LOS ANGELES -- Respawn Entertainment's Vince Zampella, co-founder of Infinity Ward and part of the creative force behind the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise, spoke in public for the first time at the second annual 3D Gaming Summit: 3D Gaming and Beyond at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Hollywood, CA. USA Today video game reporter Mike Snider interviewed Zampella about Call of Duty and what’s next from the new independent studio, Respawn Entertainment in the videos below.

As a principal at Infinity Ward, Zampella and partner Jason West played key roles in the development of the multibillion-dollar military shooter franchise Call of Duty. The two formed Respawn (in the gaming world, "respawn" means a character that was killed off has come back to life) in April of 2010. Electronic Arts will have exclusive distribution rights to their next creation.

Throughout his career, Zampella, 40, whose industry stops have included Gametek, Atari, Panasonic/Ripcord, and Sega, has created many of the most successful and popular games in the world, with blockbuster action sequences in real-world settings that resemble those of big budget movies. Some of these include extensive online options allowing competition against other players via the Internet. All of this experience allows Zampella a wide canvas to expand his horizons for his next creations.

There have been six Call of Duty games released since 2003, four set during World War II, and two which carried the subtitle Modern Warfare featuring contemporary counter-terrorist combat. Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 2 alone has sold approximately 20 million units and generated an estimated $1.3 billion.

“Vince has unparalleled hands-on experience in creating one of the great video game franchises of all-time,” said conference co-chairman Bob Dowling, "and as a Keynote Speaker confirms the 3D Gaming Summit as the thought-leader in the gaming entertainment landscape.”

About the Author

John Gaudiosi

Editor-in-Chief

John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.