E3 is officially upon us, and with it comes the big budget presentations for games millions upon millions of people have been waiting for. One of those games is Call of Duty: Ghosts. The game had its own pre-E3 livestream to show of behind the scenes footage and gameplay footage for the game.
Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision, comes on stage at the beginning of the presentation to explain that they are using the live stream in order to show the millions of Call of Duty fans the gameplay and behind the scenes footage directly, rather than just the people at E3. The presentations then really gets going as the level "Into the Deep" is shown. The level begins underwater, and shows of the incredible power the next-gen consoles will possess. The screen is filled with a detailed coral reef, beautifully brought to life. This, combined with the water effects is truly stunning. The player and his A.I controlled squadmate must make it through underwater thugs and into a sunken ship. The video then skips ahead as a large ship attempts to find them, and the player must avoid it's lethal sonar pings. Once a well-placed torpedo sinks the ship, the submerged lighthouse the squad was using for cover crumbles, and players find themselves trapped in the wreckage. Players then must race to avoid the sinking wreck's debris as it rains down from above as the video ends.
The next video is an interview with Ghosts writer, Oscar winner Stephen Gaghan. He discusses how writing for a video game is much freer than a movie, because the imagination is the only limit. This leads to a segment discussing Riley, the Dog squad mate, with video of the motion capture sessions with the real-life dog that inspired the virtual dog. We then see gameplay footage of Riley in action, as the player uses the dog to take down thugs and scout ahead of the team using a camera.
The last video seen shows a preview of the footage those actually attending E3 will see, in long letterbox format. The video shows various environments from the game, including a reveal that part of the game takes place is a decaying southern California city, possibly Los Angeles or San Diego. Other locations include of the southernmost tip of South America by Antarctica, the ocean and jungles of Brazil, and a city located in Venezuela
Call of Duty: Ghosts looks amazing on next-gen technology, and will surely be a big hit when it is released. The game is out November 5 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.