Post house Company 3, a subsidiary of Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc., recently provided a variety of postproduction services to its first game project, “Call of Duty�: Black Ops II,” and concurrently announced the opening of a division dedicated to offering color grading and other high-end post services to the game production community.
“The creation of Company 3 Games represents a new level of collaboration between game developers as well as publishers and providers of feature film-level post services,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, president and founder of Company 3. Sonnenfeld, who has color graded assorted feature films and commercials, worked with award-winning game developer, Treyarch, to color grade Activision Publishing Inc.’s next installment of the blockbuster “Call of Duty�” game franchise, “Call of Duty: Black Ops II,” set for worldwide release next Tuesday, November 13.
Malte Wagener has been named VP of Games and oversees the division’s work from its offices at Company 3’s Santa Monica headquarters. “With the amazing level of sophistication in games and the immense talent pool in the feature film world, a tight collaboration of the two spheres is a natural development,” he said.
Wagener comes to the position following an extensive career in the video games business. As the director of global business development at Koch Media in Germany, he led that company’s global business development and brand management for products including the international game sensation “Dead Island.” At WEG, a division of CJ Media, in South Korea–the third largest media company on the continent–he led all EMEA gaming efforts, as well as the massive, international eSport cross-promotion known as the World eSport Games.
Wagener added “With the talent and resources of Company 3 and its affiliated companies, we plan to set the new standard for game postproduction.”
Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease; Hantavirus Claimed His Wife’s Life About One Week Prior
Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed Friday. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference. "Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," Jarrell said. "He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that's what resulted in his death." Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative. Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said. Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said. "It's quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Jarrell said. Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer's disease and unable to deal with his wife's death in the last week of his life. "You are talking about very severe Alzheimer's disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care... Read More