Marines Kill Competition at Call of Duty Launch

Valerie Gorchinski - Military.com

On the eve of Veterans Day, a unique celebration was taking place. GameStop and Activision hosted an event in San Francisco for the release of Call of Duty: World at War. In collaboration with the USO, customers at the Powell Street GameStop store were able to play in a real-time tournament-style competition with Marines stationed at 29 Palms, Ca via Xbox live.

Several hundred gamers packed GameStop for the opportunity to take part in the tournament and to purchase the game in advance of the national release. After 16 6-on-6 matches, the Marines at 29 Palms won a tie breaking game to secure bragging rights. Tournament participants were awarded GameStop gift cards and the Marines received six Xbox 360 units from GameStop.

David Vonderhaar, Multiplayer Game Design Director for Call of Duty: World at War, said that it was really important to involve the Military in the event due to the nature of the game and also as a small way to say, “Thank You.” Vonderhaar went on to detail the importance of accuracy in the game and said that they had a military advisor on staff during the entire production process (and that he regularly looked at Military.com for reference.) While he was quick to point out that they didn’t want to sacrifice entertaining gameplay for absolute military and historical accuracy (it is a video game, after all) he said he also felt an obligation to be true to the subject matter and the military audience. This was an event that truly did justice to the game's Veterans Day release.

About Call of Duty: World at War
The latest entry into the Call of Duty series challenges players to band together to survive the most harrowing and climactic battles of WWII on the European and South Pacific fronts. The title re-defines WWII games by offering an uncensored experience with unique enemies and combat variety, including Kamikaze fighters, ambush attacks, Banzai charges and cunning cover tactics, as well as explosive on-screen action through all new cooperative gameplay.

Watch for a Military.com review of Call of Duty: World at War soon.

Check out trailers, screenshots and more from 'Call of Duty' at Military.com.

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