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Scattered throughout the Gnomeregan dungeon are collectible punch cards, each stamped with a string of binary code. Decode them and you'll find a set of silly, lore-flavoured in-jokes, including one that simply reads 'if you can read this, you're standing too close.'
Sony ran an actual competition where fans from the US and Europe pitched their own character for the multiplayer roster. Sixteen finalists made it through to a live audition at Sony's studios, judged by a panel that included Amy Hennig, Justin Richmond, Emily Rose and Nolan North himself.
Michael Hollick wasn't originally brought on to be the voice of Niko Bellic at all - he was hired purely to handle motion capture work. It was only after he auditioned that Rockstar decided he should be the actual voice too, and Niko went on to become one of the most well-regarded protagonists in the series.
When Infinity Ward got off the ground, Activision only held a minority stake in the company. It wasn't until after the very first Call of Duty shipped and proved itself that Activision bought out the rest of the studio outright.
Filming on real Chicago streets meant real-world chaos sometimes crept in. During one shoot, a drunk driver crashed straight into the Batmobile — and when asked why, he claimed he panicked because he genuinely thought the car was some kind of invading alien spacecraft.
Mercy comes across as the group's gentle healer, but her backstory isn't quite that soft — her parents were killed in combat, which is where her deep discomfort with Overwatch's more violent methods actually comes from. She helps because she believes it's the best way to limit the damage, not because she's naive to it.
For the previous two Modern Warfare games the score came from Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, but for MW3 Activision brought in action-film regular Brian Tyler instead. His bombastic, orchestral style was such a good fit for the globe-trotting story that it's still considered one of the strongest scores in the whole series.
Riley, the German Shepherd who fights alongside you as the Walker brothers' loyal companion, wasn't just tacked on for cute factor. Infinity Ward actually put a real dog through motion capture to get his movement right, and Riley ended up being one of the star attractions of the entire Xbox One reveal event in May 2013, right alongside the console itself.
Costume designer Eric Daman has said his team would pull together roughly 500 possible pieces for any given episode and whittle that down to about 80 outfits that actually made it to air, averaging five or six looks per character.
Sunflower went on to spend 33 weeks inside the Billboard Hot 100's top ten, tying the record held at the time by Maroon 5 and Cardi B's Girls Like You and Ed Sheeran's Shape of You. Not bad for a song that was only added to the movie after the original choice fell apart.
