Global Agenda mo-caps U.S. soldier before he deploys for tour of duty

We hope our U.S. readers have been enjoying their Independence Day celebrations. Clearly most everyone working in the MMO industry has been chowing down on BBQ as there hasn't been much in the way of major gaming news stories breaking during the holiday. However, we did come across a Global Agenda story that we think is fitting for the 4th of July weekend.

Hi-Rez Studios VP of game operations Stew Chisam writes that the Global Agenda team received this from the wife of U.S. Army Captain Chris Ficquette: "My husband is in the United States Army and will be re-deployed for his second tour of duty this summer. To date, I have not yet found a bigger fan of video games than him. Is there any way that I could have my husband involved in motion capturing so that he could be immortalized in your video game?" It turns out Hi-Rez Studios was willing to oblige.

Ficquette came in to the studio and was walked through the motion capture process by Global Agenda lead animator Daniel Lilleberg. The end result is that a military vet has created some of the moves we'll see in game, both in terms of special weapons handling and a few emotes thrown in for good measure.

Chisam writes in his blog post: "Chris and his unit are soon shipping back to Afghanistan. As Independence Day approaches, Hi-Rez wishes him and all of his mates in the 146th Movement Control Team the best of luck and godspeed. And a hearty shout of appreciation to all of our men and women in uniform from Hi-Rez Studios."

If you'd like to see photos and video of the motion capture process you can check it out on the official Global Agenda site.