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Petraeus Makes A Black Ops Cameo, Too

November 15, 2012 By WHC Insider

David Petraeus' cameo in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
If the comparisons to the Coen Brothers‘ Burn After Reading weren’t enough for the ongoing Petraeus scandal, how about we get to see his face as a soulless digital avatar as well? Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 ,a sequel to the 2010 spin-off in the Call of Duty franchise focusing on the cold war, came out earlier in the week. In traditional Beltway culture, players assume the role of the same character twice (both father in the 1980s and son in the 2025) while blowing up drug lords, piloting drones and doing everything possible to keep firing a gun from point A to point B.

Except (SPOILER) toward the end of the campaign in 2025, we get a surprise cameo from (fictional) General Petraeus as he oversees the joint-adventure between Chinese and American militaries in lieu of any upcoming cyber-attacks with a motion-captured (and D.C. native) Tony Todd.

As for what’s exactly happening in the video, it really could matter less since we all know Petraeus won’t be in this role in the next 13 years. If he had, Petraeus would’ve seen the end to “The Second Cold War,” a female president and all sorts of impossible battlefield decisions made by a group of 12-year olds hopped up on Mountain Dew and candy that probably assume he’s just a made-up character for the Call of Duty franchise.

However, he is the first “living” government figure to be used in the series, disregarding the first Black Ops that featured a painfully awkward Jack Kennedy impersonator. But it did involve a mode where certain world leaders banded together inside the Pentagon to take down zombies:

Filed Under: DC, Entertainment, News, Washington Tagged With: Call of Duty, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, David Petraeus, DC, Entertainment, Video Games

Obama to Meet Virtually Every Football Team Ever

July 27, 2010 By WHC Insider

President Obama will meet with the winner of Super Bowl XLV as early as next month. Sounds weird, right? But it’s actually true, since a pixelized president is in the latest edition of the Madden NFL 11 video game franchise released on August 10th.

Once you complete the season and your team wins the Super Bowl, the ending of the game involves President Obama’s jerky game avatar meeting with other bits of code and holding up a jersey.

Game Informer notes how weird the cameo looks in context with a game for die-hard sports fans. The complete video can be found on IGN. Of course this isn’t the first off-kilter cameo for President Obama: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen presents Obama as a pacifist who eventually submits to the Decepticons referenced in an off-hand news clip and the third season premiere of The Boondocks which involved a Germany documentary filmmaker (voiced by actual filmmaker Werner Herzog) breaking down the hype of Obama’s 2008 campaign according to this Washington Post review.

It’s a shame though that an 8-bit Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush never got to do this on the Nintendo, Genesis or Playstation.

Photo via Game Informer/IGN.

Filed Under: DC, Media Strategy Tagged With: Barack Obama, Madden 11, Media, President Obama, Video Games

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About White House Correspondents Insider

Exploring “behind the scenes” of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

We track the White House Correspondents’ weekend and all the activities around it, from journalists and media companies to the White House and politicos.

Tammy Haddad is Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of WHC Insider and CEO of Haddad Media.

White House Correspondents Insider is not affiliated with or approved by the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is a registered trademark of the WHCA.

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