There have been more than 32.3 quadrillion shots fired in Call of Duty games since 2007’s “Modern Warfare.” On Wednesday afternoon Clippers center DeAndre Jordan rattled off a few thousand of them as part of the wildly popular video game franchise’s multiplayer reveal for “Call of Duty: Ghosts.”
The worldwide reveal, which included an hour-long keynote presentation, debut of a track called “Survival” off Eminem’s next album and appearances by Jordan, Nick Young and first overall Draft pick Anthony Bennett, was the first stop on Activision’s global tour to promote the first-person shooter before its release on Nov. 5.
“It’s an unofficial holiday every November,” Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg proclaimed. “It’s ‘Call of Duty’ time.”
For Jordan, who was taking a brief respite from his offseason workout schedule to get a first-look at the game at L.A. Live, the holiday came a little early. He watched the reveal trailer and shortly thereafter was charged playing in a squad alongside three United States servicemen on the Xbox 360 console inside an elaborate tent atop the event deck across the street from Staples Center.
“We just love having athletes play our game,” said Tina Palacios, who serves as the Senior Community Manager for game developer Infinity Ward. “They add an extra level of fun, especially to our casual players that can familiarize themselves with these athletes and relate to them. They see them on the basketball court or on the football field and they go, ‘Oh, they’re playing the same game as us.’”
Jordan, wearing a large silver and black headset to allow him to communicate with his virtual teammates, was surrounded by cameras with four giant monitors above him broadcasting his performance to a worldwide audience and more than 300 participants within the event.
“I’m not really good at online, playing against people that I don’t know,” said Jordan, who named 2010’s ‘Black Ops’ as his favorite Call of Duty entry so far. “I do it, but I get really frustrated. I’ve broken a couple of controllers, so I kind of try to stay away from people online that I don’t know. I play with groups of my friends and play the story mode a lot.
“It’s definitely competitive. I know a lot of my teammates play basketball [video] games, but I’m not really good at those, so I try to stick to this. It’s definitely fun. You get a lot of silent treatments after games. Like, if you beat somebody they probably won’t talk to you for a couple of days, at least the rest of the day.”
Coincidentally, much of Jordan’s summer from a basketball perspective has been about improving communication. He has been regularly attending the Clippers’ training facility in Playa Vista, playing pick-up games and going one-on-one with teammates Ryan Hollins, Byron Mullens, Brandon Davies and Blake Griffin.
A month earlier, when Jordan wrapped up his four-day minicamp with Team USA, he said he hoped to take a lot of what he learned back to Los Angeles. So far, he has.
“I learned a lot about leadership there,” Jordan said Wednesday. “My main focus is becoming a better leader on defense and throughout the whole locker room and how to keep improving and keep getting better.”
That was jumpstarted by his time with USA Basketball, but he said he is applying what he learned to his workouts now.
“I feel like you want to be communicating as much as possible and not just talking for no reason, but having something to say,” Jordan said. “The other day our rookie, [Brandon Davies], was in there and he asked me a question. I was like, ‘Whoa, he asked me for advice.’ When I think about, it’s like okay, I’m going into my sixth year that’s what it’s supposed to be like, giving out advice. When I’m telling him these things, you start to think, ‘Somebody told me this five years ago.’ It’s crazy how the cycle works.”
Five years ago, Jordan was also playing Call of Duty. That cycle has continued as well.