTavish in the games, gave a short, slightly embarrassed speech in which he revealed that one of the lines uttered by his character in the game was a tribute to his work in culty 2002 horror Dog Soldiers. His compatriots Craig Fairbrass and Bill Murray (not that one) took a bow but were not required to speak.
The game’s lead animator, diffident twentysomething Joel Emslie, stepped up to the camo-netted dais to demonstrate the game’s first level.
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His selection of the easiest game difficulty and failure to complete the level without being shot were rewarded with affectionate laughter from the enthusiastic crowd.
The game looks as chillingly beautiful on a gigantic cinema screen as it does on our humble home TVs. A montage of all of the Call Of Duty games to date, starting with the 2003 original, really hammered home how far game graphics have come in the last six years.
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When the first Call Of Duty game was released, players remarked on the lifelike modelling of combatants and their weapons. In retrospect the game now looks impossibly clunky and grainy while the footage from the new game frequently approaches photorealism. The next iteration of the game will be indistinguishable from film of real combat.
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For hardcore players, the real highlight of the evening was a six-a-side tournament in which game designer Emslie and a team of Call Of Duty fans took on celebrity enthusiasts Dom Joly, Goldie and others. Emslie’s team won by a narrow margin but Goldie revealed himself to be a genuine force to be reckoned with. If you were to encounter him online, you had best resign yourself to regular respawns.
The event was quickly over, and participants had a small swag bag pressed into their hands as they were ushered into the night.
It didn’t rival a real movie premiere. The audience was too small, and too narrowly defined as a group of thirtysomething males. For old-fashioned razzmatazz, it may be a few years yet before the gaming community can rival the glitter and glamour of the movie world but the graphics of modern games, and more importantly their money spinning potential, are already the equal of Hollywood in its pomp.