Posted on 12/22/2025 10:44:57 PM PST by lowbridge
"Call of Duty" video game creator Vincent Zampella reportedly died in a car wreck on a mountainous stretch of highway near Los Angeles this weekend.
The California Highway Patrol says the single-car crash was reported around 12:45 PM Sunday afternoon near mile marker 62 on the Angeles Crest Highway in Altadena.
Two people were involved in the crash, according to the CHP, with one of the victims pronounced dead at the scene. NBC Los Angeles was the first to report that person was Vincent.
The video game developer was reportedly driving the car and was heading south when the car veered off the road and struck a concrete barrier ... igniting a fire.
Vincent was reportedly stuck inside the driver's seat as the car burned ... the passenger was ejected and later died at a hospital. No word on the passenger's identity.
It's unclear what caused the crash.
(Excerpt) Read more at tmz.com ...
I was in Men of God back in the UO/COD3 days
So there just happens to be crowd and a guy filming on the side of the road at the exit of the tunnel on the Angelus Crest highway? It’s almost like Zampella staged this. (Obviously other than the crash) Sad, but seemingly he FAFO.
I’m sure Morgan and Morgan Lawyers are pounding on the deceased family’s doors wanting to go after Caltrans for having what appears to be cement k rails on the side of the road.
I have to drive curvy mountain roads to get anywhere.
First thing my dad taught me was never touch the brake IN a curve
50 years later it’s muscle memory now
I slow down in the straight stretches long before all the curves.
Later I had to learn the throttle on for a motorcycle rule
My grown kids say the wokeness in games has turned them off of new ones. I tell them that I’m glad that my favorite “game” on my Commodore 64 in my early teens was to learn how to make software.
Pretty much what happened. Totally stupid - looks like people were showing off and videotaping
It’s really dangerous and disorienting coming out of a dark tunnel into sunlight in a turn - especially with a very hard barrier on the verge. Looks like more than a few cars have suffered the same fate . The barrier they hit has been hit before in the same spot
Modern cars can be very dangerous to drive fast
They are so fast, capable, safe and easy to drive with over 400 -500 hp being the norm, stability control, traction control and anti lock brakes that you can get away with a lot, but when you make a mistake and lose it, you lose it big
You would never do that kind of foolishness in a classic sports car like a Lotus Elan.
Could be murder/suicide.
I hope not.
Ejected means no seat belt being used.
Looks like the entire seat came out, with the passenger still in it. I don’t recall hearing of that ever happening with a factory-installed seat.
CTL-ALT-DEL
I live on Angeles Forest Hwy and ride my antique race bikes to Newcombs Ranch on a lot of Sunday Mornings. A lot of high performance cars do also. There is always a few people every weekend that ride or drive way over their heads and crash and burn. It is very common in ANgeles Crest
At that speed it may be damned if you do...and if you don’t.
55 going on 15. What a stupid way to leave this world.
Lorenzo Bandini died in his Ferrari pretty much in the same way in the chicane coming out of the tunnel in the ‘67 Monaco GP.
Especially a super light mid engined car like this.
They’re really track cars and just flat don’t handle uneven pavement well.
Just simple expansion joints make them lose traction.
I’m too tall and just big (not fat, but mesomorph build) for most sports cars but I’ve driven plenty in tracks and on the street. Took several Porsche training schools. Only a handful of top performance cars can reliably deal with street conditions and most of their tech is useless in the real world.
Under most circumstances, a person who wants to drive like a fool in the real world is better off with something like a really hot mustang or a Range Rover Sport with the giant supercharged V8 (yes, an SUV) or one of the Porsche V8 SUV. Ground clearance and advanced shocks/computers coupled with all wheel drive does wonders when you hit ripple pavement, despite the mass. The fact you’re a giant box is not great, but doesn’t matter under 80mph.
With his contentiousness with the heads of Activison, I wouldnt be surprised if they offed him.
I saw the video - and it looks like he charged out of that tunnel at a very high speed.
The Angeles Crest Highway is known for many twists and turns, people are killed there often. Every time we’ve gone up there, especially on weekends, there are idiots speeding on that highway, motorcycles in particular. My husband - a lifelong motorcycle rider - would always say “they’re on their way to a funeral.”
It seems there’s a fatality on that road about once a month if not more, often someone driving over the side b/c they didn’t negotiate the turn.
Yes, reminds me of the founder of Tapout clothing -
“Charles ‘Mask’ Lewis, co-founder of the Tapout mixed martial arts apparel brand, died in a fiery car crash on March 11, 2009, in Newport Beach, California.
The incident occurred when his red Ferrari Modena crashed head-on into a utility pole after reportedly racing at high speed with another vehicle, a Porsche driven by Jeffrey David Kirby.
Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Ferrari was severely damaged, nearly splitting in two.”
I knew a guy that picked up a woman ...the Corvette probably helped....and they were starting off on a drive. He was just getting on the accelerator when a squirrel ran across the road in front of him. The girl grabbed the wheel and jerked it hard right. They went through a bunch of scrub trees until the car hit one that stopped it cold. She went through the windshield, and died.
i was in LoS which was a counterstrike clan, but we did play other games like battlefield.
When he respawns before Jesus, what will they smile about together?
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