National Football League

Lynch stars in new 'Call of Duty': 'Whole game is Beast Mode'

Published Jun. 9, 2015 2:09 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Jason Rowan

Marshawn Lynch has starred in Super Bowls and is one of the most compelling personalities playing professional football. But to hear it from the Seahawks running back, landing a guest spot in the upcoming “Call of Duty” video game is his crowning achievement in life.

Lynch, an avid “COD” fan who plays almost daily with his pals, took part in a motion capture process so his likeness will appear in “Call of Duty: Black Ops III,” which is set for a November release.

A behind-the-scenes look at his experiences at the Activision Motion Capture Studio in Los Angeles is chronicled in an upcoming cover story in ESPN The Magazine, an issue that will hit newsstands on Friday.

Lynch received a crash course in video game technology and a baptism by fire regarding being a character in one. The first part of his day involved 16 cameras on a light stage featuring 6,280 LEDs capturing a 360-degree image where his skin texture and features will be collected.

During the 'cyberware' scanner portion of his day, Lynch was a bit taken aback by the process, which involves “mechanical arms rotating around Lynch’s head are capturing 3-D mesh data of his skull and facial muscles,” per theESPN The Mag story.

“Am I gonna leave this thing with brain damage,” Lynch asks, “or is this gonna make me smart?”

Lynch will be ad-libbing lines and has to “act” for the star turn in his favorite video game series. During further motion capture work on a scene, Lynch pretends to take a puff off a hookah, drink an imaginary beer before telling his would-be comrades, “I’ll show you how a playa live!”

When asked about his love for the game, Lynch said he engages daily with friends and teammates, saying “it’s a cool way to keep in contact. It’s a fun-loving way to let off some stress.”

But Lynch paid the video game the highest compliment possible by saying the following: “You’re shooting up everything but always fighting for a bigger picture. The whole game is Beast Mode.”

And he put how excited he is to be in “Black Ops III” in perspective by saying: “I’ve been in the Super Bowl, movies, music videos, Madden. But to have your own character in Duty is, I mean, it’s almost like you arrived.”

Indeed.

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