Modern Warfare III: Call Of Duty is back – and childhood fans are now the ones making it

Published

11 months ago

November 3, 2023

admin

Whether it’s a cup of tea on a rainy day, re-watching your favourite sitcom, or pulling on those old pyjamas you really should’ve replaced by now, we all have our own homely comforts.

But for a generation of children of the 1990s and 2000s, nothing says “this is living” like unloading assault rifles and lobbing grenades during online bouts of Call Of Duty (COD).

“It’s like putting on a cosy old jumper,” says long-time fan Sam Jones, who started playing in 2007, aged 11.

“And as I grew older, it became a comfort. You’ve less time, people drop off, find different interests, but I’ve still got a core group of four or five mates who’ve been playing for 15 years.”

Shelby Carlton holds a similar fondness for the franchise, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

“I started playing COD, actually the original Modern Warfare, when I was a kid,” she recalls, with a belated apology to her parents for ignoring the game’s age rating.

“I’d have friends over and I have really fond memories of playing those games and making those friendships.”

Sixteen years later and she’s the narrative director on Modern Warfare III, which releases on 10 November.

Yes, COD has been around so long that childhood fans are now the ones making it.

This one’s the latest instalment in COD’s Modern Warfare subseries, which returned after a long absence in 2019.

Modern Warfare first ran from 2007 to 2011, ending with its own Modern Warfare III. While the rebooted entries have been unconnected plot-wise, they offer plenty of nods, winks, and references to veteran players.

It makes the new game a fitting way to mark the franchise’s anniversary and show how far the series has come.

Ever-increasing scope

“It feels like it just gets bigger,” says creative director Dave Swenson, who’s worked on COD for north of a decade.

“The army of artists, audio people and designers that come together to make the games is pretty amazing and it’s a huge undertaking over several years to create one.”

Despite the annual release cadence, each COD is a multi-year project for the people who make it.

The franchise calls on three main development studios: Infinity Ward, the original creators of the franchise; Treyarch, which birthed the popular Black Ops subseries; and Modern Warfare III’s team Sledgehammer.

There has been a new mainline entry every year since 2005, while free-to-play COD Mobile on smartphones and Fortnite-like Warzone have also taken on lives of their own.

‘I met my grooms men on Call Of Duty!’

Tom Lynch is one fan who will always hold Warzone in particularly high regard.

He made such firm friends on the virtual battlefield while stuck at home during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 that they wound up being far more than just squad mates.

“Because we didn’t have anywhere to go, COD became a great social setting to hang out with mates,” he says.

“And it put me in touch with friends I hadn’t seen in a while – and then also met people through the game who ultimately became the groomsmen at my wedding!”

Record revenues

Between the mainline series, Warzone, and the mobile game, it’s no surprise that at last count, there were more than 3,000 people working on the franchise.

Sledgehammer alone has teams spanning the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK.

The scale is matched by the revenues, with 2022’s game raking in a record $1bn in its first 10 days on sale.

Johanna Fairies, who manages the franchise at publisher Activision Blizzard, believes the teams have “continued to raise the bar on what ambition looks like”.

“The gaming industry is only getting more competitive,” she says.

“But the annualised cycle has been quite unique to us – to be able to sustain that is a feat unto itself.

“It brings even more meaning to the 20th anniversary.”

‘An interesting challenge’

Directors Swenson and Carlton are confident they’re on to another winner with Modern Warfare III, which boasts a story-driven campaign and a raft of online multiplayer modes.

The online experience is notable this year for letting players carry over progress from the previous game, while the campaign strives to freshen things up despite an inevitable sense of familiarity.

Swenson is excited by the campaign’s new “open combat missions”, with are far less linear than fans are used to, instead encouraging them to approach objectives as they see fit.

But serving as a direct sequel to 2022’s Modern Warfare II, and also a sort-of remake of 2011’s game, Carlton admits she knew there were specific story beats she had to hit.

“It’s an interesting challenge,” Carlton says of writing a blockbuster game like this, which begins with an almighty brainstorm session featuring enough whiteboards and post-it notes to fill a terminal.

“You start with the end in mind, work backwards, sometimes you work forwards, sometimes you’re in the middle!”

One nailed-on narrative decision was the return of fan-favourite villain Vladimir Makarov, an ultranationalist Russian terrorist with his mind set on sparking World War III.

Trailers suggest his return coincides with a reimagining of one of the franchise’s most infamous levels, “No Russian”, which tasked players with participating in a mass shooting at a Russian airport in a bid to gain Makarov’s trust.

Swenson and Carlton are keeping their lips sealed on how it plays out this time.

Real modern warfare

Of course, depressingly, the idea of a new world war erupting from eastern Europe or elsewhere doesn’t feel as innocently escapist as the developers may have thought when Modern Warfare debuted in 2007.

Forget Second World War archive footage, today’s COD writers need only turn on the news to see marching armies, rolling tanks, and toppled buildings that would look right at home in the games.

Creative director Swenson admits his team “can’t help but be inspired by the world around us”, but insists this franchise remains solely concerned with being entertainment.

“There’s real conflict happening in the world today and it’s really heartbreaking,” he says.

“[But] this game is a work of fiction and a story that’s been in the making and we’ve been working on for years.

“As a company, we don’t use this game to make any political commentary or anything like that.”

Regardless of what the real world has in store over the next year, few things are as assured as COD’s usual October/November release date.

It remains to be seen whether Microsoft’s record takeover of Activision will change the series’ trajectory, but the money involved would suggest a reluctance to stop milking this epic cash cow any time soon.

Whether 2024 sees another Modern Warfare, a return to a prior conflict, or something entirely new, the developers themselves seem to guarantee one thing.

“Bigger” is the only way to go.

Entertainment

Influential artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin says he’s had ‘terrible things’ said about his work

Published

3 hours ago

September 21, 2024

admin

Influential artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin says he's had 'terrible things' said about his work

Sir Michael Craig-Martin is one of the most influential artists of his generation – but he says he’s had “terrible things” said about the work he’s now famous for.

The 83-year-old’s long career is now the subject of a major retrospective opening this weekend at the Royal Academy.

But he told Sky News: “I’ve had terrible things said about all the work that now people think is wonderful… If you can’t survive criticism… you’re in the wrong game.”

The Royal Academy retrospective brings together his life’s work in one show, including his early experimental sculpture, his landmark conceptual work and a new immersive digital work.

While much of Sir Michael’s painting has been dominated with depictions of modern icons, like laptops and iPhones, he says technology has made it “harder for people to look” at his work.

“We’ve become probably the most visual age there’s ever been and at the same time it’s become harder and harder for people to actually look,” he said.

“[Paintings] don’t move – you have to come to them, you have to give them a little time,” he explained, adding that nowadays people are more “used to something that’s doing something for them”.

The subject matter of much of Craig-Martin’s large-scale, vivid colour paintings of everyday objects – from trainers to paperclips, glasses to coffee cups – is universally understood and easily accessible.

“What’s ordinary is what unites everybody,” he explains.

“When you buy a coffee, they give you the cup. You don’t buy the cup, it’s free with the coffee, and yet to make a painting out of it is to give it a certain kind of presence, a certain kind of dignity, a way of looking at it that may be different, to what its value or use is.”

Now in his 80s, Sir Michael’s work has become sought-after around the world. Not only has he proven to be one of the most successful artists of his generation, he’s also been one of the most influential teachers.

In the late 80s, his students at Goldsmiths would go on to be the headline-making Young British Artists, or YBAs as they became known – and they include Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas.

“They were very, very young,” Sir Michael explained. “There were people who said to me that it was very dangerous for them to be having this kind of success because they were so young and my advice to them at the time was ‘if the door opens, it’s best to go through it’.”

Decades before, in 1974, he’d made headlines of his own with a piece called An Oak Tree – now widely considered a landmark moment in the history of conceptual art.

Recreated for the retrospective, provocatively you won’t find any big logs propped up in a gallery as the piece is just a glass of water on a glass shelf.

“People often do say to me… it changed my idea about what I thought art was, what it could be, my relationship, and that’s an amazing thing to be able to say.”

Challenging us all to look with fresh eyes at the ‘ordinary’ all around us, Michael Craig-Martin’s body of work is proof of why he is one of the most extraordinary artists working today.

Michael Craig-Martin is at the Royal Academy in London from 21 September to 10 December.

Entertainment

Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

Published

9 hours ago

September 21, 2024

admin

Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

David Graham, whose voice featured in some of the UK’s favourite TV shows, including Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig, has died.

The London-born star was 99.

Jamie Anderson, the son of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, led the tributes on X as he called Graham a “legendary” actor.

Graham brought to life the Thunderbirds puppet characters Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains, and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker, in the series about the secret International Rescue organisation.

“We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family,” Anderson’s post on X confirming the death on Friday said.

Anderson went on to pay tribute to Graham, who also voiced the evil Daleks in Doctor Who, saying: “David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment.”

‘What a talent’

Anderson also told the PA news agency: “Just a few weeks ago, I was with 2,000 Anderson fans at a Gerry Anderson concert in Birmingham where we sang him happy birthday – such a joyous occasion.

“And now, just a few weeks later, he’s left us. David was always kind and generous with his time and his talent. And what a talent.”

Highlighting all the characters played by Graham, Anderson added: “He will be sorely missed.”

Graham returned as Parker for ITV’s remake Thunderbirds Are Go, which ran between 2015 and 2020, but not for the live-action 2004 film which saw Ron Cook take on the role.

The original 1965 Thunderbirds was created by Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012, and his second wife, Sylvia, the voice of Lady Penelope, who died in 2016.

Graham also played Grandpa Pig in children’s show Peppa Pig, and provided the voice for characters in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.

His in-person acting roles included Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Casualty.

Entertainment

Cleo Sylvestre: ‘Trailblazing’ actress dies aged 79

Published

11 hours ago

September 20, 2024

admin

Cleo Sylvestre: 'Trailblazing' actress dies aged 79

“Trailblazing” actress Cleo Sylvestre who starred in films, soap operas and stage plays has died aged 79, her agent has said.

Sylvestre, also known as Cleopatra Palmer, appeared in productions as diverse as Crossroads, Shakespeare’s As You Like It and the first Paddington movie.

A spokesperson for Fulcrum Talent said: “It is with deep regret that I have to announce the sad news that Cleo Sylvestre MBE died this morning.

“Much loved and admired by her peers, she will be remembered as a trailblazer and a true friend. She will be sorely missed by so many.”

Sylvestre was also a singer and recorded with The Rolling Stones, who backed her on a 1964 cover of To Know Him Is To Love Him. She later worked as a musician with her blues band Honey B Mama And Friends.

Born in Hertfordshire in April 1945, she was brought up in London by her mother Laureen Sylvestre and studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

She was made an MBE in 2023 for services to drama and charity and was married to Ian Palmer until his death in 1995.

Sylvestre enjoyed roles in some of TV’s best-known shows, including playing Melanie Harper, the adopted daughter of Meg Richardson in ITV’s long-running Crossroads, during the 1970s.

Other TV roles came in The Bill, New Tricks, Till Death Do Us Part, Grange Hill, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

Her more recent parts included ITV thriller Platform 7, and Channel 5’s revamp of All Creatures Great And Small.

Sylvestre began her acting career on the stage and was the first black actress to take a leading role in a National Theatre production – in National Health in 1969.

She made her Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut playing Audrey in a 2023 production of As You Like It.

Her film roles have ranged from the 2014 film Paddington, Kidulthood from 2006 and 1993’s The Punk.

US-born playwright and author Bonnie Greer wrote on X that Sylvestre was “one of the reasons that-from my vantage point in NYC (New York City) that I thought that this country has the best anglophone theatre, and the best place to be a Black woman in it”.

She added: “I still think that. Thank you, Cleo!”

Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the UK’s first sickle cell nurse specialist, wrote that she was “devastated” at the death of her “wonderful, kind friend”.